plyscope

I found this on Zeiss history;

http://www.company7.com/zeiss/history.html

Holger Merlitz has some Astro Physics historical catalogues from the 80's and 90's.

http://www.holgermerlitz.de/A-P_database/A-P_catalogs.html

I've not seen a CN 212 but I am a big fan of Ed Ting and his website!

I have owned a TV60 for over 10 years. It is a wonderful scope for travel and quick look viewing. 

If you only want three eyepieces for the TV 60, I recommend the Panoptic 24mm, the Nagler 9mm and the 3-6mm Nagler zoom.

The 3-6mm zoom covers all high mag conditions and allows you to get the best out of the situation. I have used a Vixen HR 2.4mm but there is little gain unless the conditions are absolutely perfect. I think the 4mm Delite would be fantastic however the 3-6mm zoom is just more versatile.

Toshimi Taki from Japan has an interesting wooden tube reflector.

http://takitoshimi.starfree.jp/

Thin plywood can be very effective and save weight. I have made octagonal refractor tubes with 4mm and 3mm marine grade plywood.

This is a thread from a few years ago on Cloudy Nights.

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/325327-5-f12-istar-refractor-project/

This is an old model from 10 years ago. I wonder if they found some old stock?

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/216156-comparing-go22x85-wo22x70-tak22x60/#entry2765948

There was a bit of discussion on CN but no actual user reports as yet.

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/680211-new-chineese-giant-binoviewer/

Maybe the people at Quicktest could offer advice.

https://www.quicktest.co.uk/

You could try this link;

https://www.quicktest.co.uk/acatalog/Binoculars.html

Thanks very much Ben for taking the time to share your thoughts and for illustrating the differences with all the photos. 

My poor old lap top struggled to load them all!

It is wonderful to see that some manufacturers are still making improvements to porro binoculars. 

Thanks for sharing your first impressions Ben. I too look forward to your comparison. I am particularly interested in the difference in eye relief compared to the 10x50 MX.

Many years ago I had a different brand 10x50 equivalent to the MX and enjoyed it very much except for the large eyepieces becoming uncomfortable after a minute or so. A little more eye relief would make them so much easier to live with.

I have one of these since they came out a couple of years ago. It is very well made with great coatings.

The field stop is a little fuzzy and it is does not have very good edge correction compared to a 24mm Panoptic.

Its big advantage is in its lightweight and better eye relief than a 24mm Panoptic. It has no undercut which I like. It is ideal in a lightweight turret setup especially with an f8 or f9 refractor.

It is not ideal in fast scopes. If I could choose only one then the 24mm Panoptic is better.

Great review here from Holger Merlitz.

http://www.holgermerlitz.de/nikon_wx/nikon_wx2.html

You may like to read Ed Tings review. 

https://www.scopereviews.com/page1ar.html

If you can get hold of one then I doubt you will be disappointed. It will certainly be easy to sell it on if you don't like it.

48 minutes ago, Chris Lock said:

Wow there's more! This size scope looks good on a medium duty EQ mount. I see the tube is quite far forward in the rings, is it balanced at this point? If so it looks handy for not having to stoop down so far to get to the eyepiece  

This particular scope is very light for it's length and is balanced as shown in the photo with a 2" GSO diagonal and 40mm Reverse Kellner eyepiece. It is ok on the Vixen GP mount when there is no wind. The long tube can catch the breeze. It is a nice scope for solar observing with an appropriate filter.

52 minutes ago, Chris Lock said:

Thanks for posting up pics of your lovely scopes, Andy, and cheers for the link, I'll read that with great interest!

One other question if that's ok? plywood is a great insulator, so how would you say the plywood tube compares with conventional materials in terms of cool down time?

The plywood is thin, only 3 or 4mm in thickness. Cooldown is not an issue at all. The lenses are achromatic doublets of small size so not really much thermal mass. 

This one is a light-weight 90mm f16.7 (90/1500) using an Antares Vixen spec lens.

Thank you all for the nice comments. There is no reason you can't use this type of telescope anywhere in the world. I would not leave it outside when not in use but I wouldn't do that with a non-wooden scope either. They can handle dew and moisture in the air just like any other material. The wood is varnished or painted just like a small boat.

Here is a link to a Cloudy Nights thread describing a 5" f12 built to this design;

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/325327-5-f12-istar-refractor-project/#entry4171500

This picture is by request for Chris.

The green one is a 6" f5 Jaegers lens in metal tube with GSO focuser. The wooden one is a D&G 6" f15 lens in a thin ply octagonal tube with AP focuser. Both piers are made from plywood with jarrah veneer.

Andy

Perth Australia