Deadlake

Is this a new model? https://astrograph.net/epages/www_astrograph_net.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/www_astrograph_net/Products/AGTEC130-7 10 years ago minimum Strehl >= 0.95 would be premium only.

Yes Astrograph. Checked e-mail, Baader is end of April, APM is listed as late....

What you want is this: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/757247-ai-based-wave-front-sensing-and-collimation/ If I follow correctly you want the wavefront..

I think APM are shooting for Leica quality, but made by KUO. If they get them working with F6 scopes then they will work with any scope. As long as they turn up by September should be good....

Sorry @Stu if I've caused offence, just surprised at the number of comments when noting contrast and exit pupil.

ETA for delivery of EP’s from KUO is end of April.

What do you mean by surface brightness for an object, what happens when that object is extended, that is difficult to define. @jetstream still waiting for Tele Vue filters and APM EP’s.

Thanks @Stu, i’ll remember that contrast is on the hot list of subjects like the glass question etc..😃😀😃

Its a trade off between contrast with the 20mm and exit pupil with the 30 mm for filter usage, see: I didn't see the point of both until it was posted out by @jetstream too.

Astrograph have a shipment in at the end of April, pending APM's large shipment to come in from KUO. I'm waiting on some APM EP's which I got before the price rise. As far as performance goes, when I purchased I discussed with another SGL user who has both the E21 and the APM 20 XWA, he told me skip the E21, the APM is sharper in the middle, weighs half as much and only losses out to the E21 with a small amount of astigmatism at the edge which you would notice unless under SQM > 21.8 skies. So I did, also got the APM 30 UFF as will show more contrast on darker skies. Hope that helps.

My neither, I went for an SXP2 because it’s lighter then the competition. I can be in and packed up in 10 minutes at the end of the night. That means the scope, mount and tripod are disassembled and stored.

@GavStar told me he sold the TEC because he preferred the views thru the AP, backed up by club members. Nice choice to have. I’ve not asked him how he managed to get hold of the GTX and a stowaway. Original I was going to get a 130 mm/F9 LZOS. However after discussing the F6 has more utility in wide field, Bino or NV usage then the F9. As @jetstreamsays you can always Barlow the scope for high magnification. The only downside of fast scopes have a slight lower Strehl, but going from 0.99 to 0.98 is a first world problem that my young eyes will not notice.

The phenolic tube gets more complicated. The original tubes from APM had flocking inside them, at some point in the past APM had to find a new tube maker (someone retired) and the new phenolic tubes do not have the flocking inside. Astrograph have phenolic tubes with the flocking for LZOS lens cells, plus they added a collimating flange for easier access to the lens cell. Not sure why APM does not have access to the same tube fabricator as Astrograph. “The APM ‘CNC-LW / LW-II’ series is the original range of tubes that used to be offered for any LZOS lens. These are phenolic tubes and our AG tube follows on from these. The original builder of these tubes no longer works with APM. An alternative builder offered a version which is not flocked internally. APM now focus sales of LZOS on the aluminium tube versions which are turn key tubes. As I mentioned these can be fitted with the Starlight Focuser. Strictly speaking the CNC-LW tube can still be offered as it’s a custom build. It has a 4-6 week lead time (not 2-4 as suggested). The original LW tube does not have a collimation flange and has to be collimated internally which is a pain. I am an advocate of the phenolic tube because its better. However the original tube shows its age. As such we don’t offer this old tube as the AG is frankly a lot better.“

I ordered mine with the 3.5 FT, if you take the base model add the 3.5 " FT its about £500 off the mark II models.

Does anyone know how accurate 'Dark Sky Meter' is on iPhones at all?

I have both Sky Safari Pro and Luminos. Luminos has better rendering, however I do like in Sky Safari you can download a tour and then use goto on a mount to visit the targets in the list. Luminos is good in that it's a pay once fee and the developers are quite responsive. Also I believe the transits of Io are calculated correctly in Luminos whereas they where out in Sky Safari.

Me to to avoid the price rices, for instance 5 Ep's for the price of 4 Ep's now the prices have been raised.

I was asking a dealer about this EP and he had quite a lot to say. Astro Zooms are normally crap compared to primes. They are basically barlowed so the FOV changes as you zoom (move the barlow). This results in the higher mag having the widest AFOV Quality at the higher mag / short FL range is normally much worse. Use it un-zoomed and its OK. After that, soft. The Baader Zoom is OK but still not as good as a prime. APM used to offer quality spotting scope zooms from Leica and Meopta with 1.25” adaption to be used in telescopes. These were £500 but stunning. Every bit as good as the best prime Markus mentioned this new zoom to me last month. I said it will be great as long as it is equally good at both ends of its range. At the moment it is still being developed, so apart from performance that is the same through the range, it will also be getting clickstops at different FL settings like the Baader. The Zoom is designed to offer a nice wide flat field with a low focal ratio scope. Very low in fact. The idea being we can use them on the APO Binoculars which are F5.5. If it delivers then it means we could have a Zoom to replace the otherwise very good (as good as a TV EP) UFF range from 15mm down, and that also has a wider field of view. Hopefully I will get some samples early I can test. If its as good as planned then it will be a winner. They will be tested on 150mm APO Binoculars and Refractors from F6-F8. If they maintain a flat field and sharpness with those, they will work in anything. Expected price in the UK will be £279 that’s not confirmed due to while an FTA exists (Free Trade Agreement), that only applies to goods manufactured in the EU and are accompanied with a Certificate of Origin. As these Zooms will be made in China, they will get hit with a 4% duty (as all Chinese telescopes / telescope equipment does (but not cameras weirdly). We also get a customs brokerage fee and shipping costs from the EU, particularly Germany, have increased quite bit. A 6” class scope used to be 40€ to ship to us. It is now 100€!

The faster scope going to have more field curvature, which will effect the edge of the image. The field curvature can be fixed with a flattener to sync with the EP’s curvature. I’d argue that most fast scope (F6 and less) have better figured lens (and cost more) so no issue with chromatic shift, and more light into the central airy ring, but spherical abberation hm... For example John would we see a difference between my LZOS F6 and your F9.2? Difference between a Strehl of 0.98 and 0.99? 😁

I went and bought 5 APM ep’s (XWA) at the old price, now 5 for the price of 4.

Unlimited contents insurance? 😀

@GavStar Great pictures, taken last night? Nice you can do that when the moon is fully (~99%) out.

I noted it because I was shocked to see it being noted. Your right nothing happens in a vacuum so to say.

There was a post on CN noting posters on SGL where complaining about the froth in the APM superzoom thread today. 😄

They now do, even up to 180 mm APO. I think they have no where else to go. Either mass production or high end. Here you go: https://www.stellarvue.com/optical-glass-types/