Leica zoom-solar

[jetstream]

My Leica zoom arrived today,it only took about 2 weeks to get it here from Germany-thanks Markus!I have just given it a go on the sun here,under avg conditions,and I can say this,the Leica has given me the best views yet!Fantastic detail,the faculae,plage,granulation are the best seen ever in the Raptor.I can't wait for above average seeing to test it,right now all EP show a bit of atmospheric scattering around the sun,lots of moisture in the air right now.

The coatings are the blackest I have seen yet,they look like the prisms,very hard to see anything....

Hopefully the sky is clear for tonight.....

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Sounds great. Looking forward to a nighttime report

[SimonfromSussex]

This sounds very interesting jetstream. Which Leica zoom did you get?

[Stu]

Nice one Gerry :-). Good, aren't they!

Might get a chance with mine on Saturn tonight with the triplet. Lots of high haze here at the moment, largely from aircraft contrails by the look of it :-(, frustrating

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jetstream]

I ordered this one and also the VIP barlow,which if first light is any indication is very good as well.http://beta.apm-telescopes.de/en/Eyepieces/Zoom-Eyepieces/Leica-Zoom-eyepiece-Vario-8.9-17.8-mm-ASPH.-2-with-T2-Thread.html.

[Pig]

Excellent news Gerry  please keep us informed of developments, congrats on the purchase

[SimonfromSussex]

I have been keeping an eye on these so it's great to hear a first hand solar review, nice one!

I agree it will be great to hear how it compares at night too.

[russ.will]

Gerry, I'd be interested to know how it stacks up against the Delos (as an example) at similar focal lengths under dark skies.

I'm not one of those people who's that fussed about 82/100deg AFOVs, but most zooms I've played with are far too restrictive at the short end, to be of interest. The Leica with it's 60-80deg AFOV seems like a tolerable alternative, if it really is well corrected and of sufficient contrast edge to edge, on planets and DSOs. It would pay for itself in all the other stuff in terms of gear I wouldn't have to load into the camper van!

Russell 

[jetstream]

Hi Russ,I am going to a dark site(well kind of dark,for June) tonight and hope the seeing is good for Saturn,and maybe transparent enough for DSO.I am expecting some aberrations @ f4.8,but others have said that with the VIP @ 1.75x & up the edge distortion clears.

For galaxies,my 10E is very very contrasty and if the Leica equals it this will be a feat in itself.Same goes for the 8mm Delos,good for image size in my scope on galaxies,but some light is lost on brighter ones.I'm not sure how the lighter sky will effect things,some EP's really only show their stuff under the best of conditions.

So far I actually like the "reverse" zoom,this should be great for how I like to view galaxies and galaxy clusters.I have heard of some edge of field brightening,so I'll watch for this too,its going to take some time to get to "know" the Leica for sure.

Two snags so far,can't get a filter on the Leica in 2" config yet and I really wanted my VX10 collimated the very best for my Leica's first dob light....my autocollimator looks as if its lost in the mail