Louis D

11 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Interesting. A while ago I had a 10mm Radian which I compared to my 10mm NLV - they were about the same. Comparing the 10mm NLV to the 9mm ortho the latter is significantly brighter when looking at my white test chart. In photographic terms maybe ⅓ a stop difference or more.

Both the Radian and LV/NLV lines used rare earth glass types that seemed to make for slightly dimmer viewing in each as compared to the XL/XW and much later Delos/Delite lines.  I see the same effect in my NT4 eyepieces as well, so they probably use rare earth glasses as well.  My 27mm Panoptic shows a bit of this as well.

Maybe you're partially Japanese.  They tend to prefer straight through viewing of planets since any diagonal adds some scatter, decreasing contrast.

I've bought a solar finder and 20mm 68 degree eyepiece from their ebay store, and they both seem fine.  I think someone is trying to tie together all the unbranded Chinese astro accessories into a single brand to give them some cachet in the marketplace.  As such, they seem to be rather careful about avoiding pure junk being offered under the SVBONY brand to avoid any negatives being associated with it.

37 minutes ago, VegasIII said:

Have a question though, is the too much shield protruding beyond the end of the scope??

Given the very long focal length of that Mak, I doubt you could ever make too long of a dew shield, within practical limits that is.

2 hours ago, Matt888 said:

Thank you, I will have a better look. It seems to move now, but not really perfectly, so I will have a better look. Would a tiny drop of the kind of oil that is used for machinery or musical instruments be fine to ensure a smoother movement?

If you must, use a small amount of light grease on only the rack to help ensure it stays in place.  Wipe off any excess.  Oil tends to migrate everywhere.  You could also disassemble the pinion support and put a small amount on the axle inside and then reassemble it.

11 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Just the elusive 6mm and 5mm to go.

Not exactly minimal glass, but you could use a high quality 2x Barlow with the 12.5mm and 9mm or a 3x Barlow with the 18mm to get close for now to fill in the gaps.

At the very least, it would allow you to get some idea of what the missing powers would look like.

2 hours ago, Franklin said:

I was hoping to be able to use the 1.3x factor of the Q Barlow and still be able to switch eyepieces with the Turret but that is not possible. 

Sure it is.  Just buy three more Q Barlow elements and mount them in each eyepiece. 😁

I know you specifically asked about diagonal usage, but BHZs are not sold exclusively to diagonal users.  Many are sold to Newtonian users with native 2" focusers.  Using the BHZ in 2" mode avoids have to keep it in a 2" to 1.25" adapter.  This can be beneficial if many of your eyepieces are 2" only.  It simplifies eyepiece swaps if all are 2" fit.

I might have missed it, but did you touch on eye relief for folks with strong astigmatism that must wear eyeglasses while observing.  I don't think any binoculars come with astigmatism correction (DIOPTRX-like), correct?  You need to look for binoculars with large eye lenses that are mounted nearly flush to the top of the folded down eye cup.  In general, I've found that those retracting eye cups need to be completely removed in some manner to achieve sufficient eye relief for eye glass wearers.  They simply do not retract until level with the top of the eye lens, so they always eat up several precious millimeters of eye relief.  Commonly, simply continuing to twist them down will cause them to start unscrewing entirely from the bino because they are reverse threaded on.

Did shoot a new video of your scope riding on it to show it wobbling less after being touched than in your original review video?

1 hour ago, BGazing said:

Bingo, it is removing the lower caps on a Delite or Delos that pulls the whole thing up.

I always keep my 10mm Delos cup all the way down and have never experienced this.  Perhaps because I bought it around 2011 when it first came out, they were using a different lower cap back then?  I'll have to check how tight mine is the next chance I get.

Let a bright star drift from center to edge in both the Morpheus and the BHZ.  Does it remain point-like to the edge in both?  Also, does the BHZ allow as long a dwell time at 12.5mm before nudging your Dob again?  Do both control stray light as well on the moon and planets as they drift across the field?  Can you see the same amount of field in both while wearing eyeglasses?  These are all factors contributing to the higher cost of premium eyepieces.

1 hour ago, Bigwings said:

Yes he built that for himself. 

He spent 8 hours and about £80 making the scope dolly

Damn sight cheaper than buying on in America and shipping it over. It will take two adults standing on the centre without flexing so impossible to overload with astro kit. I Feel a 10" Newt creeping my way soon. 🤔🤓

Figure as an American business, a professional welder will generally charge around $100/hour for his or her services to cover shop overhead, not including materials, so add another $800 to the cost of your buggy.  Labor in the first world is killer expensive.  However, it is generally done right the first time.  That's why telescopes, mounts, and astro cameras made in the first world are so expensive and so prized.

I wonder if the problem is simply that the gap in the original isn't large enough.  The two ends meet before maximum pressure has been achieved.  I've heard of this being an issue with locking collets on binoviewers.  Simply snip out a bit of material and put it back in to see if matters improve.

17 hours ago, Sunshine said:

I would look at it like tires for ones car, am I going to install high end tires costing several hundreds each on my 2012 Toyota Corolla? does the car require them? most certainly not!.

Too many people cheap out on their car's tires and end up paying for it later.  I've been rear ended many times by people driving on crappy, high mileage, bargain tires with no traction.  Traffic comes to a sudden halt on the road.  I stop in time thanks to my excellent tires.  However, the car(s) behind me screech and crunch into the back of my car because they bought the cheapest tires possible.  Then I get shoved into the car ahead of me that I hadn't hit in the first place and get blamed by insurance for hitting them.

I just remove color in post processing to get rid of any color cast.  A simple way to do it is to desaturate colors to zero.

Generically, it's at about $450 per eyepiece.  I was able to get the ES-92s on sale for closer to $400 a few years ago.

I would never drop $1250 for a TV Apollo 11mm, no matter how fantastic it might be.  Of course, it's a moot point now since they're sold out.

Edit: Just found out that the ES-92's new US list price is $799.99.  It still lists for 479,00 € in Europe.  Guess I won't be getting anymore of them at the new US price should new focal lengths ever be introduced.

I would probably bungee it to the dolly.

Just be aware that the side panels are thin, textured plastic that are easily punctured.  As such, they are completely inappropriate for checked luggage.

7 hours ago, CraigT82 said:

The solar film let's everything through as it isn't a wavelength filter. Do you mean the solar continuum filter? 

No, I mean the solar film.  I'm not even convinced it's a full ND5 at IR wavelengths.  Has anyone confirmed this with a spectrometer?

Before adding the IR/UV cut filter, I couldn't continuously solar observe here in Texas with my 8" Dob for more than about 20 minutes before severe eye fatigue set in.  Adding a moon filter didn't significantly help, so it wasn't due to the image brightness in the visible spectrum.

A Pelican style case big enough for that scope might cost nearly as much as the scope itself.  There are the cheap, fake aluminum cases as the OP alluded to.  I would try to look for the cases that look similar to those but have the heavy black panels.  They are more resistant to puncture.

Clearly, Baader Solar Film leaks IR as I have always maintained.  It feels like your eyeball is being cooked without an IR/UV cut filter.

Is this for mass transit (planes/trains/buses) or personal vehicle transport?  If the latter, simply wrapping the scope and diagonal separately in bubble wrap and packing them in a suitably sized duffle/gym bag is sufficient as long as you don't pile heavy items on it.  If the former, try to do carry-on if at all possible with the same type of bag.

On 12/06/2021 at 15:33, xvariablestarx said:

I am thinking of either mounting the phone perpendicular to the tube like the picture below, and using Skeye.

Or buy a  Celestron Starsense Explorer scope and using its hardware and app license to mount it to something like a Dob

I can use Skeye instead of a finder, or should I use a finder a long with it?

 

I mount my cell phone running SkEye at an angle convenient for the part of the sky I'm observing using a cheap photo ball head.  Using a three way finder mount, I also mount two of a QuikFinder, a GLP, and a RACI.  I use the RACI with the 127 Mak and the QuikFinder with the 90mm APO.  At 600mm focal length with a 40mm 2" eyepiece, the RACI is completely redundant for the APO.

Does anyone know of a good pair of 8x42 or 10x50 binoculars with a wide field of view (at least 65 degrees) and long eye relief (at least 18mm of USABLE eye relief) for astigmatic eyes?  I've been using 8x42 Meade Safari Pro porro prism binos for over 20 years that fit this description, but I have had no luck finding a modern replacement for under $200.  I'm aware there is a Nikon WX line for over $6000, but that's a bit ridiculous for what I need.  I don't care if there is some edge degradation or false color at the edges since I tend to look only in the center.  I'm also good with porro prisms.  Weight is not a concern.  I was able to snag a NOS pair of 8x42 Meade Safari Pros for about $75 recently.  The focus action is a bit loose, but otherwise it's in great condition.