5x powermate?

[dobbie]

hi all was thinking of buying a 5x powermate for my stellavue 80mm but i see there are quite a few for sale s/h on AB&S why is this ? is there a problem with them or are there no better than using a decent ep, ? anybody got one or using one and what are your thoughts...

[barkis]

Is your Stellarvue f7?

Ron.

[dobbie]

yes it is ron.

[lukebl]

Nowt wrong with mine. Optically they are great. I just find it a gives bit too much magnification for my uses.

[dobbie]

mmmm ... i was thinking of using it with my tv 32mm and 26mm which would give me 88x & 107x and maybe my 12.5mm at 244x and still have decent wide ep to look though or am i way off the mark in my thinking?

[barkis]

yes it is ron.

I was just wondering if a x5 PM wouldn't be racing the engine too much .

They are used successfully on larger objective Newts, with a webcam, or an Image Source camera, a la Neil Phillips and others.

I presume you wish to Image the planets.

Maybe some folk are under the impression that magnification shows more detail, that impression is false of course.

When they realise that through trying, the Powermate becomes an item to sell. They are great accessories, but only with the right instrument.

Ron.

[lukebl]

They're really only used for imaging with webcams. I wouldn't want to use them visually.

[barkis]

A good yardstick to work to in our UK skies, is limit magnification to 40 x per inch of aperture. 50 times on the occasional excellent night

So x160, and x200 with the ED80.

I'm not certain everyone would agree mind you .

Ron.

[barkis]

I would suggest a good quality x3 Barlow for observational use.

Ron.

[dobbie]

i see... its visual observation i do , so i will leave pm to the people that image. got a webcam ( never used it lol) thanks for the input guys.