Skywatcher ED120, some musings

[Stu]

The 120ED is a fine scope Doug, it could quite easily serve as an 'only' scope in many regards. It's only downside for me is size, which is why the Tak is so appealing. I've had 2 120EDs and very much enjoyed them both, used them also for solar with a Herschel Wedge and a Quark. Great scopes, you will enjoy!

[cloudsweeper]

49 minutes ago, Stu said:

The 120ED is a fine scope Doug, it could quite easily serve as an 'only' scope in many regards. It's only downside for me is size, which is why the Tak is so appealing. I've had 2 120EDs and very much enjoyed them both, used them also for solar with a Herschel Wedge and a Quark. Great scopes, you will enjoy!

Yes Stu.  It does seem to be an all-rounder (within reason) - and might even have the edge on slightly bigger aperture 'scopes with obstructions, in terms of contrast.

Can't wait for it to land!

Doug.

[Stu]

31 minutes ago, cloudsweeper said:

Yes Stu.  It does seem to be an all-rounder (within reason) - and might even have the edge on slightly bigger aperture 'scopes with obstructions, in terms of contrast.

Can't wait for it to land!

Doug.

 It will certainly compete very well. With the planets down low it will at times do better than larger apertures, by cutting through the seeing better.

[John]

Just as an anecdote, when I got my ED120 I also had, from the same source, an Intes 150 F/5.9 mak-newtonian which has a very high reputation. I compared the two scopes at some length on a wide variety of objects. The mak-newt did better on the deep sky because of it's additional aperture but on the planets, the moon and double stars, I could see virtually no differences between the two scopes. I ended up keeping the ED120 because it was lighter and easier to mount than the mak-newt and it cooled down more quickly.

I've done quite a bit of research into the ED120's development. I've read that Vixen optical engineers were involved in it's development. Synta delayed the introduction of the ED120 to ensure that they got the design "right" and up to, or beyond, the standard that the well recieved ED80 and ED100 had set. I've also read that the figure on some of the objective lens surfaces is aspheric which is a very hard figure to achieve and requires a degree of hand finishing. Some ED120 objectives have been independantly tested by Herr Rohr, the German optical expert and have been found to have very high optical quality for mass produced lenses.

At the end of the day though, it's the real life performance that counts and the ED120 seems to excell at that

 

[Dave NZ South Island]

Owned a Skywatcher Black Diamond 120ED for several years now and it is an excellent scope all round for both eyepiece viewing and imaging. Sure you won't get the huge visuals you get on planets with a big SCT with FL >2000 but the sharpness of the images makes up for that.

All in I spent many nights imaging Jupiter, Saturn and Mars with my 120ED and my 9.25" SCT and the images I processed always appeared to have the edge on sharpness with the refractor (to get the best out of them I fitted Moonlight and Feathertouch focusers respectively)

[cletrac1922]

I have ED80 on EQ5pro mount

Does everything I want to do

Recently also got the WiFi adapter

Simple to use with SynScan App

The App automatically sets your GPS location, date/time from your mobile device

John

 

[Mark at Beaufort]

5 hours ago, Dave NZ South Island said:

Owned a Skywatcher Black Diamond 120ED for several years now and it is an excellent scope all round for both eyepiece viewing and imaging. Sure you won't get the huge visuals you get on planets with a big SCT with FL >2000 but the sharpness of the images makes up for that.

All in I spent many nights imaging Jupiter, Saturn and Mars with my 120ED and my 9.25" SCT and the images I processed always appeared to have the edge on sharpness with the refractor (to get the best out of them I fitted Moonlight and Feathertouch focusers respectively)

Welcome Dave to SGL. I look forward to receiving more reports from you both visual and imaging over the coming seasons.

[Dave NZ South Island]

Thanks Mark, Recently my wife and I have taken to Prime Focus imaging of DSO's (just learning) using my 120ED and a Canon 60D. Must say we were happy with results especially on our Pleiades, the Carina and the Tarantula nebula etc. The Nebula NGC 2070 (Tarantula) I attached. This is unprocessed and our first effort at DSO imaging. I actually found it a lot easier to get the hang of compared with planetary imaging. Although it was not really visible in the scope the longer exposure time (used 30 secs at ISO 800 I think) shows the detail and we were blown away with the colour! I just bought a t - ring adapter for my 2.5 X 1.25" Powermate to attach to the DSRR and have tried it in daylight with good results on distant cattle. Will see how it goes with our black skies. We are fortunate enough to have a small farm here in South Island not many people and virtually zero light pollution but the trade off is mountains - means we often have to wait for target objects to get high enough.