Baby WO at FLO

[alexbb]

21 hours ago, Lockie said:

Also, there was no further word on a flattener on the WO site or their FB page.

A while ago they said it should be ready by the end of July and more recently they said it should be ready by the end of this week. It's kind of the end of the week already.. I suppose that there's something not yet ready or figured out

[Chris]

Just now, moise212 said:

A while ago they said it should be ready by the end of July and more recently they said it should be ready by the end of this week. It's kind of the end of the week already.. I suppose that there's something not yet ready or figured out

I think so too, moise, I wonder what the story is?

[Stub Mandrel]

The lead times on making them will be months, not weeks.

I doubt they would announce it as imminent if they weren't waiting on a shipment.

[Skyline]

On 03/08/2017 at 14:24, Lockie said:

This is the first AP pic I've seen taken with the WO61, found it on the WO site. Obviously no flattener, still waiting to hear more about the flattener and possible reducer?

Absolutely stunning image, in the end I opted for the sw star adventurer. I had it out the other night on a 50mm lens.

[Chris]

15 minutes ago, Skyline said:

Absolutely stunning image, in the end I opted for the sw star adventurer. I had it out the other night on a 50mm lens.

It is impressive isn't it! If that's indeed without a flattener? It shows the scope has very low levels of field curvature for such a short scope. Also with it's 40+mm image circle you could possibly get away from absolutely needing flats unless you're going for an APOD attempt or something.

I'll PM you to see how you got on with your new SA, I remember you told me you were torn between the WO and the SA, but sided with the SA...tough call!

[Stub Mandrel]

They give performance graphs for the WO61 + Flat61 which suggests they have been testing it with a flattener.

https://williamoptics.com/products/telescope/zenithstar/zenithstar-61-apo

[Chris]

15 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

They give performance graphs for the WO61 + Flat61 which suggests they have been testing it with a flattener.

https://williamoptics.com/products/telescope/zenithstar/zenithstar-61-apo

I linked to this earlier as well but some how managed to miss the spec tab   

It does look like they have a spot diagram from the WO61 + flat61. The Strehl test report below that looks to be the native scope which makes sense. I'm not sure if the pic I posted above has the flattener? I see they have now posted up another pic below that which looks even better in the corners to me, so I'm guessing that one is with the flattener, but I'm not the most observant person when it comes to corner stars, so they both could have the flattener...what do you guys think comparing the two pics?

[Chris]

Either way it looks really great for the wide field imaging side of things, I wonder about visual which is my main activity in recent years.

I see they've added some nice matching anodized dovetail bars:

 

[Davey-T]

That does it for me, can't resist a matching dovetail

Though I have swopped all my other WO dovetails for ADM ones 

Dave

[Andyb90]

Scope looks interesting. I see the diagram on FLO shows an extension tube, the Flat 61 flattener and a T-mount. It looks like the extension tube has an M48 x 0.75 thread on the diagram. So does that mean potentially the scope could be used for imaging with threaded connections and not push fit?

The manual has a picture of the Flat 61 and it does appear to have a thread at the scope end, but it also appears to have some type of adjustment screw too. So I'm wondering what that would be for. Rotation maybe?

Also from the diagram is it correct that the backfocus with the flattener would be 54.8mm, as there are various measurements given?

Andy.

[alexbb]

In the end it's clear that the dedicated flattener does not reduce. Would the scope work well with a 0.8x FR/FF designed for the bigger WO scopes? Back to the drawing board..

[Robp]

What do you think about pairing one of these with a wostar71v1 for imaging?

Has the flattener been released or a price confirmed?

 

[Chris]

39 minutes ago, Robp said:

 

Has the flattener been released or a price confirmed?

 

Not sure but this person has one:

And WO announced first light with the flat61 on the 28th of July, so it can't be long now:

 

[Chris]

I've also confirmed that it's a 1:1 reduction flattener, in other words no reduction, but it does have a remarkable 44mm image circle which is practically full frame  

EDIT: I see this has already been mentioned.

[Chris]

Ok, it's available from their site in the states for 168 Dollars. I'm betting that will translate into £169 when it lands over here like all their other RF's.

Info on the right of page half way down:

https://williamoptics.com/products/telescope/zenithstar/zenithstar-61-apo

[FLO]

4 minutes ago, Lockie said:

Ok, it's available from their site in the states for 168 Dollars. I'm betting that will translate into £169 when it lands over here like all their other RF's.

I think you are probably right because at today's exchange-rate $168 = £131. Add Duty & Vat = £164, add a small amount for delivery and £169 looks likely. 

HTH, 

Steve 

[FLO]

1 hour ago, FLO said:

I think you are probably right because at today's exchange-rate $168 = £131. Add Duty & Vat = £164, add a small amount for delivery and £169 looks likely. 

Actually, no, I was wrong. It will cost less here in the UK  

My colleague just messaged saying quantity discounts are available - we will pass on the savings. 

Will confirm when we have a landed price but we ought to be able to achieve £149, possibly less. 

They are scheduled to arrive in one week. 

HTH, 

Steve 

[alexbb]

Would it be possible for you to test if a 0.8x FF/FR is a good match for this scope and a smaller sensor? 

[Chris]

2 hours ago, FLO said:

we will pass on the savings. 

 

 

2 hours ago, FLO said:

Will confirm when we have a landed price but we ought to be able to achieve £149, possibly less. 

They are scheduled to arrive in one week. 

That's really great, so to recap we have a synthetic fluorite Apo with a full frame image circle and a flat field for less than £550 total