Need advice on eyepiece adapters.

[tosh]

Hi everyone.

I'm really hoping someone on here will be able to help.

I've just purchased via eBay a Bresser Astro spotting scope with a massive front 110mm objective. The scope was purchased with admission from the seller that mould was inside the front optics. However, my reason for wanting this scope is the Binoviewer that comes with it - complete with TWO 21mm ED e/p. We go camping quite alot along with my 5yr old young son's friends and their families - it's a great laugh.

At night when we've all eaten too much, we tend to sit in the chairs gazing up in absolute awe at the night sky - truly amazing views sometimes.

I decided to buy this scope because of it's portability (camping), the massive front aperture and the ease of the binoviewers for those that struggle with a single eyepiece.

Truth be told, one of the e/p also had a serious fungi problem - rather than return it (the seller had offered a full refund if I wasn't happy) I decided to dismantle it..................... yep, you've guessed it the elements all came out at once ...Oops!! Luckily for me I still had the other identical one that I managed to dismantle more carefully. The elements were all cleaned with microfibre cloths using white vinegar to remove the fungi - both eyepieces are now pristine!

The view though the scope is simply staggering - I live next to a church and trained the scope on one of the gargoyles. before I'd cleaned the e/p there was a definite fringing and softness - now it's virtually eliminated and the stones texture simply snaps into focus. So much so that from my upstairs window i could clearly see insects crawling within the moss on the gargoyles head !!

I'm going to attempt to clean the front element shortly so any advice will be greatly appreciated.

However, the cost of buying 2 e/p each time I want to increase/decrease magnification is simply ridiculous.

Does anyone here know if/what adapter could be used to convert this to a single eyepiece. The shallow male thread that protrudes from the prism housing is approximately 40mm in diameter. The Binoviewer has a flange within it's knurled ring that fits very snugly inside the protruding male thread on the prism housing - the knurled ring is then screwed onto the protruding thread. It must be pointed out that nothing can actually go "into" the prism housing due to a clear glass lens running flush with the prism housing - if that makes sense?? I assume this is simply to stop contamination of the internal prisms.

As for way of pictures (camera is out of action at the moment) may I give you the ebay link to the item I've bought.

http://www.ebay.co.u...=item1e7253da32

Any advice woud be very welcome.

Kind regards

Tosh

[John]

Mould is nasty !

The Baader Optical Wonder fluid and their micro fibre cloth should deal with it without harming the optics or their coatings:

http://www.firstligh...nder-fluid.html

The binoviewer looks like it has a non-standard fitting of some sort (bayonet ?) rather than the simple 1.25" barrel that the ones used in astro scopes come fitted with. If you can overcome that you might be able to fit a 1.25" eyepiece fitting to the scope and they you should be able to use eyepieces in mono mode OK. You will need an extension tube to bring your single eyepiece to focus though - possibly as much as 100mm, as the binoviewer uses up that much of the light path of the scope.

You may need to "botch" something up to use a single eyepiece as these were mass produced to use the bino viewer setup. There probably won't be a simple adapter made to convert it.

[Capricorn]

The elements were all cleaned with microfibre cloths using white vinegar to remove the fungi - both eyepieces are now pristine!

There are people here that will be getting rushed to the coronary wards at the thought of someone actually using white vinegar to clean anything optical. :grin: :grin:

Did you recycle it on chips afterwards ? :rolleyes:

[tosh]

There are people here that will be getting rushed to the coronary wards at the thought of someone actually using white vinegar to clean anything optical. :grin: :grin:

Did you recycle it on chips afterwards ? :rolleyes:

LOL Capricorn - I can relate to that - It becomes an obsession (bad memories)

Many thanks John for youe advice.

I've since managed to get pictures - it may explain the problem more clearly. forgive the quality - I've had to resize low enough to upload.

The protruding thread is almost certainly 40.5mm - the dust cap supplied - M41mm( not original) doesn't fit quite right. It grips the thread once fully screwed on - but feels slack upto that point. As 40.5mm seems to be quite a common fitting, I strongly suspect that may be the thread size.

Unfortunately for me, my thread is male, most adapters seem to be designed for the female thread. Although it seems there is a 37mm - 40.5mm step up ring available. If that were to fit, then maybe I could jump from the 37mm to the popular 42mm T" mount. Would I be right in thinking that then opens up all kinds of possibilities with standard eyepiece adapters.

I'm acutely aware that what I'm proposing here goes against the grain of many - I know that spotting scopes have there place, but they seem to be frownd upon within the astronomy fraternity.

However, please note what I'm attempting to do is allow family and friends (and the kids) that otherwise would have no interest in stargazing to the extent of setting up a "proper" telescope.

I'm simply attempting to conjure up enthusiasm amongst us all when we go camping without it appearing too technical that they simply "switch off". if all goes to plan then the better scopes will no doubt follow.

I'd appreaciate any advice that could help sort this out.

Thanks to all

Tosh

[John]

I've found this on e.bay:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Eyepiece-adapter-for-NIPON-20-60x70-spotting-scope-/300395615865?pt=UK_Photography_Binoculars_Monoculars&hash=item45f0f95679

It converts a spotting scope (not Bresser though) to use 1.25" eyepieces. I'm wondering if it would fit your scope ?. Might be worth an e.mail to the seller just to find out.

You will probably need an extension tube to allow an astro eyepiece to come to focus but those can be bought easily enough.

[tosh]

I've found this on e.bay:

http://www.ebay.co.u...=item45f0f95679

It converts a spotting scope (not Bresser though) to use 1.25" eyepieces. I'm wondering if it would fit your scope ?. Might be worth an e.mail to the seller just to find out.

You will probably need an extension tube to allow an astro eyepiece to come to focus but those can be bought easily enough.

Hi John

Many thanks for that - I've just sent the seller an email.

I have spent most of the day trawling the web for a 40.5mm female thread adapter!!.............Rare!! (and I'm not even 100% sure it is 40.5mm, how would I confirm that??)

If I can source one - I think what I'm proposing should be feasible. There used to be a company called SRB (??) that specialised in adapters - I'll chase it up and give them a ring tomorrow.

Cheers John, much appreciated.

Best Wishes

Tosh

[tosh]

Well I phoned SRB as promised.............

Yep, they can make me an adapter - prices start from .£50 quid - an' that's just for the adapter to go from 40.5mm to whatever I decide it needs to go to!!

"Fifty pounds"...erm erm

It's looking like a length of PVC pipe and a tube of alraldite!!

Where there's a will, there's a way!!

[tosh]

Latest update

The scope was taken to a local camera repairer today - I figured he'd be able to confirm the exact thread size and pitch. I explained what I had in mind.

He looked the scope over - shone a torch down the tube - looked it over again and pronounced it "SCRAP"!!

The mould was far more serious than I'd been led to believe by the seller, The repair guy informed me that ALL lenses looked to be infected - no doubt the prism would also be infected too - the barrel was also infected. The scope showed signs of already (prior to me buying it) having been taken apart and assessed and obviously traded in at cameracentrecardiff from whom I purchased it. The repair guy stated that there was no way without spending a colossal amount of money of ever expecting to get the scope "right" again - what was more worrying was the "White Furring" deep inside the barrel!!

I returned home and contacted the ebay seller and explained the situation and that It wasn't really fit for purpose and should have been truthfully listed as "Spares or Repairs".

He accepted it could be returned, and so was posted back today via recorded delivery at ridiculous expense, that I have agreed to stand too. - I just hope I get my money back - If not I'll update this thread to warn others.

Just out of curiosity - I mentioned to the repair guy that I had an old 60's refractor in the loft - a Swift 831 - reputed to be fitted with Takahashi front optics. his reply was that he fully expected that to be ruined too - from the dreaded fungi.

Just how big is this problem of mould & fungi ?

Also stashed away in the loft of remanants of my younger years fascination with photography - Cameras, and lots of them Leica M6 + lenses, Rollei SLX, Rollei TLR (f2.8 zeiss), Olympus OM system with some very rare glass (40mm f2) plus more than I dare admit too.

Although it was never my intention to hoard - I wanted to keep them as heirlooms for my young son. But I now wonder wether that could well be a very foolish and very expensive mistake.

Does anyone else on here have problems with long term storage??

Tosh