John

Third time lucky !

They are wonderful scopes. I have the Tak FC-100DL

Excellent eyepiece sets and welcome to the forum McNewt

I have similar sets with similar overlaps. I tend to use the 100's in my 12" dob whereas the 1.25" set get used with the refractors.

20 hours ago, DirkSteele said:

Still have not managed first light yet as real life commitments have gotten in the way, but just testing out balance in my basement the other day for my new APM LZOS 130mm f/9 triplet. 

I hope it will see its first starlight in September. So if we suddenly suffer from monsoons and hurricanes next month, you know why!

Lovely Matthew

Interesting to see how the design of the 130 F/9.2 has changed from 2006 when mine (snipped photo below) was made until yours in 2018. I believe the objective cell design is just the same from other photos you have posted but the externals have changed more. My scope is the LW version with the Kruppax tube and 2" FT focuser. I can see that you have the 3" (APM ?) focuser and is it an aluminum tube ?.

Production volumes have been low with, according to Markus, 114 being the total run of completed scopes over the life of the model. A few more of the objectives and cells have been made which I guess is why your serial number is in the 120's ? I believe that many more of the 130mm F/6's were made but they appeal to the imagers more I reckon.

Hope you get first light with it ASAP

8 minutes ago, DirkSteele said:

Technically it was Rupert from Astrograph but he played postman. He delivered my new APM LZOS 130mm f/9 triplet.

 

And soon an actual postman will be bringing a new scope and mount to review for Astronomy Now. Always exciting to have a new scope in the house. It will be two at the same time.

Can you tell us what the review scope is Matthew - or is it confidential ?

Nice further installment Chris

I've got Lambda Cygni with my 130mm triplet and, when the seeing is very good, I have done it with my ED120. When it's not quite split the effect is rather like a tiny snowman with the dimmer secdondary star appearing like a dimmer, smaller, spot stuck on the side of the primary.

It will be high on the list when I get my next example of the SW ED150.

I agree with you re: the non-rotating focuser being an annoyance, especially when the scope is equatorially mounted.

10 minutes ago, guillaume320 said:

Good evening,

I'm interested in getting a Lunt 20.  I've been hesitating between this one and the Ethos 21 for wide field views. For me the advantage of the Lunt 20 (except the price), is the weight which is much closer to the Ethos 13 I already have.  So balancing would potentially be much less of a headache.

I would like to know if anyone has used the Lunt 20 in an F4 scope and could comment if this eyepiece is as well corrected at the edges of the field of view as the E21?

Thanks and regards,

Guillaume

I've not done this comparison although I have compared the Myriad 20mm 100 with the Ethos 21mm in my F/5.3 dobsonian. What I still don't know is whether the Lunt 20 is the same optically as the Myriad 20 ?. Here is my review of the Myriads anyway:

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/236613-skywatcher-myriad-100-110-degree-apparent-field-eyepieces/

Also another member here has compared the Lunt with the Ethos I believe:

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/295440-lunt-20mm-hdc/

Will you be using a coma corrector with the F/4 newtonian ?

I feel you will certainly need one using 100 degree eyepieces with it !

Happy to oblige Matthew

Some interesting reading if you have not already seen them:

APM's contract spec with LZOS for objective lenses (it's in the public domain on APM's website so not confidential):

APMApo-Linsen-Spezifikationen.pdf

Also some notes of thoughts from Thomas Back on his LZOS projects with quite a bit on the 130mm F/9 triplet:

tmbFAQ-2.pdf

Next step a 254mm TMB designed LZOS triplet Matthew ? 

28 minutes ago, Owmuchonomy said:

I’m interested how you get on with such a wide field. Until recently I owned an ED 120 and the wide field view using my ES 24mm 82’ was nice but the field curvature was quite apparent. So it was necessary to adjust focus for the outer parts of the view. The ED 150 behaves identically to that using the same EP. Is this normal in your view for a doublet?

I was using the Aero ED 40mm (or a clone of it at least). It works really well in my refractors and seems to have quite a flat field. Much lighter than my Ethos 21 or Nagler 31 too.

Good stuff Chris

The O-III works wonders on the Veil - I was observing it last night with my ED120 and a 40mm SWA eyepiece - 3 degree true field and some superb views of the E & W Veil and Pickerings Wisp.

Big refractors are really good DSO scopes.

11 minutes ago, GordonD said:

Thanks very much for taking the time to put these reports together, Chris. They are really helpful. The comparison to other scopes always makes it more concrete I think, too.

John,  out of interest, how or where do you get that screenshot from? Looks really useful.

Gordon

I found it laying around the web somewhere

I've no imaging abilities at all I'm afraid

Here is what I said about the Nirvana's eye cup in my review:

"The Nirvana 28 is also heavy and feels even bulkier than the Nagler but is
reassuringly solidly built and has 2 rubber grip rings. The eye relief feels the same as
the Nagler but I found that the wide, slightly dished profile of the top of the eyepiece,
even with the large, thick and rather inflexible eyecup (it’s almost a “face cup” at
75mm in diameter!) twisted down, needed a different technique to get my eye close
enough to the eye lens to take in the whole FoV. To begin with my nose (a little larger
than average I suppose!) seemed to be getting in the way and affecting where I could
place my eye - though this is hardly the eyepiece’s fault! Turning my head a little to
one side had the desired affect and this soon becomes second nature."

I can appreciate that this design is not the best feature of the eyepiece and may cause folks to seek alternative designs. There is more choice available today then there was when I wrote the review

It looks fresh off the printer Neil

Good stuff Chris

Did you notice the central star of M27 ? - I can get that, just, with the ED120 on a really good night.

I think that star close to M57 is mag 13:

I tried binoviewing with my TMB/LZOS 130 triplet yesterday evening. First time that I've managed to get properly merged image with binoviewers and managed to reach focus withouth a barloe element in place. Whether I'll get bitten by the BV bug I don't know but it was fun

There are quite a few threads on the Meade 390/395 on the Cloudynights forum:

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/42212-meade-390395-performance-opinions-please/

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/395165-meade-390-90mm-refractor-old-or-classic/

Mixed opinions.

Either way, they can only be bought used now and don't turn up often here in the UK.

Neil English (reviewer in UK astro magazines and author of several books on telescopes) tried a Skywatcher Evostar 90mm. He seemed quite impressed with it:

http://neilenglish.net/the-skywatcher-evostar-90mm-f10-achromat/

I'm very glad that yours has a good star test Chris. Nice introductory report - I hope it continues to please

The 2nd ED150 that I have been sent had better packing, including no nasty plastic strapping to cut into the box, I'm pleased to say.

The Skywatcher has a better mount (just about !) and is less expensive.

Nothing much between an F/10 and an F/11.1 in chinese refractors.

If I had £150 to spend on a 1st scope I think I'd be looking for a 150 F/8 dobsonian on the used market.

Busy here today. The courier delivered another Skywatcher ED150 and took the original one back to be checked out. Just as well that it worked out that way (thanks FLO !) because two fully packed 6" F/8 refractors take up a lot of room !

41 minutes ago, Louis D said:

The main downside to it for me relative to the older 30mm ES-82 mushroom top that I own is that the 28mm WO/Nirvana's recessed eye lens vastly reduces eye relief for eyeglass wearers.  Why even have a twist up eyecup if you're going to start by removing 5mm or more of eye relief in the fully down position?  The 24mm APM UFF does the same thing, so I'm taking a pass on it as well.

Depends how critical eye relief is to you. Not all of us wear glasses while observing. For those that do, fortunately there are other choices

On 01/08/2018 at 20:28, cloudsweeper said:

Nice line-up Neil!  I'd be interested to hear what you think about the 13mm (in Deutschland gemacht, I notice).

Doug.

Nice eyepiece but made in the far east I believe. APM, the brander, is a German company though.

Hope you enjoy them all Neil

10 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Thanks John.

I've just stripped the focuser and cleaned out the gunk and readjusted it. It's nothing exceptional;, but is now quite smooth.

PM sent

Very nice eyepiece. Close to Nagler 31 performance.

I compared one to the Nagler and Pentax XW 30 way back in 2009:

The egonomics of the large eyecup can bother some people I think but build and optics are very good.