What did the postman bring?

[HollyHound]

54 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

The ES24 68 is a cracking eyepiece Gary. I've not used a Panoptic 24mm but I know they are revered on the forums. I think you will like the ES 24, very comfortable, well built and delivers nice widefield views.

Thanks 👍

The comparison reviews I’ve read, seem to indicate that the ES compares more than favourably to the Panoptic… in the time I had mine, it was a lovely, compact eyepiece with a super flat view, but it does have significant distortion and I never thought it was as “vibrant” as my other eyepieces (XWs and Masuyama).

Can’t wait to try it out, and will report back when I can.

I’ve also got a DeLite 13mm on the way… I used to have this (and the 18.2) two years ago, and keen to see how this fares in my small Taks, as I’m trying to build a small and lightweight set for my grab and go refractors 🤔

[JeremyS]

2 hours ago, F15Rules said:

If only they didn't have undercuts I'd have bought them (cost no object!😂🤣)

Dave

Dave, when you add the 2-inch barrel extenders to the Ethos, the undercuts become irrelevant 😊

[JeremyS]

2 hours ago, Dave scutt said:

Nice postman brought a few items thanks to   @HollyHound.

Can't wait to go home and try them out.

Congratulations Dave and welcome to the Ethos slippery slope 🤣👍🏻

Which one next?

[Alex Mac]

Snap! I win!

[F15Rules]

2 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Dave, when you add the 2-inch barrel extenders to the Ethos, the undercuts become irrelevant 😊

Jeremy, I'm sure I could handle the weight, but I couldn't afford the barrel extenders..

Dave

[Pixies]

More FLO packing peanuts for me too. Hidden beneath:

[HollyHound]

Had one of these (and an 18.2) two years ago, and as I’m trying to build another lightweight set for my 76DCU, thought I’d try these again (to compare against my XWs) 😃

Thanks as always to @FLO for getting this out so quickly 👍

[Ratlet]

Another day, another tair 3.  This time the photosniper.  This one is a bit rougher and has a small amount of fungus and will need a clean which hopefully won't affect imaging.  Also a tokina 135mm f2.8 to test out for some wide angle because I am not made of samyang money.

[cajen2]

3 hours ago, Pixies said:

More FLO packing peanuts for me too. Hidden beneath:

Didn't know you were an imager, Neil!

[wookie1965]

Well not the post man but I picked it up. Thanks to Andrew (Astro_Dad) great scope. 

[cajen2]

Nice scope in good nick...which I suppose is normal: it's almost brand new! 👍

[wookie1965]

All the way back from North Yorkshire bumpy roads all over the road humps near mine, checked collimation and it was spot on. 

[IB20]

5 hours ago, HollyHound said:

Had one of these (and an 18.2) two years ago, and as I’m trying to build another lightweight set for my 76DCU, thought I’d try these again (to compare against my XWs) 😃

Thanks as always to @FLO for getting this out so quickly 👍

Be interested if you can focus in your current set-up, click lock etc. May revisit the range if you have success. 

[cloudsweeper]

7 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

All the way back from North Yorkshire bumpy roads all over the road humps near mine, checked collimation and it was spot on. 

Glad you've got your Dob Paul, you'll really enjoy the views!

Doug.

Edited October 24, 2022 by cloudsweeper

[cajen2]

14 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

All the way back from North Yorkshire bumpy roads all over the road humps near mine, checked collimation and it was spot on. 

Makes it all worthwhile. We'll expect a first light soon then!

[HollyHound]

6 minutes ago, IB20 said:

Be interested if you can focus in your current set-up, click lock etc. May revisit the range if you have success. 

You're in luck, just spotted a small break in the cloud and had 10mins on Jupiter.... bit hazy but able to check focus... with my current setup the XWs focus with around 2cm of outward travel on the focuser and the DeLite needs 3cm (approx). I intend to increase my fixed T2 extender ring from 15mm to 30mm, which will give me a more balanced inward and outward focus range, whilst allowing XWs, DeLites, Masuyamas and my Nagler 3-6 Zoom to all come into focus easily 👍

So short answer, they are within 1cm of the XWs and so easily usable on the FC-76DCU (and presumably FS-60CB) 😁

[Astro_Dad]

1 hour ago, wookie1965 said:

Well not the post man but I picked it up. Thanks to Andrew (Astro_Dad) great scope. 

I see the Twist Lock Adapter on there already! 👍 Looking good, slightly missing it…

[JeremyS]

Tiny Tak part. Finderscope Illuminator 

[wookie1965]

28 minutes ago, Astro_Dad said:

I see the Twist Lock Adapter on there already! 👍 Looking good, slightly missing it…

Its in very good hands and will be used a lot I set it up before without the Starsense just red dot on Jupiter tried the Celestron 25mm all 4 moons and two bands mirror had not even cooled. Yes and found a screw for the other one I knew I would have one. Sent you a link to one of them for when you get your 8".

[wookie1965]

1 hour ago, cloudsweeper said:

Glad you've got your Dob Paul, you'll really enjoy the views!

Doug.

Yes Doug it is nearly like a grab and go once I have aligned it tomorrow when I get up early again and the skies are clear I can have it up and running in 10 minutes or less.

[Whistlin Bob]

6 hours ago, Ratlet said:

Another day, another tair 3.  This time the photosniper.

Nice one. I love these things- a proper lump of a lens. I found quite a bit of chromatic aberration with mine, but stopping down to f5.6 helped a lot (so long as you don't mind funky star diffraction). Also pretty handy with narrowband filters  

[JimB1]

Orion/Meade is clearing out the Meade imaging cameras so I ordered an LPI-G advanced monochrome for planetary (and to try out some short duration deep sky as a test) and a regular LPI-G as an autoguider. 
 

The LPI-G advanced arrived today…

 

-Jim

 

Edited October 24, 2022 by JimB1
Added photo

[Ratlet]

3 hours ago, Whistlin Bob said:

Nice one. I love these things- a proper lump of a lens. I found quite a bit of chromatic aberration with mine, but stopping down to f5.6 helped a lot (so long as you don't mind funky star diffraction). Also pretty handy with narrowband filters  

I think they are quite variable in quality.  My last was a 3A (focuses like a normal camera and has a tripod socket built in for 1/4") which had some astigmatism.  I'm hoping this one will be better.

I'm going to contact the seller as the description says the lenses are clear when they obviously aren't.  They put no guarantee on the listing too, but I don't think that absolves them.

One thing I do notice is that the lenses are also coated which the 3A wasn't.

If it's no use for astrophotography I think the photosniper is mechanically simple enough I could convert it into a poverty triplet for visual.

I've got a set of Stepdown rings to take it down to f5.6 whilst maintaining circular stars.

[Sunshine]

5 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Tiny Tak part. Finderscope Illuminator 

Look at the knurling on that little twisty switch, a good thing considering a slip of the fingers could take out ones back 🤣

[Sunshine]

7 hours ago, wookie1965 said:

Well not the post man but I picked it up. Thanks to Andrew (Astro_Dad) great scope. 

Hey that looks familiar! 😀👍