What did the postman bring?

[Littleguy80]

Pentax XF Zoom for Solar Ha use! I nearly told my wife when I got the solar scope that I wouldn’t need any extra eyepieces for it. Thank goodness I didn’t say anything so foolish!

[johninderby]

Hope you will be as impressed with the zoom as I was for solar Ha. 👍🏻

[Littleguy80]

2 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Hope you will be as impressed with the zoom as I was for solar Ha. 👍🏻

Thanks John. Really looking forward to giving it a go. 

[IB20]

As ready as I can be! Now just need the clouds to stay away. 
 

 

[SuburbanMak]

A thing of beauty, Berlebach 312 Report. 
Spot the Baader Continuum filter I actually went online to buy…

[Daf1983]

Heq5 last week, evostar 80ed today👍 After a three month wait, my imaging rig is all ready to go (once I learn how to use it🙈)!

[Richard_B]

4 minutes ago, Daf1983 said:

Heq5 last week, evostar 80ed today👍 After a three month wait, my imaging rig is all ready to go (once I learn how to use it🙈)!

About time 🙂

[Chaz2b]

This straight in from aunty FLO! Yep came with clouds, but I was clever…opened it upside down to keep the clouds in and managed to get them into the bag supplied! Will let them out later.

Now here’s a puzzle, I didn’t order these, no invoice with them so I can’t confirm if I ordered them in my sleep! Anyone know the address?

 

chaz

Edited May 19, 2021 by Chaz2b

[Tiny Clanger]

46 minutes ago, Chaz2b said:

This straight in from aunty FLO! Yep came with clouds, but I was clever…opened it upside down to keep the clouds in and managed to get them into the bag supplied! Will let them out later.

Now here’s a puzzle, I didn’t order these, no invoice with them so I can’t confirm if I ordered them in my sleep! Anyone know the address?

 

chaz

A search on the postcode suggests this company, but there may be others with the same postcode ... there are a few reviews which suggest previous mystery packages have come from there ...

https://cannock.cylex-uk.co.uk/company/super-smart-service-ltd-25132118.html

Heather

[johninderby]

Happens a lot with Amazon.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/technology-55117037

[Chaz2b]

11 minutes ago, Tiny Clanger said:

A search on the postcode suggests this company, but there may be others with the same postcode ... there are a few reviews which suggest previous mystery packages have come from there ...

https://cannock.cylex-uk.co.uk/company/super-smart-service-ltd-25132118.html

Heather

Thank you Heather, being an ex postie I should’ve thought of that myself! Doh.

Possibly a forwarding company that stocks goods of sellers from abroad? But it does mention in their blurb land transport rather than eyepiece cover suppliers…Hmmm

chaz

[chrispj]

Strictly speaking the postman didn't bring it as I picked it up from @fwm891, but I appear to have acquired a small cannon...

 

 

[HollyHound]

So I can fit the 6x30 finder on the FOA-60(Q) and remove it easily... a Takahashi FQR-1 quick release finder shoe.

Plus, although I have the tube cradle, I want to try mounting the FC-100DC on the AZ100 using these More Blue tube rings and dovetail... very lightweight 👍

 

Edited May 19, 2021 by HollyHound

[F15Rules]

On 18/05/2021 at 20:42, johninderby said:

Hope you will be as impressed with the zoom as I was for solar Ha. 👍🏻

I wonder if anyone can clear up a bit of a mystery for me?

I know many users of the XF zoom rave about its' performance for solar viewing..I don't do solar myself, but I did buy one of these some years ago for night time viewing and absolutely hated it...great globs of purple chromatic aberration, and not nice at all!

I was frankly amazed, as I had owned the Pentax XW 8-24mm "big brother" to the XF and it was truly superb - very close indeed (apart from field of view) to the fixed length Pentax XW range.

I was using longish focal length scopes at the time (F9 to F12) which only made it all the more surprising how bad the XFs' performance was! 

Anyone have any ideas why this should be the case (the scopes were good quality and the XWs worked excellently in the same scopes). Or did I just get a lemon?

Thanks for any insight👍

Dave

Edited May 19, 2021 by F15Rules

[johninderby]

The XF zoom is optimised for spotter scopes and corrects for distortions in daylight but just the wrong type of corrections for regular astro night time use.  Astro eyepieces correct for different things. Just a horrible night time eyepiece that shows loads of distortion. However it is brilliant for solar Ha where you don’t see distortions. 

[F15Rules]

Mr Postie brought me a "vintage" Vixen LV 5mm high power eyepiece in really nice condition.

This has a fairly narrow 45degree fov, but has 20mm of eye relief and is very comfortable in use. It will be used mainly for splitting doubles and planetary/ lunar observing, and will give the following magnifications in my FS128:

Native (FL 1040mm) - 204x

With WO 1.6x Barlow - 333x

With Baader 2.25x Barlow - 468x

The last combination will only get rare use here in the UK, I fear!😄

The photos are stock photos, but the actual unit I have looks identical..

Dave

[F15Rules]

3 minutes ago, johninderby said:

The XF zoom is optimised for spotter scopes and corrects for distortions in daylight but just the wrong type of corrections for regular astro night time use.  Astro eyepieces correct for different things. Just a horrible night time eyepiece that shows loads of distortion. However it is brilliant for solar Ha where you don’t see distortions. 

Thanks John, makes total sense!

Dave

[HollyHound]

2 hours ago, HollyHound said:

So I can fit the 6x30 finder on the FOA-60(Q) and remove it easily... a Takahashi FQR-1 quick release finder shoe.

Slight change of plan... the FQR-1 is too long to fit on the FOA-60 small focuser, without obstructing the focus lock knob, so instead I’ve put it on the FC-76DCU and used the smaller More Blue quick release shoe instead on the FOA-60 👍

Edited May 19, 2021 by HollyHound

[mikemarotta]

I bought an Astro-Tech 115 APO. I was happy that it came with a case. It did not come with other stuff.

 

Explore Scientific 2-inch 99% diagonal.

This is for my ES-102.

Stellarvue right angle with focusser.

Meade Not-Meade unbranded 14 mm waterproof 82-degree ocular from Astronomics.

 

Edited May 19, 2021 by mikemarotta
fixing

[Sunshine]

5 hours ago, HollyHound said:

So I can fit the 6x30 finder on the FOA-60(Q) and remove it easily... a Takahashi FQR-1 quick release finder shoe.

Plus, although I have the tube cradle, I want to try mounting the FC-100DC on the AZ100 using these More Blue tube rings and dovetail... very lightweight 👍

 

ARRRGGG!! I just purchased rings for my 102 which I thought were sleek and light but, I see those are a boatload lighter after looking on their site and I like them even more!!

Oh no, I have to stop looking at this thread! It looks like I'll have a second set of rings now.

[HollyHound]

7 hours ago, Sunshine said:

ARRRGGG!! I just purchased rings for my 102 which I thought were sleek and light but, I see those are a boatload lighter after looking on their site and I like them even more!!

Oh no, I have to stop looking at this thread! It looks like I'll have a second set of rings now.

They are nice rings, quite lightweight. Haven’t tried them mounted yet, but seem good.

Ha ha, this thread is extremely dangerous indeed for “ideas” 🤣

[callisto]

42 minutes ago, HollyHound said:

Ha ha, this thread is extremely dangerous indeed for “ideas” 🤣

Oh yeah...you've got me looking at them now 😄

[PeterW]

Unaware of this one, now have a copy.

Peter

[JeremyS]

15 hours ago, HollyHound said:

Slight change of plan... the FQR-1 is too long to fit on the FOA-60 small focuser, without obstructing the focus lock knob, so instead I’ve put it on the FC-76DCU and used the smaller More Blue quick release shoe instead on the FOA-60 👍

Does the Tak FQR-1 base fit into the More Blue base OK, Gary?

[jacko61]

The lovely post person just delivered a baader uv/ir cut filter courtesy of @MARS1960