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NEW William Optics Zenithstar-61 APO

FLO

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FLO

FLO

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For those who like to travel light :smile: 

The new William Optics Zenithstar 61 APO is a remarkably cute(!) doublet refractor with air-spaced fully multi-coated optics that includes an Ohara FPL-53 ED glass element so we can expect high contrast images with very low chromatic aberration. 

It has the usual William Optics fit and finish (very nice!) and is fitted a 2" R&P focuser and rotatable L-bracket.  

It is even comes in three colours! 

William Optics say a 1:1 Flattener-61 is in the pipeline... 

 

william_optics_zs61_fpl53_gold_sgl.jpg

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FLO

FLO

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5 minutes ago, Alien 13 said:

Very nice, I think a recent topic on this scope showed that the blue might be the most popular :icon_biggrin:

That is interesting. We have all three colours in stock but are anticipating gold will be most popular :smile: 

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Chris

Chris

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This little beauty is really tempting me as an alternative to the Tak 60 I was kind of long term saving for due to it's big price tag for a small scope. The Tak has Flourite of course, but the WO61 has Synthetic fluorite fpl53, with near identical Abbe number, so I would guess the colour correction and contrast to be quite similar to the Baby Tak. 

I would be tempted by this as a scope that I can keep in my eyeopiece case, so super convenient to use for grab and go, and for widefield imaging with my EQ3. 

So tempted, I even spoke to Martin about it earlier, plus started a thread on it last week:

 

7 minutes ago, FLO said:

That is interesting. We have all three colours in stock but are anticipating gold will be most popular :smile: 

A few colour opinions on the thread above. I like the Blue but the gold is growing on me as it's quite a classic WO colour scheme. There is some good info on the scope from the WO Facebook page on the thread also, but it's not settled whether the flattener will also be a reducer or not?   

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FLO

FLO

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11 minutes ago, Lockie said:

This little beauty is really tempting me as an alternative to the Tak 60 I was kind of long term saving for due to it's big price tag for a small scope. The Tak has Flourite of course, but the WO61 has Synthetic fluorite fpl53, with near identical Abbe number, so I would guess the colour correction and contrast to be quite similar to the Baby Tak. 

For those wanting genuine Fluorite we offer Borg telescopes. But, like Tak', Borg are Japanese-made (optics from Pentax and Canon) so considerably more expensive. 

My understanding is if a telescope has a genuine Fluorite optic then it (the optic) is made by Canon, regardless of the name on the tube. 

14 minutes ago, Lockie said:

There is some good info on the scope from the WO Facebook page on the thread also, but it's not settled whether the flattener will also be a reducer or not?   

We have been advised it is a 1:1 flattener, though I guess we cannot be certain until it is released. 

HTH, 

Steve 

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Chris

Chris

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15 minutes ago, Alien 13 said:

This was another thread on this scope,

Alan

Well there's definitely a colour vote on that thread :happy10: If I buy a blue one I'll name it R2D2 after it's shared livery :icon_biggrin:

 

R2D2.jpg

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FLO

FLO

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17 hours ago, Davey-T said:

Is it available with the twist lock focuser as in some of the WO images ?

I think they offer a Rotolock to replace the existing eyepiece holder, we will investigate. 

Speaking as a retailer, I would rather they leave the design unchanged to maintain the £399 price-point. At £399, it is very attractive. 

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Davey-T

Davey-T

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20 minutes ago, FLO said:

I think they offer a Rotolock to replace the existing eyepiece holder, we will investigate. 

Speaking as a retailer, I would rather they leave the design unchanged to maintain the £399 price-point. At £399, it is very attractive. 

I bought a WO Rotolock  for my WO110FLT and it is very good and very expensive, but might be nice to have available as an option.

Dave

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Chris

Chris

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I've not found a picture of a WO61 with the dew shield fully extended yet, only retracted all the way. I'm guessing it extends far enough to keep dew and stray light well at bay but it would be nice to see a pic with it fully extended to make sure. It's surprising what a difference a long dew shield makes to contrast, well unless you're at a dark site.  

 

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FLO

FLO

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Just now, Lockie said:

I've not found a picture of a WO61 with the dew shield fully extended yet, only retracted all the way. I'm guessing it extends far enough to keep dew and stray light well at bay but it would be nice to see a pic with it fully extended to make sure. 

 

Good point. It is still on the bench, I'll go make another photo :smile: 

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Jonk

Jonk

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Steve, could you take a photo with a diagonal and Quark if you have one please?

This appears to be a good idea for a travel full disc solar setup, with the Star Adventurer as pointed out above.

If that were the case, the red livery would do nicely for the Ha, and blue for the CaK.

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alexbb

alexbb

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I'm very interested in this if the FF will act as a reducer too, or if it could be matched with a FF/FR designed for the larger ones.

FLO, could you tell us if any of the 0.8x reducers fit? And would it be possible to test one for us?

Many thanks!

Alex

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FLO

FLO

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56 minutes ago, FLO said:

Good point. It is still on the bench, I'll go make another photo :smile: 

Here y'go (the colour balance is a little different today, I don't think the OTA is quite as white as shown below). 

william_optics_zs61_fpl53_gold%5B5%5D.jp

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FLO

FLO

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32 minutes ago, Jonk said:

Steve, could you take a photo with a diagonal and Quark if you have one please?

We don't stock the Quark, sorry. 

24 minutes ago, moise212 said:

I'm very interested in this if the FF will act as a reducer too, or if it could be matched with a FF/FR designed for the larger ones.

FLO, could you tell us if any of the 0.8x reducers fit? And would it be possible to test one for us?

We understand a dedicated 1:1 Flattener is in the pipeline, though we cannot be 100% sure until it is released (there are rumours it might be a combined reducer/flattener). 

HTH, 

Steve 

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FLO

FLO

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20 hours ago, Lockie said:

Well there's definitely a colour vote on that thread :happy10: If I buy a blue one I'll name it R2D2 after it's shared livery :icon_biggrin:

R2D2.jpg

Or.... Buy the gold one and name it Sphero BB8 :biggrin:

 

sphero_bb8.jpg

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