Is the William Optics Star 71 Refractor worth considering?

[Droogie 2001]

Having read some favourable reviews on the William Optics Star 71 refractor, I was wondering whether anyone else has any other tips and advice before purchasing?

I have managed to read the Sky at Night review as well as two other Astro forum reviews. But apart from that there is not much else out there,  I guess this is because it is fairly new to the UK?

My current SCT is an Celestron 8SE with a F6.3 reducer, this means my FOV is pretty narrow. Trying to image the Pleiades recently confirmed this as I am barely able to squeeze more than 4 stars within the image.

So I am really looking for a Widefield imaging scope.

Also how much 'faster' is F6.3 compared to F4.9?

I enjoy Planetary & Lunar observing and imaging so I going to keep the 8SE.

I would be using a DSLR to start with but I do want the option for CCD further down the line. I have heard there can be some back focus issues with CCD's though saying that people seem to have been able to overcome this.

I will also need to purchased the specific diagonal as I have no Live View capability so this will increase the cost as well.

Any advice or help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

[dezzie]

Check on the cloudy nights forum there is quite a few there with this model and posts that address any issues.

[lensman57]

I do have a Star71 . Please PM me if you want more information.

A.G

[Astroscot2]

Im considrig this scope too as a purchase in the near future.  Im holding off as I want to see more RGB images taken with it so I can

evaluate any blue bloat around the brighter stars.  There are not a lot of example images on the WEB as far as I can see. Narrowband images I can see are not really a test for this scope. A.G  have you sen any issues with CA on this scope ?

Thanks

Mark

[Droogie 2001]

Having had a look a Lensman57 Astrobin link in his signature it may help answer your question.

Regards

[lensman57]

Im considrig this scope too as a purchase in the near future.  Im holding off as I want to see more RGB images taken with it so I can

evaluate any blue bloat around the brighter stars.  There are not a lot of example images on the WEB as far as I can see. Narrowband images I can see are not really a test for this scope. A.G  have you sen any issues with CA on this scope ?

Thanks

Mark

Mine has no CA , none that I could detect even with my severe stretching of the short data.

A.G

[Astroscot2]

Thanks A.G. I recon this is my next purchase in the summer.

Mark