Show us your Frac

[Tyson M]

12 hours ago, garryblueboy said:

It Was a sad Day when I said good by to My Takahashi 100DF but for a very good reason this beauty came available  thanks to Kerry Lewis and I’m smiling again 

Wow you sure don't see these scopes ever. Very nice, I like the cat too!

[parallaxerr]

Same frac, new mount and little & large together 

 

[RiponJas]

2 hours ago, parallaxerr said:

Same frac, new mount and little & large together. 

Glad you keep the colour scheme, would fry my head otherwise... ? Things just have to match!! 

[Dave Lloyd]

On 20/09/2018 at 16:57, parallaxerr said:

little & large together 

 

 

 

Ah, I hadn't even noticed the little chap sitting in the corner. 

[F15Rules]

On 10/09/2018 at 23:56, John said:

I think Prinz were a brand name used by Dixons, the highstreet photo and electronics retailer. Dixons would source their stock from different manufacturers during the lifetime of the model. The one you have more recently acquired is an older one (1960's perhaps ?) wheras the one you already have is a later one, possibly from the 1970's or 1980's. Dixons sought the lowest manufacturing cost to maximise profitability and, over time, unfortunately the quality suffered. Dixons ceased trading in 2014 after 77 years of business.

It will be interesting to see how the optical performance of these two scope compares. The result might not mirror the apparent external quality of manufacture ?

This same model Prinz 550 was bought for me when I was 15 in 1971. It was an upgrade from the 440 which was also a 60mm scope, but on an altazimuth mount (and branded Circle T (Towa Japan), whereas the 550 made by Kenko Japan and was equatorially mounted on the lovely grey finished mount shown above. It was a fine little mount and reminded me in later years of a Swift scope, and me even have come from the same manufacturer.

The lens set was Circle K as mentioned. The largest of the Prinz family from Dixon's was the 660, finished just like the 550 shown here, but it was a "proper" 3" (76mm) F15 astro refractor..this was also a Kenko objective and all the ones I have looked through have been optically excellent and a notch above the Circle T quality.

Circle T I would liken to today's GSO in terms of the fact that they are after the mass market, at a price point, and will contract manufacture for pretty much anyone. Their products were/are mostly pretty decent (making a decent achromatic doublet is relatively easy and cheap), but in the 1980s Circle T's tube and mount build quality plummeted as they chased lower and lower manufacturing costs.

The two Prinz 500s I owned from that period were junk by comparison to this Kenko. For context, in 1971 the top of the range 660 retailed at £59.95, a small fortune for working class parents like mine, and the 550 cost £39.95, about a week's wages for my dad at the time.

My parents paid just over half the cost as my Christmas present and I paid the rest from a Saturday job pumping petrol, for which I got paid £0.30p per hour..took me almost a year to pay the balance off.

Happy days and memories of the first scope to show e Saturn's rings and M42 properly?..

Enjoy your new old scope!

Dave

Edited September 23, 2018 by F15Rules

[F15Rules]

On 16/09/2018 at 13:49, garryblueboy said:

It Was a sad Day when I said good by to My Takahashi 100DF but for a very good reason this beauty came available  thanks to Kerry Lewis and I’m smiling again 

Wow.

That is just a wonderful looking scope Garry. Do you know how old it is?

I recall drooling over Vixens' Atlux refractor in BC&F's catalogue many years ago (early 90s?) , and I'm sure it cost around £5-6k with the matching mount. In those days a 6" refractor was a real monster and far beyond the reach of almost everyone.

I know how I felt when I got my Tak FS128 Garry, so I do understand when you say this scope is close to your heart?.

Do us all a favour and post up a first light review?

Enjoy.

Dave

Edited September 23, 2018 by F15Rules

[garryblueboy]

Hi Dave thanks it’s around 1991 it is the very one featured in Astronomy now write up and the one in BCF Catolouge I owned one quite few years ago but due to financial reasons had to sell it it went to good home Damien peach thought I’d never see another again so guess it’s Kama and will definitely post first light .

GARRY 

 

[Highburymark]

2 hours ago, garryblueboy said:

Hi Dave thanks it’s around 1991 it is the very one featured in Astronomy now write up and the one in BCF Catolouge I owned one quite few years ago but due to financial reasons had to sell it it went to good home Damien peach thought I’d never see another again so guess it’s Kama and will definitely post first light .

GARRY 

 

Fabulous looking scope Garry. Neighbour of mine used to have one - I was in awe of it. Love the old Vixen logo too.

[alanjgreen]

Here is my recently arrived Borg 107FL f5.6 seated upon the Skywatcher AZ5 Gti. Also appearing Baader SkySurfer 5, Baader Clicklock diagonal, TeleVue Plossl 55mm, PVS-14 Night Vision.

I am amazed at how light the whole thing is to life around the garden. The old Sky-Tee2 must be twice the weight at least.

For anyone who doesn't know, the Borg has a neat trick of allowing part of the tube to retract inside the objectve resulting in this tiny scope to be packed away (in the morning)

Clear Skies,

Alan

[JeremyS]

1 hour ago, alanjgreen said:

Here is my recently arrived Borg 107FL f5.6 seated upon the Skywatcher AZ5 Gti. Also appearing Baader SkySurfer 5, Baader Clicklock diagonal, TeleVue Plossl 55mm, PVS-14 Night Vision.

Looks great Alan. How is the AZ-GTi handling it? Stable enough?

[mikeDnight]

Very, very....Very Nice!!! 

[garryblueboy]

Be Careful Alan you don’t want to go and get Assimilated into the collective

We are Borg ?

Edited September 24, 2018 by garryblueboy

[timwetherell]

On 20/09/2018 at 19:31, RiponJas said:

Glad you keep the colour scheme, would fry my head otherwise... ? Things just have to match!! 

Yes, yes they do!!!

[alanjgreen]

17 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Looks great Alan. How is the AZ-GTi handling it? Stable enough?

The AZ5 GTi is managing the 107FL with ease. I was out in the wind last week and not a single wobble at the eyepiece. I imagine having the stronger tripod is making a +ve difference too.

Took me one lost session to get to grips with the GOTO, since then we have been having a great time...

Alan

[Stu]

1 minute ago, alanjgreen said:

The AZ5 GTi is managing the 107FL with ease. I was out in the wind last week and not a single wobble at the eyepiece. I imagine having the stronger tripod is making a +ve difference too.

Took me one lost session to get to grips with the GOTO, since then we have been having a great time...

Alan

Which tripod do you use Alan? I found the standard one too lightweight so popped it on something more substantial very quickly

[MBJ]

Edited September 25, 2018 by MBJ

[Rainmaker]

My TSA 102S and Friend:

[John]

Wow, just wow Matt !

[Rainmaker]

8 hours ago, John said:

Wow, just wow Matt !

Hi John,  Took me quite a few weeks to convince a friend to part with his pristine TSA102S to pair up with mine.  I had to give him my excellent FS102NSV as a sweetener.... 

The TSA120 binoscope was just a bit too heavy and bulky so I sold the two 120s and ordered a new cradle to be made for these baby-TSAs.  I am not allowed to buy any more scopes (at least this year).  Roll on 2019....

[Muppo1]

This is my 60th birthday present to myself!

After owning a little 60mm refractor while at school a LONG time ago (the 1970s), I was without a telescope until May this year, when I lashed out on this beauty.

It is a TeleVue NP127is mounted on a SkyWatcher EQ6-R equatorial mount.

I'm using it visually for now as I re-acquaint myself with the sky.

I live in Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. Luckily for me, there are several world-class dark sky sites within 90 minutes drive, so thats all right.

Regards to all,

Terry

Edited October 1, 2018 by Muppo1

[Ken82]

Finally set it up ready for imaging. Tak for widefield and esprit for higher resolution. I’ll just swap the camera onto whatever scope I want to image with (depending on target). Maybe add a small guide scope at some point but right now I’m after a mono camera 

[Chris]

On 30/09/2018 at 12:24, Rainmaker said:

My TSA 102S and Friend:

Simply a masterpiece! For the most discerning bino enthusiast  

[ASSA]

I'm in love in this scope, TS 102/1100, tube shortened  to reach focus with binoviewer. Kelner eyepiece its just for dust covering ?  clear skies.

[CraigT82]

18 minutes ago, ASSA said:

I'm in love in this scope, TS 102/1100

I'm also a little bit in love with my new 102mm f11(starwave). Only had it out once so far and it served up lovely crisp views of Mars in less than ideal conditions.

Yesterday I checked focuser alignment with a laser and it was dead on using my HG parallizer (though slightly skewed with standard adaptor). Also checked objective alignment with Cheshire and again dead on. Very well made these scopes are! The AR coatings are first rate too.

How do you find it on the AYO without counterweights? I've got it on an AZ4 which is fine in still conditions but a bit of wind makes the image tremble. Will be upgrading to giro type mount I think. 

[ASSA]

 

11 hours ago, CraigT82 said:

How do you find it on the AYO without counterweights? I've got it on an AZ4 which is fine in still conditions but a bit of wind makes the image tremble. Will be upgrading to giro type mount I think. 

Hi,

I don't know what is AYO (i'm not from UK so it's hard to me to understand a short names  ) but i assume You want to ask is this rock solid mount (AZ6) without counterweights in windy conditions. I'm afraid it will not be much better than AZ4. Two weeks (maybe three, dont remember exactly) ago it was windy up here where i live, 30 kph - 80 kph, and it Was a fight with it. Nevertheless i saw that evening best Mars this year using bino WO, magnification around ~100x. Amazing contrast and colour, polar cap and dark areas. View far better for me than from LightBridge 12" and even from 20" F4 Truss Newt. Next scope need to be 5" F15 achro  

Regards and clear skies

Luke.

P.S. The END OF OFFTOPIC