michael.h.f.wilkinson

Looks very nice indeed

Here it is: It is not a very expensive item; I got it for €199

Just to add a shot with the focuser extended (not fully) I also like the thread that allows more stable attachment of imaging gear.

It is an improved Crayford, with steel bearing surfaces (like a Baader Steeltrack). All R&P refractor focusers I could find were too long.

I just received a new focuser for my APM 80 mm triplet, to replace the standard Crayford. The Crayford was OK, but a bit too long to let my cameras come to focus with the 0.6x focal reducer. The new one can handle a much larger load (5 kg), and is 25 mm shorter. It really feels better made than the old one. It also allows easy attachment of a motor focus unit. My filter-switch diagonal should now also reach focus with the new set-up. I will now see if I can adapt the old one to the ST80. As expected, clouds, wind, and rain accompany the arrival of the focuser.

Nice set of images. I did spot the moon yesterday, between heavy rain squalls, but it was hiding behind the trees from my garden

These sound really interesting. Especially the fact that they are not stopped down makes them a great alternative for the old BA-1 crowd

I have switched to ZWO filter wheels, and I am having difficulty getting this to work on a Windows 8 laptop. The filter wheel comes in original box, and is complete with all cables, but no nosepiece (I always connected it directly to the T2 thread of my flip mirror). No filters are included. I am asking just £50, plus postage, due to the lack of nosepiece, and the fact that this is an elderly item that will require some tweaking of the software set-up to get it to work.

As I now have electronic filter wheels, I am selling my manual wheel. It is in good working order, with only a few superficial scratches on the outside. No filters included. Asking for £50 plus postage. Open to sensible offers.

OK, this just doesn't seem to reach infinity focus with the DSLR . I have just found a replacement focuser which is 20 mm shorter, and can handle double the payload. It is even priced €36 off, so ordering it was inevitable, I suppose, especially when you have just sold an item of your kit which covers the cost. Resisting temptation? I've heard of it. Doesn't seem to happen much around here, these days

Snapped up a 0.6x focal reducer from ABS-UK. It has just arrived with just a few marks on the tube (as advertised) but optically perfect. This will transform my APM 80 mm F/6 triplet into an F/3.6. It should still cover the chip of my Canon EOS 550D, but allow faster, wider-field imaging. I also want to use it with the ASI183MC for deep sky. It might not be cooled, but should beat my previous combo of Canon EOS 550D, APM 80 mm F/6 with 0.8x focal reducer (so F/4.8, effectively). Unusually, the forecast for Sunday night is clear. Fingers crossed.

This is my take: I used APP and GIMP

Single shot with my Canon EOS 80D and 100-400 mm F/4.5-5.6 L IS zoom, at F/5.6, 1/160s ISO 800. RAW file converted to TIFF and contrast stretched a bit in PIPP, converted to JPG in GIMP, no further processing. I took more shots in RAW but somehow stacking isn't working yet.

Couldn't spot it in my Lunt SUNoculars.

Just got the Coronado SolarMax-II 60 mm out for a quick solar tea break, and lo and behold, an AR is showing around the four o'clock position. Off band, a few sunspots showed, and on-band several swirls of dark filaments and bright plage showed around them. A small prom was visible at the 8 o'clock position. Great to see some stuff on the surface FINALLY.

I have found I could always pick out the granular, filamentary texture of the chromosphere once the scope is well tuned, even when it is as quiet as it is now. The rusted ITF will affect this. The discussion here just made me check my Coronado BF15, but that seems to be fine.

I use mine on a home-made P-mount that works a treat. Didn't cost me anything near as much as the Paragon Plus. Some pics can be found here:

Very nice result. I would also opt for ditching the EP and reducer. On a full-frame camera, the focal length on the 6SE is short enough to fit the whole disk onto the chip (would even work with my Celestron C8)

Congratulations, that is a great image

Very nice indeed. I regularly grab up to 250-300 GB for lunar mosaics. You really need a big SSD to do this kind of work

I use the very compact and pretty light APM 80mm F/6 triplet for travel. Regarding aperture fever, I am sorely tempted by the very compact, and very light (2.1 kg) and 110mm aperture. Its limited FOV compared to the 80mm APM is the only real drawback.

I am not sure about the angled ones, but the cheaper 15x70 BA-1 type binoculars, sold under a variety of brand names are effectively 15x63 due to undersized prisms and internal baffles. They are still good value for money in my book. My Omegon 15x70 pair (just 89 euro) lasted me many years and showed me the wonders of the southern hemisphere when I travelled to South Africa and Australia. Apart from limiting the effective aperture, undersized prisms can also cause a reduction of the maximum FOV of the EPs inserted. I have seen some 90 deg 100mm bins that clearly showed some vignetting when my MaxVision 24 mm 68 deg EPs were inserted.

Weird pair of bins. Real collector's item

I have the Meade Series 5000 2x and 3x TeleXtenders which are optically the same as the ES 1.25 focal extenders, I am told. I also have the Tele-Vue 2.5x and apart from magnification, I cannot really tell them apart. The combination of Meade 2x TeleXtender, APM 80mm F/6, and and ZWO ASI183MC got me this lunar shot: Which isn't bad, I would say

Weird indeed. No surprise it is popular, it is an excellent EP for a very modest price. Robtics still lists it: https://www.robtics.nl/product_info.php?cPath=28_44_854&products_id=5649&pID=5649&language=en&osCsid=fqkvs84mcpulqj18bq3ji14nv1 But they are not always accurate when it comes to listing the supplies they have (they still list the XW 40mm). TS also don't list their Paragon 40mm any more. Looks like that line is coming to an end. I would not be surprised if the rather poorer performance of the 35 and 30mm versions has impacted sales of the series in general.