Spotting flies on ships windscreens??

[E. Vroom]

Rozenburg/Rotterdam spotting hill. Never seen anything like it.
Seems to me you can spot a fly on a ships windscreen at a 5 miles
distance with this.

[Robert Smith]

Next thing to happen is that an overzealous bureaucrat will think this looks like a rocket launcher, raising the terrorist alarm, forcing the port authority to shut down the place. End of Shipspotting .....

Rgds,
Robert

 

[SteKrueBe]

Next thing to happen is that an overzealous bureaucrat will think this looks like a rocket launcher, raising the terrorist alarm, forcing the port authority to shut down the place.

That's maybe not to far from reality. In 2004 we berthed our container vessel in Port Everglades. We passed the QM2 which made her inauguration visit and I stood in the wing with pilot and started to make some pics from the new passenger vessel. A minute later i was ordered by the USCG via VHF to stop making photos for reasons of terroristic hazards. Strange situation, because there were hundreds of passengers on the other vessel making pics of us!
So long,
Stefan

[Jimmy Christie]

Anybody actually know what that particular piece of gear is?  It looks more like an astronomical reflecting telescope than a piece of photographic equipment.  The guy facing the camera seems to be holding something that's attached to the "scope" via a cable but I can't make out what it is.

J

[Ship's Cat]

Hi Jimmy

It is certainly an astronomical telescope. It looks like a 25cm Newtonian (or one of the variants of) reflector, which is a type very popular among amateur astronomers. I had a very similar one I used for astronomy a few years ago. It looks as if there is a second one on the right of the picture. As astronomical telescopes go, even for amateurs, that's a small one but overkill for watching ships!

Let's hope no overzealous officials or 'concerned citizens' saw that as anything other than an oversized (for shipspotting!) telescope...trouble is, in these sad times you never know. 

[Jimmy Christie]

Hi Jimmy

It is certainly an astronomical telescope. It looks like a 25cm Newtonian (or one of the variants of) reflector, which is a type very popular among amateur astronomers. I had a very similar one I used for astronomy a few years ago. It looks as if there is a second one on the right of the picture. As astronomical telescopes go, even for amateurs, that's a small one but overkill for watching ships!

Let's hope no overzealous officials or 'concerned citizens' saw that as anything other than an oversized (for shipspotting!) telescope...trouble is, in these sad times you never know. 

... and presumably you have to watch your ships upside down! 

Are you still taking photos around the Solent and Soton?

Jimmy

[E. Vroom]

Thanks for the comments all.
An astronomical telescope, seems most likely. Still what where the guys looking at by daytime in a horizontal direction. Furthermore they were looking land-inward down the new waterway.
Would such a telescope capture the whole waterway? And, yes there was something like a computer attached to it. So they might make some still images with that?
By the way, there's no second telescope on the right. That's a bench.

I'm not too worried about the place being shut down. It's a public place open to all, and above all, this is the Netherlands, you would not encounter any problems taking pictures easily. Though I can imagine you get to be send away near enclosed terrains by security guards.

[Ship's Cat]

Hi Jimmy

It is certainly an astronomical telescope. It looks like a 25cm Newtonian (or one of the variants of) reflector, which is a type very popular among amateur astronomers. I had a very similar one I used for astronomy a few years ago. It looks as if there is a second one on the right of the picture. As astronomical telescopes go, even for amateurs, that's a small one but overkill for watching ships!

Let's hope no overzealous officials or 'concerned citizens' saw that as anything other than an oversized (for shipspotting!) telescope...trouble is, in these sad times you never know. 

... and presumably you have to watch your ships upside down! 

Are you still taking photos around the Solent and Soton?

Jimmy

Hi Jimmy, yes I am (my upgraded website's in my profile and sig, if you're interested in taking a look). I'm glad you're back in business with a new site.

Yes, the ships would be upside down, you'd have to stand on your head to read their names.  However, you can buy an erecting prism for most telescopes. I used one on a small Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope I had.

E. Vroom - of course, it's a bench. I hadn't scrolled the picture along far enough to see it properly!