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15mm BST Explorer - quality issue?...

Nastyness

By Nastyness
in Discussions - Eyepieces

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Nastyness

Nastyness

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Hello all,

My 15mm BST Explorer arrived this morning and I've noticed what looks like a quality issue with the black paint on the inside of the EP...about 4-5mm of paint looks to have flaked off all the way around the rim and revealed the shiny steel beneath? See photo below...will this have an adverse effect on the performance of the EP?

IMG_0545.jpg

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Nastyness

Nastyness

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I do agree that a new one should not look like that.

Hmmm...that's what I thought. I'm sure it's just a mistake...I know the supplier is very good and let's customers try before they buy, so I assume it's just one that's been out on loan. :)

I'm sure at some point in the future I'll need to invest in some filters, but to be honest, right now I don't have a clue what kind of filters I would need! Any recommendations would be gratefully received!

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Tyr

Tyr

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I know not everyones keen on them but I find the moon filter I have to be very useful, without it I step away from the EP half blinded after looking at it. It was recommended to me by the chaps at FLO when I bought the scope and I'm glad I got it.

There's a rather good sticky about filters under the primers and tutorials section

http://stargazerslounge.com/primers-tutorials/84192-primer-understanding-choosing-filters-visual-use.html

Tyr

ps I've got this EP and I'm pretty sure this happened the first time I screwed a filter into it

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Nastyness

Nastyness

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I have a 2" UHC filter, which helps a lot on DSOs, and have just been given a moon filter (you get the feeling that one eye has got partially blind after looking at the moon through an 8" scope).

Can you use multiple filters at once? I live in a fairly dark area, but 'm thinking an LP filter would be useful to block out what little bit of light there is. Plus a UHC filter to bring out the DSOs, which are quite faint in my 6" f/8 SW 150PL. Would that work?

I do enjoy looking at the moon, but I do find it hurts the old mince pies! I think a moon filter will be a must!

Can 1.25" filters be used for imaging too?

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rwilkey

rwilkey

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It looks like the eyepiece has been used with a filter, if you are not happy, I am sure Alan will change it, no bother. I have noticed with my own 15mm that filters do fit quite tightly so this may be have been the issue (in the past), but I do not constantly use filters and there are no wear and tear marks on mine.

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John

John

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If it's any consolation, the last few threads on the inside of the barrels of my Tele Vue eyepieces (some of which were purchased new) are (deliberately) unblackened as well. It does not seem to affect their performance in any way that I can tell.

Stacking broad and narrowband filters does not work because of the the way they work in selectively admitting certain wavelengths of light. Much better to use them "solo". A UHC or an O-III will improve the contrast of nebulae even where there is some light pollution around but obviously the views will not be as good as viewing under darker skies.

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rwilkey

rwilkey

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In theory you can use more than one filter at once as they can be stacked, but you will find using an LP filter and a UHC darkens the sky too much even in a 150 aperture which as working at the limits of nebula filter use, besides, the UHC should knock out a lot of pollution as it only concentrates on certain wavebands to the exclusion of (all) others, in theory.

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Nastyness

Nastyness

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If it's any consolation, the last few threads on the inside of the barrels of my Tele Vue eyepieces (some of which were purchased new) are (deliberately) unblackened as well. It does not seem to affect their performance in any way that I can tell.

Yes, that is some consolation... :)

A UHC or an O-III will improve the contrast of nebulae even where there is some light pollution around but obviously the views will not be as good as viewing under darker skies.

Ok, so how do I decide between a UHC or an O-III? I spent some time looking for M1, M31 and M51 last night...sucessfully located them all, but they were extremely faint. To give you an idea of the kind of ambient lighting in our area...we live around 1.5 miles from the nearest town and around a half mile from any street lights, the only lighting around our home comes from some yellow/amber lights our landlord uses to light up the grounds of the land we live on (pretty much a farm).

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John

John

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With a 6" aperture I'd go for a UHC. Not the UHC-S that Baader do as your aperture is not that small, but something like the Skywatcher, Castell or TS UHC. An Orion Ultrablock is similar and works nicely I've found.

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Nastyness

Nastyness

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I bought a variable filter from FLO - it was "expensive" but it is very useful to adjust the amount of filtering for different objects. Favourable threads on here helped me choose it.

Can't seem to find anything like that on the FLO website, can you supply a link?

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John

John

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....I never realised this was going to be such an expensive hobby! The shopping list just keeps growing and growing!

Too right - the scope is the cheap bit !

Try explaining that to newbies though :)

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Nastyness

Nastyness

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No kidding... eyeing up a couple of new accessories that cost more than my scope did in the first place :)

Haha! Well, I bought another EP today and that's now taken my total spend on accessories (so far...) over what I paid for the telescope...all in the space of a month and a half!

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sticks

sticks

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You guys are dead right - all posts from newbies saying "I'm thinking of buying a telescope" should be linked to a "cost of accessories" thread so they budget realistically - here's my modest list since buying my scope last month:

Dew Shield

Power Tank

Power lead

Case for scope

EPs (3 - modest)

Case for EPs

Filter

EP/mirror cleaning kit

Rain/dust cover

Silica Gel

Bag of sand!

err that's it - £285! - more than the cost of a new 8" Dob......

And I'm just a newbie and hard-up musician.

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