Telescope, Military, Mk 74 Mod. 1

[J Bruja]

Last weekend I traded a friend for his old telescope for a flat screen computer monitor which was excess to my needs. (Wife got tired o tripping over it.)

This small monster weighs 18 lbs out of the box and is solid brass & glass.
I was amazed at the good condition of the optics - no haze or dirt - and body.

I am going to try to mate this thing with either the Nikon D300 or Canon 550D - somehow. Non of my tripods will hold the weight and there's no tripod mount on the Mk 74. Field engineering will be required.

At least Laura (wife) will have a good sized wooden box to look out for.

I hope at least someone out there will have sympathy for my hobby.

http://s648.photobucket.com/user/jbruja/library/Telescope Mark 74 Mod 1

 

[Chris101]

That thing looks really cool JB! What's the focal length and aperture size? And what did they use it for? The built in filters ROCK!

 

[J Bruja]

That thing looks really cool JB! What's the focal length and aperture size? And what did they use it for? The built in filters ROCK!

Here's what I know about this telescope so far:
mounted on 50 cal/3" AA gun typically the Mk 3, 5, 6, & 9 models during WWII.
eyepiece: coated 5.5mm per the spec sheet.
objective lens: coated - approx 45mm - my measurement.
Magnification: 6
The focal length & aperture size is not stated.
Body is nitrogen or dry air purged thru multiple ports.
The image is extremely bright and sharp with no barrel or pincushion distortion that I can see.

 

[Chris101]

Very cool! What a conversation starter. :biggrin:

Have you shot through it yet?

 

[TomP]

Sounds really nice. Lets see a pic through it, I have shot through tourist telescopes, for the fun of it, by putting a filtered lens up against the eye piece.
As heavy as that thing s you could set it on bean bags for test shot. I had a quick look at these sites, they used to list various connectors for telescopes and microscopes. A friend connected his camera by using a toilet paper tube.

http://www.scientificsonline.com/

http://www.buytelescopes.com/default.aspx

 

[Muonic]

Nice telescope. :smile:

I took some pictures through a 20x spotting scope, by simply holding the (P&S) camera up to eyepiece. It worked surprising well.

 

[J Bruja]

Very cool! What a conversation starter. :biggrin:

Have you shot through it yet?

I've shot thru other optics with a Canon 630 P&S with some success - HOWEVER - I'd like to eliminate any extraneous glass between the telescope and camera body so the P&S won't work. In the past I've been able to hook up a Wolensak 8x10 portrait lens to my Canon 550d using a camera bellows and a Firnco rubber plumbing coupling. Hmmm, I think I'll try the old Nikon D70 if I can find the battery.

https://www.adoberevel.com/v1.0/cat...9/renditions/4480db1979c481ba2d028bec7ecaacd0

 

[J Bruja]

Sounds really nice. Lets see a pic through it, I have shot through tourist telescopes, for the fun of it, by putting a filtered lens up against the eye piece.
As heavy as that thing s you could set it on bean bags for test shot. I had a quick look at these sites, they used to list various connectors for telescopes and microscopes. A friend connected his camera by using a toilet paper tube.

http://www.scientificsonline.com/

http://www.buytelescopes.com/default.aspx

Tnx for the beanbag idea !!

 

[J Bruja]

1st Photo thru the barrell

Here's a photo taken with the Mk 74 this morning.
The camera used is a Canon 550D and the lens a Tamron 28mm f.25 held up against the eyepiece. Everything was placed on a small wooden stool using one of my wife's gardening shoes for alignment. Not bad for an old piece of glass. There is vignetting with this lens which I hope to eliminate with some other lens. Any suggestions here ?

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[Chris101]

The color looks very well translated - soft, but vibrant if that makes sense. As for the vignetting, I don't really see enough to be bothered by it. Perhaps leave it to software for a fix, or if you want an optical solution, try a shorter focal length eyepiece.

 

[J Bruja]

The color looks very well translated - soft, but vibrant if that makes sense. As for the cig string, I don't really see enough to be bothered by it. Perhaps leave it to software for a fix, or if you want an optical solution, try a shorter focal length eyepiece.

Tnx for the input Chris.
Color wise, the telescope glass reproduces the colors quite well except when I switch in the filters. My intention was to find out if this thing at 18 pounds would have any useful purpose in photography. If it weren't so cumbersome it probably would. I may just haul this thing down to the range someday but I have to get some sand bags first. It was love at first sight when I came upon it and the best part is I don't have to feed it. Before I forget, the eyepiece is not interchangeable. Can you imagine what would happen if the sailors on the ships started experimenting with this gun sight !!