Show Us Your Binoculars.

[iPeace]

Got this setup for dad-in-law. Our friends at FLO supplied bins (Pentax WP 20x60), finder and bracket. Gitzo GH2720QR head and TS photo tripod. He uses it for astro and for birding. Couldn't be happier.

[Stormbringer]

really nice

[LukeSkywatcher]

Never seen bins with an RDF before. How accurate is it with the optics being below,but to either side?. Would that not put your target between the objective lens'?.

[iPeace]

20 hours ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

Never seen bins with an RDF before. How accurate is it with the optics being below,but to either side?. Would that not put your target between the objective lens'?.

It just seems to work, after the usual alignment. 

[Stub Mandrel]

If they are all set up parallel then, if you point them at a target, they will be lined up on three points spaced just like the two lenses and the rdf i.e. inside a 6" circle on the moon, Betelgeuse, andromeda etc. which should be close enough for most people (I know some people who would NOT be satisfied and want a correction factor built in for different targets...)

[Charic]

On 20/11/2017 at 17:29, iPeace said:

Got this setup for dad-in-law.

That's a first me me?

Hey, if it satisfies, then why not.

[Sky-J]

I love binocular astronomy, a great way to start any session and I always travel with at least one pair.

Here are some of my faves:

• Canon is 10x30 (most used)
• Canon IS 15x50
• APM ED APO 10x50 (amazing glass!)
• Nikon 8x42
• WW2 Canadian 8x50
• Celestron 10x42 (surprisingly good!)

[Alan White]

14 minutes ago, Sky-J said:

I love binocular astronomy, a great way to start any session and I always travel with at least one pair.

Here are some of my faves:

• Canon is 10x30 (most used)
• Canon IS 15x50
• APM ED APO 10x50 (amazing glass!)
• Nikon 8x42
• WW2 Canadian 8x50
• Celestron 10x42 (surprisingly good!)

Now that is a fine collection of Binoculars, I use the 's' because you display more than one instrument.

Is the Canon 10x30 non stabilised?

[iPeace]

1 hour ago, Sky-J said:

I love binocular astronomy, a great way to start any session and I always travel with at least one pair.

Here are some of my faves:

• Canon is 10x30 (most used)
• Canon IS 15x50
• APM ED APO 10x50 (amazing glass!)
• Nikon 8x42
• WW2 Canadian 8x50
• Celestron 10x42 (surprisingly good!)

I also have both the Canon IS 10x30 and the 15x50. A joy to use.

[Sky-J]

2 hours ago, Alan White said:

Now that is a fine collection of Binoculars, I use the 's' because you display more than one instrument.

Is the Canon 10x30 non stabilised?

Hi Alan, 

The 10x30 are stabilised, a cracking pair of bins. The stabilisation is very gentle on them. 

Jeremy

[Sky-J]

1 hour ago, iPeace said:

I also have both the Canon IS 10x30 and the 15x50. A joy to use.

They are indeed, it took me a while to get hold of the 15s but what a brace they are!

Jeremy

[Rainmaker]

My new binoculars in preparation for this year's planet viewing, especially for Mars 

 

[Stu]

2 minutes ago, Rainmaker said:

My new binoculars in preparation for this year's planet viewing, especially for Mars.

 

Quite amazing! Have you been able to use them properly yet? Bet the results are worthwhile, to say the least!

[Rainmaker]

 

Hello Stu, we have been testing a bit, here is a post that I made on another site, copied here: 

After 4 hours of swapping between the Bino-TSA120 and TOA150  (with and without Baader MkV binoviewers) the results were very interesting and very close to the mathematical calculations....
We looked mainly at M42, M44, M45, NGC104, NGC3372, NGC4755.

This is not meant to start any wars between the binoscope/binoviewer/monoscope aficionados and is by no means a technical/theoretical or mathematical comparison, just Phil and I enjoying some scopes under the nice skies at his bush property...

In short: We compared separately with similar magnifications, similar exit pupils, and similar True Fields ( as best we could given our selection of eyepieces- Panoptic 24s, Tak Abbe18s, Tak LE24s, Nagler16, Nagler 26).
High magnification comparisons were not on the table due to our eyepiece focal lengths..... we will try to remedy that next time....

..............The Bino-TSA has the light gathering of a "TOA160"+2"BBHS with single eyepiece. (160 is intentional)
..............TOA150 retains (as expected) its advantage in limiting magnitude (in mono mode) of faint stars  (the Bino-TSA optically  is subject to the same Limiting Magnitude as a single TSA) .
..............The Bino-TSA shows a slightly higher contrast view than a mono TOA150, (a definite plus of viewing with both eyes)
..............The Bino-TSA had a definite 3D quality to the view compared to a very flat view in TOA in mono mode.
..............Adding the Baader MkV binoviewers and Panoptic 24s to the TOA150 enhanced the 'depth' in the view but dimmed  the view way below the Bino-TSA , the image brightness in the TOA+MkV was now similar to a TSA120 in mono mode.

When did a star count of very faint stars around Eta Carinae, the TOA was able to resolve 11 stars  to the Bino-TSA with 9 stars  , so those two stars were below the LM of the 120mm objective but at the same time the Homunculus Nebula around Eta Carinae was more visible in the Bino-TSA.
Viewing the Trapezium stars and 'wings' nebulosity of M42 showed a marked 3D effect  in that the 'wings' seemed to reach toward us. This effect was not shown by the binoviewers.

Lastly, looking at the core of NGC104 (47Tucanae), the Bino-TSA with Tak Abbe 18s which gave an Exit Pupil of 2.4mm easily resolved stars in the core of the GC whereas the TOA in mono mode with Nagler 22 and an Exit Pupil of 2.38 could not resolve the core. Changing to the Tak LE24 in the TOA brought the result much closer. (this is more of an indication of the benefit of less glass is better if the glass is of high quality)

Knowing what I know now about binoscopes, I would love to look through a binoscope made out of a pair of TOA150s.... 

The real Positive for me is that the floaters in my eyes do not show up at all when using the binoscope.

Edited January 12, 2018 by Rainmaker

[Saganite]

I would be happy with half of it !! 

Great set up.

[GavStar]

Great report. It reminds me that I need to get dust off my Baader Mark v binoviewers and try them on my tec160. 

My uk dealer is now stocking the Matsumoto EMS and suggested (I hope jokingly) that I buy another 160 to do as rainmaker has done ?

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, Rainmaker said:

Knowing what I know now about binoscopes, I would love to look through a binoscope made out of a pair of TOA150s.... 

This is interesting.

I would be keen to know how big the difference is between a single OT+splitter and a dual OTA.

My guess is that you must lose about two stops of light gathering with a splitter compared to two OTAs (and one stop compared to a single OTA), but is this effect very noticeable?

[Rainmaker]

13 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

This is interesting.

I would be keen to know how big the difference is between a single OT+splitter and a dual OTA.

My guess is that you must lose about two stops of light gathering with a splitter compared to two OTAs (and one stop compared to a single OTA), but is this effect very noticeable?

We found that a single OTA of 150mm aperture with binoviewers splitting the light was quite noticeably dimmer than the 120mm binoscope. Having said that, there are still advantages to binoviewers if your targets  are sufficiently bright.

Remember that an actual measurement would not show is as it is the 'binocular summation' that our brain is responsible for that makes the perceived brightness so much more, there is also a perception of an increase in the image scale that comes with binocular viewing.

The comfort factor of viewing with both eyes means I can sit at the eyepieces for a couple of hours without eye strain rather than a few minutes if using a mono-mode setup.

 

Edited January 13, 2018 by Rainmaker

[GavStar]

Very interesting.

I found some calculations that suggest a binoviewed 150mm scope is equivalent to 105mm binoculars so quite a brightness loss and this seems consistent with Rainmakers experience. My 160mm binoviewed would be equivalent to 115mm binoculars. I have an opportunity to test out a set of apm 120mm binoculars so will try to set this up side by side with my 160 binoviewed to see if the brightness is basically the same.

i know when I compared the 82 kowa prominar highlanders against my fc100df binoviewed i much preferred the Fc100df on low power widefield views - the stars were much sharper imo.

Edited January 13, 2018 by GavStar

[25585]

On 22/11/2017 at 16:42, iPeace said:

I also have both the Canon IS 10x30 and the 15x50. A joy to use.

Top left, I also have a pair of Baush and Lomb 7x50 WW2 bins. US Navy BU Ships 1942 Mk 2. Did my first stargazing with them and saw M13 and M31 for the first time, got me hooked. Off centre astigmatism increases but 76 years later, they are still intact, have decent haze penetration and give bright views. Weight less marginally than my Strathspey marine 7x50. 

Edited January 13, 2018 by 25585

[F15Rules]

On 20/11/2017 at 17:29, iPeace said:

Got this setup for dad-in-law. Our friends at FLO supplied bins (Pentax WP 20x60), finder and bracket. Gitzo GH2720QR head and TS photo tripod. He uses it for astro and for birding. Couldn't be happier.

That's s lovely setup?.

Dave

[Alfian]

On 11/20/2017 at 17:29, iPeace said:

Got this setup for dad-in-law. Our friends at FLO supplied bins (Pentax WP 20x60), finder and bracket. Gitzo GH2720QR head and TS photo tripod. He uses it for astro and for birding. Couldn't be happier.

Its a nice setup indeed. I have a yen for some nice (I think) 16x80s which would probably mean selling my Pentax 20x60s, but every time I pick them up I think " I can't sell these"! Lovely binos, and yes the fov is narrow, but I found to my great astonishment that I can find objects relatively easily with them, no need for a finder. Open clusters, M34,M44,M45,etc look  great through the Pentaxs'. Hope you dad in law likes them.  

[Stub Mandrel]

Clearly the 'side by side' scope choice isn't just an extravagance then, but brings real benefits.

[Stu]

Thank you @Rainmaker, very interesting report. I certainly think comfort and reduced visibility of floaters are a key benefit. Presumably even when the TOA's brightness is reduced, the resolution benefits are still there?

Some high power comparisons of threshold targets such as lunar and planetary features would be really interesting when you get the chance. Personally I have not found binoviewers beneficial on planets but I would think that you will get some lovely results with yours setups. Perhaps a separate thread would be useful?

[DeepSkyMan]

Just the one set for me,  TS Marine 15x85s, they are a great compliment to my 8” Edge, and a smashing observing tool in their own right, especially when combined with the UA T-Mount ?

 

Edited January 13, 2018 by DeepSkyMan