DaveL59

Must get a copy of your book Bill, keep meaning to but somehow other stuff gets in the way 🙂 As to which Bino is "best", much the same as the "which telescope is best" question I think - the ones you carry with you and have to hand at that moment. I've not chased the latest upgraded/top tier, funds being a part of the reason tho I've spent in the region of one top tier pair on the set I currently have I guess. My particular favourites in the set are: Nikon MCF 7x15 (I've a recent pair of multi-coated ones and a couple from the 60's) - they slip in your pocket unnoticed so easy to always have around Hensholdt Wetzlar Jagd 6x42 (1945/6 vintage) Foton 7x35 (1992 vintage) Swift Trilyte 7x35 (1980 vintage) Nikon Sportstar EX 8x25 (pre the monkey taking a dump logo version 😉 ) Copitar 8x20 (mini reverse porro approx 1980) Swift Audubon (HR/5 from 1989 and MK2 from 1978) Minolta Classic Sport WP 10x50 (probably y2000 ish) Have peeked through a few at country places where they've had the RSPB ones in the shops and while they are very nice, not to mention pricey, I've not been wowed enough to hanker after an expensive upgrade from the ones above and others in the collection 🙂

A word of caution to anyone else thinking of trying this. The Pentax one I purchased can rotate and has stiffness so it will hold position and clicks at 90-degree angles. I noticed today that the other one doesn't and just flops. Unscrewing the knurled ring that the camera eyepiece plate fits onto I can see why. It IS supposed to do the same as the pentax one but is missing the detent ball/bush: Arrowed the detents in the ring and the hole for the missing pin. The brass you can see at the bottom of the hole is sprung so will see if I've anything suitable to replace the missing part. So beware of any little ping-fsck-its if you do happen to unscrew this ring 😉

Been thinking about adding a right-angle viewer to the TAL 6x finder for a little while and purchased a couple of camera angle finder adaptors with this and the polar scope in mind. Looking at the TAL finder I just happen to have a bit of acrylic tube that is a snug fit over the focus ring. Funnily enough this was incorrectly sent when I ordered a couple 100mm lengths to make up the extension piece that was missing from the TAL-M scope I recently overhauled, so a handy mis-ship for me 🙂 Now the plate on the end also just fits in the end of the tube too, tight but will need better securing with the weight of the angle finder and a clumsy observer jamming his eye against it in darkness The other side of the plate that's meant to clip over the camera finder will need mods to fit the end of the TAL finder (beauty ring removed) I think this could well work. The TAL focuser isn't tight so the whole thing will rotate with the weight of the angle finder I expect. Plan is to cut a length of the acrylic tube to extend past the focuser so I can tap a hole to run a nylon clamping screw which hopefully will lock the focuser well enough to make this work. Also add another lock screw to hold securely to the focuser ring. Note that the angle finder won't make this RACI, image will still be inverted tho looks to be correct L-R.

The Audubons in general are good, I've a MK2 and the HR/5 now. I find the HR/5 being smaller body fits my hand better tho I did have a fair amount of effort to repair the broken occular arm on them (there's a thread here in this section on that) and yet to strip them down to overhaul.

if it's possible then not a bad idea to go view the gear and have the seller show you it working. That way you can inspect the lens and focuser to see it is all in good order before bidding/parting with cash. Tho in the current climate this may not be too easy of course.

ahh ok, I only have the 1.25 diagonal so I can't really compare fairly for you with the 2-inch one.

Those are reported to be excellent Ash so well done on grabbing a bargain. I saw a pair of Audubon HR/5 got listed yesterday at £45 and 30 mins later when I got back indoors they'd gone. For the rubber armour, likely it is glued to the body and given the age and condition may be difficult to remove without damage. You may be able to work a long thin flat blade like a spatula under it and work it free but that would be risking it splitting/tearing.

esp in temperate climates like ours lol

the RS I have has the focuser in the ABS pics. That too you can release a lock screw to turn the diagonal. Not tried a 4mm so far but focus travel generally is pretty reasonable on this one I think. Will see if I can test with an Or4mm 0.965 EP in a 1.25 adaptor next time I have the TAL out under the stars.

not sure but most likely, probably similar to the stuff used to do chip repairs on windscreens

totally agree Mark, note that that was in a section I'd quoted, whereas I do say I wouldn't use it 🙂

I've used them mainly for binos as I have a fair collection of them dating from 60-70s and a couple back to 20s, but in essence I lay things out so that the UV bulb is in-line with the optical path and run say 3x 1 hour cycles. It's more convenient than trying to sun them, especially with curious kitties in the house and if they've been dismantled to overhaul it'd be a nightmare to track down bits that have been played with. With 30+ binos you can't really get them all out for use frequently enough so they get enough exposure to the sun, hence obtaining a UV source. I do of course tend to give them a thorough clean and often dismantle/part overhaul in the process but long term storage it makes some sense to have a means of treating them just in case. The scope eyepieces so far haven't needed any such treatments, but then I've stripped and cleaned the older ones as I get them but I do plan on giving them a zap every couple months. OTA's I have used the light once so far when first acquired, reflectors being easy as you can slip the light in the end of the tube and let it run, the frac's need a bit more care so you don't hit the lens of course.

I bought these back in 2019 https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01MS5L3EG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Still working and haven't needed to replace the bulbs as yet. I set it all up inside a cardboard box and close that before powering up specifically so you can't look directly at the UV source and damage your eyesight. I generally run the max duration on the timer and repeat a few times.

a quick google and it seems to be a known issue on the 5d 😞 https://petapixel.com/2015/05/13/canon-warns-the-original-5d-may-suffer-from-mirror-separation/ Wonder if you can still avail yourself of Cannon's free repair offer from back then? - seems unlikely tho as they seem to have ceased this in 2016. Did find this DPreview thread: https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4029115 Someone reports success at DIY repair in that thread as below: <QUOTE> For the sake of those who come along in the future, a few comments about my experience. Before I bought my 5D last month I read about the mirror problem. I thought ok. This is a known fault, doesn't make it an ubiquitous fault, surely. Then I bought my camera. Looked and felt mint. I reckoned - 13 years old: if that mirror hasn't fallen out yet then it probably ain't gonna. Wrong. It did, right after I bought it. I followed some of the tips in this thread and did the repair myself. I'm on holiday in Phuket and although google says there's a Canon dealer on the island its still a long way away so I thought give it a shot. 1st. DO NOT use acetone to clean or degrase anything. Someone suggested it, I tried it but fortunately with very very little. It does start to eat the plastic. 2nd. I tried using an epoxy style glue with a little cushioning or give. The surface tension on the glue itself made it impossible to apply in the miniscule quantities I was trying to deposit onto each tiny pad. So in the end I used superglue. 3. There are 4 pads on the back of the mirror. At one end two are closer together, at he other they are farther apart. Looking closely at the mirror frame I could see faint matching marks or indents. It seemed to me the two closer together belong at the top (deeper inside the camera if you get my drift). 4. I pressed quite firmly down on the mirror for the glue to fix. I wasn't terribly precious about it. I did use a bit of tissue between my finger and the mirror to avoid smudges. So far so good. I'd say don't let the mirror fear stop you and remember - don't use acetone! <\QUOTE> Personally I'd not use superglue as the outgassing will cloud optics tho the version for glass may do the job.

is it a single solid mirror or is there a small mirror behind that flips with it? The smaller one would handle stuff like deflecting a fragment of the incoming light onto the AF sensor, at least on the older Minolta AF series IIRC. Not sure what's best to refix it but for sure not regular superglue. Wonder if something like clear RTV silicone would do it. Are the mirror arms intact and not bent as that could cause problems with it moving freely and may give an error.

know what to ask my daughter to give for my birthday then 😄

Hi Steve yeah not tried this out under the stars yet so we'll see. I notice the note-3 compass points wildly away from true and figure-8 doesn't seem to work. I found the alternative method works better... vigorously tilting the phone side to side, back-forth and circular and then it'll run accurately till next power-up. Until I do this I can sit and watch the SkEye map just drifting along with the phone not moving at all lol. Maybe using wireless charging is affecting it, tho I think it was a weakness in that model era, the note-10 so far hasn't needed this.

not sure if you evaporate peroxide it'll be much use as it'll likely decompose in the process. If in liquid form it got between the elements you'd likely then need to flush with distilled water afterwards to eliminate any water like marks it may leave behind. I'd stick with the initial try of drying it and see how it looks afterwards and then see if further dismantling would be needed.

hi all had a play about with SkEye tho not while observing as its been pretty lousy weather here, it looks to me like we can set the phone up as suits, so as per the above rigs with the phone vertical to the OTA or parallel to the OTA. The latter would mean a lot less craning to see the phone when aiming at high targets and is perhaps easier to use. If you select a target then from the guide screen go into the menu and select "Indirect Mode" you can add alignments. So you'd aim the scope at the target you selected and hit accept, which aligns the chosen target according to how the phone is mounted. From there you should be good to go. Hopefully I'll test that out sometime soon and report back, but it looks promising from just handholding the phone and targeting Mars a short time ago 🙂

is the drive motor going to fit OK given you're planning motorised focus too?

already exists 🙂

ok bits arrived (also posted to the postman thread). The Joby phone holder seems good tho the note with case isn't too secure with the extra thickness but I do like the clamp method rather than a sprung system. Had those break before with the larger phones I run. Will be an easy swap between scopes, on the TAL100 there its screwed into the dovetail bar under the OTA since the tube rings aren't tapped with 1/4 tripod sockets where the bar itself is, handy. Just need to sort a means to mount this on the TAL-M and vintage 3-inch at some stage.

The long river smiley box boutique delivered a couple handy bits today. Joby phone holder, couple of dual tripod mount bars and a new battery for the old note-3 phone that now runs a note-7 ROM port. Can now easily mount the phone to the scopes and swap it around via the vixen bar or tube rings to have some smarts in scanning around the sky manually when not using the GoTo.

to give an idea how much difference, I've taken a pic of a circle-V 12.5mm 0.965 EP next to a Vixen 10mm in an adaptor You'd probably be looking at lifting the mirror an inch or so above where it currently sits. Can be done, new longer screws for the mirror mount and suitable springs and then collimate. I've done this on a TAL-1 after switching the focuser out from the OEM 32mm to an OEM 1.25-inch and that works very well.

never tried on a newt but likely issue you'd have is the 1.25 to 0.965 adaptor will mean the modern eyepiece is further out than an original 0.965 one would sit, essentially like having the focuser racked out more. So you may find there isn't enough in-travel available to get focus with the modern eyepieces. You may be able to solve that by moving the primary mirror up the tube or replacing the focuser with a 1.25-inch one or a combination of both.