ukskies

@mikeDnight your sketches are always truly amazing and inspiring. The level of detail you manage to observe and sketch is clearly an art learned from many hours at the eyepiece and I have truly enjoyed seeing them not just on this thread but on many others too. I aspire to observe merely some of the finer details that you see. Your posts have been instrumental in my decision to buy an FC100 too, you're not on your AstroNash.😉

Thanks Jeremy, yes I will almost certainly buy it from FLO but I do want the double clamps.

Thanks , yes I did see that but didn't think to ask about a split. It's only Worcester so that's quite local, well as astronomy ads go!

Just been looking at these this morning on FLO and the Berlebach website and you're right Jeremy, the UNI 28 is a much better choice than the 18 and as there's very little difference in price I will go for the 28. Out of stock atm with FLO and I don't have the readies either so quite prepared to wait. I can carry on with the report and I also have a Vixen 3 leg pier mount if I need something rigid, it isn't ideal as I'd have to sit lower but between the two I can manage for a month or two.

I was hoping to get out with the scope again this evening and just after tea I went out for a look and clear skies all around. By the time I'd got my mount and tripod out it started to cloud over and 5 mins later it was raining, good job I didn't have time to set the scope up.

Thanks Jeremy, I'm not sure I need the extra height but I will consider it. Is there any other reason other than the extra height?

Thanks again Malcolm, Your scope looks lovely on the Vixen AP mount with that UNI tripod.

Thanks Mike for your suggestions and the pics. Your DZ looks lovely on that Vixen GP. I did consider a Skywatcher steel EQ5 tripod and if one came up 2nd hand I'd grab it and upgrade to a Berlbach later on but a look thro the classifieds wasn't fruitful unfortunately. I also have a Vixen pier mount which i could use but only short term as height is an issue with that one, it's really for a Newtonian

Thanks Dave, nice pics of your lovely setup too.

Hi Stu, thank you I'm pretty much sold on a UNI 18 I think.

Merry Christmas to you too Iain, yes my reason is aesthetic too, they just look right on a Berlebach. The one I've been eyeing is here. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/berlebach-tripods/berlebach-uni-18-tripod-heq5-eq6.html It's a UNI as confirmed by Jeremy.

Thanks Jeremy that's very helpful. I've been looking at the UNI 18 at FLO this morning thinking that might be the solution. Out of stock at the moment though.

Merry Christmas. The report 112 is really a photographic tripod but mine has a modified EQ5 head fitted. My original idea was to use it with a pier extension and not to extend the legs thinking it would be sturdy enough but now I don't think this is a good idea. No I wouldn't recommend the 112 for your DL having tried it. I don't know if the Report 112 is still available tbh. I think this may be the newer version. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/berlebach-tripods/berlebach-report-312-tripod.html Something sturdier is what is required and I'm in the same boat as you having to research for a suitable one however there is lots of help on SGL.

Thanks Mike, I'm not too worried tbh and yes I love the way they look too plus they are beautifully engineered.

Yes it is a Report 112 modded for EQ5/Vixen. I had my suspicions it wouldn't quite be up to the job before I tried it.

I don't think you are deranged at all Malcolm unless we all are. 🤔

Thanks Jeremy the tripod is too light I think, vibration damping is way too slow and i tap on one leg takes over 5 secs to stabilize. It does look good on the SP tho.😀

Once it was set up I thought a quick peek through it was in order as I had unkowingly lined it up with the porch window.😆 I was looking through a closed double glazed window so didn't expect much and the Baader zoom gives 92.5x on the 8mm setting. It was very dull and raining out but there are trees visible between houses opp ours and they are about 60 yds distant. I found the focus point and the detail visible on the branches was astonishing. Detail in little mould spots and bark was just breathtaking. I elevated the scope to highlight the branches against the sky but could see no false colour at all. I then felt I should try more power so fitted the 2.25 dedicated barlow to the zoom and rigged it up with the 1.25" adapter giving 208x but still I could not see any halo to the branches. The view was much darker and looked maybe a little soft but I was amazed at it given the closed window so I put the scope away again hoping for a first light this evening which according to the local forecast looked a possibility. about 7pm I had the mount and tripod in the back garden and the skies cleared so I quickly grabbed the scope and started viewing. Jupiter was starting it's descent to the horizon but was still quite high so what a start for the DF. Now in a twist of fate I had mislaid my extension reel and couldn't power the mount without it but determination had set in so I had to view Dob style. I also didn't fit the finder for this first test run in case the scope needs to be returned so even locating the target in the zoom at 24mm (30x) was a bit tricky. Jupiter looked lovely, a bit bright and washed out but the 2 main belts were immediately obvious even tho the image looked tiny. I zoomed to the 8mm setting and tho still a bit bright and washed out more detail was evident. The Galilean moons were bright points of light and I was beginning to make out little bits of detail in the equatorial belts too. I reached for the barlow and zoomed back out. after locating the planet again I played for a while on different zoom settings adjusting the focus a lot and the image was larger but no more detail was evident. There were hints of detail in the belts but as the seeing seemed a bit variable the detail wasn't visible for more than a fraction of a second, then it was gone. About 150x was the sweet spot I would say. Mars was gaining altitude all this time and was next up. No barlow ,locate Mars and gradually inceased power to 92.5x was the order of play and Immediately it appeared that I was able to make out some darker shading on the surface. I stuck the barlow in and over about 150x the shading faded so I sat a while on about 140x trying to decide if it was surface markings I was seeing or not. I now turned to Polaris for a star test with the barlow still in it took a few minutes to locate the target but once found I tightened the clutches and zooed to full. This is when I knew something was wrong! I defocused the star and the fresnel rings inside and outside of focus were identical and I do mean identical so obviously there was something wrong here, it never looks like this!. Now I wouldn't consider myself an expert at star testing but I have done a fair few over the years and I know what it should look like but this was just so perfect, like the page out of Suiters book perfect. The outer ring was brighter but the same brightness both sides of focus I had eight inner rings and they were all evenly spaced and perfectly round too. I was amazed tbh at this and as a few spots of rain hit me I decided to get the scope back indoors sharpish. In all I managed over two hours with it and I know Taks are good but heck!! In focus the airy disc looked beautiful but there appeared to be two diffraction rings around it and they were not complete but appeared broken, I imagine the seeing was causing this. I also noticed a purple halo around both Jupiter and Mars and couldn't explain this. Anyway everyone that is my first light report.

Well just after lunch I decided to get the new DF mounted and balanced. As it was raining I thought I'd build it in our lower hall.

Yes Gary I agree I could still get a DZ if I wanted to however as the DF came from RVO it's not a straightforward swap. Bearing in mind I haven't even looked through the DF yet plus it's beautiful it's here and it's 700 pounds less than the DZ I'm not planning to swap it yet.😉

What an awesome and beautiful scope that is. The images will be amazing I can't wait to see some.

Yes from owners comments the DLs are all highly regarded and I imagine due to the limited numbers produced and them being no longer available they could even become a future classic. My wish was to get a DZ but I'd waited from April and recently I was driving home every clear evening watching the solar system spectacular thro the van windscreen I finally cracked and ordered the DF with FLO still showing 60-90 days on the DZs.. On the very day the DF was delivered FLO showed stock of 2 DZs, honestly you couldn't make it up!🤦‍♂️

hi and thanks for your helpful post. Your post poses a question: Aren't FC100's beautiful, your DL looks gorgeous doesn't it and I do like the look of that Starlight Instruments focuser on it too.

Hi guys and thank you all for posting your help and advice I really appreciate the help that is available on here. The MEF focuser ,well I will want fine focus on the scope at some point but I have to budget my purchases a bit so I'm thinking that the decision of which fine focuser to choose can wait a bit. I'm not against the MEF at all and really the cost doesn't bother me as that is just a time issue. The MEF is one option and the Starlight instruments one is the other. Obviously the Tak one is favoured because it's a Tak one and is probably the way I'll go tbh because for example I wouldn't fit non BMW brake pads on my X3. I hadn't considered the more blue one so thanks for the suggestions and I will have a look at those.

Hi Dave and thanks for the advice and info I do appreciate it. Quality eyepieces are on the shopping list once budget allows. The Pentax and Morpheus are actually the ones I'm considering first, tho as I've just shelled out for the scope and a few other bits.they will have to be a future purchase. The Televue eyepieces are indeed lovely and top quality is guaranteed but heck they ain't arf expensive. Thing is I had to save for a long time to afford the scope but I can probably afford to get an eyepiece each month so that's the plan.