Deadlake

Just now, Stu said:

Funny how you chaps have the opposite problem to us. It’s always warm house to cold outside here!

Lack of humidity is the bonus.

3 minutes ago, SiriusB said:

Rome wasn't built in a day....& a 'definative' eyepiece collection probably takes much longer 😉

It took some time, but Rome can be built, I have one end of the spectrum covered! 

6 minutes ago, SiriusB said:

That's around 5mm exit pupil, pop it in your 130mm f6 & see how you get on?

Yes a 2" will give you wider more aesthetic views.

Conversely, as i slowly become a more critical observer, sometimes a narrower field of view enables you to see fainter objects, (less overall background light to the eye @ the expense of 'better framing')

That would make sense, trying to get ahead as 130/F6 is in transit, and given the shipping times I’m planning ahead. But would make sense to go with a 30 mm EP and then see how I get on with both.

Just now, John said:

That is an eyepiece of a different design. It gets good reviews so a worthy contender if 30mm will suffice.

 

I’d always use a 30 mm, however estimating effects of light pollution is trial and error so maybe safest approach.

1 minute ago, SiriusB said:

If you were happy with a 40mm before, please ignore my 2cents.

I have a 40 mm televue possel at present being used in a vixen SD103S F7.7

Hoping with a 2” EP I can see more, more opportunities for better framing.

2 hours ago, Don Pensack said:

Looks like 2" 40mm widefield eyepieces are scarce.

Here is what I found:

Kitakaru	RPL	40	65
Explore Scientific	68	40	68
OVL	AeroED	40	68
Pentax	XW	40	70
William Optics	Swan	40	70

 

Of the above, the one that stands out is the 40mm Pentax XW.

Not cheap, but much less than the 41mm Panoptic.

Tempted by the Pentax, what am I giving up over the 41 mm panoptic?

25 minutes ago, John said:

Until recently I had a 40mm Aero ED. These were originally available in the USA under the Astro Tech branding as their Titan II range and I believe had the same optics in them as the TMB Paragons. The Paragon range was 40mm and 30mm. The Aero ED's included a 35mm as well. I had the 30mm and the 40mm. The 30mm was quite good but the 40mm was excellent. Very well corrected at the edge of field for it's price in my F/6.5 Vixen ED 102 refractor and even in my F/5.3 12 inch dobsonian although the exit pupil was not terribly effective in that latter scope.

The Aero ED's (also available under other brandings) are also reasonably light for 2 inch eyepieces.

Unfortunately I can't see the 40mm listed anywhere now but if you do come across one they are worthy of serious consideration for use in F/6 and slower scopes.

I let mine go for a silly price a couple of months back simply because I find shorter focal length UWA's and Hyper-Wides more effective under my moderately light polluted skies. Probably should have hung onto it

 

Maybe I should try the 30 mm first, is the APM based on the paragon design?

http://apm-telescopes-englisch.shopgate.com/item/333631373637
 

1 hour ago, SiriusB said:

I don't want to put you off, but  with 40mm ep in an f6 scope you're nearly @ a 7mm exit pupil.

    Unless you've  access to  pretty dark skies you may be disappointed with how bright the sky background appears through this setup.

For reference, in 80's darkish rural skies 5.5mm exit pupil was about my lower limit. Always found 10x50 binos better than 7x50's back then.

These days in suburban skies, around 4mm exit pupil is about as low as i dare go.

Everyone's different, but for your consideration, something shorter & wider may prove more practical??

Backyard Bortle 4 (whatever that means) 20.5 SQM. What point do you think the cut off is for my light polluted sky.

1 hour ago, John said:

Going a bit too far perhaps ?

The scope is 67mm Borg. The eyepiece and diagonal are 3 inch format:

Maybe for some in really dark skies... 😀

I’m looking for a 2” wide field eyepiece around 40mm.

Searching the forums apart from the obvious 41 mm panoptic, the 40 mm paragon comes up. The paragon was discontinued some time ago however clones where made of it.

Are any of these paragon clones still be made?

What other EP’s should I look at apart from the 41 mm panoptic?

I have seen Masuyama Ultra-Premium, however don’t like fast scopes.

Telescope 130 mm / F6.

Backyard Bortle 4 (whatever that means) 20.5 SQM

Thanks

For 2” filters anyone use a filter wheel like this:

2” filter wheel

the cost and dew pros make this the best approach to me.

6 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

What mods and add ons do you have in mind John (apart from the obvious one, of course 🤣)?

@JeremyS Obvious one, a green paint job?? 😀 or do you mean something else? 😀

2 minutes ago, jetstream said:

Ok I see- you are using a T2 diag? then yes if the dia is smaller than the FS things happen , vignetting reduced TFOV I think.

43 mm aperture in 2” diagonal ( I do have a T2 but no use for an EP where field stop > 33 mm).

Question is no point in larger diagonal aperture if scope can only illuminate 44 mm?

45 minutes ago, jetstream said:

Don't know what you mean

The true field of view that will be seen through a telescope depends on the focal length of the telescope and the aperture of the field stop in the eyepiece.  A 2-inch barrel size eyepiece can have a field stop diameter of up to ~45 mm.

The aperture of the field stop will need to be illuminated?

If so if the maximum Illumination is 44 mm not much point going for a diagonal larger then the illumination circle, or it does not work like that?

19 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Re-reading the email from Rupert I see that he didn’t say Tecnosky was increasing prices but that Astrograph is.

“The current price of the scope will increase on March 1st as we are being forced to increase prices generally thanks to Brexit. Most astronomy products are now subject to import tariffs and increased shipping charges.”

Price increase due to Brexit. I did speak to Rupert about this (concerned prices going up) and he thought at that time B2B would not be impacted. Now this seems to of changed and so not just the pandemic. For instance due to Brexit all goods into the UK can be hit with a VAT deposit needing to be lodged, another cost.


 

Any news on Takahashi, Vixen, Televue and Baader price increases at all? 

2 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

A case is a great thing to have, and silica tell would be an extra protection. What I've found though is that often my tube assembly is either wet or coated with ice after a night's observing, so I'd be careful never to lock a wet or frozen tube inside a case. I've always allowed the tube to dry off naturally in the house over night before putting the tube in a case.  With something as small as a 4" apo/ED, its quite easy to carry it securely in your arms. I did almost drop my FS152 when my back gave way as I lifted it into its G11. So the bigger the scope, the greater the risk.

That is why I've limited myself too a 130 mm scope, due to mounting/unmounting all the time and need to move around the garden all the time to get around neighbours trees. What we are getting too is a case with a dehumidifier, maybe over kill, however given the cost of a scope maybe not. I wonder what @jetstream does, ice on the scope going into the case and out of it? 😀

4 minutes ago, malc-c said:

But look at all the companies that used to make scopes, that are no longer around dues to inroads Chinese mass production had.  All of the components would need to be made in the UK, otherwise it somewhat defeats the object as you would then have to inflate the RRP if half the parts cost you 30% more due to the issues described here.

Back in the 80s you had manufacturers such as Superscopes in Bedford, Fullerscopes in London, and Astrosystems in Luton to name a few.  Most used Optics made by David Hinds.  But these were more or less made to order or in small batch runs, so you couldn't really visit and walk out with one like you can these days (well pre-covid !).  They also lacked the refinement of the Vixens and Celestrons that were starting to become popular, at least not for the regular models, like the 6" from Astrosystems.  

I think that it would take considerable investment to set up a telescope manufacturing plant in the UK that didn't source the raw materials from overseas, and that could provide the output to meet current demand  

Look at the US. In the 1980's they had capacity to make ED glass, in fact that is where Astro physics got their first batches from. An accountant worked out to maximise returns the glass foundry smelters should be shut down and the palladium stripped out to be sold off. This was a short term win, just mean the US cannot fabricate ED glass and has to import from Japan. Good or bad on you view on economics and supply chains.

LZOS still make glass for the Russian military primary, consumers get it as it's an advert for LZOS to win big deals from the scientific community. 

14 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Ordered from Astrograph. 😁👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Rupert says that Tecnosky are increasing their prices on March 1st so looks like that’s another brand that’s about to be hit by price rises. 

Hated selling the StellaMira but needs must as they say and the new scope will make up for it. 😁😁😁

 

If this is down to shipping costs going up by x8 to x10, is Tak and Vixen going to put their prices? 

41 minutes ago, Robindonne said:

Oke so i have to look for a shorter/faster.  
yes mainly AP.  If it would be possible to combine it with now and then visual i would be twice as happy of course.  I might have the option for a reducer?

I have a APM 130mm/ F6 on order. I choose the F6 for NV usage, however after doing some more research F6 is quite good for being used as a visual rich wide field scope. The only disadvantage for visual of a fast scope is magnification for planetary observing, however I have some high power EP's to get around that, you could also use a Barlow as well for this. 

I did see this when I was looking:

https://www.365astronomy.com/sharpstar-121sdq-121mm-f-5.6-quintuplet-apochromatic-refractor-telescope.html

its also here in the EU but more expensive:

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p11518_TS-Optics-121SDQ-Apo-121-mm-f-5-6-Quintuplet-Flatfield-Apo.html

My reservation was would the vendor star test or bench test it and no reviews around. However great value for what it is. 

16 hours ago, johninderby said:

I’ll decide tomorrow. 🤔

Emailed Widescreen about it this morning but no reply but Astrograph stocks it at the same price. Not dealt with them before but they seem well thought of on SGL

 

 

I’ve dealt with Astrograph. Marcus Ludes at APM recommend him, and @GavStar as well.  If you ask Rupert he would star test the scope before shipping...

Note: Chinese New Year for another week.

12 hours ago, Kimboman said:

It must be the right time for uk manufacturers to emerge and take advantage of the demand for astro equipment.

The time may be right to sell my house and buy as much astro equipment as I can lay my hands on, anyone got a spare room??

Two main lens fabs in the world, One in Japan (optcorp, Canon) and LZOS in Russia. An EU based manufacturer would need to ship blanks from Asia and then figure etc. Supply chain integration is against them, CFF is moving away from smaller aperture as shipping and supply of glass costs.

Yes great scope, looks very compact. Looking at one as well, maybe 210. Only reserve is cool down and effect of seeing on usage.

If AP wouldn’t you want a faster scope, say less then F6 and with a larger imaging size to illuminate the sensor?

The aperture may not increase however obviously time of capture would decrease, which seems a step up.

Above 130 mm usually into mirror based Astrographs.

11 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

 With the cold damp, or moist warm air trapped within an observatory, there's the potential to promote fungal growth on the optics.  I kept a pair of 15X70 binoculars permanently in my observatory, and despite them being permenantly capped when not in use, after only one year both objectives had fungal spots. Even eyepieces can fall victim if they are left in an observatory, or boxed away while condensation is on the lenses. A friend once loaned me a pair of 18mm Tak LE's that he'd kept in his observatory. Both had fungal threads between the elements.

What about a case and some silica gel or similar to keep the scope dry? Walking the scope in is an opportunity to drop it, wet grass etc.