Show us your Frac

[rkelley8493]

12 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

With the DZ there is a 2" to 1.25" adapter that has the Takahashi 1.25" locking ring screwed to it. If you remove the Tak 1.25" locking ring and put it aside, the extender Q screws directly to the female thread of the 2" male adapter. With my 1.25" Baader prism I use a 2" nose piece, so I can directly attach it to the DZ's 2" back. The inside female filter thread of the Baader prism screws directly onto the Extender-Q as shown below. If a 1.25" diagonal is used, simply attach the Tak locking mechanism, although depending on your focuser travel, you may need to remove one of the extender-Q's extension tubes. The Q itself is just the part that screws into the Tak 2" adapter. On my DZ, all the extensions can remain in place, even when using a binoviewer.

Thise first image shows the extender-Q (top), the Tak 2" to 1.25" adapter and the 1.25" Baader Prism with 2" nose showing its inner female filter thread.

 

Next are the components broken down, with only the lower row needing to be used.

 

Below shows the Q screwed into the Tak adapter and the male Q thread screwed into the female filter thread of the diagonal, which attaches directly the the scopes 2" back just like any eyepiece etc.

 

And finally the Q along with its Tak adapter, capped and ready for use.

 

Hope this helps! ☺

 

Yes it does! Thanks 😀

I'm considering one of those for the larger image scale it provides.

[wookie1965]

2 hours ago, John said:

My current "fab four" followed by a few from my past. The big achromats were generally used with a Chromacor CA / SA corrector to produce close to ED doublet performance:

Is that first one mounted a Meade 127 or AR6 and the black one next two down is it a Cr6 John. 

Cracking scopes love those big Fracs 

[John]

25 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

Is that first one mounted a Meade 127 or AR6 and the black one next two down is it a Cr6 John. 

Cracking scopes love those big Fracs 

The Meade is the AR6 152mm F/8. The black one is a Helios 150mm F/8 - later they got rebranded the Evostar 150 which is the last one pictured. I also had Konus 150mm F/8 at some point which was the same scope but without a collimatable objective cell.

That and a Bresser 127L with the Vixen ED102SS pictured below . I went through a lot of achromats over a relatively short period

 

 

[rkelley8493]

New shoes on the 'frac..

[wookie1965]

8 hours ago, John said:

The Meade is the AR6 152mm F/8. The black one is a Helios 150mm F/8 - later they got rebranded the Evostar 150 which is the last one pictured. I also had Konus 150mm F/8 at some point which was the same scope but without a collimatable objective cell.

That and a Bresser 127L with the Vixen ED102SS pictured below . I went through a lot of achromats over a relatively short period

 

 

That Bresser looks identical to my Meade 127 I have heard god things about the Helios was that a good Frac and thank you for answering me really nice scopes.

[Stu]

16 hours ago, Deadlake said:

Would be interested to know how you get on with it. As far as the prism goes I was toying with the idea of a 90 degrees prism however after some research they tend to have diffraction spikes so will go with a similar one to you.

It is the Amici prisms (one which provide a correct image) that tend to have the spikes where the prisms meet. A standard 90 prism like Mike has doesn’t have these and can be very high quality (eg Baader Zeiss)

[Alan White]

On 29/09/2020 at 20:41, mikeDnight said:

I've shown this refractor before, but not with an Extender-Q attached, turning it from F8 to F12.8.

16mm Masuyama, when did that sneak in Mike?
Missed that one.

[Alan White]

I think I need another Frac so I can post up something new,
Does that sound reasonable excuse for Mrs W?  Hmmmmm.......

[Deadlake]

1 minute ago, Stu said:

It is the Amici prisms (one which provide a correct image) that tend to have the spikes where the prisms meet. A standard 90 prism like Mike has doesn’t have these and can be very high quality (eg Baader Zeiss)

 The Baaders ones, reported by CN'ers you have to send back several times before you get a good one, however seeing the diffractions spikes could be down to individual owners. As mentioned in other threads:
 

 

[JeremyS]

10 hours ago, John said:

The Meade is the AR6 152mm F/8. The black one is a Helios 150mm F/8 - later they got rebranded the Evostar 150 which is the last one pictured. I also had Konus 150mm F/8 at some point which was the same scope but without a collimatable objective cell.

That and a Bresser 127L with the Vixen ED102SS pictured below . I went through a lot of achromats over a relatively short period

 

 

No chance of sneaking that Konus in past the Mrs!

🙂

 

[johninderby]

17 minutes ago, Alan White said:

I think I need another Frac so I can post up something new,
Does that sound reasonable excuse for Mrs W?  Hmmmmm.......

Well if you are really desperate you could get this for 19 quid. 😁😁😁

 

Edited October 1, 2020 by johninderby

[F15Rules]

On 29/09/2020 at 20:41, mikeDnight said:

 

 

Quote

 

I've shown this refractor before, but not with an Extender-Q attached, turning it from F8 to F12.8.

So, Mike, at F12.8 it shouldn't now show any CA??? 🤭😇

Looks superb👍

Dave

Edited October 1, 2020 by F15Rules

[mikeDnight]

1 hour ago, Alan White said:

16mm Masuyama, when did that sneak in Mike?
Missed that one.

I ordered the 16mm Masuyama a couple of months ago, but it took a while to arrive. I think I've had it for about four weeks now.  I've been curious about them for some time and kept looking at them on FLO's site. The fact they were 85° both intrigued me and put me off, but curiosity got the better of me and suddenly a 16mm arrived on my door step. Just holding the eyepiece in your hand you can feel the quality.

I expected the worst view imaginable given my scope is only F8, but when I swept through Cassiopeia my first thought was "Wow"!  The 16mm Masuyama is so transparent, even faint clusters deep in the background and that I've probably overlooked before, lit up, almost as if they were back lit. The eye relief is not great if you want to get the whole 85° field, but drawing back from the eyepiece a little still gives a wonderful view, even though you lose some field. There is edge distortion at F8, but I'm happy to lose the edge of field just so I can enjoy the transparency offered by this minimal glass eyepiece. The trouble is I now want more and they're not cheap!

Edited October 1, 2020 by mikeDnight

[John]

1 hour ago, Alan White said:

I think I need another Frac so I can post up something new,
Does that sound reasonable excuse for Mrs W?  Hmmmmm.......

Post some pics of your finders if they are optical ?

 

[John]

2 hours ago, wookie1965 said:

That Bresser looks identical to my Meade 127 I have heard god things about the Helios was that a good Frac and thank you for answering me really nice scopes.

Heilos was the brand name used by the Synta manufacturer before they used Skywatcher. Synta have made equipment for lots of other brand names including, for example, Konus and Saxon. Some of the latest Meade products look like they are made by Synta as well.

The Bresser 127L was pretty much exactly the same as the Meade AR5 and I'm sure they were made by the same manufacturer - I've had a Meade and apart from the logo's the scope was just the same. The objective in the Bresser was better though. I never got as nice images with the Meads AR5 as I did the Bresser 127L but I've put that down to sample variation.

The Konus 150 F/8 was the first scope that I used a Chromacor with. The Chromacors are optical adaptors correct chromatic and spherical aberrations that are commonly found to varying degrees in these chinese made refractors. Using Chromacor's with these larger achromats taught me a lot about the strengths and weaknesses of these scopes and also the impact that CA and SA have on image quality.

If think it's fair to say that using Chromacors eventually drove me to wanting ED doublets rather than achromats. This is one of the chromacor's that I had installed on the diagonal as it needs to be:

 

 

[Stu]

1 hour ago, Deadlake said:

 The Baaders ones, reported by CN'ers you have to send back several times before you get a good one, however seeing the diffractions spikes could be down to individual owners. As mentioned in other threads:
 

 

Yes, that’s what’s I read. I e never been bothered by a reversed image though so prefer the simple prism for maximum quality.

[John]

7 minutes ago, Stu said:

.... never been bothered by a reversed image though so prefer the simple prism for maximum quality.

Me neither and ditto on the Baader / Zeiss prism.

Presumably those that are can't use newtonians at all ?

 

[johninderby]

And me as well. The regular prisim is fine for me.👍🏻

Do keep the Omegon Amici prisim for terestrial viewing.

[wookie1965]

On 01/10/2020 at 10:29, John said:

Heilos was the brand name used by the Synta manufacturer before they used Skywatcher. Synta have made equipment for lots of other brand names including, for example, Konus and Saxon. Some of the latest Meade products look like they are made by Synta as well.

The Bresser 127L was pretty much exactly the same as the Meade AR5 and I'm sure they were made by the same manufacturer - I've had a Meade and apart from the logo's the scope was just the same. The objective in the Bresser was better though. I never got as nice images with the Meads AR5 as I did the Bresser 127L but I've put that down to sample variation.

The Konus 150 F/8 was the first scope that I used a Chromacor with. The Chromacors are optical adaptors correct chromatic and spherical aberrations that are commonly found to varying degrees in these chinese made refractors. Using Chromacor's with these larger achromats taught me a lot about the strengths and weaknesses of these scopes and also the impact that CA and SA have on image quality.

If think it's fair to say that using Chromacors eventually drove me to wanting ED doublets rather than achromats. This is one of the chromacor's that I had installed on the diagonal as it needs to be:

 

 

I really appreciate you for taking the time to go in to so much depth very informative, the chromacors do they have any influence on focusing, in my naivety it looks like an extension and therefore would influence focus I know I am more than probably wrong, would you suggest I get one for the Meade would it make the views better in you opinion. 

Edited November 8, 2020 by wookie1965

[Alan White]

There you go feeding the want monster list, 
A prism diagonal may just have slipped onto the list now.
 

Edited October 1, 2020 by Alan White

[John]

6 hours ago, wookie1965 said:

I really appreciate you for taking the time to go in to so much depth very informative, the chromacors do they have any influence on focusing in my not so much naivety it looks like an extension and therefore would influence focus I know I am more than probably wrong, would you suggest I get one for the Meade would it make the views better in you opinion. 

They don't affect focus position at all because they slide inside the drawtube of the scope. I did need to remove one baffle from the inside of the 150mm F/8 focuser drawtube to give the clearance needed for the chromacor though.

The challenge is finding them these days. It was a few years back that I got mine. They are like hens teeth to find now and expensive as well - probably £300 or more. They do really work though and are better than a filter because they actually correct the focus position of the light rays, ie: bring them to focus at very close to the same point, rather than filter them out. The correction of the spherical aberration is something that a filter can't do as well.

In all honesty it would probably be better to put the money towards something like an ED120 rather than try and find a Chromacor today.

 

 

[wookie1965]

7 minutes ago, John said:

They don't affect focus position at all because they slide inside the drawtube of the scope. I did need to remove one baffle from the inside of the 150mm F/8 focuser drawtube to give the clearance needed for the chromacor though.

The challenge is finding them these days. It was a few years back that I got mine. They are like hens teeth to find now and expensive as well - probably £300 or more. They do really work though and are better than a filter because they actually correct the focus position of the light rays, ie: bring them to focus at very close to the same point, rather than filter them out. The correction of the spherical aberration is something that a filter can't do as well.

In all honesty it would probably be better to put the money towards something like an ED120 rather than try and find a Chromacor today.

 

 

I would love a Ed 120 I would have to sell both my scopes and put money too you don't see many come up second hand. 

Thanks a lot John I really appreciate it. 

Paul 

[John]

1 hour ago, wookie1965 said:

I would love a Ed 120 I would have to sell both my scopes and put money too you don't see many come up second hand. 

Thanks a lot John I really appreciate it. 

Paul 

No problem Paul.

 

[Highburymark]

9 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

I ordered the 16mm Masuyama a couple of months ago, but it took a while to arrive. I think I've had it for about four weeks now.  I've been curious about them for some time and kept looking at them on FLO's site. The fact they were 85° both intrigued me and put me off, but curiosity got the better of me and suddenly a 16mm arrived on my door step. Just holding the eyepiece in your hand you can feel the quality.

I expected the worst view imaginable given my scope is only F8, but when I swept through Cassiopeia my first thought was "Wow"!  The 16mm Masuyama is so transparent, even faint clusters deep in the background and that I've probably overlooked before, lit up, almost as if they were back lit. The eye relief is not great if you want to get the whole 85° field, but drawing back from the eyepiece a little still gives a wonderful view, even though you lose some field. There is edge distortion at F8, but I'm happy to lose the edge of field just so I can enjoy the transparency offered by this minimal glass eyepiece. The trouble is I now want more and they're not cheap!

Very interesting Mike. Love following your eyepiece journey! 

[F15Rules]

I only own 2 scopes these days and they're both fracs, and they've both featured in this thread previously.

 

So...here's a photo of what I bought with a Father's Day gift in 2019 from my daughter and son in law.. it's a hand-made miniature of a 19th century "Comet Seeker" refractor telescope.

 

It was made in the USA by a model maker called Barry Crist in 2005, made out of solid wood and brass. The equatorial mount can move about in both RA and Declination too. It's about 17cm high maximum.

 

These are now quite sought after as there weren't many made and the maker has now retired.

 

It sits in our lounge and I often look at it on winters nights and wonder about the amateurs of 150 years ago and what they observed back them, in much darker skies I imagine.

 

The last 3 pictures are of a lovely little book I got online around the same time last year, including a specimen page of observing notes/tips.

 

If you're a true refractor fan, this is a real treat on those cold, damp evenings in front of the fire/log burner with a glass of your favourite beverage 😊..

 

If you're interested, you can find it here:

 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/Half-Hours-Telescope-Popular-Amusement-Classic/dp/1330053397&ved=2ahUKEwiOvNW5ipTsAhWVrHEKHe-lCWIQFjABegQICxAL&usg=AOvVaw01RZbPsmLfejHObYGwS2-V

 

Dave

 

Edited October 1, 2020 by F15Rules
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