Back to Borobia: A Stellar Encore!

Borobia Revisited: M13, Solar Prominences, and My Toughest DSLR Mod Yet!

This weekend, we made a long-awaited return to Borobia, Spain, a place we hadn’t visited in over two years! We went with my family and our good friends Julio, Mila, and their kids, Joan and Asier. It was such a joy to be back, reconnecting with Borobia’s wonderful residents and, of course, its fantastic observatory! On the agenda: a peek at M13 through the 16” Meade (between clouds, naturally!) and some solar observing with Julio’s PST. We even spotted two beautiful prominences, which was a real treat given our star’s relatively low activity lately. Photo by Julio Corredera.

The weekend also presented a perfect opportunity to modify another DSLR: a Canon 400D. This “Baaderization” (IR filter removal) took over two hours, even with Julio’s expert help. I’d previously modified three Canon 350Ds, but this one proved to be much more intricate. The 400D comes with a piezoelectric element that vibrates a glass plate in front of the IR filter. This entire glass-filter-piezo assembly remains connected to the camera body by two delicate cables throughout the modification process. What’s more, the 400D’s filter is significantly thinner than the 350D’s, giving it a rather fragile feel. While modifying a 350D is totally doable solo, I definitely recommend having two people for a 400D mod. In the end, the 400D modification went smoothly, and I’ll be posting a tutorial soon to walk you through the steps with plenty of pictures!