rkelley8493

Probably two or three times a year unless I accidentally touch the glass with my hands and/or eyelashes. In that case, I'll spray a couple/few pumps of Zeiss Lens Cleaner solution onto a clean microfiber cloth and gently wipe the lens.

However, after each use, I usually blow off any dust/particles on the eyepieces with a blower tool [Opolar Battery Operated Air Duster] before I put them back in the case. I do this regardless if I see any dust particles or not just to prevent anything from building up on the surface [visible or invisible].

11 hours ago, badhex said:

It's a great setup. I like the idea of the mat/blanket too. Does it stay nice and flat or do you ever worry about tripping up? Are you in a public space there? 

Thanks! It's a waterproof 'picnic' blanket that's pretty dense, so it stays where it lays. I live in a very humid region, so having a barrier in between the ground and the scope helps keep moisture from collecting on the equipment. 

It's my back yard, but I share the lake/pond with a few neighbors. They're all pretty friendly and respectful and leave their back porch lights off for me.

I call this The Slack-jawed Config 🤯

My Lazy Rig. 

Good lookin scope! Is the objective oil-spaced or air-spaced?

On 03/05/2021 at 03:35, Peter Drew said:

I've not seen the Alpine Valley Rille in anything smaller than a 16",  a 4" anything is of no use to me other than a finder or occasional solar telescope.  It's my problem, not the telescope's.  "A man needs to know his limitations" (CE)     🙂

Here are a couple cellphone pictures I took of the Alpine Valley Rille with my 4" FC-100DF. Pardon the black-spot photobomb in the first image.. Cursed camera is flawed.

On 20/02/2021 at 03:58, Size9Hex said:

Hi everyone,

I would welcome your experience and advice on an eyepiece decision please:

In short, which eyepiece for my "lives in the focuser" DSO sessions? Ethos 13mm, ES92 12mm or should I stick with my existing ES82 14mm or something else? Main scope is a 10" f4.7. I'm wondering if one the alternatives might give me a more comfortable view with more of the field visible.

Slightly more: I realise I'm lucky to have an ES82 14mm. It's a great eyepiece that I've been using for years. Mid power DSO viewing, high quality view, wide enough for star hopping, but deep enough for great views of the showpiece objects - just thoroughly enjoyable observing that isn't pushing equipment or observer or sky quality to the limits! I'm only questioning the ES82 14mm because of the ergonomics and because if there was a single eyepiece I really wanted to optimise, it would be the one in this niche. The ergonomics of the ES14mm are such that I can either view comfortably with about 60-65 degrees visible or I go almost within eyelid touching distance to get about 75 degrees with the field stop needing a slight head turn in either case. The latter isn't uncomfortable, but it could be more comfortable...! The Ethos or ES92 are of interest if the the wide field is more accessible/comfortable. Seems odd, but I briefly dwelled on a Delite given how much time I spend at ~60 degree distance from the ES82 anyway! 🙄 . I love those big wide starfield views at this focal length though. Do other ranges open up the accessible AFOV?

Interested in any and every experience and opinion on it. 🙂

Thanks!

Here's a visual between the two, pictured below..

I had a chance to compare them, and the last thing that crossed my mind was the difference in FOV. They're both equally excellent performers, but the presentation is completely different. The whole 92º field can fit on the huge eye lens of the ES. The image just seems to float above it.

The Ethos felt more like a porthole experience, like you are looking into a window to outer space. Other users have found it easier to view through, i.e. more consistent exit pupil.

So I guess depends on your level of experience [depends on your style as well.. I prefer long eye relief EP's]. With practice you learn how to adapt your eye to the exit pupil in long eye relief oculars. Ones not familiar with LER eyepieces may have some trouble [like kids or others you may share with], but like any sport or hobby, practice improves your abilities.

One thing to mention though, and it has nothing to do with the views.. The 12 ES 92º is much more massive than the 13 Ethos, almost twice as much. The 12/92º weighs 1017g vs 590g for the 13E. This could be an issue with smaller style manually tracked mounts. Just something to consider..

My smedium [small/medium] refractor...

9 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

The colour shown in the image of Mars is from the cell phone camera and not the FC100, and the softness is atmospheric. Quite a nice image considering its from a mobile phone and at such magnification. 

Thanks for the support, Mike! Nice to hear from you. 👋 😀

To add, the cursed lens shield on the camera is cracked, and it's a hand held photo. I try to capture what I observe with my cellphone, but taking a picture of an image with a flawed camera is never going to reproduce the actual image. Sort of like making a copy of a copy; it never comes out as good as the original. Maybe I should've shown my Luna-pics instead of Mars through a cruddy atmosphere.  

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/694006-post-your-cell-phone-or-smart-phone-lunar-image-here/?p=10828247

My point is you can use extremely high magnification in this scope with hardly any chromatic aberration or image breakdown.

The last few posts were mentioning powers over 200x and 350x, so I was simply showing an illustrated example.

Check this out.. This cellphone capture is from last fall [Oct-Nov] with 4.5 Delos + 2x Powermate in FC-100DF. Magnification is 329x.

The smaller Fluorite models make one heck of a grab & go 

On 30/04/2021 at 20:22, rkelley8493 said:

Take a look at this.. 😅

Here's the solution:

Take a look at this.. 😅

2 minutes ago, garryblueboy said:

Yes it is 

Kool! I didn't know you could do that. I've been eyeballing the AZ100 mount lately.. I should be able to pair it with my Berlebach Planet & Orion Pier Column Ext. 😄

2 hours ago, garryblueboy said:

My two latest additions 

 

Is that the AZ-EQ6 Pier Column Extension attached to your Rowan AZ100?  

1 minute ago, rkelley8493 said:

I use a 1.8x GPC for Refracting & SC Telescopes [Baader T2] with my binoviewer. There wasn't enough inward focus travel when I attached the GPC to the nose of the binoviewer, so I ended up attaching it to the T2 prism. This configuration required a ton of outward focus travel because the GPC is so far forward in the optical path. The closer the GPC is to the objective in the light path, the further [outward] distance you'll need to reach focus. The further the distance of the GPC from the light path, the more inward travel you'll need to reach focus.

This was no problem in my SVA-130T w. 3" Feather Touch, but in my FC-100DF, the draw tube length on the focuser wasn't long enough. To get around this, I ended up getting the Baader Tele-Kompendium set of extension tubes & adapters [see bottom picture]. This allowed me to attach the T2 GPC within the extension tubes for a flexure free optical train and gave me enough back focus to work with. 

Here are a few illustrations. This picture has the GPC attached to the nose of the T2 prism [requires a lot of focuser distance]. I had to pull the gpc halfway out of the focuser to reach focus and spot the weight due to flexure

Solution: the Baader M68 Tele-Kompendium System with internal T2 thread

I use a 1.8x GPC for Refracting & SC Telescopes [Baader T2] with my binoviewer. There wasn't enough inward focus travel when I attached the GPC to the nose of the binoviewer, so I ended up attaching it to the T2 prism. This configuration required a ton of outward focus travel because the GPC is so far forward in the optical path. The closer the GPC is to the objective in the light path, the further [outward] distance you'll need to reach focus. The further the distance of the GPC from the light path, the more inward travel you'll need to reach focus.

This was no problem in my SVA-130T w. 3" Feather Touch, but in my FC-100DF, the draw tube length on the focuser wasn't long enough. To get around this, I ended up getting the Baader Tele-Kompendium set of extension tubes & adapters [see bottom picture]. This allowed me to attach the T2 GPC within the extension tubes for a flexure free optical train and gave me enough back focus to work with. 

Here are a few illustrations. This picture has the GPC attached to the nose of the T2 prism [requires a lot of focuser distance]. I had to pull the gpc halfway out of the focuser to reach focus and spot the weight due to flexure

A better look at my Stellarvue SVA130T..

Here's my dual rig, but I've only used it a handful of times bc it's a lot of work to setup & deploy
 

I'll contribute a couple. These were taken a few days ago through my Google Pixel 2 [Night Sight mode] with my Takahashi FC-100DF, AP MaxBright, and Pentax 10 XW.

I increased the contrast in pic 2.. I wasn't sure which I thought looked the best, so I saved both.

Here's my motley crew

Those are 25mm Plössls just below the binoviewer.

18 hours ago, Don Pensack said:

If ES in Europe is out of the 17mm, ES in the US is not.

Because of the issues with Covid-19 and the effects on sales (4x last year's level) and production (interruptions have reduced output),

I now don't expect to see any more focal lengths in this series, especially any focal lengths longer than 17mm.

ES in the US is out of a lot of focal lengths of eyepieces, and it may take months just to fill up the pipeline with current product.

Anything new has been pushed back to "Indefinite".

Aw man 😧  That's crappy news.. I was hoping they'd release an 8mm 92° to fill a void I have with this focal length. I'd be more likely to purchase a new ES 8mm 92 than I would an 8mm Ethos, but it looks like I may not have the luxury 😕

On 17/11/2020 at 11:40, John said:

The Ethos 21 is 1020g so the ES 17 / 92 is the heaviest that I own.

 

The 17/92° is the heaviest eyepiece I own as well, though our eyepiece collection is similar. From most massive to least, mine goes something like this:

ES 17mm 92° - 1159g

TV 21 Ethos - 1021g

ES 12mm 92° - 1017g

TV 31T5 Nagler - 1000g

TV 17T4 Nagler - 726g

TV 22T4 Nagler - 681g

TV 4.7 Ethos - 590g

TV 3.5 Delos - 499g

TV 6 Delos - 454g

Pentax XW 10 - 390g