OK, time to show everyone what I got for Christmas this year!

And, instead of just a regular picture, this week's photo is brought to you in 3D!

Some of you may remember the last time I posted a 3D picture of the week. That one didn't require any special glasses... just patience and the ability to cross or diverge your eyes at will. I decided to do something different this time, so this one requires red-cyan 3D glasses.

I still haven't been able to find a reliable place to get 3D glasses in Canada. I wanted a pair to view 3D images of Mars, so I found a company in the US that would send free samples through the mail. The only catch is that they only send free samples to mailing addresses within the US, so I had to have a friend receive them and forward them to me.

Anyway, if you happen to have a pair lying around, enjoy the image! Otherwise, you will just have to use your imagination.

Oh yes, the photo is a picture of a pair of Celestron SkyMaster 25x100 binoculars for astronomical viewing that Angela gave me for Christmas! I still have to buy a sturdy tripod for them. In this photo I just put them on my camera tripod temporarily, but it is far too flimsy for actual use.

Technical details: Two photos were combined to produce this image. Both photos were taken with my Rebel XT + kit lens at 22mm, ISO 400, f/8, for 1/50th of a second.

Comments

Cool!  I've actually been researching what type of support to get for my pair
this past week.  I ruled out standard tripod heads.  I really want a
parallelogram support for it because I want to be able to freely roam the sky
and don't want to feel the weight of the binoculars.  There's really only one
company that makes a variety of parallelogram mounts, Universal Astronomics:

http://www.universalastronomics.com/

*The* mount to get for the 25x100 is the
Millennium UniMount.  It can support binoculars up to 30lb in weight.  Sadly it
also costs $500, so its out.  The Unimount Light is an option and is rated for
binoculars up to 10lbs.  However upon further reading, it seems the Unimount
Light is a bit small for the 25x100.  The 25x100 are at an odd weight (just
over 9lbs) so the smaller mounts are too small and the larger ones (usually
rated at 30lbs) are too expensive.  There seems to be no happy medium for the
25x100.  

There is also the T-Mount Light which is similar to the Unimount
light (in price too, the T-Mount light runs about $240) and can hold binos up
to 15lbs due to its shorter arm.  However for the same reason, its not suitable
for reclined viewing in a lawn chair.  

There are also numerous plans all over
the internet for building your own out of wood.  Oh and there's one more
option, Peterson Engineering makes a kit for a super mount which requires you
to supply the weights and pipes as well as assembly:

http://www.petersonengineering.com/sky/supermount.htm

I haven't decided which
route to go yet.  Its tempting to try building my own, but I don't want a bulky
wood mount.  Let me know what you figure out!

Cool! - both the picture and the binoculars.  I have a pair of 3D glasses from
a cereal box up in Ompah. I'll try them later. For now we cut up Christmas
basket cellophane (we had both red and blue) and held it double over our
glasses, and it works fairly well! 

Cool, thanks for the tripod info.  Yes, I've been having trouble deciding on a
good mount for the binoculars.	The tripod+head combo that people usually
suggest (manfrotto 3246 + 501) is quite expensive, and the head itself is not
in production anymore so it is harder to find.	(The 501HDV head is apparently
plastic instead of metal, and there are conflicting reports as to whether it is
better or worse than the old 501 head.)

The Peterson Engineering mount looks
cool.  Really large, but cool.	I also haven't been able to find a decent
parallelogram mount at a reasonable price.  I will take a look at the Universal
Astronomics mounts again.

Yea, I'd really recommend staying away from any fluid heads.  Due to the weight
of the binos, fluid heads can't keep it 100% locked in (unless you spend a LOT
of money).  I originally got a Bogen 3221 witha  3031 fluid head and the
binoculars are definitely too heavy for it.

I'm leaning towards the Peterson
Engineering myself.  I want something I can set up in the backyard in the
summer with a lawnchair, lay back and scan the skies for a couple of hours. 
The Peterson Engineering one requires a lot of assembly but it doesn't need a
tripod and its the cheapest option.  You could probably also get away with the
EZ Binoc Mount as opposed to the Super Binoc mount.