Nakedgun

6 hours ago, Grump Martian said:

A brand new 30 mm Explore Scientific 82° eyepiece. Looking forward to holiday late night star gazing in Swanage in July.

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Don't drop that one on your toe, it'll cripple ya.

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Fluorite doublets - I love 'em. 

I've owned seven telescopes, currently sitting at five, and if I'm allowed to include my Kowa fluorite spotters, as well, that makes 10 (Highlanders count as two, don't they?).

No family portrait available at this time.

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Arrived from FLO yesterday (Wednesday), I did not know this Tak accessory existed until I saw an image of it on their website. 

Tak has such a plethora of bits, a photographic catalog really is beneficial to try sorting them.

I prefer setscrew 2" to 5/4" adapters over compression-ring-type models.

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We are a very small minority.

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Mmm, steamed broccoli for breakfast. Yummy!

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On 19/04/2023 at 12:35, Nakedgun said:

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Vintage pair found online in very good condition, for little money:

 

 

Mfd. by Itabashi Kogaku Kikai Seisakujo, Inc. Tokyo

 

 

The year made I'm unsure about.

 

 

No strap, but case in good shape, too.

 

 

 

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Here's another vintage find:

Like the 7x35s, these are from the plastic neckstrap era (70s?).

Leather case in pretty fair shape:

I'll keep these in the garage alongside the 7x35s for daytime targets of opportunity.

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Do you need more in-travel? Just wondering.

I cannot answer your question, directly, perhaps you could post the screw-hole separation measurement, if you know it. 

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41 minutes ago, Acrab67 said:

Hi again,

As 90% of the observations I do from home, on hard and level ground, I have replaced the steel spikes with these support bases that from my point of view are ideal, strong and economical

https://www.amazon.es/dp/B09NR8RNYS?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

 

 

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Great find, and cheaper than Berlebach's product:

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19 hours ago, Adam J said:

The first thing that annoyed me with this mount was that its not possible to put the polar scope cover in place if you actually have batteries in the holders, anyone else noticed that?

But having just had to remove the cover to tune my RA worm mesh I can tell you that its one of the worst things I have ever had to deal with, and I am well versed in activities such as astro modifying DSLRs, tuning the AZ GTI and other mounts. Its a mine field of epic proportions and makes me wonder what they were thinking. The mount looks well made and well designed from the outside but once you scratch the surface you realise the number of corners cut to make it to a cost.

SA actually mounted the Main Board on the back of the cover that you need to remove to access the worm gear assembly. This is bad because its not possible to see that the main board is located in such a way until you start trying to pull it off! 

WARNING: DO NOT TRY TO REMOVE THE COVER WITHOUT FIRST REMOVING THE MAIN BOARD FROM THE INSIDE FACE! If you do then you will likely pull connectors out all over the place and potentially damage the board as in their rush to save every penny SW have not made the cables just 3cm longer to allow you to fully remove the cover before having to unscrew the board. As such getting it off is almost impossible, but that is nothing in comparison to putting it back on again ill warn you. Even worse you cant perform common maintenance such as refreshing the lubrication to the RA worm without having to go through this.

The second thing that annoys me is that they have designed the set screw that determines the amount of pressure placed on the spring mounted RA worm in such a way that is is almost inevitable that its going to loosen off over time (the reason for having to open it in the first place). The ring that it threads into is able to rotate relative to the spur and there is sufficient friction between the two such that it will wiggle the screw from side to side every time the direction of movement of the mount is changed and it comes loose as a result. I have now added purple lock tight to mine to prevent it from doing this again others have used PTFE tape I may yet have to go back and do that if its not sufficient.

The next thing is the use of specialist nuts...who has heard of a pig nose nut? Well you will need a specialist tool to undo it so best find out, if you find yourself having to do this. If you have heard of one you will know you need a circlip spanner to undo one. Not a big deal right....well it is a big deal as this one has 1.5mm holes in it and you just try finding a tool with 1.5mm prongs.

In short this thing makes working on the AZ GTI look easy by comparison and I do not recommend that the average user attempts to tune the mount themselves as things are likely to go down hill very fast.

All was ok and its back together and working fine now, but if I had known I would have thought twice about it.

Some general advice to Skywatcher, don't attach things to covers.....people might actually want to take them off. Even if you do then allow for a little slack in the cables. 

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Adam J

 

 

 

 

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This posting provides a service to existing and/or potential users of this mount.

Photos taken during these procedures would have proven invaluable, in my view.

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38 minutes ago, Captain Scarlet said:

One of these came up, and I was curious. Nagler 11mm (de facto Type 1):

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Never looked through one, and wonder how it compares with the TV 11T6.

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7 hours ago, johnturley said:

Maybe an ES 2in 2x Barlow would fit in nicely

John

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I failed to explain I found a Meade 2" 2x tele-extender I had never used, lying in a drawer collecting dust, so that is what can be seen in the right corner of my image.

Gotta come up with something else.

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Very recently, Explore Scientific had an eyepiece sale on several of their lines. Of particular interest to me was the pricing on some of their 82° series.

Having already acquired all the 5/4" models in this line, the pricing on the 2" units pushed me to finish the set, otherwise I would not have.

Now, they're all collected in one place, but, I have a problem, as you can plainly see - an empty gap in the case. 

What to do?

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6 hours ago, Alan White said:

Postie or Parcel Farce have been with a recent purchase from @Stu

Most pleased with this and part of a side project 

 

I forgot how slim these are, so a pleasant surprise

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My first Berlebach Report came with that style tray, and I was always stressed about attaching/detaching it due to the force required. 

Sold it before I could break thing, fortunately.

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Not a new scope, but the new accessory - Extender 1.7xR -  transforms the 60mm f/8.8 to f/15.

Adding the Extender Q 1.6x to the optical train makes it f/24

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FOA-60 accessory:

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DHL whisked this to the west coast in just a week's time.

I tested it today, using AA's Herschel wedge.

It does transmit at 540nm (green) light, however, I found it did not enhance contrast to any noticeable degree, using a variety of ep and mags.

I will try again another time, but it seems unlikely the view will change, we'll see.

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A-P 10" Mak for planets.

For deep sky, I'd have to move.

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Vintage pair found online in very good condition, for little money:

Mfd. by Itabashi Kogaku Kikai Seisakujo, Inc. Tokyo

The year made I'm unsure about.

No strap, but case in good shape, too.

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4 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

A new Lunt60! Finally here after an anxious ten week wait. It was cloudy all day but clear now at night, ironically first light for this solar scope will be in night mode for night targets 😂

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Great timing - the Solar display is simply delicious, currently.

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8 hours ago, Marvin Jenkins said:

It’s blue! What! How! Why! I have never seen or seen a photo of a blue camera.

My obviously mundane world has been turned on its head… a blue camera!!

Marvin

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The K-50 was mfd. from 2013 to 2016, and was available in a variety of color choices. One could choose the body color and rubber grip portions separately, and if memory serves, the total number of combinations was something like 130 different possibilities.

Here, my wife's first K-50 in "Imperial Storm Trooper" livery:

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Mfd. by Pentax from 1991 till 2004, the FA 50mm f/1.7 is a highly rated lens from that era, and was delivered to me from KEH, a popular used camera gear seller in the U.S.

I will add this to my Pentax F 17-28 & FA 135 for a three-lens kit with my wife's former backup K-50 camera, which I took over after she got something else.

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13 hours ago, Littleguy80 said:

Love is blind and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. This thread is place to share your most loved scope, not necesarily your best scope. It can be anything from that premium scope you wanted for years and was everything you dreamed it woud be to the scope you had as a kid and loved even though it was terrible. The only rule is for this thread is that all entries are based on love. Any posts that look scientific and well reasoned should be removed by the moderators  

To gets things going, here's my own entry. Well, actually, my heart is held by two scopes. You never forget your first love and my SkyWatcher 130M stole my heart completely. It was picked on the sole criteria that it could show me Saturn's rings. It was a few weeks before I really got going with it. To start with I though I was supposed to do all navigation with the slow motion controls! Cupid's arrow struck the night that I first saw Jupiter and it's 4 moons. I was completely blown away that I could see the moons!! My obsession rapidly grew and just 3 months later it gave me my first view of the Veil. I've been hooked on astronomy ever since. My second love is my 10" dob, it opened up the sky to me even more. It's shown me shadow transits on Jupiter and even the fabled Horse Head nebula. I still remember walking around the clubhouse at my astro society's dark site with a silly grin on my face after seeing the HH. I couldn't quite believe I'd seen it. Treasured memories from much loved scopes. My enjoyment and passion for astronomy didn't change with the increased aperture. It just increased the possiblities in terms of what I could see. 

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Please, don't ask me to choose, too painful to contemplate.

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18 hours ago, Paul M said:

 

 There's no such thing as bad weather, you just have the wrong hobby? 

 

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Better to laugh about our lot, otherwise the tears won't stop.

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7 hours ago, Marian M said:

Hello all!

 

I am planning an ultra grab and go system with the following setup- 70 ED or APO, TS AZT6 without counterweight and a Manfrotto photo kind of tripod. All together max 8-10kg, ready to go in 2 min, packed in a small bag.

Currently I use the TS 102 FPL53, mostly with binoviewer (awesome scope, awesome combination) and still have 120/600 SW, either on AZEQ6 or on TS AZ5 Alt-Az (Skytee). I am planning to sell my Mak127, which seems redundant after the Apo 102 acquisition, and go towards the above ultra G&G combination. Probably at a later stage, when budget will allow, a bigger apo or a C8.

 

Sometimes it seems to me that I am a little bit lazy  and miss some on spot observations. I have the feeling that is going to take too much time to pack the 102 APO, tripod, eyepieces etc and move to the car, or just to get out from the building to a better observation place. Plus the fact that I have to do minimum 2 trips for all the stuff.

 

I have read also that a 80ED is a little too much for the TS AZT6, hence the call to stay with 70mm aperture. 70mm aperture will lead to 2.2 kg + a small Baader prism + some SLVs or Paradigms, all together up to 2.5 Kg. The 80 ED will have around 0.7-1kg more and a bigger length- 15cm more. All these seems small but i really want to stay with the most minimal configuration to say so- AZT6 + photo tripod

 

The big question is what should I buy- the ED or the FPL53 (also in a small budget  )? My only reference is the 120/600 achro, where at kind of 60x the image is becoming terrible and the 102 FPL53, which is shining up to 300x, without any image brakedown or false colors, absolutely phenomenal with Morpheus or SLV and the MB bino.

 

Is it worth spending close to 600 EUR instead of 370 EUR for FPL53? Have you done any comparison between the 2 glasses? I am just curious if the ED only can go up to let's say 100X- 120X, whatever the 70mm diameter and exit pupil will allow, but with a pure, clean and crisp view like an APO, without false colors or lack of snap on focus. Or just to wait more time for the bigger budget to be ready and FPL53?

 

So friends your experiences and tips are much than appreciated ...

 

Many thanks in advance!

Teleskop-Express: TS-Optics 70 mm F6 ED Travel Refractor with modern 2" RAP Focuser

Teleskop-Express: TS-Optics Doublet SD Apo 72 mm f/6 - FPL53 / Lanthanum Glass Objective

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Wrong thread?

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Nice report, and welcome to the "DC" chapter of the TAK club. Your enthusiasm mirrors the experience of many first-time owners, myself included.

The TAK finder quality notwithstanding, your photo of straight-through finder usage is why I had to change out mine to a generic RACI,  just can't contort like that, anymore.

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