FLO

DHL's tracking says it was delivered this morning at 11:18am 🙂 Steve

Negative reviews are rare so we take them very seriously and do our best to investigate and learn 🙂 Pete emailed us last night at 8:30pm. Grant investigated then replied at 9:20pm. Pete emailed again last night, separately, and I myself responded this morning at 6.37am. When Pete ordered his binocular (Monday night) our website indicated it was out of stock and displayed a dispatch estimate of 2-4 working days (it displays 1-2 working days today because more stock has arrived). We missed our dispatch estimate by one day. Pete's order should have been delivered to him yesterday via DHL but was delayed at one of DHL's depots (during the current Covid-19 lockdown couriers are super-busy). Hopefully they will deliver his binocular to him today. HTH, Steve

Apologies for not responding earlier. Sales of astronomy equipment during the lockdown are at an all-time high so we are working overtime to keep up. Most will be surprised to hear it was Ian King who prompted us to stock these Japanese-made telescopes (Ian wrote the product descriptions). He has a collection of vintage long focal-ratio achromat telescopes, including the ScopeTech f15 model discussed here. It outperforms them all! He wanted to import them when he was at 'Ian King Imaging' but had to admit they didn't fit his websites focus on astrophotography. When he joined FLO, importing them was one of the very first suggestions he made. It took us a while (you'd be surprised how difficult it currently is to export telescopes from Japan) but here they are, albeit in small numbers. Ian now also owns the f12.5 model 🙂 Traditional telescopes like this are very niche. They do include some plastic components but they don't feel cheap and the lighter weight is welcome. Indeed anyone comparing them with Chinese-made achromats is, with respect, missing the point. The optics are very - very - well made and the views are sublime. It is not an expensive Sky-Watcher or Bresser, it is more like an affordable achromatic Takahashi. HTH, Steve

ZWO will soon release a new full-frame camera 🙂 The ZWO ASI 2400MC Pro will use Sony's latest back-illuminated IMX410 full frame sensor with 5.94um pixels that provide a well depth of 100ke. Essentially it is a large format camera with slightly larger pixels than the ASI 6200, making it more suitable for use with medium to longer focal length telescopes. It will also work very well with shorter focal lengths. It does have an impressive specification. Main specifications Bayer Pattern: Gb B R Gr Sensor: Sony-IMX410 Size: 36x24mm (full-frame) Pixel size: 5.94 Shutter: Rolling Resolution: 6072 x 4042 Spectral range: 200~1000nm Read Noise: 1.1-6.4 e QE: TBD MAX FPS: 8fps ADC: 14bit The price hasn't been announced but we are predicting < £4k We don't have a release date but ZWO say this new camera has "entered the final development stage" so we think it is close...

OVL are an importer/distributor. One of the brands they import/distribute is Sky-Watcher. A few years back some non-Sky-Watcher products imported/distributed by OVL were mistakenly sold as Sky-Watcher products. I guess Sky-Watcher noticed then asked OVL to correct the situation. Today those products, because they don't have a brand name, are sold as OVL. HTH, Steve

Sorry. I will finish the product listing tomorrow. Sales of astronomy equipment during the lockdown are at record levels. Higher even than Christmas! So we are all working overtime in dispatch and on the helpdesk ☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️ Steve

Weeell... Based on the information provided, the CEM70G extras are an "onboard optical guiding system" WiFi and USB 3.0. We will know more after our first delivery arrives and one of my colleagues has played with tested one 🙂 HTH, Steve

We think it does. We have sold out of CEM60 mounts and have only one or two CEM60EC models remaining. We think £2,349 for the CEM70 and £2,649 for the CEM70G. We have ordered several of each. We are not sure yet when they will arrive but we have a feeling it will be around a month. Apologies for not having already added it to our website, it has been an extraordinarily busy day with half our staff working remotely. We are nearly there 🙂 HTH, Steve

ScopeTech 80mm Fraunhofer Telescopes are now available to buy in the UK 🙂

Something for the traditional telescope enthusiast 🙂 Classic Japanese-made 80mm Fraunhofer refractor telescopes. ScopeTech STL80A-L 80mm F12.5 Classical Refractor ScopeTech STL-80A Maxi 80mm F15 Classical Refractor

IOptron have contacted us. The new CEM70 is closer to release than we thought. It appears the CEM60 will be discontinued 🙁 The CEM70 will be added to our website later today. HTH

Thank-you for the kind comments 🙂 We have a little of the original Telescope House (before it was purchased by Bresser-Germany) at FLO because, not many people know this, my colleague Ian King used to work at TH. Many years ago! We also have a good relationship with Steve Collingwood (he worked at TH for many years and made the BC&F website I linked to earlier). He helps us out with mount and telescope repairs during busy periods or when Rob is on holiday. Top man 😎 It wasn't a good telescope. The larger/heavier OTA was too much for the mounts plastic gears. I heard later they upgraded the gears to metal but they didn't upgrade the motors, so they struggled. That was years ago, I daresay they have solved those problems now. Steve

We are being asked if we would consider someone living outside the UK. Yes. We would 🙂 We have edited the above. It is desirable, not a necessity. Finding the 'right' person for the role is more important to us than where you live or whether you can travel. HTH, Steve

We are looking for someone to join FLO full-time assisting customers via email 🙂 The ideal person will have knowledge of astronomy equipment and be able to communicate well with customers, colleagues, manufacturers and suppliers. There are times when stellar communication and the patience of a saint are necessary to achieve a positive outcome. Indeed these skills are probably more important than technical ones, because the technical side can be taught. We are based in Exeter but it doesn't matter where you live because we are looking for a remote worker. Not just during the lockdown but ongoing. If you are able to also assist at events like star parties, the International Astronomy Show or Astrofest, that would be an advantage. Pay will be based on knowledge and experience but everyone at FLO is paid The Real Living Wage or higher. Perks of the job include the ability to work in your pyjamas and have access to more astronomy equipment than you can shake a stick at! 🔭 Please email your cover letter and CV in confidence to us at jointheteam@firstlightoptics.com We look forward to hearing from you 🤗 Closing date 1st June.

Me too! I remember Pete Gallon telling me that of the three ETX Maksutovs "per cm of aperture it has the highest performance". He was a good salesman... 😏 The optics were actually very nice but the mount, finder and Autostar GOTO system were pants! (No reflection intended on today's Meade ETX telescopes which, I assume, are improved). Steve

Hope it doesn't have backlash... 🤭🤫

I try not to... 😁

Yes. And at this early stage any ETA provided by a retailer is little more than a guess. IOptron themselves don't know when it will be ready for release. The design is not in production.

It is difficult know what to say about a mount with unconfirmed spec, an unconfirmed price and no ETA 🙃 It looks like some Chinese product info about a mount still in development was leaked, and a small number of retailers have used the info to make a product page for their website. I don't want to sound judgmental because FLO used to do the same, back in her early days. These days we are more careful because we have learned promoting a product based on leaked info can and often does backfire. My personal opinion is, I sincerely hope they do not discontinue the CEM60! Unless someone really wants a CEM70 then I am advising they choose a CEM60. The CEM60 is a very successful product that is tried and trusted. The CEM70 looks to be (based on its current guesstimated U$ price) nearly double the price of a CEM60, with only 10lb more load bearing capacity. It will also initially be in short supply. HTH, Steve

Since bringing Optolong on board the L-eNhance filter has been incredibly popular. We've have had lots of requests for a clip-in version which is now on it's way! 🙂 Due to arrive at the end of the month, there is a 'pre-order' discount available from now until the end of May saving £30. More details on our website here: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/light-pollution-reduction-imaging/optolong-l-enhance-dual-narrowband-deep-sky-imaging-filter.html. The L-eNhance filter is a great choice for one shot colour / DSLR imaging filtering everything apart from narrow bands of H-alpha, H-beta and Oxygen III wavelengths making it a great choice for heavily light polluted areas.

I see you first started your conversation with my colleague, Ian, saying you wanted something portable that doesn't take long to set up. His suggestions were based on that and your budget, which you later doubled. I don't think you mentioned your preference for deep-sky until only this evening. After we had closed. I will let Ian know when we reopen. HTH, Steve

For Supernova74 and anyone else wanting to reminisce the ‘good old days’ 🙂 https://www.bcftelescopes.co.uk/about-broadhurst-clarkson-and-fuller-ltd/broadhurstclarksonandfullerltd/

I have added it to that page too. Off to bed now. Goodnight. Steve 😴

I have added it to the list of Related Products at the bottom of the page, so it's easy to find. I guess the same is true for the Bresser Messier 8? Steve

Sorted 🙂 Thanks for the heads-up. I am surprised they changed the RDF to a 6x30. Steve