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Starwave 80 ED

Earl

By Earl
in Member Equipment Reviews

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mgirdwood

mgirdwood

Posted
Posted

hello All, sorry to resurrect this thread. i notice that Teleskop Express here in Germany are branding what looks like the same scope as the "TS ED APO Refractor 80mm f/7" .

as a total beginner i am thinking of getting a small APO for photography and this and the Starwave seem to be good reasonable priced starter.

as i will be marrying this up to my canon1100d i wonder if any one can offer suggestions on necessary connectors to get this to work as i noted there seemed to be issues with spacing and T2 connections ?

also if anyone has some shots taken with a DSLR that would be very helpful.

many thanks

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Earl

Earl

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The Starwave is a well made scope to consider, it does suffer from Blue Halos, but at this price point that can be accepted.

If you are going to use a DSLR, Altair do offer a M48 Camera adapter and M48 extensions so it will connect fine.

The Reducer supplied comes (well mine did) with a 10mm M48 Extension which is labelled as an adapter for some reason, but it is just an extension.

The Blue Halos can be processed out.

I cant comment on the TS one, I notice they call it an APO, id be interested to see its Blue performance, it does look the same just in a different livery.

Overall you wont be disappointed with it especially for its price, but you will outgrow it if you do pursue Astro-Photography (and its a bit big and bulky vs a st80 to take over as a guidescope in the future).

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mgirdwood

mgirdwood

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thanks for getting back Earl. this will be a first setup for photography mainly as i have a sw200 flex dob for visual.

prob a stupid question re flattener, given my total lack of experience from capture through processing to end product would i really be able to notice the different that a flattener would bring o the party, a couple of hundred extra quid is a bit more to take into consideration.

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Earl

Earl

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I thought about buying this scope this year, but I think I will hold off until I can afford a triplet...

Why throw good money at something less than excellent.

I look forward to your Tak first light :)

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NBASTRO

NBASTRO

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I see the STARWAVE ED telescopes have been re classified as "SEMI APO" now. Im rather unlucky having spent nearly £800 on the 110mm for what I was expecting to be a good quality ED matched doublet. Should have waited 6 months after they hit the market to see the feedback. Lovely sharp image in daylight so would make a good spotting scope! mmmm wonder if thats where the lens cells are from?

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johninderby

johninderby

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I had the Ikharos 80ED which is the same scope except for the focuser. Found it to be a well built little grab'n'go scope and was happy with it for that purpose and CA wasn't a problem at all for visual use.

I had no intention of selling the 80ED, however I came across a WO Zenithstar 80FD 10th anniversary edition APO at a good price and it was in as new condition with perfect optics etc. and a lovely smooth focuser. Just had to get it.:D Used to have an 80FD years ago and should never have sold it. :(

In a direct comparison I was surprised at the amount of difference between the 80ED and the 80FD optically. The 80FD was much sharper with better contrast and the views were simply more pleasing. I have no hesitation in calling the 80FD an APO. Optically the 80FD is similar to the SkyWatcher 80 FPL-53 doublet with the same virtual lack of CA, but I always felt just that bit sharper.

John

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NBASTRO

NBASTRO

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I like the WO scopes as well but seem short on supply new and second hand. Have spotted a 80 mm Mead 5000 triplet and might investigate further.

Was out last night trying various filters on my 110 to see whats best to remove the blue CA. Yet to examine the images but from what I saw a lot can be removed with the obvious loss in intensity so will have to see how it looks. Tried a Light pollution with a UHC filter. The extra blue was an interesting expierence looking at Alnitak a Blue resonating blob and Betelgeuse showed a pinpoint of very strong Blue from the core when focused. Will test further.

Neil

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Nadeem Shah

Nadeem Shah

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I like the WO scopes as well but seem short on supply new and second hand. Have spotted a 80 mm Mead 5000 triplet and might investigate further.

Was out last night trying various filters on my 110 to see whats best to remove the blue CA. Yet to examine the images but from what I saw a lot can be removed with the obvious loss in intensity so will have to see how it looks. Tried a Light pollution with a UHC filter. The extra blue was an interesting expierence looking at Alnitak a Blue resonating blob and Betelgeuse showed a pinpoint of very strong Blue from the core when focused. Will test further.

Neil

Your just better buying a copy of Noel Carboni's Astronomy Tools, at least you can use the software for other things then wasting money on filters.

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Magnum

Magnum

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I almost bought this, but I decided to keep my cash for bargain hunting at Kelling.

If you use a CLS light pollution filter it has the added benifit of being an extremely effective minus violet filter and virtually eliminates the blue fringing from semi apo optics.

Lee

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laser_jock99

laser_jock99

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I almost bought this, but I decided to keep my cash for bargain hunting at Kelling.

If you use a CLS light pollution filter it has the added benifit of being an extremely effective minus violet filter and virtually eliminates the blue fringing from semi apo optics.

Lee

Might give the fringe killera try if it prove an issue for me. But, as has been mentioned before some chromatic aberation can be removed in software.

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NBASTRO

NBASTRO

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Have a look at your and see how you get on. Have tried a UHC filter and a combination of others which does remove a considerable amount of BLUE along with illumination. The BLUE focal point on mine is well away from the R+G. Covers the whole part of the BLUE spectrum. Pinpoint on R+G together with BLUE flaring out on bright points. Its almost like the lens cell was a triplet with the BLUE refractive component missing. It can be adapted but not corrected with filters. I have tried several attempts at contacting Altair Astro but they don't seem to want to know or help.

Have already seen an 80ED sold on through eBay. Good luck with yours.

Neil

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Stephen

Stephen

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I almost bought this, but I decided to keep my cash for bargain hunting at Kelling.

If you use a CLS light pollution filter it has the added benifit of being an extremely effective minus violet filter and virtually eliminates the blue fringing from semi apo optics.

Lee

Having owned and returned one of these due to the blue issue, I can state with complete certainty that the CLS filter will not remove the blue problems from these optics.

If it reduces it, I would of hated to see what the scope did without the filter in.

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NBASTRO

NBASTRO

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Time for a moan! To fork out nearly £200 for additional filters, software and other bits to try and bring this telescope to the standard that I thought it was before it oddly became a Semi APO with CA peculiarities and recommendations for filters for improved visual use has rather peeved me off.

Also a supplier that does not have the decency to answer any of my emails or forms I sent to them about my concerns obviously does not value their customer relations or their selling ethics.

Anyway still to test further with some more agressive BLUE blocking filter then re process with just the blue.

Fun and games

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ItIsOnlyMe

ItIsOnlyMe

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Also a supplier that does not have the decency to answer any of my emails or forms I sent to them about my concerns obviously does not value their customer relations or their selling ethics.

Are you contacting them through the web form? I mailed them from it yesterday and they came back to me less than 30 minutes later.

I too was reporting a problem and got great service.

p.s. I have the Starwave 102 and as yet haven't noticed the blue issue though it has been raining pretty solidly since I got it.

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NBASTRO

NBASTRO

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Yes contacted them through the web form 3 times and email for which I got a delivery receipt.

Very ODD indeed. They should have informed everybody who purchased a Starwave Telescope before the change of the specification and classification about the change to see if it was still within the requirements of the purchaser. Would have gone for the MEADE 102 triplet if I had known the changed details.

I will investigate it further when I have the time and clear skies. Will try RGB photography as this doesn’t matter too much on the BLUE focus being too close to the RG. Will try some other filters to cut blue out altogether as it halos certain subjects. We have a Spectrometer at work so might see if I can get it set up to test the properties of the lens cell.

You don’t see many SEMI APO telescopes advertised because they are a slightly better CA Adjusted ACHROMAC. Once again the loosely termed expression of ED glass has been used to falsify something that is not as good as it should be. A quality ED doublet can be made with correct glass matching and spacing of the lenses to give a very close focal point of two colours with the third not too far away. Still not as good as a triplet but which brings them closer and sharper. An ED cell is only maximised if its matching cell takes into account all of its characteristics.

Your 102 should be slightly better than my 110 but have a look at the moons edge and see where the BLUE focuses under medium magnification. Let me know how you get on.

Roll on clear skies.

Neil

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Earl

Earl

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I sold mine with reducer for £199.99 to laser_jock99 I feel this is about the right price for one of these second hand.

You can get Evostar ED80's from around £200-250 which are optically superior.

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