Lovely looking 'frac reviewed in July Sky@Night mag

[Cjg]

A Takahashi 76 Doublet.

Anyone on here own one ? Care to let us know what it's like in use?

cheers

Chris

[Ben Ritchie]

Was that the Tak FC-76 fluorite doublet?

Don't own one but used one at a star party in the states one alongside the faster triplet version (FCT-76). An absolutely lovely visual 'scope, possibly as good a three-inch visual refractor as you can buy (although the LOMO 80/480s run it close). Certainly a step ahead of my TV76. Downsides are that it's horribly expensive (even by the standards of premium 3" refractors), Takahashi adapter hell is an ever-present risk, and I've got a feeling it suffers from the same limited focuser travel that made the FS-60C that I owned a bit of a pain in the backside at times.

[Cjg]

That's the one Ben, on the lookout for a quality small refractor, had thought that the TV76 might be the one....but then this looks appealing.

[Ben Ritchie]

The Takahashi ownership experience is 'interesting' at times (i've owned a FS-60C and a Mewlon 210, both of which had their moments of outright frustration) but they are beautiful telescopes if you can afford the price of admission and once everything is working then many of the frustrations vanish.

With the charge towards fast imaging telescopes I think i'm something of a rarity these days in preferring slower refractors, so a top-notch 3" f/7.5 apochromat is a very enticing - i'd pick the Tak 76 over my f/6.3 TV76 for that reason alone, although the TV76 is a lovely telescope too, and has the plus points of a solid focuser with plenty of travel and no need for the infamous 'adapters' that tend to plague the Tak owner trying to connect western kit. I remember the Tak 76 triplet as virtually perfect visually too, although it was faster and more imaging-oriented and I suspect these days it has been overtaken by the baby-Q

[Peter Drew]

I have a Takahashi Sky90 which is a 90mm F5.7 flourite doublet, the visual performance is excellent although I understand that it is not perfectly corrected for imaging.

[Cjg]

It's interesting how many times on here that I've read posts from visual dudes who say that their small frac is the most used as it is the quickest to get observing with. There's a second hand Sky 90 on Ian King's site for just over £1K. (and a TV76 too).

[Ben Ritchie]

As a visual dude, I can definitely say my small refractor (TV76) is by far my most used telescope

[Stu_2011]

Hi

My WO Lomo 80/480 is great as a visual scope, I love it. I can chuck it on a small EQ mount or even the humble AZ3 mount and be looking at stuff in minutes.

Can't really do that with the CPC 925.

Visual and imaging both have a place in astronomy.

Thanks

Stu

[Brian Nordstrom]

I like Peter have a SKY90 and agree its a very good visual scope , small and so very well made , just beautiful . Sadly not made any more as Takahashi have just reilease'd a new 100mm , the FC100D , a fluorite doublet for about $2000 usd , that's a great price for a Takahashi 100mm APO . Brian.

[E621Keith]

Another visual user of a LOMO80/480 (Stellarvue). Relatively quick to cool and very nice optics. The image remains sharp even when pushed to 190x

, an incredible achievement for a 80mm. It's my second most used scope after the Borg 77ED. The 77ED is optically inferior to the LOMO, but it weights a lot less and cools even faster.

I think it would be interesting comparing the Tak FC76D and its cousin, the Borg 71FL. Both uses doublet fluorite objective made by Canon.

[Stu_2011]

Another visual user of a LOMO80/480 (Stellarvue). Relatively quick to cool and very nice optics. The image remains sharp even when pushed to 190x

, an incredible achievement for a 80mm. It's my second most used scope after the Borg 77ED. The 77ED is optically inferior to the LOMO, but it weights a lot less and cools even faster.

I think it would be interesting comparing the Tak FC76D and its cousin, the Borg 71FL. Both uses doublet fluorite objective made by Canon.

If it contains a proper Fluorite objective (CaF2 crystal) then chances are it can be traced back to Canon.

I'm hoping (fingers crossed) that a work trip will take me to a Canon optics factory in Japan later this year. Not idea if they make CaF2 at the factory I will visit but........

The Lomo 80/480 lens is very good isn't it?

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