F15Rules

I was intrigued by this rather large and well built-looking Japan made Orion 2" Big Barlow which finally arrived today after 9 days in the care of DHL..🤦‍♂️

I have 2 excellent, large 2" format UWA Celestron Axiom LX eyepieces in 23mm and 31mm focal lengths, both 84 degree fields.

So I intend to try both in combination with this Big Barlow to see how they work..

Used in normal configuration, ie scope focuser, 2" diagonal, barlow, eyepiece the barlow should deliver c67x in the 23mm, and c90x in the 31mm (1040mm scope focal length).

However, such a "stack" could be somewhat unwieldy, so here's a question: if I insert the Big barlow horizonally straight into the scope focuser via a solid 3 point retaining screw 2" aperture, then the 2" diagonal into the barlow, then the eyepiece into the diagonal, what would be the estimated resulting magnification in each of the 2 eyepieces? (in putting the barlow in front of the diagonal, I'm effectively lengthening the total focal length and thus the magnification, right?).

Anyway, my 3 main eyepieces fit nicely into the barlow shown below (the Pentax zoom 8-24mm can be used in a 2" holder, so could also perhaps be changed into a 4-12mm high power zoom using ths Big Barlow😉.

Dave

I'd go 10x50s for maximum portability if space is at a premium in your rucksack.

Better still for depth of reach a pair of 15x70s for which you DO need at least a monopod.

The latter will cost much more new, but buy the best you can afford.

A copy of Steve Tonkins' Binocular Astronomy Book is a good investment before buying anything, the man is a binocular genius👍😊. There's a used copy on ebay at the moment for £12.99 (nothing to do with me!😂)..

Have fun!

Dave

6 minutes ago, Telescope40 said:

Hey Dave. Trust you are all good fella ??  Yes. The focus option on the Maxbrights are a complete winner aren't they. I'm hopeful the SV zooms will work nicely. I've really no idea what sort of magnification they will provide if used without any GPC. You may have done the math - I have not !!  The eyepiece pairs I have   ( 20mm and 15 mm ) are used in a way that give the best view to me rather than actual size. Detail soon drops away as everyone knows. I have got a 1.7x GPC that I do use as well but I'm sure that will be a crazy mag level through the FS 128 with these zooms in place. 

I had to join the Black Friday SVBony zoom train, as too good an offer as I've seen for quite a while. Good reports too on here as well. Be funny to know how many units they have shifted just to SGL members over the last 10 days or so. 🤣

I will update once I get outside under a clear sky. My comments will be rather short and sweet. I do not consider myself any sort of expert when it comes to reviews and alike. Much rather read a few posts on here from chaps who know their mustard.

As noted by a few on here. The zooms seem to be a well made item for sure. The FL adjustment seem solid and will hopefully work in tandem once in the BV's. The diopter adjustment on the Maxbrights will correct for any slight misalignment. 

ATB   John 

Hi John 

If you're using the zooms natively, ie with no OCS, I would think you should get close to native magnification..if I'm correct the maximum magnification will be your scopes' Focal length 1040mm divided by the 3mm maximumzoom setting giving you c 346x - well within the Taks' capabilities on good nights. 

If  you use the OCS 1.7x it should have a range of between c 226x (8mm) and 590x (3mm).

Your scopes' manual says that up to 100x per inch is posssible under optimum conditions...😂

Good luck!

Dave

Great timing, John!

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this pairing.

A great feature with the Maxbright IIs is their individual fine focus capability. I find this very helpful now that my eyes are not both the same these days.. I can get the sharpest focus my eyes can deliver with this facility, and maximum viewing comfort.

I find the same is true with my Vixen Japan 7x50 Independent Focus binoculars, which I often tripod mount due to their weight. Superb bins though!👍

Dave

37 minutes ago, melsmore said:

I think (hope) that a Christmas Elf will be preparing my one for despatch shortly. Has anyone tried two of these BVed yet?

Took the words right out of my mouth! That would be a very interesting comparison..

I have found that when using binoviewers (and binoculars), my "good" eye seems to somehow partly compensate for my "poorer" eye, so that the two eyes view is always better, not worse, than my one eyed view. 

Add to that the fact that viewing with two eyes is more natural than single eyed viewing (which IMHO is a learned behaviour, not a natural one), then it would be great to have available for a reasonable price a pair of good high power zooms for Lunar, Planetary and Double Star observing.

A pair of Nagler Zooms would be a significant investment for most: a pair of the Svbony zooms would equate to one decent single eyepiece..

Dave

10 hours ago, Louis D said:

Point is, give the APM UFF 30mm a try if you were looking to improve the image quality over the Axiom 31mm at the expense of a bit of field of view.  It's much lighter and more compact as well.

Actually, I'm not looking to "improve the image quality over the Axiom 31mm". The Axiom 31 in my F8.1 scope is sharp across 95% of it's  84 degree field. That's at least 80 degrees of sharpness. Why would I want to swap an 80 degree wide sharp field for a 70 degree wide (assuming it IS 100% sharp across its field) for 10 degrees less of sharp field? And at a cost over here of about £230 shipped, versus half that I paid for my little used Axiom 31mm.

My Tak's focuser is a large 2.7" unit fully capable of holding the Axioms' weight and running smoothly, and with my (preferred) high quality driven eq mount,  I have no problems keeping my objects in the centre of the field of view, meaning that any minor edge of field issues are irrelevant to my observing style👍.

So I have no plans to disrupt a setup I've tested extensively and which works well for me.

Thanks 😊 

Dave

On 01/12/2023 at 15:02, John said:

Good write up @Franklin 👍

I used the Svbony 3-8 zoom with my TMB/LZOS 130 F/9.2 last night. I did compare it casually with the Nagler 2-4 zoom and the 3.5mm Pentax XW but didn't notice any significant differences, apart from the AFoV.

With the somewhat variable and cold conditions for observing last night detailed comparisons, when using magnifications of 300x plus, were a little futile I felt. Perceived differences could be just as much caused by variations in seeing, local heat emissions, thin high clouds or even a watering observing eye (due to the cold).

I might also not be such a fussy observer these days, having not been able to notice any difference between a Tak TOE 4mm and the Nagler 2-4mm zoom on the occasions when I compared them back in the summer, despite a number of other folks assuring me that there is a noticeable difference 😉

 

I tend to agree John.

As I get older and my eyes aren't quite what they used to be, I value comfort in use more and more. 

I find I literally dont have the time, inclination or patience to nitpick over the very minutest of details about the performance  of scopes or eyepieces: for one thing, many of these claimed small "differences" are very subjective and might not be replicable from one night to another.

What with variables in the UK such as seeing, transparency, humidity, aircraft con trails, temperature, local light pollution, local air pollution, etc etc, (oh, and my eyes water more in cold weather too, John!😖), its no wonder that it can be very difficult to make really accurate, objective assessments of individual eyepieces, (or scopes)!

Another key consideration for me is the balance point of my scope.. my 5" Tak Fluorite doublet is quite front heavy (though not as much as a Triplet). I have settled for the past good while now on Maxbright II binoviewers for much of my observing: I use quite lightweight eyepiece pairs in these, which don't necessitate rebalancing of the scope when switching out eyepieces. But the BVs are quite heavy, and my scope is adjusted for most use with the Binoviewers installed.

Similarly, for Cyclops, I have settled on 3 main eyepieces, all of which are quite large and heavy: Pentax XL Zoom 8-24mm (also used if necessary with my Baader Zoom Barlow 2.25x ), turning the Pentax into a 3.55mm to 10.66mm zoom (giving me a total range of magnifications for both  zooms from a maximum of 292x down to a minimum of 43x in the Tak).

At all these powers the Pentax zoom is comfortable, very sharp, and ever-so-nearly as good as its XW/Morpheus equivalents (I've  owned several examples of both)..in fact good enough for my needs.

My other two lower power eyepieces are 23mm and 31mm Axiom LX 84 degree UWAs which I have decloaked to reduce their weight. Both of these ultra wide eyepieces are excellent performers, the 23mm being the equal ( and nearly 20 deg wider fov!), of the legendary Vixen LVW22mm, and the 31mm literally trouncing a brand new Pentax 30mm XW I bought, to the point that I kept the Axiom 31 and returned the XW30 to FLO.

All this now means that I rarely have to rebalance the scope, whether I'm observing with Binoviewers  or Cyclops formats.

That means more observing, less fiddling! And I feel I have all the eps I need - what I really want is the weather to use them all!🤦‍♂️😂

Finally, I only use a tracking EQ mount. I know I'm in a minority in doing this nowadays, but if I'm viewing an object for say 20 minutes or more, a simple line of sight alignment with Polaris will virtually eliminate the need for manual adjustments (although I can use manual slo mo's too, if I need to).

So, I'm unlikely to be tempted to buy a small high power zoom myself, however good it is. But it's good to know that these relatively  cheap new products are appearing on the market.

Dave

47 minutes ago, Saganite said:

The seeing continues to improve little by little, and I can see a really dark elongated oval feature in front of the GRS that I have not seen before.  

You're not drinking red wine at the moment are you Steve?🙂🙃😉

Dave

Just got the 5" apo out as the sky was largely clear..got 30 seconds with Jupiter looking great, and the it's moons looking superb, then...RAIN!😭.

In one minute the cloud has whipped in and started dropping rain. Then it stopped and partially cleared again!🤦‍♂️

Checked the Met Office app and they're forecasting more rain this evening, so am back indoors with the log burner🔥and a cuppa.

Hope some of you do get some prolonged clear spells tonight👍

Dave

3 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Fingers crossed 🤞🏻 . Nice GRS transit this evening 

 

That's  a very flexible set up Jeremy..a finder that can act as a handle, and flexible rods that have, er, handles😉😊..

Dave

Hi, 

Having a right old rummage in some old bits boxes and came across this old eyepiece. It may have belonged to someone who liked really old scopes, as it has a thread on it, (perhaps an old RAS thread?) , and also has a rather nice machined brass adapter to allow use in 0.965" scopes. See photos.

The eyepiece seems uncoated, of a short focal length, and tight eye relief. I've not tried it in a scope.

If anyone can shed any light on what it is/might be,I'd be grateful😊 .

Dave

I finally got out last night, which was my first proper session for several months on a number of counts:

- my first scope session since c. early September due to various factors, weather, family, holidays etc, even a bit of waning mojo to be honest.

- my first proper session with my Maxbright II binoviewers since I got them in the early part of this year..

The colder, clearer weather was forecast, so I prepared Trinity my FS128, installed the BVs, having  checked everything was properly connected (using a BV can be an exercise in frustration if you're not very organised!)..so, by 8.20pm I was ready to go, lined up on Jupiter🙂..with my R.A.drive keeping the planet in view with only minor corrections for over an hour.

The sky was very clear to begin with, but of course the high up waning moon was still very bright and washing out most stars of mag 2 or fainter. 

I did manage to position the scope behind a tree in the garden to block out much of the direct light. Jupiter was a picture, with the 4 main moons beautifully arranged, with one of them (Io, I think) close to Jupiter on the east side, and two more further out, also on the east, appearing almost vertically on top of each other. The higher magnification second shot was taken at 21.49pm, 48 minutes later than the first one at 21.01pm, and you can clearly see the change in the positions of the satellites in that time, especially Io, which was heading for a transit with Jupiter (please excuse the less than great mobile phone pics, I must get a phone holder!)..

By now there was a high milky haze which did start to dim key features and cause a bit of light scattering.

I could see 4 key bands, and hints of "roughness" along the band edges, but the conditions wouldn't support much over 100x without the sharpness diminishing..I did get long enough to try the Baader 1.7x OCS in the BBHS Zeiss prism diagonal..this gave 147x when coupled with a pair of Tak 12mm Abbe orthos, and I could tell that this will be a wonderful pairing in better skies.

Sadly, the skies began to cloud over by just after 10pm, just as my beloved Orion was gaining some altitude..all I had time to do was get a quick shot of the main stars with my phone..but it's fair to say that c 90 minutes of viewing Jupiter, and very briefly, at the last minute, a hazy rather light scattered waning Moon, has really been a tonic. I cant wait to get outside again!

PS: although it was bitterly cold, I felt very comfortable using a combination of double socks, Havers thermal long Johns under soft fabric tracksuit bottoms, fingerless Thinsulate gloves, two warm fleece lined jackets and a woollen Beanie!👍😊

Dave

I've  just today received my e copy of the great Binocular Sky monthly guide as compiled by Steve Tonkin.

In the accompanying email text, Steve advises that the December 2023 edition will be the last one.....😔

If so, Steve's invaluable guides will be greatly missed. Many of us on SGL have used Steve's monthly guides over a number of years, and also his superb books on choosing and using Binoculars.

I'd just like to say a big "Thank You, Steve" for all the advice, great Binocular reviews, and sheer enthusiasm for these wonderful instruments.

Steve, if you are taking a well deserved retirement, may it be a long, healthy and happy one!

Best wishes,

Dave

Welcome back C6rrules (Nick) from F15Rules (Dave)👍👍😊!!

Like many on SGL, I've missed your detailed, informative and inspiring observation reports, and your return is very welcome and timely, right at the start of the Winter season!

Just don't get too attached to that Ships Funnel...somehow, "ShipsFunnelsRule" doesn't have the same ring to it!!🤪😝😂🤣

Dave

I do think that one area where cheap eyepieces can excel is in Binoviewers.

I've got 3 pairs of eyepieces for my Maxbright II's :-

- a 12 mm premium pair (Tak orthos, ) for high power use with Barlow/GPC at c 180Xor  more. Used for planets, moon and doubles observing.

-  a nice vintage Carton Japan 10.5mm pair with c 65 deg fov for medium power wide field views (the Orion Nebula M42 is superb in these)

- a cheap pair of Meade 4000 made in China 32mm Plossls with c 50 deg fov. These are incredibly sharp together, used natively for low power clusters etc.

All of the above are very comfortable in use, and work very well in the Maxbrights.

The last pair are probably worth about 15% of the Tak orthos, and yet they can deliver views that the Taks simply cannot.. and frankly, I cannot imagine that a pair of Tele Vue 32mm plossls could deliver a significantly better view than the humble Meades: - and the Meades don't have undercuts!!😂

So, very much "horses for courses" and "whatever works for you", I think.. 🤔 

Dave

P.S. I recall that some really skilled planetary observers such as MikeDnight have for years used cheap eyepiece pairs in Binoviewers, with amazing results!

Maybe it's just me, but I really don't like all these flash, blingy colours that kit makers seem to feel the need to adorn their equipment with.. 🥴.

Sorry!🫣

Dave

31 minutes ago, The Lapwing said:

The irony of those last two posts is frankly staggering. 
 

Anyway….

I think you'd feel far more at home on the USA Forum! 😂

30 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Glad Mrs F15Rules let you out, Dave. You must have been well and truly baffled 😮 

Not Mrs F15Rules, Jeremy..

It was actually hordes of wretched Thunderflies..they can get everywhere, including into scope optics! I've had them get into and behind a laptop screen, and there's no way to remove them.

The thought of the critters getting in behind that Fluorite front element gave me the shudders😱😂!!

So the scope went into her holdall in the house and, thanks to life and weather issues, there she has stayed still today ☺️👍

Dave

46 minutes ago, The Lapwing said:

Like a million times each. Out of a sense of fair play shouldn’t this thread be flooded with people who want to ignore the original post title and hijack the thread to talk about the virtues of their TEC/Stellavue/Borg/Televue etc?

I think you have it all mixed up..

This is a "Show us your Tak" thread.

If you don't like it, why don't you start a "Show us your  TEC/StellaRvue/Borg/Televue" thread instead? 😊

Dave

1 hour ago, johnturley said:

Notice that you have a Skywatcher 9x 50 finder installed in the Tak finder bracket.

I wanted something a bit bigger than the Tak 6 x 30 finder for my recently acquired 100 DZ., but didn't want to pay as much a £330 for the Tak 7 x 50, so purchased a secondhand  (which turned out to be like new) Skywatcher 9 x 50, and installed in the Tak bracket.

John 

John  

Yes John,

I had the original Tak 50mm finder when I bought my FS128: it was optically superb, but being straight through was literally a pain in the neck!

The original Tak bracket, though, is excellent, far more stable and better at holding alignment than an SW one, so I found a brand new, unused Skywatcher 50mm RACI taken from an Esprit refractor. 

Although not as good as the Tak Optics, it is sharp on axis, goes quite deep and is very comfortable to use.

Dave

No stranger to this thread but not recently, having been in storage literally since  August..🤦‍♂️😏. But...

..My Precious is back! All fettled and ready for the winter season, complete with MBII's and Tak Equatorial😊.

Dave

PS I hadn't realised before..the focuser alone has 5 internal, blackened baffles! (try saying that without your teeth in!)😂

On 12/11/2023 at 23:04, saac said:

Well it turned out clearer later on in the night so not a total write off. Here's what I managed to achieve out of 100 sub at 120s. I'll say messed about with rather than "processed in " PixInsight then PS - I'm not a huge fan of processing  

Jim 

 

I am not (and never will be) into imaging, but hats off to your superb image of M31!

Really detailed, clear and pure looking👍

Dave

A couple of outdoor day shots of my c1982 80mm F15 Vixen/SBS achromat, originally sold in France..

It's got some cosmetic marks on the tube courtesy of the previous owner, but the lens is A1 and showed some lovely detail on Jupiter last week, up to c160x (Tak Abbe 12mm with WO 1.6x barlow nosepiece).

N.B. This scope has a replacement  Crayford style focuser. I'd prefer to put an original Vixen R&P unit back on it, so if anyone has a spare in their spare parts drawer, do please get in touch? Thanks!

Dave

Quote from John..

"Hello. Have one scope at the moment and it should be more then enough - A Tak FS128. Owned for a year. Very fortunate to have it along with certain SGL members who assisted in getting my mucky paws on it. 

However. I do rather fancy a 8in SCT to go along with it."

Tell me, John..did you fit ear muffs on your FS128 as you were composing this blasphemy??🥴 🤦‍♂️😱🧐😂

Dave

They do quite a few different greens... just Tak your pick! 😊

Dave