F15Rules

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

4 hours ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

Aye carumba!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

Just checked Amazon. The Ravelli trigger grip,mount and tripod...............about £50.

Yes please, i'll have some of that.

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

On 22/05/2018 at 14:26, Stub Mandrel said:

Nah.

They should be tak-tile.

Do you guys actually look through these Taks, or just play dress-up with them as an alternative to Action Man?

?

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

3 hours ago, 25585 said:

No brand new prism, still in sellophane. 

..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

On 26/06/2018 at 10:59, 25585 said:

Today a WO correct image 1.25 inch diagonal. Nice packaging in foam, helical focuser, end caps.

Also a Takahashi prism 1.25 inch diagonal. Bit of bubble wrap, sellophane bag, no end caps. 

Looking at both anyone would think the Tak was cheap Chinese and the WO upmarket to it. 

 

Altair 10x60 finder has arrived. 

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

On 18/06/2018 at 23:06, Peter Drew said:

A Baader focusing eyepiece holder arrived today. Have a pair now for another binocular project.

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

Dave

22 hours ago, John said:

I'll be interested to hear what you think as well Derek

I used to own one of the Japanese Widescan III's  that these are based on:

 

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

On 05/06/2018 at 21:21, iPeace said:

 

I probably don't really need the 3.5 XW for the newt - 342x is a lot for my skies. But it completes the XW Short Set and I thought: what the Herschel...

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

1 hour ago, iPeace said:

Meanwhile...Steve, our resident OP, has a beautiful new Tak and an unexpectedly ideal way to bino-view with it!

Looking forward to reports once the mounting bits are sorted.

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)

On 29/05/2018 at 13:41, Star Struck said:

Any system is only as strong as its weakest component.

No matter how you mount the scope, there will always be a point of potential failure.

I use a Tak clamshell (bought used from a former TSA-102 owner) on a Vixen 102 achromat. That clamshell is built like a tank

and makes it far easier to get the scope to balance than the original Vixen rings ever did.

 

Tony

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

Dave

On 27/05/2018 at 11:37, John said:

Have to agree Mike. 

 

Yep, made me see red, that did..

Dave

On 30/05/2018 at 22:09, iPeace said:

Here's one of those impulse buys that's been a long time coming...

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

48 minutes ago, Saganite said:

You are very kind, gentleman.

Just the slightest tinge of sadness when I saw your scope Derek, but it was all in a good cause, to buy the Tak. The lovely Celestron ED102 goes to a very good home on Saturday.

 I still have my soul and both kidneys intact atleast.

..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

3 hours ago, Saganite said:

You wait until you look through it !!  

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

On 27/05/2018 at 18:11, Telescope40 said:

Hello. These came into my possession on Friday.  TS OPTICS  16x70 45 degree binos. Always fancied a pair. Came with all the original kit - carry case, cloth bag and gloves plus a blower. Three pair of eyepieces came along too !! The ones to give the 16x mag plus a pair of 12mm and 17 mm's. 

Will be used with my binoviewers and see how they compare with the TV zooms I currently use with the BV's. 

John 

Congratulations John!

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

Dave

On 27/05/2018 at 15:22, laudropb said:

Just delivered by the Amazon person.

Lovely book, that..I had the exact same volume and sold it last year. Stunning photographs..

Dave?

20 hours ago, N3ptune said:

@Lockie Has @JeremyS said, I think the same thing, I can retract my eye quite far away for my 7mm and still retain the image of the planet, they have good tolerance for eye distance. Although, it's probably not the definition of real comfort with eye relief.  ?

Very good quality/price for the poor man, the purist or the realist. ?

Here is my bit cat with my collection of 2 Orthoscopic ?

Have you tried using a Baader style winged eyeguard with orthos?

I used to find them quite comfortable and kept my eyelash from touching the glass ?

Dave

On 22/05/2018 at 14:08, JeremyS said:

I love mine too, Dave (especially in Tak green). Shall we start a "Show us your Tak Manhole Cover" thread? ?

Meanwhile this is specially for you, Dave:

 

It

Inspired by Jeremy's brilliant post, we now have a live "Show us your Dewcap" thread on this forum?.

Please show us what you use to protect your precious lenses and mirrors?

Here's my "manhole cover" off my Tak FS128 with the lightweight cap from my Vixen ED103s for comparison..

Dave

5 hours ago, parallaxerr said:

WARNING - THIS POST DOES NOT CONTAIN TAKAHASHI

Filling in the gaps in my ES line-up of EP's

82° 4.7mm, 68° 24mm & 62° 32mm

Lovely..I really rate the ES24 68 ( haven't tried the other two?)

Dave

7 hours ago, JeremyS said:

I love mine too, Dave (especially in Tak green). Shall we start a "Show us your Tak Manhole Cover" thread? ?

Meanwhile this is specially for you, Dave:

 

Thanks Jeremy...I feel "hole" again now!??

Dave

2 hours ago, JeremyS said:

I am not completely dismissing the Telegizmos hood - it has the advantage of being waterproof and longer. It's just that it's aesthetically challenged. Also the draw string doesn't really hold it tight, so there is a chance it could come off. I bought it from FLO.

I bought the LensCoat Hoodie from Wex.

You mentioned extra protection when carrying. I think the LensCoat would afford more protection from a bump and the material is thicker and there is a nice semi-rigid insert made from some high density foam plastic (which is removable) at the base, which would give bump protection to the end of the Tak's dew cap. However, knowing your keenness not to take chances when protecting your telescopes, you could always use both 

I confess that I do love my FS128s Manhole Cover..and such a snug fit!??

Dave