F15Rules

My FS128 last night (first clear night for weeks) with Celestron/Baader Binoviewers loaded with a pair of Morpheus 17.5mm and twin microfocusing Baader eyepiece holders. And one with the waxing moon in the background☺.

Dave

1 hour ago, Alan White said:

That is worrying Dave as it looks Green to me...........
It must be the remnants of my Christmas viral infection still having effects

Here's one of the summerhouse...It's painted in exactly the same colour as the house ..convinced now???

Well, Jeremy, the blue band on my FS128 dewshield matches quite well.with the house colour?

Thanks Alan☺.

Actually the house is painted blue (it was previously green) - unless my colour vision has gone too!

As I approach retirement around the end of this year, I hope, I will have to cut my Astro cloth to suit what will be my much lower income at that point. So the only piece of kit that I own that is "safe" beyond the end of this year is my FS128.

By choosing this mix of eyepieces, if I absolutely have to, I can sell some of them but keep a decent core of good glass, even if only for cyclops viewing.

Of course I hope it doesn't come to that, but the current political uncertainty has knocked 10% off the value of my pension fund in the past 3 months, so who knows where we will be after the end of March?

But you are correct, we are very lucky to have access to a great range of kit these days. And I think the Morpheus range offers amazing performance at great prices - it would be no hardship to me to only have Morphii eps to use in the future??...Well, apart from the LVW 22 and something of 30-35mm FL!

Dave

During the past few weeks due to the awful endless cloud that's gripped the east of Lincolnshire, I've been sorting out stuff including my eyepieces.

As I am now using binoviewers for about half of my observing time, I've had to make some hard decisions, including letting some much prized older Japanese eyepieces go.

I'm increasingly finding that 2 eyed viewing is more comfortable than cyclops, due to the marked, age related deterioration in my right (natural observing ) eye. Although I am trying to train my left eye for cyclops viewing, I still find that binoviewing is more comfortable for certain types of viewing, and so I've been putting a few pairs together for this. 

My current mix shown below now comprises:

Back row, left to right, cyclops viewing,  Morpheus 9mm, Pentax XL 10.5mm, Vixen LVW 22mm, Skywatch Aero 30mm, and Bresser/Meade 40mm.

Front row, left to right, Binoviewing pairs, Fujiyama 12.5mm orthos, (7.8mm), 17.5mm Morpheus (11mm), 25mm (15.6mm), Parks Gold Series Japan (same as Celestron Ultima and Baader Eudiascopic).

I have a pair of William Optics 1.6x nosepieces which change the focal lengths above to the figures shown in brackets.

Oh, and I also have a lovely 30mm Parks Gold (the one pictured on its' own) which I cant bear to sell , and would love to find another of..☺

Very happy with this combination at the moment.?.

The last pictures show the Morpheus 17.5mm pair ready for action in my Tak FS128 - if it ever clears, that is!

Dave

Thanks Shane ?.

Clear is fine, it's that yellow I couldn't put up with myself..

These look as if they would fit the bottom of most, if not all, 1.25" barrels. However, the ones I struggle with are the top ones, as so many eyepieces have different widths across the eyepiece lens end?

Dave

On 27/12/2018 at 15:52, Louis D said:

I'll second the recommendation for https://eyepiececaps.com/.  I ordered their $20 eyepiece cap and plug bundle.  It arrived quickly and all the various bits fit perfectly.

..But are they only available in that awful yellow colour?? How about, er, black???

Dave

I've actually already got one of these, but this second one is now on its' way (thanks, Des) to make a binoviewing pair, I was sold on this by Bill Paolini's review of these ..?.

Dave

8 hours ago, CraigT82 said:

For my upcoming refractor pyrchase..... Brand new 1.25" Takahasi prism. Irritantingly didn't come supplied  with caps

 

A great prism Craig...Love the helical retaining ring and optically A1. Yes, annoying about the dust caps but standard ones should fit☺.

Davr

32 minutes ago, Rob said:

Super EP's Dave. I had a few around 10 years ago!. More stuff I should have never moved on

Thanks Rob.."Moving stuff on" is the story of my life at times!?

I had several of these a while back, almost identical to BGOs cosmetically, and every bit as good optically. As so often is the case I regret selling them..

My little ortho set is growing, now consisting of a pair of BGO 6mm, pair of Fujiyama 12.5mm and now this solo Antares 9mm, all made in Japan?☺.

Dave

Meade 5000 3x TeleXtender.

Looking forward to trying with my Morpheus 17.5mm and LVW 22mm to transform them to 5.8mm and 7.33mm high power EPs with no loss of eye relief..we'll see?..

Dave

On 17/09/2018 at 22:09, LukeSkywatcher said:

Here's mine:

 

Should've gone to Eyepiecesavers??

Dave

21 hours ago, Stu said:

If (when  ) I have a study in my country mansion i will buy a Telementor to put in there, just to look at . They look fabulous I think.

 

I agree Stu, elegantly simple. And the mount can be used as an altazimuth too, which is cool?

Dave

43 minutes ago, Dave1 said:

@F15Rules I was watching that auction on ebay too! Glad it went to a good home, and that it performs great.

Dave

Hi Dave,

Mine wasn't on eBay, so there must have been another similar one recently..?

Dave

Sometimes in life you get an "itch you have to scratch", and this was one of mine...

I wasn't looking for it, nor thinking about it, but I was browsing the net for something else and came across this classic beauty.

It dates from 1989 and came with 6mm and 16mm Carl Zeiss Jena orthos, a 25mm Huygenian and a (non standard) diagonal) all in 0.965mm barrel size. The whole stupid is in lovely, lightly used, condition.

I've already sourced a Zeiss M44 -T2 adapter so I can use 1.25" eyepieces, and tonight I had really lovely views of Saturn and Titan, glimpsing the Cassini Division to one side of the planet, (straight through viewing) and a very respectable view of Mars, with the polar cap quite distinctly seen. To be honest, the views held up very well with my FS128, which has struggled in the "low murk" recently. Sometimes conditions really do mean that "less is more"!

I'm really chuffed with this classic old frac, at F13.3 it's like old times!

Dave

On 16/09/2018 at 13:49, garryblueboy said:

It Was a sad Day when I said good by to My Takahashi 100DF but for a very good reason this beauty came available  thanks to Kerry Lewis and I’m smiling again 

Wow.

That is just a wonderful looking scope Garry. Do you know how old it is?

I recall drooling over Vixens' Atlux refractor in BC&F's catalogue many years ago (early 90s?) , and I'm sure it cost around £5-6k with the matching mount. In those days a 6" refractor was a real monster and far beyond the reach of almost everyone.

I know how I felt when I got my Tak FS128 Garry, so I do understand when you say this scope is close to your heart?.

Do us all a favour and post up a first light review?

Enjoy.

Dave

On 10/09/2018 at 23:56, John said:

I think Prinz were a brand name used by Dixons, the highstreet photo and electronics retailer. Dixons would source their stock from different manufacturers during the lifetime of the model. The one you have more recently acquired is an older one (1960's perhaps ?) wheras the one you already have is a later one, possibly from the 1970's or 1980's. Dixons sought the lowest manufacturing cost to maximise profitability and, over time, unfortunately the quality suffered. Dixons ceased trading in 2014 after 77 years of business.

It will be interesting to see how the optical performance of these two scope compares. The result might not mirror the apparent external quality of manufacture ?

This same model Prinz 550 was bought for me when I was 15 in 1971. It was an upgrade from the 440 which was also a 60mm scope, but on an altazimuth mount (and branded Circle T (Towa Japan), whereas the 550 made by Kenko Japan and was equatorially mounted on the lovely grey finished mount shown above. It was a fine little mount and reminded me in later years of a Swift scope, and me even have come from the same manufacturer.

The lens set was Circle K as mentioned. The largest of the Prinz family from Dixon's was the 660, finished just like the 550 shown here, but it was a "proper" 3" (76mm) F15 astro refractor..this was also a Kenko objective and all the ones I have looked through have been optically excellent and a notch above the Circle T quality.

Circle T I would liken to today's GSO in terms of the fact that they are after the mass market, at a price point, and will contract manufacture for pretty much anyone. Their products were/are mostly pretty decent (making a decent achromatic doublet is relatively easy and cheap), but in the 1980s Circle T's tube and mount build quality plummeted as they chased lower and lower manufacturing costs.

The two Prinz 500s I owned from that period were junk by comparison to this Kenko. For context, in 1971 the top of the range 660 retailed at £59.95, a small fortune for working class parents like mine, and the 550 cost £39.95, about a week's wages for my dad at the time.

My parents paid just over half the cost as my Christmas present and I paid the rest from a Saturday job pumping petrol, for which I got paid £0.30p per hour..took me almost a year to pay the balance off.

Happy days and memories of the first scope to show e Saturn's rings and M42 properly?..

Enjoy your new old scope!

Dave

Hi Neil,

Am glad it arrived safely. Sorry for all the tape etc but I know small packages like that can get chucked around and better safe than sorry!

I love the look of Baader GO's (and still have a bino pair of 6mm BGOs that last night showed the most wonderful view of Epsilon Lyrae at x270 or so with x1.6 barlow nosepieces in each eyepiece), but I wanted another 12.5mm and just couldn't find one, regardless of numerous wanted ads over a couple of months. So I bought a new Fujiyama 12.5mm HD-Ortho which is superb, just a sharp as the BGO 12.5mm it seems, but it's several mm shorter than the BGO and they just weren't suited as a bino pair.

I put out an ad for another Fuji 12.5mm last night, and fingers crossed have found one already!

Yours is a rare, cracking eyepiece, and I know you will love it!

Clear skies

Dave

Nice shiny new Fujiyama 12.5mm ortho..

I've been looking for a second Baader Genuine Ortho  12.5mm to make a binoviewer pair for some time, with no success. So I went for the Fuji to see if it will work with my BGO. 

However, the BGO is longer than the Fuji so I have my doubts it will work. If not, I'll buy a second Fujiyama and probably sell my BGO?.

The Fujiyamas are lovely eyepieces though, and optically there's nothing to choose between them and the BGOs..

Interestingly the Japan made Fujiyama still use a box which is very like older high quality orthos and pseudo Matsuyama's..The photo shows the new 2018 Fuji 12.5mm box with a Parks Gold Pseudo Masuyama 3.8mm Anniversary Edition box from the 1990s..Uncannily similar!

Dave

19 hours ago, Littleguy80 said:

Haha I nearly added words to the effect myself! It’s the last of my planned purchases  

..but it's the unplanned ones that end up.costing the most!??

Dave

7 hours ago, johninderby said:

Little old book. Lost my original copy when I moved so picked one up on eBay. 

I got one of those from fleabay too John, about 2 years ago, for £2?.

Dave

2 hours ago, AndyH said:

But what's in the smaller box?

Have fun !!

... that's copies of all the questions John's been asked to answer????..

Dave

41 minutes ago, Stu said:

Binoviewer and eyepieces I expect

 

+1??

Dave

2 hours ago, nightfisher said:

I wonder if you regret letting me have the Antares 7 and 9mm ortho`s, sorry but not letting you have them back

Jules, the answer is OFTEN! But it was needs must at the time and there is no point in looking backwards, only forwards - unless it's to learn from a previous mistake!?

I'm glad they went to someone who appreciates them.

Dave