TS PHOTOLINE 80mm f/6 FPL53 Triplet APO report

[Relpet]

"A perfect travelling apochromat - for observation and astrophotography
Under the lead management of Teleskop Service, this high-quality Photoline Triplet APO with FPL53 element from Ohara (Japan) came to life as optimal travelling apochromat.

Even at higher magnification, the image has no annoying chromatic error, with excellent correction at the same time. It is one of the best and fastest 80 mm apos we have seen. The fast focal ratio of f/6 not only keeps the refractor very short, it also provides short exposure times for astrophotography.

Best mechanics ensure an excellent image quality over years and success in astrophotography
Even the best optics can be used successfully only if the mechanics is right. Here, savings were often made in the wrong place. This is not the case for the Photoline 80 mm f/6 apo."

 

So, that's the retailer's blurb translated from the German.  Why did I buy it?

 

I'm a bit new to this stargazing lark, only taking it up about three years ago at the age of 75.  I have no old friends with an interest in astronomy and though I spend half the year in SW France (pretty well all my observing time) I know of nobody within 50 miles who owns a telescope.  So all my learning has come from reading books, watching YouTube demonstrations and various forums principally SGL.

I have squandered my pension in various ways in pursuit of this pastime: judiciously, foolishly, new, second-hand and been conned out of £1300 by a bogus advertisement for a Meade last autumn.

I have an 8" Dob, 6" SW Newt on an EQ3-2 mount and a 4" Celestron 4se Mak.  The Dob gets the most use.  I can wheel it out of the barn in 30 seconds whenever there's a cloud break (not as frequent as you might think in this part of France.).

So, with the clock ticking, and no chance of getting to use a frac otherwise, if my observing experience was to be a bit more complete I needed to buy one.

Received wisdom is: get a triplet apo with the best quality glass.  That reduces the choice immensely.  Cost reduces the choice further.  Though I would have liked to go as big as 127mm reason prevailed and I settled for 80.  The second-hand market in France is poor and offers in ABS are usually collection only from Scotland, Northern Ireland or any place remote from SW France.  So it had to be new.

Even then the choice quickly reduces as the same tubes tend to be sold under different brand names.  Again, I wanted an oversize draw tube, reducing the choice further.

I had bought an Antares star diagonal with a twist-lock last year to go with the non-existent Meade and also had a spare Celestron red dot finder so thought I would prefer to spend the money on a bare tube in the hope it would confer extra value.  The direct comparison might have been ES but  ES uses Hoya glass which has a good reputation but seems not as widely respected as Ohara, used by TS.

Altair Astro, TS-Optics and Tecnosky all seem to sell the same model at about the same price but with their own branding.  If the blurb is to be believed TS-Optics play the lead role (I guess using Long Perng as the manufacturer) but searching for the best deal in Europe I found APM included a travel case in the package.  They also make their own range of superb 'scopes (hugely expensive for me) so, clearly reputable, I contacted them about the case.  It turned out this was their mistake but I was impressed with the correspondence I had with them so placed the order on Friday 21st July and it was despatched the same day.  I added a case to the order.

The package arrived today, Tuesday 25th, at noon.

Although there is no one nearby to share their resources with me we have friends with a gȋte just up the road and there is an open invitation to any of their guests who might be interested to drive downhill for a couple of kilometres, join me in a beer or G&T as the sun goes down then wander hand in hand through what we can see of our part of the Universe.  A family staying with them includes a young lad who is now on his third trip and is passionate about astronomy.  I thought he might be interested to see a new telescope unpacked so invited him and his dad to come along when they had finished their wild river excursion for the day.  By 18,00 I could wait no longer and it turned out they had been waylaid by a convivial host who had accompanied them on their walk.

So, unboxing was a solitary but  nevertheless fulfilling experience.  A series of pictures will follow, if I can figure out how.  The red dot finder is clearly a stopgap and if anyone has any advice on what I should be using I'd be grateful.

The Antares twist-grip 2" diagonal must be one of the best ancillary items I've bought.  It holds heavy 2" EPs rock solid.

The case was supposed to be suited to all TS 'scopes up to a certain size but clearly the foam was not cut to suit mine.  It was a squeeze in places and the foam has cracked badly already.  I don't expect to use it much anyway but it was not cheap.

Because of the delay in unpacking I have not had a chance to mount the 'scope on the AVX (on standby for it) or test the optics.  It should be clear tomorrow so I'll report back with any news that might be of interest.  So far, with the exception of the foam in the box, I am delighted with my purchase and look forward to a proper test tomorrow.

[Ricochet]

Nice new scope.  I'm sorry to hear of the conman with the "Meade" though. Hopefully the optics of this new scope make up for that. 

With regards to finders I prefer the RDF and 50mm RACI combination but with the scope being reasonably short you might find you can get away without the RACI and just use your lowest power eyepiece instead. 

[John]

Lovely scope in lovely landscape

[Thalestris24]

Hi Relpet

I have one of those! Though mine looks slightly different - has a black rear section/focuser (2" Crayford). I got mine direct from TS together with a M48 flattener/adapter kit and it came with a case (which just gathers dust!). Mine was bought 2 1/2 years ago - maybe details have changed a bit? Anyway, it's a great imaging scope - which is what it's for really (though wish I had your location!) Hope you get much enjoyment from yours! 

Louise

[MartinFransson]

I really enjoyed reading this first part of your review and I look forward to the rest of it! This is a scope I've thought about myself. 

[Juicy6]

Hey!

I have this scope since last winter. Wonderful little thing. You will be totally satisfied with it. I see from your pictures that you have moved the rear ring back and forth. Was scope delivered with some sort of shims to accommodate for the different tube diameters at the rear end? When filter wheel, flattener and cooled camera are mounted, it is a bit back heavy and I would like to have the possibility to retract ring to the position in first picture. If there is such a shims, I might try to order it from TS.

Christer, Sweden

[Thalestris24]

4 hours ago, Juicy6 said:

Hey!

I have this scope since last winter. Wonderful little thing. You will be totally satisfied with it. I see from your pictures that you have moved the rear ring back and forth. Was scope delivered with some sort of shims to accommodate for the different tube diameters at the rear end? When filter wheel, flattener and cooled camera are mounted, it is a bit back heavy and I would like to have the possibility to retract ring to the position in first picture. If there is such a shims, I might try to order it from TS.

Christer, Sweden

Hi

I use an ankle weight taped to the dew shield to counterbalance mine. It looks ugly - but works fine

Louise

[Relpet]

20 hours ago, Thalestris24 said:

Hi Relpet

I have one of those! Though mine looks slightly different - has a black rear section/focuser (2" Crayford). I got mine direct from TS together with a M48 flattener/adapter kit and it came with a case (which just gathers dust!). Mine was bought 2 1/2 years ago - maybe details have changed a bit? Anyway, it's a great imaging scope - which is what it's for really (though wish I had your location!) Hope you get much enjoyment from yours! 

Louise

Thanks, Louise.  I've just had a go at trying some terrestrial stuff with a few gizmos that worked with the Dob but I couldn't get focus on my Nikon no matter what.  AP is something I want to pursue and I shan't be too worried about the quality of results in the short term so long as I can get the prinsiples right.  The comes the next round of expenditure!

[Relpet]

Part the second

Testing this telescope in daylight was an obvious first step.  It's only recently I acquired the AVX mount and have had few chances to test that, never mind the Photoline. So, it's a sunny, if breezy afternoon.  What I am about to write will seem old hat to experienced frac users and they may wonder what all the fuss is about.

The dovetail slid into the plate like a knife through butter.  A couple of turns of the stabilising knobs and the whole set up is firm as a rock.

First I trained a 25mm Orbinar flat field 1.25" EP on the church steeple about 400 metres away.  The cockerel on the top is a subject I choose for aligning or re-aligning finders.  The focuser brought the image into such sharp detail I though I was seeing it for the first time.

I then tried a 7mm Skywatcher and had fine focus.

The next subject was the view across the valley to the mountains a good 100 miles away.  With the Orbinar everything was in sharp detail but the mountains, quite vague in a heat haze, seemed to have colour fringing along the peaks.  I thought this was probably the EP and switched to the Skywatcher.  It did reduce but when I put the 2" 17mm Nagler in any doubts vanished.  The heat shimmer was clearly visible but no colour fringing.

I had much the same result with a 2" 38mm ES wide-angle.

There are several lines of trees between us and the mountains and the three dimensional effect of shifting focus from one line to the other was something I might find myself doing for fun in future.

Bearing in mind that this tube alone was twice the price of my complete 8" Dob I would have expected something a bit special but until you see for yourself it's hard to believe what a difference it can make.

The focuser is claimed by the retailer to be a bit good (a 2.5"  RnP) and without doubt it's Premier League compared to what I'm used to.  My eyes are not only old and tired but afflicted by glaucoma but seeing these images just snap into focus was a new experience.  The fine focus know is covered by a plastic cap but I found I hardly needed to use it, the main focus knobs do a superb job.

It's also the first time I have used a star diagonal so I have nothing to compare it with but simply being able to rotate it to the most comfortable position was another justification for the expense.  Even with the breeze blowing down the valley, and the heaviest EPs in use, the image in the eyepiece was steady as a lighthouse

7 hours ago, Juicy6 said:

Hey!

I have this scope since last winter. Wonderful little thing. You will be totally satisfied with it. I see from your pictures that you have moved the rear ring back and forth. Was scope delivered with some sort of shims to accommodate for the different tube diameters at the rear end? When filter wheel, flattener and cooled camera are mounted, it is a bit back heavy and I would like to have the possibility to retract ring to the position in first picture. If there is such a shims, I might try to order it from TS.

Christer, Sweden

Christer, I think that may have been part of my learning curve.  When I first put an EP in today I found the tube wobbled.  I had to slide it forwards a bit so that the rear ring would tighten.  Even then the forward ring is tight around the tube, the rear one still shows a gap.  I was very careful to instal the RDF so that the screw heads would not mark the tube but I will take another look to see if I have it right.

I may have to wait a day or two for the next clear night to be able to train this on Saturn and Jupiter so if anyone is still interested I'll post a proper first light.  As it is I have found the experience faultless so far - apart from the foam in the case!

[Thalestris24]

18 minutes ago, Relpet said:

Thanks, Louise.  I've just had a go at trying some terrestrial stuff with a few gizmos that worked with the Dob but I couldn't get focus on my Nikon no matter what.  AP is something I want to pursue and I shan't be too worried about the quality of results in the short term so long as I can get the prinsiples right.  The comes the next round of expenditure!

Ah, ok - R+P focuser you have! You'll probably need an extension tube to get focus with a camera and you'll likely want a flattener or a reducer for best results.

Louise

[Relpet]

6 hours ago, Thalestris24 said:

Ah, ok - R+P focuser you have! You'll probably need an extension tube to get focus with a camera and you'll likely want a flattener or a reducer for best results.

Louise

 I did try a variety of extension tubes, Louise, but when the moon is a bit fuller I'll have another go.  Daylight bouncing off the flip-out screen makes it hard to see in bright sun anyway.

Thanks

Peter

[Relpet]

First light

The forecast had been saying for the last 48 hours that the sky would clear at ten o'clock tonight.  In spite of the fact that at 9 o'clock it was still quite overcast I got the Photoline out on the AVX mount.  Blow me down, the forecast was spot on.

Balancing was problematic.  In RA the counterweight had to be so far up the shaft it started fouling an azimuth knob.  Further down and the 'scope was out of balance.  Fortunately I had a smaller, compatible Skywatcher weight which solved that problem.  Dec balancing could also be tricky.  The supplied platform is so short that there is very little leeway at one end once the tube has been moved along the mount.  These problems are clearly more to do with the mount than the 'scope but might be worth bearing in mind if anyone else considers a similar pairing.

I had intended to run the whole system but, as I knew already that the tracking worked just fine with another tube, when I saw the moon come up I just swung around in manual to align the red dot finder.  Once aligned I found the Celestron RDF perfectly satisfactory and probably won't need to change it - not just yet anyway.

I tried a number of EPs on the moon and was very pleased with the crispness in all of them.  Of particular note was the complete absence of any coloration around the limb in any of the EPs.  Then I compared what I was seeing with the Dob.  The extra precision of the TS focuser is a real boon.

Next to Jupiter.  This was a revelation because the four moons were all clear dots.  I am used to their being slightly fuzzy.  Jupiter itself was very clear.  A 5mm Starguider EP was the highest magnification I could get but it was in focus, something I rarely achieved with the Dob.

I thought I'd better make the comparison and was quite taken aback to see how good Jupiter looked through the Dob tonight.  Only then did I realise that the seeing was probably the best I've enjoyed in about 9 months.  The image was larger but almost as clear - almost.  Again I can't quite get the focusing at high mag with the Dob and, yes, the collimation is spot on.

Finally to Saturn.  Much the same result as Jupiter.  Experimented with a number of EPs.  I was quite impressed with the performance of a 2" GSO Barlow in the Photoline added to a number of EPs.  I hadn't used it much before but certainly see the benefit now.

By now I was beginning to sense that if I carried on flitting in the dark between the two 'scopes with pockets full of EPs sooner or later I would regret it.  As tomorrow is also forecast clear we'll probably have a little star party so a friend can take charge of the Dob and show them the works while I explore the Photoline more fully.

I know first light reports are usually more technical and useful to expert observers but I hope there is something helpful, nevertheless, to someone in this attempt.

Thanks to everyone for their kind responses.

[Relpet]

19 hours ago, Thalestris24 said:

Ah, ok - R+P focuser you have! You'll probably need an extension tube to get focus with a camera and you'll likely want a flattener or a reducer for best results.

Louise

One of the lovely things about this scope is that it is small and light so I was able to bench test it today through the barn door to the hills yonder with various bits I've bought over the years. I won't bore you with the catalogue but a 2" extending tube directly into the OTA after removing the diagonal was the eureka moment, my first experience of prime focus!  So thanks a million, Louise, for pointing me in the right direction.

Clear skies tonight so might even get a trial shot of the moon.

Peter

[Relpet]

Just to finish off this report the best of the trial moon shots is attached.  Prime focus with a Nikon DSLR produced an image too small to be useful.  A GSO 2" Barlow with an extension tube through the star diagonal I couldn't get in focus.  Need a different tube length.  A 32mm GSO 1.25" EP with a T-thread should have produced the best result but fiddling with exposures trying to capture earthshine I forgot about focus!  So in fact the best picture came from a cheap (I mean cheao) Barlow with a Seben extension tube.  For the record, that's the picture attached.

[Stu]

Very nice picture Peter. It certainly sounds and looks like a lovely scope. Under your dark skies it should be something you can really enjoy for both visual and imaging.

I'm sorry to hear about your financial loss with the Meade. Fortunately that kind of thing seems pretty rare within our community but it is a warning to us all to be careful.

I look forward to reading more of your very enjoyable reports  

[Relpet]

6 hours ago, Stu said:

Very nice picture Peter. It certainly sounds and looks like a lovely scope. Under your dark skies it should be something you can really enjoy for both visual and imaging.

I'm sorry to hear about your financial loss with the Meade. Fortunately that kind of thing seems pretty rare within our community but it is a warning to us all to be careful.

I look forward to reading more of your very enjoyable reports  

Thanks, Stu.  The loss was occasioned, really, because of the wonderful behaviour of the astronomical community whose generosity of spirit should be an example to the world.  Thinking I was buying from an astronomer I failed to perform a number of blindingly obvious checks.  Longs story, nuff said.

Thanks for your kind words.  I just love what I'm doing and being part of this forum.

Best wishes

Peter