F15Rules

I agree. Any proper ED scope should show much less CA than the Tal 100RS. However, sharpness and resolution could be better in the Tal, depending on the figure and polish of both lenses. Dave

In defence of the Tal 100RS, I think I have owned 6 or 7 over the past 10 years and have never had a bad one. I also had a 125R which was a peach. But with their venture into "Apo-land", ie the 125 Apolar, they do seem to have got it badly wrong. But I blame their UK distributor as much for that...if you are a distributor selling equipment that you know has travelled 1000's of miles overland and is going to sell at (originally) c£1500 per scope, why would you not open up each unit to check it over before re-selling it? It could well be that the scopes left Russia in good order but were mishandled en route- in which case if OVL had bothered to check them, they would have immediately spotted things such as the broken element that John reported on his test sample. I can't imagine FLO doing business like that.. Dave

Lovely collection:-) Dave

Lovely gaggle of francs set off nicely by the ship's funnel in the foreground:-)...(only joking, looks like a 6" or 8" F8 Newt? Can we have some more info? Dave

Pps..and I should add that Tal 100s come/came with some of the best accessories ever bundled with a new scope: superb finder scope with helical focusing, a really decent, if industrial diagonal, and in my view a Tele Vue quality (optically) 25mm plossl..only the 6.3mm plossls was what I'd call fairly average, and all these items so much better than the stock Synta ones supplied with skywatcher fracs:-) Dave

If you really want a "new" 100RS, I'm sure there are a few in stock at the lesser known dealers.. I say "new" as I've seen a few of the later scopes (and bought one myself) that were all built in 2011 according to their manuals' quality sign off page (they used to print it as "Date of Slushing" - whatever slushing means!).So, in reality I doubt whether any truly recent build 100RS's have reached the UK for some years, they are mostly new old stock that's been sitting in an Optical Vision warehouse. And, for me, there is the root of the problem (actually, three roots):- 1) Sloppy Tal QC allowing annoying faults to get through, such a scratches, uneven paint, industrial build is fine, faults on new gear are not. 2) Lousy customer contact with end users, no customer satisfaction surveys, no concept of marketing to "make what we can sell", but rather to " sell what we can make ". This truth is evidenced by Tal's seeming inability to research the UK distributor market as.. 3)if they had, they would have ditched OV as a distributor long ago and appointed one who gives tuppence for the end user, who answers emails etc I've often thought that if Tal had supported someone like our own Andy H, genuine Tal fan and all round guru on all things Tal - and a really good guy to boot! - to repesent them in the UK and distribute their products, they could have sold some real volume here. Sadly, I fear much of the goodqill towards Tal that was evident 6 or 7 years ago has now evaporated and the chinese producers have gleefully stepped in - in fairness with some great products, such as the ED100 and the Altair Starwave/Lyra F11. For what it's worth I've had a few RS100s and liked them a lot. I also had a Lyra F11 and optically it had a slight edge, probably just being F11 rather than Tals F10, but build quality was well above the Tal, no question. I for one will be very sad if they have really gone though :-(.. for some years they brought good quality optics to us for very reasonable prices. Dave

Wow! I'm in love! Fancy swapping for a nice Bresser Messier AR127l?? Dave

Hi Roy, Can you Binoview without a barlow now the tube is shorter? I find the CJZ 10mm orthos (which are superb on moon and planets) do eat up in focus. You have a real one-off scope there:-). Jules, sadly the D&G (Andromeda) has gone, she just got to unwieldy for me and I couldn't afford an EQ6 to mount her properly. The good news is that she was bought by an SGL member who for the moment prefers anonymity..but he is delighted with the scope, and has the EQ6 that the scope really needs. I'm sure he will share his thoughts on the scope when he is ready:-). I now have my Vixen ED103s all Japan built Apo as a replacement. The new scope is all I hoped, with superb optics and build. But using the Vixen has also really brought home to me how good the D&G is..apart from the very slight CA (which is effectively absent on n the ED103), the contrast and quality of the views is right up there..and of course the D&G is a full 5" aperture versus the 4" of the ED103, so does go deeper. Dave

Hi Roy The scope looks superb:). I'm assuming its the same Prinz originally that you bought from me a while back? These old Prinz Circle K objectives are so good, they are worth investing in,in the same way Neil English invested in the Moonrakering of the Meade 339 (Topic 80mm F15, Towa lens) which I now have in my care. Congratulations on a lovely project:-). Dave

My newly acquired Vixen ED103s, see separate thread on this forum for more details:-) Dave

Beautiful FS102:-) The obsy isn't bad either! Dave

Lovely looking scope Derek. I think that the whole Unitron thing has got silly (and I speak as a fan who once owned a 4" folded F15 and stupidly sold it!). Every week you see parts and accessories selling on eBay at silly prices, often well in excess of their modern equivalents. I actually think the optics are good (they were on the two I had, anyway), but at the end of the day its a 60mm - a large finder nowadays. That said, the scopes deserve their place in history, and I'm among many amateurs who owe their interest in astronomy to Sir Patrick and a 60mm F15 frac:-). And they do look nice! Dave

Nice scope Dave! Do you have a dewshield for it? Methinks you will need one with all that glass! Dave

Not made of brass nowadays Phil...but they cost a lot of it!!:-) Dave

Jonn (Triton), Looks to.me as though a nice ES or Morpheus could fill that space..:-). Have it delivered to work. Dave

Hi Indibush I envy you, sounds like you perhaps make your living from music? I just like banging out a few power chords to relieve the stress of daily living, haven't played in a band since I was a young man in the 70s though.. Watching the skies and good rock music. What could be better??:-) Dave

I reckon Indibush is quirky cos he plays a Rickenbacker (nice avatar!), and is clearly fastidious about the neatness of his eyepiece box! Love it.. Dave

Thanks John . Very modest set, but it's a work in progress and I'm getting there. Yes, I do like orthos - a lot - but I've been giving a lot of thought to my eyepieces in recent months and I've also challenged myself to look at some newer variants that I've not tried before. I think the start of things was that I now have just 3 scopes, all of them with 2" focusers that can take the heavier weight of some of the newer widefield eps. The Moonlight on my D&G positively eats big eyepieces and they do help move the balance point of my long ota tubes back a bit, so lifting the eyepiece end off the ground more. I was thinking back to the only time I have owned a truly "premium branded" eyepiece: it was a Nagler T6 13mm and it was (and is) the best eyepiece I have ever looked through. I wasn't able to keep it sadly, but I won't ever forget the views and in recent months I was struck by how well regarded the Maxvision SWAs were and how reasonably priced. I bought a couple to try, the 16mm and 20mm. I was astounded at how good they are, and how sharp across the wide 68deg field - on axis I cannot distinguish between an ortho and the Maxvisions. I realise that my long scopes are very forgiving on eyepiece edge of field sharpness, but nonetheless, very impressive. So, I let the 16mm go but kept the 20mm, the reason being that I still really like my Baader zoom and it's convenience of use, but, like other users, I do find it rather narrow at the 20 and 24mm settings - I would say that the 24mm setting is not the claimed 50 degrees but more like 44-45 degrees, ie more like an ortho (and I've read other reviews saying much the same). So, I decided that the 20mm at 68 degrees would pick up nicely where the Baader (which I find great from about 16mm down to the 8mm maximum) loses on field of view..it really is kind of counter-intuitive when an eyepiece view shrinks as the focal length increases - back to front to fixed eyepieces, so to speak! I'd still like to find a 24mm version as well, so if you have one spare, pm me! Next, I pulled the trigger on a mint, used ES34mm, again a 68degree field (I do find the 68-70 deg range a "sweet spot"), for low power views of starfields, clusters etc. The ES34mm is a superb eyepiece, I cannot fault it, and the build quality is a step up from the Maxvisions, which themselves are very solidly built. I did recently try a 28mm Maxvision, which was also excellent, but I found it just too close to my 34mm in practice, so I let that one go to young Dom, up in Lincolnshire, who received it this week . Apart from the baader zoom, which can cover the 10mm-16mm areas fine for now, with a decent field of view, I don't have a fixed eyepiece at that length, so that will be the next step.. I am thinking seriously of the 14mm ES 82 which I believe would be very similar in my scopes to the Nagler T6 13mm. Finally, for high power viewing (and I do love my doubles and planets ), I have found an original Burgess/TMB 5mm planetary for £38 - in mint condition with box and caps and a gem of an eyepiece, sharp as an ortho but more comfortable and wider 58deg field which is great. I've had two of the chinese clones, and have found the "genuine one" to be significantly better and sharper with great light scatter control. I've also added another high power, but very different ep, the ES 6.7mm 82 deg which I bought new from 365Astronomy on the basis of glowing reviews on here - so far, this is the eyepiece which most reminds me of the Nagler (although higher power), and it's on that basis that I am seriously thinking of the 14mm to complete my set. I have also ordered a new Revelation 2" ED barlow (I've had several in the past and don't know why I sell them, they are amazing for the cost of £36 new from TH, posted), so I can use it with my lower power units to get higher power, but with no loss of eye relief etc. The Revelation can also be used at 1.5x by unscrewing the lens end and screwing that into the eyepiece filter thread. And the tube can be used as an extension tube for cyclops views if you have a shortened tube for binoviewing, so a very flexible tool. What about the orthos? Well, I still love a good ortho, always will. But as my eyes get older, I simply don't think that I have the acuity of vision, or observing conditions, to justify what are becoming silly prices for eyepieces that offer very small views with tight eye relief. I guess I want comfort at the eyepiece and feel that that is the way I will get the most out of my scopes, by being comfortable. I'd stress though that this is me, at my age.. 20 years younger and I'd be happy teasing out every last minute detail from a full set of BGO's (which I once bought on UKABS, as new, for £300). One thing I will definitely get back to in retirement (hopefully in the next 2 years or less ), will be binoviewing. I miss my Maxbrights and if we do get to our rural dark sky location in retirement I will definitely invest in another one. The great thing about binoviewing is that you can use vintage, not expensive eyepieces such as the Tal 25mm plossls, and get stunning, comfortable views of Moon and Planets.. Have loved reading this thread, and I stand in awe of the eyepiece sets some of you guys have - and of the cash that's clearly been invested in them!! .. Sorry to ramble on - but you did ask! . Dave

Hi Gaidis:-). No binoviewer at the moment due to "real life costs" ( daughters who graduate, plan to marry etc etc) but I WILL rejoin the club at some point! Dave

I agree Chris..I also liked the Ultima LX's as they work well in my slow scopes, and again are comfortable to use. O find the 68-70deg fields than uber- wides, although I do really like my new ES 6.7mm 82.. Here's my modest case.. Back row L-R..5mm genuine TMB planetary, 6.7mm ES 82, Maxvision 20mm 68, Luminos 23mm 82, ES 34mm 68. Front row a couple of bits with Baader 8-24mm zoom. And some of the boxes they came in...the ES box is truly huge!! (Note Meade 5k plossl in front of boxes for scale:-)) Dave

Dom, how about a Luminos 2" 23mm?? A real "hand grenade"! - but a very nice ep with 82deg field..the double cluster at the weekend in the Bresser AR127l was stunning and sharp almost edge to edge:-) Dave

Hi Mel, hope you are well:-) Loved your pics of the Polarex 114 but have to disagree ref the performance.. I had two of these and both were little belters. Sure, the eps have narrow fields but I found my objectives to be excellent when used with modern plossls and orthos..and as for the mount, I loved it, an engineering marvel, and quite stable given the long tube of the scope. Each to their own I guess:-) Dave

I've been very lucky with scopes in the past, with very few that I really didn't like..I remember a couple of really poor later Tasco scopes (and yet some of the really old ones were superb before they started "summing down" the quality). And I also had a Bresser 6" F5 (the Petzval version) that I just couldn't get to focus well, I think that may have been a lemon. But other than that I've been pleased with most of my scopes - and I've also had very few bad experiences buying used gear. The Astro community in my experience a very honest bunch of people:-) Dave

Well, would you want to show off a cut down paddle steamer funnel??? Sorry Shane, hope you don't know where I live!

Hi John Well found, that's the one:-). I remember he said so many great things about the looks and build of the scope, but clearly thought it wasn't optically very good. Maybe he got a lemon, but I've owned 2 114's and a 4" F15 and they were all optically very good. I don't claim that they are as good as Televue (or even Swifts- I had an 831 that was superb), but the Polarex Unitrons I had were as good for example as Towa or Kenko equivalents. I enjoy reading CN discussions and some of the reviews are just excellent. My only beef would be that sometimes people take very entrenched views at either extreme of a discussion which can lead to some (in my opinion) rather rude and personalised statements that aren't helpful. (I'm not including the Polarex review here in that, but I just think it's a shame the conclusion was so negative against the Polarex, with no comment for example that this scope might have been a lemon or not representative of the series?). Just my opinion:-) Dave