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Focul Reducers

blinky

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blinky

blinky

Posted
Posted

OK I see a lot if folks use a focul reducer of some kind or another when imaging. I get what one does, i.e. reduce the focul length of the scope, reducing imaging time and widening the FOV. Is that correct? Got me doubting myself now.

Anyway how do you choose one? Do you need a specific one for your scope? If so what would work with my ZS66 and Modded ToUCam? Oh and none of your £200quid nonsense :D I am thinking more £30quid here, well maybe a bit more but anything over £100 and I would rather put it towards a HEQ5 mount :)

Dont even think I have any money to buy one at the mo' but just set up the scope and waiting on the skies to clear (apparently BBC Weather has it clear in Edinburgh tonight!) and thought I would post a question.

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THE-BIG-MAN-SAYS

THE-BIG-MAN-SAYS

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Craig,

I purchased one for my lx90 a while ago...but have not tried it yet...its a Rini...cheapie from the states...but his stuff gets a reasonable name.

I hoped to try this along with some other bits tonight...not looking so good...but scope is still in the garden as we speak...just in case.

If I manage to do something with it visually...I'll pass it along...or when I eventually do...

:saturn:

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blinky

blinky

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The TS One looks OK for the money. As I say it is a webcam I am using so not expecting amazing results!

WH I cannot get your link to work. Can you list the item number and I can search for it in the website?

So I take it I can just use any focul reducer?

It does not have to be a specific value?

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MartinB

MartinB

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That will be a good match for your set up. Atik do a similar 0.5 focal reducer which is excellent with a web cam. Because the chip is so small a focal reducer will be a great addition. Although this type of reducer is very cheap it wont be a problem for you since you are only capturing the centre of the FOV.

You'll be working at around F3 so very fast and a decent FOV. The cam has small pixels so you will still get reasonable resolution. Very nice.

At this F ratio you need to take plenty of care over focus.

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legion48

legion48

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That will be a good match for your set up. Atik do a similar 0.5 focal reducer which is excellent with a web cam. Because the chip is so small a focal reducer will be a great addition. Although this type of reducer is very cheap it wont be a problem for you since you are only capturing the centre of the FOV.

You'll be working at around F3 so very fast and a decent FOV. The cam has small pixels so you will still get reasonable resolution. Very nice.

At this F ratio you need to take plenty of care over focus.

I have an Atik 0.5 and while it works ok for visual, I can't acheive focus with it on the webcam with either the long or the low profile adapter.

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blinky

blinky

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OK I am thinking of buying the Atik one from Ian King. Will I be able to reach focus with my ZS66 OK? I see for another tenner I can get a 1.25" 'Short adapter' that allows 0.75 times reduction. Would this work/be usefull?

I just found the Antares one for around the same price,what would you imagers say is best suited?

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Stormwatch

Stormwatch

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OK I am thinking of buying the Atik one from Ian King. Will I be able to reach focus with my ZS66 OK? I see for another tenner I can get a 1.25" 'Short adapter' that allows 0.75 times reduction. Would this work/be usefull?

I just found the Antares one for around the same price,what would you imagers say is best suited?

I bought a focal reducer from Ian King, probably the same one you're talking about, and I couldn't get my 102 SLT refractor to focus with it. Ian was good enough to let me exchange it for something else(not a focal reducer since, to be honest, the 102 SLT really doesn't need one!)

So at least you know if the Atik one doesn't work, you can exchange it.

That said, and not being any sort of expert - does your scope REALLY need a focal reducer? I see on the WO website they recommend only a 0.8 focal reducer, which may suggest a 0.5 one won't be suitable?

As I say, you could get one from Ian King, see how it goes. But if you have money lying around it may be better spent I think.

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bern

bern

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I sell the Atik reducer and compared it one night to the Antares. The Antares gave slightly less reduction but was essentially the same.

The 130SLT doesn't take to focal reduction at all well but surprisingly I've had good success with many other relectors, but obviously not at .5x

The 102SLT does work with Atik/Antares reducers but you need to remove the diagonal, depending on camera you might also need a short nosepiece and extension tube for the focuser.

bern

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