johninderby

Hitec is rewriting the current driver to work properly with 64 bit third party imaging apps and should be ready early next week. The problem is that while the current driver works with 32 and 64 bit Win 10 Ascom doesn’t recognise it as being compatible although it actually is. . 

But anyway the Hitec focus works fine with the 32 bit version of Firecapture. Basic focuser control is a little box in the side panel on the screen. Can open more detaled control settings.

In that case it’s the one I would go for. Such a nice eyepiece to use and optically rivals a good ortho eyepiece in performance on HA.

The Pentax XF is by a little bit the best HA zoom eyepiece, very sharp and contrasty and very small amd lightweight. Would be my first chpice for an HA zoom if price didn’t come into it.

However the eyepiece is complete rubbish for regular night time observing. Just plain horrible. So much distorsion it just isn’t usable.

So as a dedicated HA zoom the Pentax XF is great but only as an HA eyepiece. The distortion that makes it useless at night has no noticeable effect with HA.

The rear cover is very thick plastic. Seems up to the job. The black SCT connector bits are aluminium though. Rear plate of the scope is metal.

7 minutes ago, sloz1664 said:

Just a thought, can you bin cmos chips ?

Steve

Some info from Altair on binning.

https://cameras.altairastro.com/2017/09/15/how-does-binning-work-with-cmos-cameras/

Jupiter was the first thing I looked at. 🙂

Was surprised by the amount of detail I could see. Considering how low Jupiter is at the moment image was clear and had very good contrast. Used a Baader neodymium filter. 

Focuser mod to the Bresser 127 mak

While I find the focuser works well I didn’t like the slop in the shaft and the knob wasn’t the best either. There is no bearing where the shaft passes through the hole in the rear cover so the shaft does flop around quite a bit so I decided to fit a bearing. Got a suitable flanged ball raced bearing that would fit the shaft. Drilled out the hole in the cover to 12mm and then filed it out nearly to the bearing diameter of 12.65mm making sure it would be a tight press fit. Decided to fit the rubber knob cover off the Skymax 180. Found a 14mm diameter motor shaft coupling to fit to the shaft and then the ribber cover was a tight push fit. 

Much nicer focuser knob and zero wobble. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

The rear cover is simply held on to the backplate by three screws and slides off. While the back was off fitted a new finder foot on the “other side”. 

Take sticker out of box, look at it, return to box and that’s about it. 😁

58 minutes ago, bluesilver said:

Some good information there,  not sure i would dismantle a new scope myself though.

Was looking at the Tele Vue Star Diagonals Everbrite 1.25inch

Seam to look like a reasonable Diagonal,  but i am also guessing that you would need some sort of adaptor to get the two to connect together.

 

For a 1.25” diagonal would go with the regular Baader T2 prism diagonal. Works well with a mak and can either be used with the standard 1.25” nosepiece and a 1.25” SCT visual back or a T2 to SCT adapter. Can also be fitted with the helical fine focuser which you can see in the photos.

https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/baader-prism-diagonal-t-2-90-with-focusing-eyepiece-holder-and-125-nosepiece.html

Don’t think the actual aperture has changed at all. Have you noticed though that the old gold tube versions sell for quite a bit less second hand than the newer black versions.

Actually while Bresser and Meade were linked for a few years Bresser and Meade parted company years ago and Bresser Is now a totally seperate company. The Bresser maks are sourced in China and also sold under a few brand names. 

And more frustrating because they have a valid excuse.  Face it the weather gods are against you. 😁🤣😂

Just cloudy here. It was supposed to be thinderstorms but now downgraded to 60% chance of thundery showers and light winds from 3:00 to 6:00.

Thunderstorms are supposed to end early morning so shouldn’t be a problem. 🤞🏻🙏🏼

Think I need one of these umbrellas. 🤔😁

I have flocked my 180 which does make things a bit blacker though.

Thunderstorms forecast here tonight. All that hot air coming up from the south = thunderstorms. About 32C (90f) today here but getting hotter later in the week. In London expected to be about 37C (99f) on Thursday. 

Zero problems with light scattering with my Skymax 180 and a good mirror diagonal. Just not a problem. I use a 2” SCT diagonal as I already had one. Never use 2” eyepieces in it. 

I have one of the Baader T2 prisms but find no advantage to using it on the 180. I use on my little 127 mak where I want to keep the weight down.

Clear blue skies, solar scope at the ready and it’s too flippin hot to use it. 😩

I’ve retreated to the bedroom as it has air con and watching TV with a cold drink to hand. 👍🏻

Sad to hear about Chris Kraft passing away. 

Many years ago in the very early days of NASA he shared an office with my father. Don’t remember him that well as I was just a little kid at the time but do remember he was afraid of our German sheppard when he came over for dinner.

Never knew exactly what they were working on but suspect it was more on the military side as my father had to have top level military security clearance as aell as FBI clearance. 

Weather was too hot for my mum though and the doctor advised her health was at risk so we left. Thoughts of what might have been.

I’m not a fan of removing the baffle. It’s there to reduce stray light so what little you might gain in reducing central obstruction you lose in susceptibility to problems with stray light. It costs money for the manufacturer to fit the baffle so if it wasn’t needed they would save a few pence by not fitting it in the first place.

I get the feeling that some people that have done the mod think it makes a big improvement because they’ve gone to the trouble of removing it. Just read a post on CN of someone who refitted the baffle and couldn’t tell the difference.

Good little read on diagonals from someone who knows a thing or two about optics. 👍🏻

https://www.cloudynights.com/articles/cat/articles/optical-theory/diagonals-prisms-vs-mirrors-r79

It very much depends on the particular scope and in particular it’s focal length. Some scopes do work better with a top quality prism and some don’t. Not something to worry about really and it’s more important that the diagonal be accurately made. 

Lots of arguments on CN on this issue.

Yes the diagonal is the typical plastic cheapie one. I’m using a Baader T2 prism. The scope has a standard SCT thread on the back. The baffle tube is just under 28mm diameter.

I’ve been playing around with different focus knobs. I’m about to fit a flanged bearing where the focus shaft passes through the rear cover and also fit the rubber knob off a Skymax 180. Details to be posted when the bits get here.

Mainly on lunar and Jupiter so far but impressed with this little scope. Have owned a Celestron 127 and a Skywatcher 127 mak in the past so have something to compare it with.

The full aperture does give it that tiny bit more resolution and with the longer focal length the optics seem just a bit sharper with better contrast. It’s not a very big improvement but it is a noticeable improvement. 

So it’s a more expensive scope than the Skymax but you are getting a slightly better scope. Lots of cheap second hand Skymax 127s around but very few second hand Bressers.