DaveL59

I guess a lot depends on your view of risk. I've bought several times from Ali and never had a problem, tho cost to return would be a pain I expect. Most times shipping has been pretty quick and their tracking works well enough. Things tend to get slow once they hit customs here tho lol. I've bought SVbony zoom eyepieces, finder mounts, CCTV cameras (some shipped from germany when we were still EU) and lenses for them and a replacement ultrasonic motor ring for the Tamron 150-600mm zoom lens I got for a bargain price. Not fitted that yet tho as my bodge-it-and-leg-it conductive copper foil tape fix on the original motor ring got it going again pretty nicely.

here a recent shot during that heatwave with the Tammy at 600mm, handheld and of course cropped. a daylight (evening) shot earlier in Aug, a bit heat hazy, noted the blotches which turned out to be on the mirror and sensor. The above was more to test I'd got the sensor cleaned well enough. The 180mm Zeiss, taken Dec-2020 With x2 TC Can't find the one I took with 2x x2TC's tho.

you pulling the trigger Ags? Be interesting to see a report on the final product from someone on here 😉 Am tempted but I know I'd be really pushing my scopes past their limits at the short end of that EP

well Dec-21 but now reported on the BBC new site Nasa space probes document big impacts on Mars - BBC News Debris thrown 30KM, impressive!

Are you looking to fill the frame or just get decent enough magnification that you can crop? You could try adding a 2x teleconverter into the train or even 2 of. I tried that some time ago with my old Pentacon-6/M42 Zeiss Sonnar 180mm F2.8 & 2 of 2x TC and it did surprisingly well, tho the entire assembly was somewhat bulky. The longest lens I have is a 150-600mm Tamron which on my APS-C sensor Sony A77ii gives an effective 900mm but the moon doesn't fill the frame, not really done much other than a couple pot-shots at the moon handheld which isn't the best with a long heavy lens. The 100-400 Minolta APO lens likewise doesn't fill the frame but did OK, easier to handle. Both aren't exactly fast at F6.7 max aperture fully extended but then the moon is bright enough to run smaller apertures anyway. hope that helps. oh, in my case I wasn't stacking or taking video, just single shot pics.

There is a suggestion on Bird Forum that they may be made in the same factory as Eagle Optics and others, likewise Monk Optics as the UK supplier of the Fumoto brand. ah ok, so can't post a link to bird forum, oh well.

ouch that's a shame, tho they do tend to seize so are easily broken. It may be possible to drill it out with an easy-out if you can get one small enough that is with some freeing oil and heat (soldering iron) to ease it a bit first. As it is you found a way, been there myself with an old Hensholdt Wetzlar dialyt bino and used a very similar method 🙂

Generally the 500mm mirror lenses fall into 2 categories, junk and ok-good as I understand it. The junk are the non-camera manufacturer branded ones like Centon, tho there is a good Sigma/Tamron one I believe, can't recall which. Also the russian made ones tend to be good tho pretty hefty, there's a 1000mm version in those. Not sure I've seen Canon/Nikon branded mirrors but Minolta's (& rebadged to Sony) 500mmAF is supposed to be very decent too and the only AF mirror around if you have a Minolta/Sony DSLR to pop it onto that is. For daytime photography they do have the benefit of size/weight for the FL but can be a bit dim at a fixed F8/F10 and lack contrast, the bokeh tends to be little doughnuts rather than discs which isn't to everyone's taste. For the moon, so long as you can achieve good focus it'd work but results across the range of options could be pretty variable. That's likely why there's many cheap mirror lenses out there, folks try them out on their DSLR, get disappointing results and decide to get a regular lens instead. Someone here does have a russian 1000mm mirror lens IIRC, hopefully he'll chime in.

The small TAL-M with the finder in-built to the focuser has a similar set screw to hold the finder objective cell, hence I noticed that wee hole right away 😉 Checked my 8x50 finder and yep, is threaded with a set screw in there:

Not tried to dismantle mine as yet but I think the clue is in your picture: I expect that hole contains a small set screw that'd lock the lens cell into place once it's been screwed in to the correct distance. If that's the case be sure to count the turns as well as note/mark the position of the lens ring so you get it set back in the right place on refitting.

here's an example of what can happen when Lithium batteries are in the hold. OK and extreme example, being its a cargo and has 3 pallets of them in the cargo hold, but you can see why airlines get a bit iffy with them for anyone a bit sensitive, this one was a fatal crash unfortunately. He does give advice tho, such as carry your batteries in the cabin and if you drop one between the seats you must let the cabin crew know.

The report on the rocket section arriving below Virgin Orbit rocket arrives for first space launch from UK - BBC News

I came across an adaptor for Minolta AF lenses the other day so decided to hit the button: Surprised how bright the image is in even poor daylight. No idea how it'll be at night but could be an interesting experiment. I've a couple long-ish lenses I can try at some stage, the minolta AF 100-300 & 400, Tamron 18-300 and 150-600mm tho these would be f6.7 at full zoom, also a Hoya M42 75-260 F4 and big Zeiss M42 180mm F2.8. Only the big tamron and the Zeiss have tripod mounts in-built but I do have a Manfrotto carrier that might be adaptable to assist the other zooms if needed.

yep that's what I'd read also but ya never know. Good to see its finally happening tho, been a while since the original story about the launch a few months back. Was amusing hearing the angry astronaut waxing on about how massive the plane is etc, its a 747, been around for decades and there's much bigger these days, but I guess maybe not so often seen around Cornwall on a relatively small airstrip. Having the folks viewing from so close to the stand was "interesting", not much the pilot could do to caution the blast from the engines as he maneuvered, but not as bad as a certain beach

ack I forgot to order some gas cans for the portable single ring cullman or whatever it is in the shed. Guess it'll be a case of wrap in foil, pop it under the bonnet and go for a drive to heat something up for dinner for me then 🤷‍♂️

or an electrified fence 😉

oops, malfunctioned on lift off and splashed into the sea First Skyrora space launch ditches in the sea off Iceland - BBC News @yuklop perhaps they could launch your section up for a short peek at a target 😉

Reports are that DART did work and changed the path of the target Nasa's Dart spacecraft 'changed path of asteroid' - BBC News Now we just have to hope that if the big one heads our way that they spot it many years in advance so they can build and send something up to avert a collision...

well the eagle has landed, or rather Cosmic Girl, this evening in Cornwall to prep for the launch next month. Still pending CAA clearance but I'm sure that''ll be a mere formality Virgin jumbo arrives in Cornwall for UK space launch - BBC News

That's interesting Ags, like most I also notice floaters esp when looking at bright areas like the sky in daytimes where I can see them, almost like gunk on a camera sensor. In fact that's what I thought I was seeing initially until I looked at some of the pics later on lol. I find with higher mag that I notice them more but I've not made any specific analysis on the types of scope and if they're more/less noticeable. Then again I don't have a MAK/SCT and can't say I'd noticed much difference between the fracs and newts I do have, will have to look more next time.

that was my thoughts also, in brighter light your pupil will close and as with a camera that'll increase the depth of field of you eye. Hence you may find more accommodation when daytime viewing. If you used the scope on the moon which is quite bright then again your pupils will close a little and you may find no need to adjust focus but on the planets/stars you may need to adjust.

Will be interesting to hear the plans, attaching a booster or giving it a bump would at least delay the inevitable drop into atmosphere, but if they can also swap out the failed gyros that'd really give it a good working extension. Let's hope he can afford it now he's pretty much forced into buying that social media platform.

on BBC news this morning Asteroid struck by Nasa probe leaves 10,000km trail - BBC News

I got some from Amazon that I've used, As an example: PTFE Teflon Tape Self Adhesive High Temperature + 260 ℃ Low Friction for Vacuum Hand and Impulse Sealers 13mm x 10m 2 Rolls : Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools Used it in the focus drawtube on the LT70 to improve the operation and elsewhere. You may be able to get thinner if that's what you need, also try an electronics supplier, perhaps.

also worth mentioning, do not spray cleaner onto the lens directly, esp the eyepiece end else the liquid can and will find its way around the edge and onto the elements below, carrying potential detritus with it. Then you'll be looking at the fun job of dismantling to clean things up properly. Always best to blow debris away then apply the cleaning fluid to a cloth but don't saturate it and then wipe gently over the glass.