F15Rules

A lovely setup! That wooden tripod really complements the whole rig, with the long tube really seeming to reach for the stars! 🤩 Dave

Fabulous setup, Alan, you must be thrilled with it..it was worth the wait! Dave

Lovely, Alan..I see it's the later SD model..I can't figure out what the difference is between your older ED103s and the SD? Both fabulous looking scopes and great to see you back in possession of one of the best 4" refractors available, anywhere👍 Dave

I'm not surprised you're confused Jeremy, so was I..because although I am in fact a Dinosaur, I'm certainly not a Triceratops as per Alan's dashboard pet...more of a Tyrannosaurus Rex (in my dreams!) Dave

No apology needed John..I love all things Vixen, old and New!! Dave

Against the forecast, the sky cleared this evening at c 7pm, so I whipped outside with Luna, my new to me old 80mm F15, for a quick first light. Well, despite the issues with the scope that I described elsewhere on closer first inspection, I'm pleased to say the lens set is a good 'un.. Lovely Airy disk with single refraction ring around stars. Good contrast, and the crayford focuser is now feeling smooth and solid, after I tinkered with it and tightened everything up. I was using an Astro Tech 2" dielectric mirror diagonal of known excellence..with this in place, several of my eyepieces were very close to, or on, the in-focus limit, so I may have problems using the Maxbright II binoviewers without an OCS (I didn't try them tonight). What was very pleasing was how, at one end of the scale the scope could deliver the entire Pleiades group with room to spare with my 31mm Celestron 2" Axiom LX 82 degree UWA, and also with the Axiom 23mm, (albeit that was close to the edges), and at the other end it can take high magnifications. I also used the LV 8-24mm zoom that I recently bought from Tim @Franklin..it worked very nicely, and on M42 the 4 main Trap components were very well presented, with the background swirling nebula. The single diffraction rings on the stars were very obvious. Moving to Alnitak I got a nice split at c 200x, and the image held up, although much dimmer, all the way up to 338x (Vixen LV zoom with Baader zoom 2.25x Barlow). Finally, the solidity on my Tak Mount tonight was remarkable for such a long, thin tube..I estimated the damping time at no more than 0.5-0.75 seconds, even with the huge, c 1kg decloaked Axiom 31mm. This shows the value of taking the time to get perfect balance with the eq mount. All in all, lovely to be out tonight, and I'm very happy to have this lovely old scope in my care👍 Dave

🤦🤦🤦😭🤪

Stunning, Tim, just stunning. Thanks for sharing, and I hope this scope will stay with you for the long term👍. Dave

Hi John, All good here thanks .apart from no clear nights for over 2 weeks! Here you go.. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/telescope-bags-cases-storage/oklop-padded-bag-for-150mm-1200mm-refractors.html Seem to be showing in stock👍 Cheers, Dave

Yes, Paul..if they don't tell you, there's probably a reason why..🥴 Dave

Hi Tim, Just came across this thread.. I've had both these prisms, both excellent..the BBHS clear aperture increase is very noticeable when they are shown side by side.. BBHS version on the left. HTH, Dave

Wow!!! Tim, that's made my day, just a beautiful, gorgeous scope, look at it!! Aaw, now you've made me dribble!!😂😂😂. More pics of it mounted asap please! Dave

Having had the scope now for over a week, here is a bit of a "first impressions" update.. Having had a good look at the scope now, in daylight, I'd make the following remarks: Tube Condition: This scope has, in my view, not been cared for as well as it deserved. Based on research I did, it seems that back in 2018 when acquired by the owner before the one I bought the scope from, some improvements had been made, such as internal flocking of the dewshield and the lower part of the tube near the focuser. Also, the scope was described as being "almost like new, with just a few small marks on the tube" . The optics were described as "pristine". As it presents now, the OTA has quite a number of small marks, scratches etc on it..in particular, the dewshield is littered with scratches and marks. The tube is oversized at 90mm versus the 80mm aperture. Optics Condition The optics look good on the outside, but there is definitely dust or something similar on (I think) the air facing surface of the rear lens of the doublet. I am pretty certain that the lens cell on this scope is threaded onto the OTA tube. However, so far I cannot unscrew the lens cell from the tube while it is on the tripod. This in itself suggests that the cell has been overtightened onto the OTA threads, with the possibility of pinching the optics. Also, one of the screws on the lens cell is loose to the touch..I can't yet tell whether this is a collimation screw or a retaining screw. I need to be able to take the lens cell off to properly clean and check the objective from both inside and outside faces, so I need to take the tube off the mount to see if I can get enough torque to get it to unscrew. A short peek at our local church tower with a 10.5 mm Pentax XL giving c114x seemed ok..on a bright morning, a bit of CA was evident, (not a surprise), and the colours of the lichens on the church tower were quite sharp, although the real test will of course be at night. Focuser The worst aspect so far was the focuser. It's a "Kepler" branded dual speed Crayford, made by GSO of Taiwan - a perfectly respectable maker of decent quality Astro eyepieces, scopes and accessories. However, it is clear that this focuser has been either neglected or "fiddled with" by someone who didn't know what they were doing! The focuser was actually loose and could easily be rocked from side to side (2 of the 3 screws which secure the focuser to the OTA at 120 degree spacings were nowhere near tight!🤦). Also, the larger focusing knob on the right hand side (adjacent to the smaller microfocuser knob) was loose and kept slipping. On closer inspection the knob is adjusted via a small Hex screw which is deeply recessed into the body of the knob. In fact, there are at least 6 or 7 such small Hex screws around the focuser, and several of them were loose. After about 20 minutes of fiddling and adjusting the various small Hex screw heads, the whole focuser has tightened up nicely and is moving in and out smoothly and without slop or slackness. I will, though, make some more checks on this before entrusting my new Maxbright II binoviewers in this focuser! The original (I think) Vixen straight through 6x30 finder was included in the sale, (only after I spotted it in a photo I found posted by the previous but one owner and asked for it!). However, the finder stalk wouldn't tighten up into the finder shoe with the supplied retaining screw..I then found out that the screw had a stripped thread! Fortunately I found a suitable spare one in my "bits box", which works fine with the finder shoe on the scopes focuser: however, I don't like straight through finders (or rather, my neck doesn't!😂), so I've fitted a nice Skywatcher 6x30 right angled (not RACI) finder. This mirrors the view in the scope and is very sharp. If the above sounds like a litany of problems, it's not as bad as it sounds. Its just that it distresses me to see a fine telescope which has at best been neglected or at worst abused. I like to look after my equipment and even as it is, this scope is a fine looking instrument, which deserves some TLC. So long as the night performance is decent, I will look on this scope as a keeper, and plan to slowly but surely restore it's cosmetics over time 👍😊. A few more photos.. This image above shows the setup at perfect balance on my Tak Mount. The tube is carrying a 2" Dielectric Diagonal and a Pentax 10.5mm XL eyepiece so the tube needs to be pushed well forward to achieve balance. The scopes optics look quite good but would benefit from a clean on the inside face.No scratches, mould or fungus. My Tak EM2 mount, which normally platforms my FS128, "Trinity", makes short solid work of holding fast the old Vixen! Thanks for reading! Dave

I finally got a chance to put the new to me Vixen 80mm F15 on my Tak Mount this evening.. I'm calling her "Luna" as much of my viewing through her is likely to be the moon.. Rock solid on the Tak equatorial which I know is overkill. You can see Trinity my FS128 sulking in her Oklop case in the background!😁. Hope you like the pics.. Dave

Hi Justin, Sadly not yet..the weather here has been dire at night for the past 2 weeks or so. Also, real life stuff like painting in the house has got in the way. I'll post a few more pics of "Luna" on the thread I started last week on the Scopes and setups forum.. Dave

Oh, you mean this long 3" refractor..? 😁

Nice little Vixen zoom courtesy of Tim @Franklin👍. Will make a nice lightweight multi power ep with my newly acquired Vixen F15 achromat, giving the following powers; 24mm = 50x 16mm = 75x 12mm = 100x 10mm = 120x 8mm = 150x Dave

I didn't see that one Tim, sounds interesting.. Dave

Martin, If you don't want to spend such a large sum, I can recommend the Axiom LX 31mm..it's an excellent eyepiece which some users claim is c 85 degrees versus the stated 82 degrees.. It's even heavier than the Nagler, at 1.4kg..however, I've decloaked mine and it's now a svelte c 1kg..☺️ As John said, the balancing of the scope is crucial on scopes of 3-4", but they can work really well. I'd always recommend a 2" Clicklock to hold the eyepiece with the utmost confidence. The photo below shows the Axiom 31mm decloaked on the right, the Axiom 23mm in the middle and a Nagler T2 12mm on the left. All superb EPs.. Dave

Are you sure you're not Twins, Mike?🤔😁 Uncanny similarities.. Paul, PAS Kettering March 2022 Mike, PAS Kettering 2023

I had one a few years back.. They're a nice eyepiece, seriously heftily built and with good optics. I actually also had the ES16mm, 24mm, 28mm as well as the 34mm. They were all excellent EPs except for the 28mm..I found it mushy towards the edges and less sharp than the others..perhaps I had a lemon 🍋? The 24mm was my favourite, closely followed by the 34mm - superb on clusters, Milky Way etc. A memorable view was of Albireo, pin sharp blue and golden yellow colours against a wide star filled background 👍. Enjoy! Dave

Tut Tut. All this love/hate Paul and Mike banter... Exactly how long have they been married??🤔😁

I took delivery this morning of a rather nice old Vixen achromat.. I've always had a soft spot for long fracs (hence my F15 handle, which refers only to these old long scopes, not to glamorous fast Fighter Jets, as some have supposed in the past😂). Like many, I grew up with F15 scopes as a lad, and I was hooked for life having got my first Prinz 550 (60mm F900mm/F15) in the early 1970s. There is more info on this scope on the "What did the Postman bring" thread..I didn't want to hijack that thread (there seemed to be some interest in the Vixen), so I decided it was best to open a fresh thread here, so I can post updates here as and when I get to know the scope. In the meantime, some photos of the scope, with apologies if you've already seen them on the Postman thread! Dave

Just to say, I'm going to start a thread on the equipment forum about the Vixen F15, as I don't want to hijack this thread☺️. Dave

Thanks Tim.. I've never actually looked through a Vixen F15 before, so I'm intrigued, as I know how good their optics are. The best star images I ever saw, bar none, were in a little Pentax J80 F12 achromat about 12-14years ago, looking at the Mizar system.. tight, perfectly circular Airy disks for both Mizar components and Alcor, with an ever so faint single diffraction ring around each star: and the faint star between Mizar and Alcor (Sidus Ludovicanum) clearly visible with direct vision. It was like a photograph. I did read somewhere that Carton COC Japan made F15 objectives for Vixen around the early-mid 1980s, but I can't substantiate that for this scope. Dave