The Crayford telescope focuser design – developed in 1971 by John Wall and named after the Crayford Manor House astronomical society – has a number of important advantages over rack-and pinion and can be home built out of wood by almost anybody with a bit of patience and the right tools at hand. I designed this focuser specifically to carry the weight of a Nikon D7100 camera on prime focus (± 800 gr), which is considerably heavier than even the largest eyepieces. So far, it is holding up admirably. more »

The Nikon F-Mount was launched with the Nikon F camera in 1959 and has remained virtually unchanged since, making it the only lens mount still in production over 5 decades after its introduction. The camera mount comes essentially in 3 flavors: F, AI-S and AF, with some minor adaptations for particular cameras, mostly the digital entry-level models, which feature 2 extra screws and the minimum aperture confirmation notch, discussed later on. more »

Fill-in flash is useful in many situations, even if we only have the built-in flash at hand. Even though an external flash offers a wide range of additional options and is recommended to achieve more professional results, the built-in flash is useful in many situations and can be slightly more versatile if we either make or buy an accessory called flash diffuser, which has the objective to “soften” the light. more »

Can I use manual focus lenses on my Nikon DSLR? Yes, you can! Virtually all Nikkor lenses produced since the introduction of AI in 1977 can be mounted and used on virtually all Nikon cameras produced since 1977. more »