Can telescopes be used..

[icicle]

as a zoom lens for taking land pictures?
and what type of telescopes do people use for there camera.
And yes I also would be taking moon shots.
Oh what would I need to attach my canon xt dslr to it.

[A.M.D.A.]

as a zoom lens for taking land pictures?
and what type of telescopes do people use for there camera.
And yes I also would be taking moon shots.
Oh what would I need to attach my canon xt dslr to it.

#1. Yes, telescopes can be used with cameras. I have even attached a pair of binoculars to the front of a fixed-focus digital P&S, and it worked OK. Usually, the best are the so-called "spotting scopes", generally used for birding.

There are trade-offs when taking photos through any kind of add-on lens, which is usually loss of sharpness/chromatic aberrations/vignetting. However, if you don't mind this, a quality spotting-scope can be capable of producing good close ups of distant subjects. Spotting-scopes are also much more affordable than a true telephoto lens, and I have seen dramatic bird shots published in magazines.

#2. What type of telescopes/spotting scopes? This depends on several factors:

~How much magnification you want. (ex. 12x, 15x, 20x).
~How much you can afford to pay. (The quality ones aren't cheap).
~Whether you want a lighter, compact one - or a larger, heavier and bulkier model.
~Lastly, if the scope you are looking at fits onto the camera. Different cameras have different lens diameters.

#3. To attach your Rebel XT, you will almost certainly need a special adapter tube to go between camera lens/scope lens, which also depends on what specific scope model you plan using.

[icicle]

Thank you.

[jorgemonkey]

Yeap. My dad used to do that all the time with his telescope & Nikon FM camera. It gave him a 1200 F8 lens or something like that.

[SmartWombat]

Yes, but more usually done with a P&S for digiscoping.
It can get terrific magnification, but requires a very steady tripod.

[another view]

It can get terrific magnification, but requires a very steady tripod.

Really, really sturdy tripod... It's amazing how much a 600mm lens jumps around even on a big heavy tripod. With something like this, any type of tripod might not work. Maybe building some type of support that will hold both ends of it would be better than just in the middle.