magrez...72...reviews? thoughts?

[garethmob]

iv been thinking about selling all my scopes and funding for one of these

iv had a search and i cant find any real reviews (the search keeps removing the 72 from the Megrez as its "too short"

id be using it primiary for widefield AP with my dslr or might get a CCD

also has any one tried video AP on one

for the days its not clear enought for AP how do they fair for visual

any thoughts good or bad greatly welcomed

[kniclander]

I had one for visual only but i swapped it as it was too short and too small. But it was a beautiful little scope and I still miss it. sniff

[astroeagle]

Hi Gaz.

IMHO, the Megrez 72 is the "little scope that can". I've been using one for astrophotography for a couple of years now, and whilst I'm certainly no astrophoto wizard, I'd highly recommend it. The combination of portability and good optics is what attracted me to it in the first place. It's short focal lenght makes it ideally suited to DSLR work, provided you use a field flattener. It's a well machined piece of kit for a very reasonable price.

The early models suffered from focuser "creep", especially if your attaching any weight to it. However I believe that WO has now sorted this out with the latest model.

It's great for wide field visual work too due to its compact size. I often use it with a 2" 32mm Skywatcher PanaView eyepice, and with that combination you don't need a finder!

I've never tried astrovid with it, but its limited aperture might be an issue here, depending on what you're using.

Hope this helps,

Colin

[bamus]

I have got one and can recommend it for wide field AP with sky watcher flattener. Its not heavy (so my eq5 can handle it without any problems) and focusing is so much better comparing to my old Newtonian telescope. Chromatic aberration on bright stars is little issue, but since I have started using Astronomik CLS Light Pollution EOS Clip Filter, this issue is gone.

[shaunster]

CA on any slight bright stars is a big problem using these scopes with a CCD, I would not recommend for RGB imaging.

[Deneb]

Your better off buying yourself an 80ED, you'll find the colour control a lot better especially the blue channel...

Nadeem.

[garethmob]

i thought these scopes were doublets... so the CA was lost...... lol learn summet new

i was looking mainly as a AP scope.. for DS objects mainly, as its light i thought my kson would be able to run it (as it has a 8kg weight limit)

the 80 ED is a little out of budget really i was looking for a little scope thats really good for AP for around the 300 or so mark

is there any other suggestions for mini scopes?

[riklaunim]

There are rebrands like cheapest Omegon 66 (SW Equinox) or bit more expensive TS INED70. I'm hunting for one of them (~400-420 mm fl) for narrowband exotic experiments Used 80 SW ED could be cheap too.

[garethmob]

one feture i liked was the arrow on the focus sayin where it is, and the temp thingy

[garethmob]

has any one got a SW equinox 66?

[riklaunim]

You may find few people on flickr and mail them or Google something. "Omegon 66", or "INED70" should be found on German forums. Those scopes aren't super popular (big-scopes-addiction) but it looks like they nevertheless rock

I've mailed Karl from teleskop-spezialisten.de about those ED-clones and he wrote that those are good small EDs but they must be checked just in case/collimated (thats what they do in that shop).

And this:

[boborange]

this might not help your decision making process as i use mine purely for visual use as i need a small scope due to the very limited space in my flat in the centre of a big city.

im very new to astronomy but its a great little scope and very well made to other brands ive seen at star parties. its very easy when you get a break in the clouds to set it up and get going.

Because of the light pollution i take it with me when i leave London which is quite regularly and its so easy and light to transport in a peli case, i even took it on holiday.

i would really like a scope with bigger aperature and if i do get one the megrez is still a keeper.

[Capricorn]

i thought these scopes were doublets... so the CA was lost...... lol learn summet new

They are doublets, but a doublet will cause 2 wavelengths to be at the same focal plain. Since the visual spectrum is something like 400-700 nM that is a lot that are not at the same focal plane.

What gives the colour is the amount by which the other wavelengths differ from the 2 chosen ones. FPL-51 is good at keeping this difference low, FPL-53 is better. The WO Meg 72 is an FPL-51 scope and short focal length. So you will get some, small, amount of CA.

If it used FPL-53 there would be less and if it were f/7.5 less again. Assuming that it was well designed and produced.

[garethmob]

ahhhh i got you @capricorn thanks for explaining i didnt no thats what a doublet did i assume a triplet does even more

@ riklaunin thanks for saying about the clones....... what does the pic mean? i might see them as id like one near the same but if theres one a little cheaper....

@boborange nooo not at all if i got one it would be used for visual AP and video so all thoughts are welcome!

[Whippy]

They are doublets, but a doublet will cause 2 wavelengths to be at the same focal plain. Since the visual spectrum is something like 400-700 nM that is a lot that are not at the same focal plane.

What gives the colour is the amount by which the other wavelengths differ from the 2 chosen ones. FPL-51 is good at keeping this difference low, FPL-53 is better. The WO Meg 72 is an FPL-51 scope and short focal length. So you will get some, small, amount of CA.

If it used FPL-53 there would be less and if it were f/7.5 less again. Assuming that it was well designed and produced.

You also have to take into account the mating element as well, it's not only the low dispersion element that makes decent optics, much in the same way that having a wonderful primary mirror on a reflector doesn't necessarily mean it'll give great views if the secondary isn't up to the job.

If it was my choice, I'd go with an ED80. A little more aperture for visual, a little less CA and cheaper, especially secondhand. Downside is they're big for what they are. For what they can go for secondhand, they're still one of the best value scopes around.

Tony..

[philwright66]

i had one when they first came out.i found the 'normal'(not ddg) focuser excellent.very sharp and contrasty optics. i did a side by side test with my flt110 pointing at arcturus,and noticed the colour of the star was a deeper orange in the 72 compared with a yellow-orange hue in the flt110.never really noticed much ca when observing,but i will say that compared to a tv pronto, the false colour is much less.(in the pronto,ca was obvious on the moon for instance).

cheers,phil

[Deneb]

As mentioned upstairs, The FPL element has no correcting elements at all by itself regardless if it's FPL51, 53 or FCD1 (I think it's called that) & they all have different dispersion values, where it makes the difference/correction is how you mate the glass with other lens elements. I notice some dealers heavily advertising scopes with FPL 53 glass & giving it more presidency as a marketing ploy over scopes using FPL51.

ED glass is manufactured under different Names eg. Ohara, Schott, Hoya. Depending what grade you go for & who manufactures it would reflect on price. But saying that ED Glass has gone up 50% in price since the Japanese earthquake & s/h prices reflect that as well.

But it's all down to what you can afford really !

[garethmob]

iv gone for a megrez after:) there was one at "a good price" in the sale section will report how it handles visual video and with my camera on my kson mount!!

thanks for the advice guys!

[garethmob]

ok, iv got another question guys while i wait for it to come just incase i need any "additions"

im going to be mounting the scope on my Kson eklpispse mount which gives roughly 7kgs limit for imaging, i would put my 300d onto it with a skywatcher flatner, would i need anything else

also what would be the longest exposure i could have per photo?

[garethmob]

it came and its mounted! looking forward to using it tonight!!!

i couldnt get over how small and compacked and how heavy it is

[riklaunim]

Kson makes their mounts look extraordinary. How that strange thing performs?

[garethmob]

im very impressed with the kson mount, because 1 "bright object" align and its perfect and i allign it with the camera view finder! the polar alignment is effectivly a red dot finder its so alike the new meade mounts too......

the real test for the mount will be tonight! excited isnt the word

[hunterknox]

What a lovely scope . Glad it arrived safe and sound and I hope it serves you well!

[garethmob]

hehe thanks tom! its first light be tonight perfect clear!

[kev 102 42]

Congratulations Gaz,that's a beautiful scope ,looks good on the mount.......................kev