F15Rules

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

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

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

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

+1?? Dave

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

Thanks Steve? Dave

Mr Postperson called today with a couple of small packages.. The first one contained these: The second contained a nice Circle T 4mm ortho volcano top, which I plan to compare with my Parks Gold 3.8mm. I owned a full set of BGOs a few years ago and confess I have missed them for certain applications such as lunar, planets and double stars. I often wished they had offered the BGO lens set in a Circle T volcano top body..but I can use these with winged eyeguards, which I do find helpful in keeping my eyelash off the lens with the short eye relief.. I do like orthos.. Dave

Luke, I think you will love the setup..amazing value for money and well built. I've had mine for about 3 years now and can't fault it for the price. Steve Tonkin posted an excellent easy maintenance guide some while back, I'll see if I can find it - very useful. Let us see some pics with your binos on it.. Dave

Here are some pics of my new Opticron 8.5x50 SR-GA's, made in Japan, bought last month from FLO. I have used these a fair bit in the last week or so while on holiday, mainly in the daytime but with a few short peeks at night, (their intended use longer term). I sold my Opticron Adventurer II WP's to help fund these. The Adventurers were described by Steve Tonkin (Binocular Sky) as the best bins under £150 and I had to agree - until I used these SR-GA's, that is.. ..in fairness, these had an RRP of well over £200, but have been discontinued and were being cleared by FLO at £99 plus shipping. At that price they are just superb. They come with proper fitting eyecaps, a decent, quite wide strap, an extra rainguard for the eyepieces and a high quality real leather case. The field is a bit less than the Adventurers at 5.2 degrees for the 8.5x50 model I bought, but it is VERY sharp almost right to the edge with excellent contrast and colour rendition. CA is extremely well controlled too. I will use these on my trusty Ravelli (Amazon UK) trigger grip and tripod as well as hand held of course. Last night I had a lovely view of Saturn between the clouds and could clearly see Titan and two sharp "bulges", being the rings of the planet - not bad at all for just 8.5x magnification. The build and mechanics are first rate and with c 20mm eye relief these bins tick all my boxes, and more besides Dave

Oops, we're rumbled guys!! Fair cop, Guv... we actually race around Kelling twice a year in the middle of the night in full camo gear pointing at our scopes and yelling " A tak A tak A tak"!! Dave

..And no box? From a Tak retailer at new price? If so, I'd send it back. OK, it's only a box, but its' absence would take value from the prism if you sell it on I'd be interested in your thoughts on it vs the WO prism at first light ? Dave

The Tak prism wasn't new was it? I've bought a couple of these new in the past and both came with a good quality Tak box and two end caps. If yours was bought used (I saw one on UKABS with no box or end caps, and selling for £50), then a) that's a good price vs c £90 new and b) it's hardly Takahashi's fault that it was sold on used without the box or caps, is it? Optically, the Tak prism is excellent, really good. I like it's lightweight construction and helical securing ring but I wouldn't feel confident loading it with binoviewers and 2 eyepieces, which is why I sold mine on. But great as part of a portable setup?. The WO correct image prism is not bad, I bought one a few months back, but when used next to a Baader T2 prism (not RACI), the Baader was MUCH better on contrast, sharpness and scatter. I actually think the Baader T2 1.25" prism with both 2"-T2 and 1.25"-T2 nosepieces and helical focusing eyepiece holder is the best performing, best built such unit for the money you can get. Dave

Great little piece of kit - and MUCH cheaper than a dual speed focuser upgrade ?! Dave

Yes, I had the Moonfish version a few years ago chaps?. It wasn't a bad eyepiece for astronomy and gave me my first uber widefield views. There was also an interesting clone 20mm version which was taller and had a detachable bottom section which turned it into a 30mm eyepiece, so you got two eyepieces in one..Neat??. See images below.. the 2nd image shows the Opticstar branded 20 and 30mm versions to the right of the image..Never tried those though. The ones I had were certainly worth £45 of anyone's money IMO,?. Dave

Well, it will certainly be a "tall" order to beat that set..in performance terms, it really seems to "stack up" though ?.. In the " long" term you should enjoy the set very much.. So, the "long and short" of it all is...don't tell Steve (Saganite) though - if he ends up shaving 55mm off his Tak tube for binoviewing, and tries to Barlow an XW 3.5mm, his eyepiece set up could be longer than his scope tube, and his balance could be shot unless he uses at least 4 tube rings to hold it in place??. Dave

Hi Steve & all, I wonder if this might help Steve? If you search for a recent thread of mine on Cloudy Nights, title below, and found in the refractors forum (sorry, I can't cut and paste the thread link on my android while in Malta!).. "Tak FS128 and binoviewers - a question" I was very kindly offered help from a CN member who advised I would need the following parts, see photos below, plus a Baader T2 prism. He then very kindly sent me the prism and the ultrashort eyepiece clamp as a gift! I haven't bought the first item as yet #2558230, as I want to try the setup with my x1.6 Barlow nosepiece first, but I can say that the back focus available has increased noticeably this way, ie using the Ultrashort clamp. Unfortunately, I didn't get a clear sky to test on before I came away on holiday so don't know how much actual back focus I will be left with using the above Baader part. Steve, does your Denk BV accept a T2 thread at the scope end? If so, you could thread it directly onto a Baader T2 prism and save focus there? If it does have a T2 thread, I can loan you a Baader T2 1.25" prism to try out before committing to a purchase ?... Dave

Too right! Steve, you do know you will have to post an objective comparison between Andromeda (5" F15 D&G USA achromat for the un-initiated?) and your new Tak? Of course, I'm thinking here image quality, contrast, sharpness etc, not an unfair comparison of a 5" glass against a 4".. Have you come up with a name for the Tak yet?..perhaps, given the title of this thread, "Tireon"? Enjoy your first light and can we have photos of her mounted and ready to go please when your "fitting device" has arrived ??. Dave

Steve, Has your clamtail arrived yet? Sorry, I mean your doveshell? Actually, I'm not sure what I mean now...did you say it will be 55mm long??? Dave (aka confused.com)

Me too Tony. I use a 114mm FS102mm clamshell on my Vixen ED103s, as I have posted before. Solid as a rock. Dave

Yep, made me see red, that did.. Dave

A great, high quality prism - and good value at under £100. The 2" is silly money IMHO, but as I am almost exclusively 1.25" now, it is irrelevant to me. I only swapped my Tak prisms for Baader prisms because a) I feel the Baader is stronger built and thus (seem) better able to hold larger 1.25" EPs (like Pentax, Morpheus and LVW), and b) they have T2 connectivity which is great for binoviewing. Dave

..but what about your heart, Steve????? - only joking!! Have you posted about your Tak yet? Am overseas at the moment so haven't had much browsing time for a good few days..is it all you hoped?? Dave

Yep, it's not half bad for a "spotting scope " eyepiece..just imagine if they would design a "bespoke" wide angle strong eyepiece! Sadly, they seem to be more likely to pull out of the rather small astro market ?.. Dave

Congratulations John! They should deliver somefabulous summer Milky Way views - look forward to your first light report . Dave