Skywatcher Esprit-80 and Esprit-100 Incoming

[Gina]

I move the dovetail bar on the mount to balance.

[Sp@ce_d]

Is that the 80, the 100 or both?

I wonder if the TRF-2008 reducer will work on the 80.

Thats the 80 according to SW USA over on Cloudy Nights

[Sp@ce_d]

The only worry is balancing when you have camera/filterwheel/OAG/flattener etc. attached. I had to switch from the foot to rings on my equinox 80 to balance correctly.

Yeah as Gina says.. I use a longer dovetail bolted on my WO scopes ( same type) foot to achieve balance

[Gasman]

Hi guys

Nice to hear some 80`s are finally here. I`d be interested to hear if any of you manage to fit a focus motor to them. I recently bought a SW focus motor while over at Kelling thinking I could make it fit my 120 Espirit but not without some sort of meccano construction??. Not sure if the focuser on the 80 is similar to the 120?  I suspect not!. It`ll fit my ED80 when I get it mounted anyway!

Best

Steve

[dmahon]

What's the bottom of the focuser look like? There's an adapter you can buy for the equinox scopes (well, the Orion equivalent) if it looks the same. Otherwise it's just a bit of time with some aluminium plate, a saw, a file and a drill.

[Sp@ce_d]

What's the bottom of the focuser look like? There's an adapter you can buy for the equinox scopes (well, the Orion equivalent) if it looks the same. Otherwise it's just a bit of time with some aluminium plate, a saw, a file and a drill.

Gina's got piccys on her thread http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/198330-ginas-esprit-80ed-pro-unboxing-and-first-impressions/#entry2088426

[Gina]

There is one thing from my other threads that I think I must repeat here :-

There is one essential item missing with the field flattener - INFORMATION - the required FF to camera sensor distance to achieve a flat field.  A field flattener will not work without the correct back focus distance!

From another source this would appear to be 75mm (not the 55mm that the Evostar FR/FF requires).  Skywatcher do NOT provide this information with the item!

[FLO]

We haven't listed the field flatteners yet Gina but when we do we will include spacing details. Promise

[Gina]

That's good Steve   But you are selling scope + FF as they come in and customers can preorder these.  Must add - I'm not getting at you/FLO - I believe Skywatcher should include this info with their hardware.

[FLO]

We agree

But rather than wait for Skywatcher to produce a new instruction book we are busy compiling the information for our website so our customers will have what they need. We are doing the same for the other Esprit models. 

FWIW we are not listing the field flatteners until we have the spacings but we made the option available to add a field flattener when ordering an Esprit-80 or 100 so you and others could proceed with your orders. 

Product launches can be a bit messy but I reckon in 3-4 days we will have the details's confirmed and listed at our website. 

HTH, 

Steve

[Gina]

Thank you Steve   That's good news

[dmahon]

75mm - excellent. Could do with more. Even Takahashi make it tight if you use their CA35. How anyone could use AO I don't know.

[jcm]

Astronomics ( US astro dealer) state that the field flattener back focus for the 100mm Esprit  APO is 69.8mm.

John

[FLO]

Astronomics ( US astro dealer) state that the field flattener back focus for the 100mm Esprit  APO is 69.8mm.

That is the distance measured from the rear element, not from the rear mating surface. 

For imaging circles and spacing requirements please see the product pages at our website

Skywatcher Field Flattener for Esprit-80 

Skywatcher Field Flattener for Esprit-100 

[Sp@ce_d]

That is the distance measured from the rear element, not from the rear mating surface. 

For imaging circles and spacing requirements please see the product pages at our website

Skywatcher Field Flattener for Esprit-80 

Skywatcher Field Flattener for Esprit-100 

Oh..  ~55 then for the 80.. I did think it was too good to be true having room for decent accessories for a change. A little bit worried now after seeing initial DSLR images with the supplied adapter though.

[Tim]

Think its fairly safe to say that its gonna be tough to better the esprit/eq8/460ex  killer combo that you have  Gina

ahem  

[jcm]

52.5mm is not a lot of space!

Going to measure my back focus - I need 54.5mm to fit in filter wheel + OAG +Atik 460EX

I do have the TS 2" field flattener - which has more back space.

PS Thanks FLO for the correction.

John

[Tim]

There is one thing from my other threads that I think I must repeat here :-

There is one essential item missing with the field flattener - INFORMATION - the required FF to camera sensor distance to achieve a flat field.  A field flattener will not work without the correct back focus distance!

From another source this would appear to be 75mm (not the 55mm that the Evostar FR/FF requires).  Skywatcher do NOT provide this information with the item!

I had to ask about the flattener spacing with the 150ED too, but that has a bit more at 100mm.

FWIW I had John at JTech designs (I think its called) make a custom adapter to go from the back of the flattener, to my Atik OAG & FW, and to the two camera types I use. There is a 3mm difference in the cameras spacing but John had a clever solution. Super solid, super neat.

[Gina]

One little point... In the FLO web site blurb on the Esprit 80ED FF, it says "The rear thread is M48. When using T-threaded accessories you will need a FLO M48-T adapter."  I would like to add that the 48mm to T2 adapter was supplied with mine.  ie. adapters for both sides were provided with the flattener - focuser to flattener and flattener to T2.  One was already screwed onto the flattener and the other was in a separate bag.

HTH

A Canon EOS adapter was supplied in the scope box.

[dmahon]

Is the eos adapter T2 or M48? If T2, will losing the M48/T2 adapter add a bit of space?

[Gina]

Is the eos adapter T2 or M48? If T2, will losing the M48/T2 adapter add a bit of space?

It's M48 and it's 10.7mm thick.  I'll work it all out tomorrow - I'm just about brain-dead now

[FLO]

One little point... In the FLO web site blurb on the Esprit 80ED FF, it says "The rear thread is M48. When using T-threaded accessories you will need a FLO M48-T adapter."  I would like to add that the 48mm to T2 adapter was supplied with mine.  ie. adapters for both sides were provided with the flattener - focuser to flattener and flattener to T2.  One was already screwed onto the flattener and the other was in a separate bag.

HTH

A Canon EOS adapter was supplied in the scope box.

Oops  

I opened the flattener for an Esprit-100 today and didn't find the adapter but it is the one I used for the photo on our website so I might have left it in our other unit. I'll check tomorrow. 

It is good they include an M48 EOS adapter but I can't imagine Nikon DSLR owners being impressed. 

[Gina]

I'm afraid I have an apology to make Steve - I was wrong about the adapter supplied with the flattener - it's 48mm not T2, so you were right.  Sorry about that.

[Gina]

I've been calculating the measurements for using Atik 460EX and EFW2 and there is a serious problem - 3.6mm too much back focus with Astrodon filters or 3.3mm with Baader

SW FF to 48mm = 11mm

FLO 48mm to T2 = 10mm

Atik EFW2 including adapters = 23.5

Astrodon filter = 1mm (filters are 3mm thick)

Atik 460EX = 13mm

Total = 58.5  OMG!!   That's 3.6mm too much

The FLO 48mm to T2 adapter could be replaced with this one from Teleskop Service.  This costs nearly £40 including carriage and VAT

Any chance that FLO could supply a shorter 48mm to T2 adapter Steve?  Please

[JohnC64]

Apologies didn't mean to post link to another supplier in the the sponsors  section