MZack

Hi Thought I'd share my first attempt at sketching the full moon with binoculars. This is through my 7x50 Fujinons mounted on a parallogram mount. October 11 2022 Managed to capture the main maria, although I think Crisium is a little oversized!

Quite possibly. This is the prototype that was in the 2010 Astronomy Now write up. I have a copy of the article.

I managed a first session a couple of nights ago albeit under hazy conditions. Superb crisp views of the moon low in the north east. Quick iPhone 7 shot and a sketch of Jupiter from my log book attached. Did a few double stars in Aquila too. Trying out my different eyepieces to see how they each perform. My old volcano top 18mm Orthoscopic was a clean and clear view and bettered the TV 19mm Panoptic. My APM UFF eyepieces were just as good with a wider field of view. More observations to come.. weather pending. Best. Malcolm.

That brass version is absolutely beautiful. Is it the 4 inch?

I’m delighted to add that a while ago this summer I purchased 001 from Dave complete with the box Richard made. It is in my observatory shown here sitting on an old Irving tripod mounted on an AYO Alt Az with encoders. I have also mounted it on an APM fork mount also with encoders. Needless to say it’s performing really well and I’ve recently replaced the 100mm Skywatcher tube rings it came with, with a pair of 105mm TS Optics CNC rings.

Thanks Mike. That’s very helpful. I’ve a TV panoptic 19mm but other than the wider FOV my 18mm volcano top ortho seemed to present a tidier view.

Hi @Dave1 yes, Mark did put it on Cloudy Nights as well. It’s a 3 inch and a real joy to use. I took it up to my local society for a Lunar observing evening and it was one of the stars of the show. One member felt it out performed a 120mm modern F8 refractor standing alongside which was nice to hear. I’d add to the posts about how important a sturdy mount and tripod are to the whole set up. Lots of discussion about the quality of older lenses but they need good support to bring out the best in them. I mentioned I found old orthos perform well, has anyone had any particular experiences with modern brands? malcolm

Hi. Just seen this thread, may be a bit late but I too own a classic refractor, an F13 HN Irving as well. I’ve owned it since a teenager in 1979 and had it refurbished and cleaned up by Mark Turner at Moonraker as well. The original lens seemed ok but since “upgraded” with an even older achromatic from Broadhurst and Clarkson estimated to be from around the 1940s. Great on double stars and the moon. Modern eps do well but I still love my volcano orthos. Seems like there are a good number of keen users of the old ‘uns out there!

I have several makes but my favourite brand is Fujinon. My 10x70 pair are very flat almost to the edge and show tremendous views of the major clusters. I've also a pair of rubber armoured 7x50s which are heavy but superb at night and daytime. The lighter Mariner 7x50 are also very good but have smaller eyepieces. The 8x32s are my daytime choice. Most of the time I use the 10x70s on the Orion Parrallogram Mount as the eye relief is excellent and they have large eyepieces. They cost around £500 when new about 5 years ago and today retail around £700-£900 but compared to Zeiss and Leica prices they are very good value. At the lower price end of day around the £100 or below mark I found the old Meade 9x63s amazingly good with large eyepieces and eye relief. These are now made by Bresser whose 8x56 aren't bad either. Malcolm.