Show us your Frac

[RT65CB-SWL]

On 30/05/2023 at 20:17, takurrito said:

Which side do I look through? ...

That's the conundrum with owning more than one 'scope on a dual/multi-mount setup!

[guillaume320]

Here’s my Tak FC-100DC, my grab ‘n go setup to complement my OOUK VX12.

 

Mount is a ScopeTech Zero, on a Leofoto LM-364C carbon fiber tripod. ADM plate between the mount and the Tak cradle.

Diagonal is a Baader prism (not the Zeiss one, but the 32mm).

I replaced the Tak finder with a RACI from Skywatcher, although I kept the Tak holder (with ADM quick release plate). The straight through viewing wasn’t to my taste.

The scope is rotated 90 degrees clockwise in the cradle. Reason is I’m left eye dominant, and having the finder scope in its original intended place makes it annoying… Downside is that the focuser knob is now ‘vertical’, on the left side of the tube. But I can live with that. But still experimenting and might revert to original position?

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Guillaume

Edited July 12, 2023 by guillaume320

[Stu]

6 hours ago, guillaume320 said:

Here’s my Tak FC-100DC, my grab ‘n go setup to complement my OOUK VX12.

 

Mount is a ScopeTech Zero, on a Leofoto LM-364C carbon fiber tripod. ADM plate between the mount and the Tak cradle.

Diagonal is a Baader prism (not the Zeiss one, but the 32mm).

I replaced the Tak finder with a RACI from Skywatcher, although I kept the Tak holder (with ADM quick release plate). The straight through viewing wasn’t to my taste.

The scope is rotated 90 degrees clockwise in the cradle. Reason is I’m left eye dominant, and having the finder scope in its original intended place makes it annoying… Downside is that the focuser knob is now ‘vertical’, on the left side of the tube. But I can live with that. But still experimenting and might revert to original position?

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Guillaume

Lovely setup! I have pretty much the same and it’s my most used bit of kit 👍👍

[Mr Spock]

The Helios 120mm looking all gussied up 

[JeremyS]

7 hours ago, guillaume320 said:

Here’s my Tak FC-100DC, my grab ‘n go setup to complement my OOUK VX12.

 

Mount is a ScopeTech Zero, on a Leofoto LM-364C carbon fiber tripod. ADM plate between the mount and the Tak cradle.

Diagonal is a Baader prism (not the Zeiss one, but the 32mm).

I replaced the Tak finder with a RACI from Skywatcher, although I kept the Tak holder (with ADM quick release plate). The straight through viewing wasn’t to my taste.

The scope is rotated 90 degrees clockwise in the cradle. Reason is I’m left eye dominant, and having the finder scope in its original intended place makes it annoying… Downside is that the focuser knob is now ‘vertical’, on the left side of the tube. But I can live with that. But still experimenting and might revert to original position?

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Guillaume

Superb 👍🏻

[John]

1 hour ago, Mr Spock said:

The Helios 120mm looking all gussied up 

I can recall the impact those made when they were 1st imported to the UK. The first review I read was in an early edition of "Astronomy Now" of a Konus branded one which had a bright orange-yellow tube !

Setting aside the colour scheme of the Konus version, it was hard to take in that a near 5 inch refractor was now available at a price that amateurs could afford. I found one in an photo retailers in Cheltenham and though it looked a massively impressive thing 😲

I had one of the blue tube Skywatcher ones for a while and the views of Jupiter looked pretty good to me back then. Lots of detail and the GRS was the clearest I'd seen up to then.

 

Edited July 12, 2023 by John

[Mr Spock]

5 minutes ago, John said:

I can recall the impact those made when they were 1st imported to the UK.

I've had mine at least 20 years! It is surprisingly good - if you can ignore the purple haze around bright objects 

[John]

7 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

I've had mine at least 20 years! It is surprisingly good - if you can ignore the purple haze around bright objects 

If the CA produced is commensurate with the aperture and focal ratio of the achromat, then I can live with that as long as the image is decently sharp 🙂

 

Edited July 12, 2023 by John

[StarryEyed]

Haven't been on the forum for quite a while. Too much going on in life. Sitting around today and logged in came straight to the last three pages and quickly remembered why this is the best thread on the internet.

[seven_legs]

On 23/03/2023 at 10:15, Stu1smartcookie said:

Thought i might add a photo of my 152mm Altair Starwave ... Its a bit heavy at 9kgs but reasonably short (750mm ) with the dew shield retracted . 

Alas its only been on my SkyTee mount for two very brief sessions as the weather has been quite shocking ... still i like looking at it when its stored in our spare room 😂

how's the scope. got mine coming Monday, sorry all for the cloud☺️

[Stu1smartcookie]

2 hours ago, seven_legs said:

how's the scope. got mine coming Monday, sorry all for the cloud☺️

Ok it's a long story , sold it to another sgl member , bought it back , sold it to another sgl member . 

But .... it's in my basket at Altair astro to buy it again! I loved the scope but there were corcu thateant it has to go ( both times ) .. what mount will you use for it ? 

[seven_legs]

9 minutes ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Ok it's a long story , sold it to another sgl member , bought it back , sold it to another sgl member . 

But .... it's in my basket at Altair astro to buy it again! I loved the scope but there were corcu thateant it has to go ( both times ) .. what mount will you use for it ? 

ioptron az mount pro -with 1.75" tripod, hoping thats going to be ok. going by what i read it should be

[bosun21]

1 hour ago, seven_legs said:

ioptron az mount pro -with 1.75" tripod, hoping thats going to be ok. going by what i read it should be

That will handle it nicely 👍. I believe the iOptron is rated for 15kg so you have capacity to spare.

[bosun21]

My most used scope is the Starfield 102 and a snap of the 6”CC which I am hoping to get its first light tonight 🤞. Just got to fit and align the Starsense unit on the Skytee II.

 

[seven_legs]

1 hour ago, bosun21 said:

My most used scope is the Starfield 102 and a snap of the 6”CC which I am hoping to get its first light tonight 🤞. Just got to fit and align the Starsense unit on the Skytee II.

 

 nice, do a first light report please.

I really like the look of the Stellalyra Cats, would like to get the 8" one day

[badhex]

Nothing new here but not posted this little gem for a while! William Optics ZS73 with Baader BBHS clicklock, Lacerta 40mm ED, Scopetech Mount Zero and Gitzo Series 2 Traveller. Hiding in the tray below are and APM 24mm UFF, APM Superzoom and Astronomik Oiii, UHC and CLS filters. 

A very capable and portable little package - last night managed the Veil which is pretty good going for a not-quite-3-inch scope 🙂

Edited September 9, 2023 by badhex

[Neil P]

I don’t think I have seen any of these on here, my light bucket Frac, a Tecnosky Goliath 210/1200. Only used for the Deep-Sky, though with a Baader minus violet filter the CA is not that bad.

[John]

48 minutes ago, Neil P said:

I don’t think I have seen any of these on here, my light bucket Frac, a Tecnosky Goliath 210/1200. Only used for the Deep-Sky, though with a Baader minus violet filter the CA is not that bad.

Very interesting refractor 🙂

Is that an APM Maxload mount it's on or something else ?

 

 

[Neil P]

4 minutes ago, John said:

Very interesting refractor 🙂

Is that an APM Maxload mount it's on or something else ?

 

 

Yes it is the APM AZMaxload (I think is it’s full title), I have the one with encoders, I am a Nexus DSC fan so mostly just use all/az push to for all my scopes now. I actually put a Rowan saddle on it so I could attach the Rowan handle, there was not a ‘native’ option for the APM mount strangely.

[John]

16 minutes ago, Neil P said:

Yes it is the APM AZMaxload (I think is it’s full title), I have the one with encoders, I am a Nexus DSC fan so mostly just use all/az push to for all my scopes now. I actually put a Rowan saddle on it so I could attach the Rowan handle, there was not a ‘native’ option for the APM mount strangely.

Thanks - I should have noticed it in your signature 🙂

I considered a Maxload when I had a 6 inch F/12 achromat refactor but the mount would have cost twice as much as the scope had cost. I did try a Bray Tablet mount but that was not really strong enough. 

That is the challenge with the really big refractors - you need really, really big mounts for them !

Nice to see them all the same - I'll bet the deep sky views are superb 👍

It makes the 21mm Ethos look rather compact 😁

Edited September 10, 2023 by John

[Mr Spock]

Baby Tak in wide field mode - 7.7°

[cajen2]

23 hours ago, seven_legs said:

ioptron az mount pro -with 1.75" tripod, hoping thats going to be ok. going by what i read it should be

Oooh, I'm very interested in one of those myself for my Starfield. Please let us know how you get on with it.

The Starfield in G&G mode with the Sightron Japan alt/az mount:

[badhex]

2 hours ago, Neil P said:

I don’t think I have seen any of these on here, my light bucket Frac, a Tecnosky Goliath 210/1200. Only used for the Deep-Sky, though with a Baader minus violet filter the CA is not that bad.

Cripes, that is a big lad! What's the OTA weight? 

[seven_legs]

1 hour ago, cajen2 said:

Oooh, I'm very interested in one of those myself for my Starfield. Please let us know how you get on with it.

The Starfield in G&G mode with the Sightron Japan alt/az mount:

will do

[cajen2]

, @seven_legssorry, big mess - wrong thread, wrong person! 😆

 

Edited September 10, 2023 by cajen2