Louis D

I looked at 127mm Mak on an EQ3 type mount (IIRC) and was astounded by how heavy it made such a light (8 pounds) scope.  It made picking it up to move it around the yard to avoid obstructions (trees, houses, etc.) a non-starter.  I ended up going with a DSV-1 alt-az mount for my AT72ED and then a DSV-2B so I could mount a 127mm Mak on the other side and have axis locks.  Even with two scopes, it's not much heavier than the EQ3 with 127mm Mak alone.  Those counterweights are deal breakers.

15 hours ago, Littleguy80 said:

Starting to look full now.... but still some space ?

Nothing stopping you from expanding to another case.  I'm at 6 cases right now.  A-team, B-team (demotions), binoviewer and pairs, nostalgic (oldies with sentimental value), Meade HD-60 set, and a new large eyepiece case for overflows that belong in the B-team case, but are too tall to fit upright.

19 minutes ago, AKB said:

This really isn't as bad as it sounds.

8.5cm diameter (57 cm^2 area) with 20.0 cm diameter (314 cm^2 area) gives an unobstructed area of 257 cm^2, which is what you would get from a 18.1 cm unobstructed diameter.

Of course, there are other optical factors at play other than simply light-gathering area.

It's probably not a big deal on high contrast objects.  It probably wouldn't be a good choice for imaging low contrast objects like Jupiter or Saturn, though.

4 hours ago, alacant said:

Hi. Yes. No problem. I mentioned it only because you may think the vignetting excessive (if you've tried say a slower reflector) and blame it on the cc.

For reference, the secondary fitted to our 8" is 85mm. 

Cheers and HTH.

Am I reading that right?  A 42% obstruction by diameter?  WOW! ? I guess compromises must be made for reflector astrophotography.  By comparison, for strictly visual use, I use an 18% obstruction in my 8".

6 hours ago, Paul73 said:

The Leica 88° is a new one on me. Has anyone tried one?

They are repackaged German military eyepieces.  They generally go for about $1200 on the secondary market in the US.  Technically, they're considered Leitz, not Leica, though I'm not sure what the difference between the two badges is since I thought they're the same company.

Here's one CN thread about them.  The packaging has not been consistent over the years.  Here's another thread showing some of the incarnations.  You'd think with their European origins, you'd find more of them in Europe than in the US, as is the case with Clavé Plossls, but that doesn't seem to the case for the Leitz 88.

If the rear port is large enough, you might try the 3" 30mm ES-100 with their 3" diagonal.  You'd have to locate a 3" visual back on your own.

ES also does the 2" 25mm ES-100 which reportedly vignettes a bit at the edge and falls off a bit in sharpness.

Another option is to keep a lookout for the 2" 30mm Leica 88 degree eyepiece.  It would probably look pretty good at f/8.  Some folks prefer it for various reasons over the 31mm Nagler.

The 41mm Panoptic is supposed to be very sharp edge to edge but lacks a sharp field stop (it is reportedly a bit fuzzy) which is a bit off-putting for some folks.

Personally, I use a 40mm Meade 5000 SWA.  It is nearly sharp across the field at f/6, so it should be pretty good at f/8.  It does have a sharp field stop.  The 40mm Maxvision is the same thing.  The 40mm ES-68 is optically the same, but lacks a bit of eye relief due to the recessed eye lens.

3 hours ago, parallaxerr said:

I have no issue changing a focuser, done it plenty of times.

You might have damaged tube threads or a bent tube due to the impact that bent the focuser shaft.  Until you start disassembly, you simply don't know the extent of the damage.

3 hours ago, parallaxerr said:

I have proposed this option to TS now, that I star test and if OK just return the focuser.

Most reputable places will just send you a replacement part and tell you to chuck to broken-in-transit part.  Why should you accept a refurbished focuser for a new telescope?  That doesn't make any sense at all. 

53 minutes ago, parallaxerr said:

I assume so that TS can claim their costs back from UPS

I don't know how it works with retailers, but UPS won't honor a damage claim unless it was packed by one of their brick and mortar affiliates.  Basically, user packaging can't be insured against damage, only loss.

7 hours ago, parallaxerr said:

Furthermore, they want the scope inspected by a telescope shop (due to the value) to confirm the damage. Well there isn't a telescope shop within hundreds of miles of me, which is why I bough online in the first place! I wonder if Jessops would oblige? I wouldn't call them a specialist, but they sell SW stuff.

I'm not familiar with UK geography, but I did a quick lookup, and Caerleon appears to be near Newport which has a Camera Centre UK which might be able to do a damage appraisal.

2 hours ago, parallaxerr said:

Wish I had done now. Still no response from TS, tried a dozen times on the phone.

If you can't get a response from them after a week, open a credit card dispute to reverse the charge.  That always gets an intransigent retailer's attention in a hurry.

35 minutes ago, parallaxerr said:

Sadly gents, there will be no grand unveiling this time, the scope is back in the box to be returned.

My immeasurably bad internet ordering luck has struck once again. I ran the focuser in and out and it was rough as toast. Further investigation highlighted damage to the inside of the box, a cracked focus wheel cover and ultimately a bent focuser shaft.

The external box is un-marked, so this must have happened before dispatch.

That's why I'm hesitant to buy big tickets items from Europe.  I'm not sure how to get duties reimbursed from the US treasury on returns or if it's worth the time and effort involved.  Anything under $800 is duty free, so eyepieces, small mounts, and small scopes are not an issue.  With Brexit, I would hope Britain reciprocates the $800 duty free limit with the US.  That, and drop VAT on US imports since most US states don't enforce sales tax on imports.

9 minutes ago, parallaxerr said:

Isn't it odd. I asked about the glass in the Stellarvue on ABS and the buyer went quiet. There's nothing wrong with FPL51, buyers just like to know.

Anyway, I've been poring over the photos of the AA Ascent and TS ED102 and I'll eat my hat if they're not the same scope. TS openly state FPL51.

I think I actually prefer the TS livery too and there's only a few £ difference including postage, so TS is topping my list now.

You can generally assume FPL-51 or equivalent if the glass type is not stated.  Pretty much every company trumpets when they use FPL-53 or equivalent, so the lack of any commotion generally points to FPL-51.

33 minutes ago, Green12 said:

Thanks all for advice/comments.

a little unsure on these now.

might go back to my original idea of either Morpheus 9mm or 17.5mm

or ES 82 or maybe Delite??

Awww, come on.  Someone's got to be the first to buy these and report on them, so it might as well be you. ?

2 hours ago, Green12 said:

Thanks for info.

RVO have put a few specs next to them now. Not really sure what they compare to

Talk about eye relief being all over the place.  I'm not sure how the last four columns compare to other eyepieces since this data is rarely published for eyepieces:

I have the original FPL-51 version of the AT72ED, and I only see purple fringing up around 125x on bright stars.  I don't see it on the moon or planets at sub-100x powers.  It looks pin sharp and color free at low powers when scanning star fields, which is the main thing I use it for.  I haven't tried looking for color fringing on high contrast daytime targets like dark tree limbs against the bright sky.

You might check for reviews of the AstroTech AT102ED on Cloudy Nights.  I think it is similar to the TS102ED.

2 hours ago, John said:

Thanks Louis - Glenn it was

I'm suspicious Glenn licensed the name and did not design the optics for these new eyepieces.  There has been no chatter on CN about them at all, either.

His main driving reason for the SW line was so Canadians would have an affordable alternative to the expensive, US dollar priced Nagler line back when the Canadian dollar was particularly weak versus the US dollar.  I find it very strange that I can't find a single Canadian dealer marketing them.  I had to buy my zoom from O'Neil Photo & Optical Inc. in Ontario, Canada, because there were no US SW dealers at that time.

I think it is exciting if Glenn really did roll up his sleeves and pen an entirely new line of eyepieces.  These don't match up with any other existing line of eyepieces that I know of.

6 hours ago, John said:

The zoom was considered a bit of a "Nagler killer". They were bulky eyepieces (tall) but not as heavy as you would expect them to be.

I have the original version of the 5-8mm zoom from around 2000.  It is every bit as sharp as my Pentax XL eyepieces center to edge in direct comparison.  Considering the wider field of the zoom, that's saying something.  It is just really huge with only 7mm to 9mm of usable eye relief, depending on the zoom setting.  At those small exit pupils, I can get away without my eyeglasses and see only slight astigmatism from my eyes if I want to see the entire 78 degree AFOV (measured constant across the range) with an effective AFOV of 79 to 86 degrees based on the measured TFOV from 8mm down to 5mm.  I'm guessing increasing barrel distortion compressing the edges is at work.  That makes it the same measured AFOV as the Morpheus eyepieces (9mm and 14mm) I own.  The 9mm has an 80 degree effective AFOV based on measured TFOV while the 14mm has only a 75 degree effective AFOV.  I'm guessing the latter has strong pincushion distortion like a Panoptic. However, the big difference between the two eyepiece types is that the  9mm Morpheus has 22mm of usable eye relief and the 14mm version has 19mm of usable eye relief.  Both are super comfy with eyeglasses.

I haven't compared the 9mm Morpheus to the zoom at 8mm yet.  Not quite equivalent, but pretty close.  The 9mm Morpheus doesn't show any field curvature or edge astigmatism like the 14mm version, so it should be a pretty close contest.  It might come down to stray light control, contrast, and axial sharpness.

BTW, the 8.5-12mm SW zoom got slightly less glowing reviews.  I see that ScopeStuff still lists this zoom as available, so they might have one or more new old stock copies lying around in the warehouse if someone is interested in it.

6 hours ago, John said:

I believe Greg Speers used optics sourced from Japan, Taiwan and China as the years progressed but many of the Antares products were assembled in Canada.

Glenn Speers

Literally the only place I can find them is Rother Valley Optics.  The old series 1 and 2 were very good performers, just very long with only moderate, not long, eye relief.  I can't imagine these would have anything to offer over the Morpheus line, especially if you wear eyeglasses to observe.

The old series 1 and 2 were designed by Canadian optics designer Glenn Speers.  They were assembled in Canada.  I'm not sure if the components were also of Canadian sources.  WALER stood for Wide Angle Long Eye Relief.  Canadian dealers were always the best bet for locating SW eyepieces.  The fact that I can't locate a single dealer for them on this side of the pond is suspicious.

Being in the US, you might also investigate mounting a green laser sight to get you quickly in the neighborhood and to save your neck and back.

I like the compactness of the Rigel QuikFinder over the Telrad for shorter scopes.

A 9x50 or larger RACI finder scope would indeed be helpful given the 2000mm focal length of your scope.

On 01/02/2019 at 10:49, Louis D said:

Here's an explanation from Dave Bush on CN about the disappearance:

Well, this is interesting.   I just received an email from ES stating the following...

Recall

After receiving some negative feedback on the imaging performance of the new LER 82°,

we unfortunately noticed serious problems with the imaging performance.

Extensive random checks of the batch confirmed this suspicion.

For this reason we ask you to send all eyepieces of the 82° LER series back to us.

You will receive a credit note immediately.

Now, I've not had a chance to test my 8.5mm but I'm hoping to give it a shot tonight.  Depending on how it performs I may take advantage of their recall.

I wonder if they will be reimbursing all import duties in both directions as well as shipping charges.  Do they then apply to the respective governments for reimbursement of the duties collected?

Latest from Dave Bush on CN:

*** Reply from ES..

“We will refund the purchase amount including shipping costs completely.
Additionally we ask you to destroy and dispose the eyepiece afterwards. The effort to send it back is unfortunately too high.
We will send you a confirmation about the credit note by email promptly and ask you to excuse the circumstances.
Explore Scientific will inform you if there are any news” 

I suspected they'd realize reverse importing them back into the EU would be a complete taxation/tariffs/shipping costs quagmire.  Literally nothing I've cross imported into the US from Canada, Australia, or the EU has ever had any sort of sales tax or import tariff applied to it.  I'm sure the reverse would not be true to any of these countries from the US, though, even for a return.

6 hours ago, DS24 said:

I reciently ordered a new telescope and an es 28mm 82 degree eyepiece with it and it's amazing from the build quality to the big view it gives with perfect optical clearity.  I'm also getting the 30mm version in a few days.

You're getting a 30mm ES-82 in addition to the 28mm WO/Nirvana 82 degree eyepiece?  Did you mean 18mm ES-82 since that is what is shown in your photos?

Here's an explanation from Dave Bush on CN about the disappearance:

Well, this is interesting.   I just received an email from ES stating the following...

Recall

After receiving some negative feedback on the imaging performance of the new LER 82°,

we unfortunately noticed serious problems with the imaging performance.

Extensive random checks of the batch confirmed this suspicion.

For this reason we ask you to send all eyepieces of the 82° LER series back to us.

You will receive a credit note immediately.

Now, I've not had a chance to test my 8.5mm but I'm hoping to give it a shot tonight.  Depending on how it performs I may take advantage of their recall.

I wonder if they will be reimbursing all import duties in both directions as well as shipping charges.  Do they then apply to the respective governments for reimbursement of the duties collected?

I was able to retrieve the original webpages via Google caching, but you can't put the eyepieces in your shopping cart from the defunct pages.  Looks like Dave Bush will be the sole owner of one of these eyepieces for a while now.