What did the postman bring?

[PaulM]

Canon EOS 350D used

2x 2" barlow - hefty piece of kit

Canon t ring and 2" adaptor

[Nigella Bryant]

48 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

Put Lunt 60DS on mine and it seemed happy enough but the supplied tripod is a bit flimsy 😁

Dave

I use an old eq6 tripod with my skywatcher solarquest mount. Really stable with my Lunt60 DS.

Edited July 25, 2020 by Nigella Bryant

[Guest]

On 24/07/2020 at 15:02, RobertI said:

Also purchased a Nikon 2x tele-extender to go with the one I bought three years ago! By some fortuitous coincidence they match my inter pupillary distance when side by side, and so with a couple of cable ties, I have a super wide field 2x binocular. Looking forward to trying under the stars. 

 

Mr Magoo!🤣

[laudropb]

1 hour ago, Highburymark said:

If you have a sturdier tripod John the mount will easily take a double stacked Lunt 50. Like the AZGTi, its payload is substantially higher than advertised if coupled with a stronger tripod 

I have the 1.75” steel tripod for my GTi so I will use this.

[laudropb]

1 hour ago, Davey-T said:

Put Lunt 60DS on mine and it seemed happy enough but the supplied tripod is a bit flimsy 😁

Dave

Yes it is Dave. I have the 1.75” steel tripod as supplied by Flo so I will use that.

[Pixies]

My first 2". AN OVL Aero ED SWA 30mm

[Guest]

22 hours ago, Dannomiss said:

Opps another two lenses - a 3.2mm and a 25mm lense 😊 pleased with these

Just one more to complete my collection! 😉

Edited July 25, 2020 by Guest

[JeremyS]

5 hours ago, Alan White said:

Yes a slight undercut, annoying enough, but nowhere near as severe as the TV ones are now.

It is the annoying bit that comes with a great eye piece, I took the annoyance.

I agree with you Alan. I do find undercuts annoying. But not enough to rule out buying a particular eyepiece. Especially if it’s a TV or Pentax.

[John]

TV have changed the design of their undercuts in the past few years. They have chamfered the lower cutaway edge to reduce the chances of it snagging as the eyepiece is removed.

 

 

 

[Dannomiss]

35 minutes ago, merlin100 said:

Just one more to complete my collection! 😉

Beautiful 👌😊 the only one I will probably not buy is the 15mm

[heliumstar]

On 24/07/2020 at 14:45, RobertI said:

Just received my Baader 2.25x Barlow. It’s a lovely tiny little thing, I suddenly understand how one of these with a Q-turret and some compact BCOs makes a lot of sense. Looking forward to using it with my zoom ep (pictured). Thanks for the suggestion @John  👍

I have some supposedly better eyepieces. They are certainly at least 4x more expensive but I admit of using 18mm, 10mm and 2.25x Barlow BCOs exclusively lately. It seems like that no matter telescope fl these three pieces of equipment provide everything I need. 10mm barlowed gives 4.4mm and I am yet to look through any eyepiece in 4-5mm range that provides sharper and more pleasing view of airy disks when looking at double stars. To my eyes it's better than 4mm and 5mm SLVs and 5mm XW - this one is close if not the same view but is just too big - comfortable though. Not sure what is going on there to be honest.....

Edited July 25, 2020 by heliumstar

[Barry-W-Fenner]

1 hour ago, Pixies said:

My first 2". AN OVL Aero ED SWA 30mm

A brilliant eye piece. I had some lovely views of the double cluster with mine a week or so ago. I got both clusters glittering in the FOV!

 

[markse68]

33 minutes ago, heliumstar said:

To my eyes it's better than 4mm and 5mm SLVs and 5mm XW - this one is close if not the same view but is just too big - comfortable though. Not sure what is going on there to be honest.....

I’m using the BCO 6mm barlowed for tight doubles too. It’s quite comfortable but a bit of extra fov would be useful with the dob- works though.

I think it’s long been recognised that the abbé ortho design for some reason gives an excellent balance of properties but is limited in its afov. More expensive eps possibly can’t improve on the sharpness or contrast (though that’s debatable) but can improve on afov and. comfort whist trying to maintain those properties.

Mark

[John]

41 minutes ago, heliumstar said:

I have some supposedly better eyepieces. They are certainly at least 4x more expensive but I admit of using 18mm, 10mm and 2.25x Barlow BCOs exclusively lately. It seems like that no matter telescope fl these three pieces of equipment provide everything I need. 10mm barlowed gives 4.4mm and I am yet to look through any eyepiece in 4-5mm range that provides sharper and more pleasing view of airy disks when looking at double stars. To my eyes it's better than 4mm and 5mm SLVs and 5mm XW - this one is close if not the same view but is just too big - comfortable though. Not sure what is going on there to be honest.....

I'm finding something similar with my 7.2mm - 21.5mm zoom + Baader 2.25x combination, especially with my refractors. I have not quite reached the point where my top end 1.25" eyepiece collection gets the chop but, you never know .........

[heliumstar]

1 minute ago, markse68 said:

I’m using the BCO 6mm barlowed for tight doubles too. It’s quite comfortable but a bit of extra fov would be useful with the dob- works though.

I think it’s long been recognised that the abbé ortho design for some reason gives an excellent balance of properties but is limited in its afov. More expensive eps possibly can’t improve on the sharpness or contrast (though that’s debatable) but can improve on afov and. comfort whist trying to maintain those properties.

Mark

I really like Pentax XW 5mm for example. The ease of view is just phenomenal. But! I like just grabbing the trio and be done with it. I am sure I would have different opinion if observing with a big manual Dob. But as a flat with a balcony dweller and mostly observing ds, planets and our moon with smallish scopes on go-to mount fov is not an issue for me. For everything else there is a camera.

Just one more comment on Baader barlow. I read a bunch of reviews on this one and it's all mixed. My personal experience is that it's very good. Image doesn't degrade at all. On the other hand I programmed myself not to be fussy about the edges and to be completely honest, I am not that good at spotting anything wrong with most of eyepieces. I am mainly concerned with how many stars I can see in wide views and if airy disks are nicely presented when I observe double stars.

[heliumstar]

4 minutes ago, John said:

I'm finding something similar with my 7.2mm - 21.5mm zoom + Baader 2.25x combination, especially with my refractors. I have not quite reached the point where my top end 1.25" eyepiece collection gets the chop but, you never know .........

I was thinking about this and in my case it might be convenience. It might be that my brain just doesn't see any real difference because of how happy I am with handling easy to use eyepieces - light, still comfortable, quickly in and out of diagonal, etc. I am choping and then adding to my eyepiece collection all the time but these little BCOs just stick. I am drawn towards Tak Orthos though to see what the fuss is all about

[JeremyS]

1 hour ago, John said:

TV have changed the design of their undercuts in the past few years. They have chamfered the lower cutaway edge to reduce the chances of it snagging as the eyepiece is removed.

 

 

 

I didn’t know that John. Thanks! Will have to investigate.

Its actually my 2-inch Naglers that snag slightly. Maybe cos I haven’t got used to how much the Baader clicklock needs to be turned to release them properly. What my daughters might describe as First World Problems.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Dannomiss said:

Beautiful 👌😊 the only one I will probably not buy is the 15mm

I preferred the view in it compared to a Meade 4000 SP 15mm, to be honest...

[Macavity]

Hmmm... Dunno quite what has happened with my EBAY Nuts & Bolts (sic!)? 😛
Two weeks and nothing yet. I did get some things through via Pacelforce 48?
Now just a message saying items have been "despatched", a tracking number
provided, but "Due to the coronavirus emergency, deliveries may be delayed".
I LIKE to support Trotter's Independent Traders on Ebay, but things seems to
have ground to a halt? Under a tenner... front-liners have my sympathy, but? 😕

P.S. Got things I needed via Amazon! Thinking of taking out a Subscription
to "Astronomy Now"... I assume *magazines* are getting through OK?!?!?!? 🥳
(I do miss seeing all that stuff I could be buying... but shouldn't / wont! lol)

[Alan White]

2 hours ago, John said:

TV have changed the design of their undercuts in the past few years. They have chamfered the lower cutaway edge to reduce the chances of it snagging as the eyepiece is removed.

I know this change took place and feel its for the worse not the better, it was the deeper angle that was causing me issues the most.
When I tired to discuss with David Nagler at Astrofest he would only keep saying why the undercuts were so great and showing them to me.
I felt customer feedback was not new and was not being taken onboard.
 

[HollyHound]

3 hours ago, Pixies said:

My first 2". AN OVL Aero ED SWA 30mm

You'll enjoy this 😀... I have the 35mm version, which works really well in my StellaMira 80mm f/10 👍

I am putting it up against my latest acquisition... Pentax 40mm XW... if I find the Pentax vastly superior, then the 35mm maybe heading towards the sale section...

[John]

58 minutes ago, Alan White said:

I know this change took place and feel its for the worse not the better, it was the deeper angle that was causing me issues the most.
When I tired to discuss with David Nagler at Astrofest he would only keep saying why the undercuts were so great and showing them to me.
I felt customer feedback was not new and was not being taken onboard.
 

Vote with your wallet Alan !

There are other good options out there.

[John]

4 hours ago, Pixies said:

My first 2". AN OVL Aero ED SWA 30mm

Congratulations. Pretty decent 2 inch eyepiece. Quite light as well. I have the 30mm and the 40mm in that series.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, JeremyS said:

I didn’t know that John. Thanks! Will have to investigate.

Its actually my 2-inch Naglers that snag slightly. Maybe cos I haven’t got used to how much the Baader clicklock needs to be turned to release them properly. What my daughters might describe as First World Problems.

I've not been in the hobby long enough to be bothered by the undercuts. They seem just fine to me. Is it just a personal preference? 

[LukeSkywatcher]

Post Woman delivered these today.

Two meteorites (one is a slice). A Moldavite (green). Also a chunk of Egyptian Glass (yellow)