Altair Lightwave 72ED finder advice

[Bobby1970]

I recently purchased this scope used. However i require a suitable red dot finder for it. 

I did enquire at Altair and they sent me a base which they said would fit the scope, however it doesn't, so it will be going back. I really wanted to use one of my standard Skywatcher red dot finders, and i certainly don't want to shell out the £60+ delivery Altair are asking for the Lightwave red dot finder.

So i was maybe considering a Rigel Quickfinder, but i am slightly concerned that this will fit on such a small scope. 

I would really appreciate any advice on a suitable finder or method of attaching one of my existing skywatcher red dot finders which won't cost silly money. lol

Regards

 

[Fozzie]

I think a rigel base will fit, secured by tape.. all so a normal finder shoe should be ok..

HTH

fozzie

[Bobby1970]

Thanks for the response Fozzie

Where you have the regular finder base in your pics, do you find it secure enough with just one screw? Also does it sit flush against the focuser tube or, could you "rock" it slightly if it weren't for the screw??  Hope you see what I mean. 

Also, if i were to attach my DSLR to the focuser, do you know what sort of adaptor i need? I was thinking that a T2 to M48 might be somewhere near?

 

Thanks again. 

[Fozzie]

I've not had any problems.. obviously if I grab the attached finder and twist It, it will loosen the screw but you probably shouldn't be doing that anyways..... 

I use a baader shoe which is cut to more of a radius, it's solid enough too.. but honestly usually I just use my rigel.. and ever decreasing FoV eyepiece or stick with wide views.. 

Few pics..

HTH

FOZZIE 

[Fozzie]

'RE attaching a DSLR.. I use a 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/t-rings.html

And

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/skywatcher-2-inch-t-adapter.html

Although I would probably advise a field flatner for it... 

HTH

FOZZIE 

[Bobby1970]

Thanks for the pics, it looks like the base they sent me would maybe work, at least if they had sent the correct screws as the ones that cam with it are too small. lol

This is the one they sent, i think it may be a better fit if it had a hole bang in the middle rather than the slots, not sure. 

https://www.altairastro.com/starwave-universal-finder-mounting-shoe-bracket-unifbr.html

I may as well have just got one of these:-

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/finder-mounting-shoe.html

Much more cost effective. lol

Thanks for the info re camera attachment. I do already have a T ring for my Sony but obviously require something to step that up to 2".

I did come across a T ring to M48 adaptor and wondered if this would fit, but not really sure. 

Field flattener will come at some point, but i have spent enough this week. lol

Have you done any imaging with the scope, if so how did you find it image wise?

 

[Bobby1970]

I have just realised, on closer inspection of your photos, your finder is not where Altair advised me to fit the base.

 

They advised me to fit the base to position 1 on the photo below, i sent them this photo prior to order just to clarify what i required and where it should attach

[Fozzie]

Strange... position 2 just doesn't work.. and i wasnt confident i wasnt removing a screw that involved holding the scope to the rotating focuser in some way, especially as there are 3 of them at 3rds around the scope..

1 may do but it's not the biggest of screws..

My 72ed has a fixing point.. as attached..

It is slightly larger, I think, than the ones pointed out..

But like i say.. don't actually use an optical finder that often, just my Rigel.

Ta

fozzie 

[Bobby1970]

I think i may be able to get away with attaching the base i have to the same position as you have. Just need a suitable screw, it definitely isn't the M4 ones that came supplied with it. 

Position 2 on my photo is for attaching the focuser to the tube i think Altair said, i sent the photo to clarify where i could attach my finder, they said position 1, but yours seems much more suitable. I will probably just use a basic red dot finder which i already have. Will get a screw from work tomorrow and try again tomorrow evening.

[Space_Plane]

Hi Bobby, 

Just for the sake of confirmation, I also attach my finder to the same location as fozzie on this scope. I almost exclusively use the rigel on this scope too though, and have concocted a way of attaching it in the same spot;

I find it sits at a very convenient height. 

Hope this helps! 

Cheers

[Bobby1970]

Thats excellent Space_Plane, thanks for the confirmation. I am just little disappointed that the manufacturer of the scope didn't do something a bit more elegant than the thing they have sent me. Hopefully i will be able to fit it with a suitable screw and then a red dot finder.

It would be interesting to know both of your opinions of the scope in a visual and imaging with a DSLR and what mounts you use the scope on?

I am going to try it on my Star adventurer, i put it on it last night just to see if i could balance it with no DSLR and it looks like it will work.

[Space_Plane]

You're very welcome.

I wish I could remember for you exactly which screw I used, I'm fairly certain it was an M4 or M5, and quite short at that. I believe longer ones sounded like they were scraping something inside :-)

I've used the scope visually a lot and think it's great, even with some white light solar observation. I find the views very impressive and crisp with very little if virtually any detectable chromatic aberration, decent eyepieces maybe help too, your mileage may vary! 

I'm using mine at the moment on a skywatcher Az5, on an eq5 tripod and it's great, but I used it for the last year or so on a heavy duty photo tripod (fotomate 2900) with no issues at all really, save being a bit hard to balance. 

I've dabbled a tiny bit with it imaging, just the moon and so fourth. I personally couldn't get it to balance well on my own star adventurer, as it is quite a back heavy scope, but it's on my list to try and get that working better. Others may have better advice for you here (I would be keen on help with this myself lol). 

A very average sample below for you,  taken with a Canon 100d;

Cheers 

[Bobby1970]

Thats a nice crisp image of the moon. Looking forward to having a go myself if we ever get any clear nights :-(

I found that if i moved the L shaped dovetail bar on the Star adventurer to that the DEC adjustment was close to the actual SA itself i could balance it by moving the counterweight, not sure how well it will work, but i am definitely going toggle it a go.

 

[Space_Plane]

Ah, just a basic example, there's lots of great photos taken with this scope on the forum, I know I've seen posts in the past. 

I had tried something similar, I remember needing to add more weight on the counterweight side, but it was balancing in dec that gave me problems mostly. I found moving the scope in certain ways unbalanced the whole thing, but, I didn't persist much, lack of clear skies also being a factor in not experimenting :-)

I'll set it all up again soon and see if I can figure it out!

[RobertI]

 

On 21/11/2017 at 19:19, Bobby1970 said:

Have you done any imaging with the scope, if so how did you find it image wise?

 

I have the Williams Optics Megrez 72 - it has identical optics and was very popular in its time so there should be plenty of example pics on the web. I did a bit of imaging with my scope plus WO Reducer/Flattener 6 and an EOS 1100D and got very nice results, with sharp stars to edge of field. I think it is generally thought to be a very good scope for beginner to intermediate imaging, but not quite as good as the Skywatcher ED80 ( but it is cheaper!).