TV-60 or Tak FS-60Q?

[iPeace]

1 minute ago, moriniboy said:

tried mounting it on the dew shield and it functioned well but looked wrong

...much like myself.

I agree it looks ungainly; for dovetail-less travel we will just live with it.

I really appreciate such efforts. This type of thing should be industry standard. I knocked up something to attach a Rigel to any bit of protruding Vixen dovetail, has worked perfectly.

[moriniboy]

When I don't want to use an RDF I use the dew shield fasteners as a line through sight, I glued a couple of ball bearings in the sockets to make it easier (you can just see them on the photo), works surprisingly well as long as its not pitch black.

[iPeace]

On 05/04/2017 at 22:19, Chris Lock said:

Congratulations! Looking forward to your thoughts on it. A very neat looking setup  

First thoughts during and after a somewhat murky session are on how impressed I am with what it can do. I was ready to have to accept less detail on Jupiter - but with the 2-4 Nagler Zoom I am grinning broadly. Took it down to 180x on Luna, just great. Still awaiting delivery of the Vixen HR 2.4mm, but I now know that the scope easily handles this focal length so if the performance of the Vixen impresses enough I may get shorter ones as well.

Not a night for widefield, but with the 24mm Panoptic we'll be in Canon IS 15X50 territory with a larger exit pupil. Due to the short focal length, the 3-6 Nagler Zoom already covers the bottom end of mid-power; I am tempted to leave the Baader Zoom at home and just get another 11mm Nagler to plug the gap with a nice wide field. Have another couple of weeks to decide and get sorted.

[Piero]

50 minutes ago, iPeace said:

First thoughts during and after a somewhat murky session are on how impressed I am with what it can do. I was ready to have to accept less detail on Jupiter - but with the 2-4 Nagler Zoom I am grinning broadly. Took it down to 180x on Luna, just great. Still awaiting delivery of the Vixen HR 2.4mm, but I now know that the scope easily handles this focal length so if the performance of the Vixen impresses enough I may get shorter ones as well.

Not a night for widefield, but with the 24mm Panoptic we'll be in Canon IS 15X50 territory with a larger exit pupil. Due to the short focal length, the 3-6 Nagler Zoom already covers the bottom end of mid-power; I am tempted to leave the Baader Zoom at home and just get another 11mm Nagler to plug the gap with a nice wide field. Have another couple of weeks to decide and get sorted.

That's a great first light!  

To compare the 2.4mm HR  with 2-4mm Nagler zoom, you will need a night of good seeing at least. I don't have the HR 1.6mm, but I used my 2.4mm with VIP at 1.5x, obtaining the same magnification and the image didn't break at all in my TV60 (225x). In my opinion getting a Baader VIP 2x can be a more versatile choice than the 1.6mm HR. The latter will mainly used on your TV60 under very good nights. The Baader VIP can give you the same (plus other) magnification and costs less. It is not parfocal, and if used between the diagonal and eyepiece, it will require the coarse focuser all the way in. In terms of optical quality, I kind of prefer it to my PM 2.5x. Of course it's up to you, and also depends on whether you prefer observing with single eyepieces or not.

 

EDIT: 

The Baader VIP is a modular barlow. Through spacers, you can get multiple magnifications.  

http://www.baader-planetarium.com/en/vip-2x-modular-barlow-lens-visual-and-photographic.html

It comes with two 15mm spacers resulting in a 2x mode. Removing these you can get 1.5x and 1.76x.

In the TV60, if you place the VIP in front of  the diagonal, the latter works out as an additional spacer, so you go beyond 2x easily. With my TV60, I use it at 1.5x and place it in front the diagonal or in between the diagonal and the eyepiece. In my dobson, I use it at 1.76x most of the time. As the top part is a 2"-to-1.25" adapter, it can work as a 2" combo. In this case, the VIP enters into the focuser limiting the length of the all thing. 

It's a really neat engine to me.

[Highburymark]

I'm a fan of the VIP too - it is optically superb, and super adaptable as part of the Baader T2 family. It would also be great with your zooms Mike. If you want to know more look up some of YKSE's posts on barlowing the Leica zoom with a VIP

[Chris]

1 hour ago, iPeace said:

First thoughts during and after a somewhat murky session are on how impressed I am with what it can do. I was ready to have to accept less detail on Jupiter - but with the 2-4 Nagler Zoom I am grinning broadly. Took it down to 180x on Luna, just great. Still awaiting delivery of the Vixen HR 2.4mm, but I now know that the scope easily handles this focal length so if the performance of the Vixen impresses enough I may get shorter ones as well.

Not a night for widefield, but with the 24mm Panoptic we'll be in Canon IS 15X50 territory with a larger exit pupil. Due to the short focal length, the 3-6 Nagler Zoom already covers the bottom end of mid-power; I am tempted to leave the Baader Zoom at home and just get another 11mm Nagler to plug the gap with a nice wide field. Have another couple of weeks to decide and get sorted.

Sounds very impressive so far, I wouldn't have imagined it showing too much on Jupiter (well you just wouldn't normally wiith 60mm aperture would you). Sounds like a very versatile little scope if it impresses on bright planets, the Moon, plus can go really wide!  

[Highburymark]

PS - great first light!

[Chris]

Just saw your RDF solution, a bit of black paint on the wood then perfect  

[DRT]

28 minutes ago, Chris Lock said:

Just saw your RDF solution, a bit of black paint on the wood then perfect  

Very neat indeed. 

But I can't help wondering why anyone would need a finder scope on a TV60?

[iPeace]

8 minutes ago, DRT said:

Very neat indeed. 

But I can't help wondering why anyone would need a finder scope on a TV60?

Fair comment. It's nice if you've got a high power eyepiece in and are alternating targets, but a luxury to be sure.

[moriniboy]

RDF just for high power really, and outreach events etc.

[Piero]

29 minutes ago, DRT said:

Very neat indeed. 

But I can't help wondering why anyone would need a finder scope on a TV60?

Same here. Never felt the need of a finder on my tv60.

Although a bit tricky, but I can point at Jupiter with my 2.4mm HR directly. Fair enough, this is a bit extreme as it is only 42deg afov, but I certainly don't consider a challenge to find a planet using a 5mm 50 deg. Using a wide field (e.g. 24mm 68deg) seems straight forward.

 

[Chris]

37 minutes ago, DRT said:

Very neat indeed. 

But I can't help wondering why anyone would need a finder scope on a TV60?

I guess it's just nice to have a zero times magnification option. Might save switching between high and low power eyepieces. ?

 

[iPeace]

2 minutes ago, Chris Lock said:

I guess it's just nice to have a zero times magnification option. Might save switching between high and low power eyepieces. ?

 

It's exactly that. One can certainly do without, but I don't mind having it on there.

[iPeace]

1 hour ago, DRT said:

Very neat indeed. 

But I can't help wondering why anyone would need a finder scope on a TV60?

On a slightly related note, I recall you looking for a travel companion for the TV-60, one that would give you more magnification opposite it on a Giro. Have you found much benefit over what the TV-60 already can provide?

[DRT]

2 minutes ago, iPeace said:

On a slightly related note, I recall you looking for a travel companion for the TV-60, one that would give you more magnification opposite it on a Giro. Have you found much benefit over what the TV-60 already can provide?

I haven't really had the opportunity to test that out yet. I ended up buying a C5 and they both sit very nicely on the mount but haven't had enough action to give a fair comparison. 

[DRT]

I managed to find some gaps in the clouds to point my TV-60 and C5 at Jupiter tonight. The seeing isn't great and lots of fast moving cloud that interfered with any serious observing but initial impressions are that the C5 handles magnification better than the TV-60. I couldn't make much use of my Powermates so the highest I went with any success was the 11mm Plossl in the C5 and it was excellent.

I will repeat the comparison on an easier night and post a review but at this point I'm pleased that I added the C5 to the set-up.

[moriniboy]

Small finder bracket now finished.

Decided to reduce the height by 10mm compared to previous version.

Also reduced the height of the RDF foot so its more compact.

[Stu]

On 07/05/2017 at 12:21, moriniboy said:

Bit of a work in progress to fit a shoe for the RDF, tried mounting it on the dew shield and it functioned well but looked wrong.

Its now mounted to the top face of the vixen style dovetail.

Going to get a longer vixen dovetail to push it a bit further forward away from the tightening clamp, at the moment you just put the RDF on after fastening the scope on.

 

Neat!