What did the postman bring?

[PeterC65]

This William Optics Binoviewer Kit arrived last Friday and today I've finally been able to try it in daylight now that the rain and wind has passed.

This is actually the second set I've had. The first was slightly out of collimation (I was seeing a double image) but this second set is fine. Thanks go to Simon at The Widescreen Centre for sorting out the replacement.

I'm hoping to try the binoviewer over the next couple of nights as we have some clear sky forecast. The original set could be brought into collimation by pressing upwards on the right hand eyepiece and when I did that the view of M42 was a revelation, so I've high hopes.

The next decision is whether to stick with the WO 20mm eyepieces and use Barlows to change magnification or whether to get a couple of Hyperflex zooms.

 

[wookie1965]

Got some new reading material. 

[Andy ES]

3 hours ago, PeterC65 said:

The next decision is whether to stick with the WO 20mm eyepieces and use Barlows to change magnification or whether to get a couple of Hyperflex zooms.

Would be really interested to hear what your final EP selections are

[F15Rules]

4 hours ago, PeterC65 said:

The next decision is whether to stick with the WO 20mm eyepieces and use Barlows to change magnification or whether to get a couple of Hyperflex zooms.

Nice set, Peter 👍.

The WO 20mm aren't bad eyepieces and will give nice views.. however, if funds allow, I'd consider a pair of Baader zooms which have clickstops, I don't think the Hyperflex do, and I'm sure the Baaders are better optically.

The weak point of the Baader zooms (in fact of most  common zooms), is the narrow field of view at low powers..so a combination of zooms for medium and higher powers, plus, say, pairs of 20mm and/or 26mm plossls for lower power wider field views might be ideal.

BTW, in my own experience, pairs of modestly priced eyepieces very often deliver better , more comfortable views, than single premium priced ones. Not everyone can get on with binoviewing, but when you can, the views on lunar, planets, brighter nebulae such as M42, and double stars for example, can be simply stunning!

For example, I got my first and best view of several micro craterlets in Plato using a pair of Revelation binoviewers and a pair of Kson 16.8mm orthos.

Good luck with your choices!

Dave

[F15Rules]

On 19/02/2022 at 17:13, wulfrun said:

A friend reckons it's shaped like a fish...OK, squint a lot and I follow that idea. What did you do with (seeming like) 10m of surplus belting?

I cut it off!!

Dave

[PeterC65]

1 hour ago, Andy ES said:

Would be really interested to hear what your final EP selections are

 

25 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

Nice set, Peter 👍.

The WO 20mm aren't bad eyepieces and will give nice views.. however, if funds allow, I'd consider a pair of Baader zooms which have clickstops, I don't think the Hyperflex do, and I'm sure the Baaders are better optically.

The weak point of the Baader zooms (in fact of most  common zooms), is the narrow field of view at low powers..so a combination of zooms for medium and higher powers, plus, say, pairs of 20mm and/or 26mm plossls for lower power wider field views might be ideal.

BTW, in my own experience, pairs of modestly priced eyepieces very often deliver better , more comfortable views, than single premium priced ones. Not everyone can get on with binoviewing, but when you can, the views on lunar, planets, brighter nebulae such as M42, and double stars for example, can be simply stunning!

For example, I got my first and best view of several micro craterlets in Plato using a pair of Revelation binoviewers and a pair of Kson 16.8mm orthos.

Good luck with your choices!

Dave

Had an hour of clear sky tonight so I tried the William Optics Binoviewer with the 72mm/432mm refractor on M42, M45 and M31.

M42 was impressive. I could see more detail with the Binoviewer than with a roughly equivalent ES 6.7mm (I have to use a x2.25 Barlow with the Binoviewer to achieve focus with the refractor so the WO 20mm eyepieces are more like 9mm ). M45 was better with a single eyepiece, partly because the Binoviewer didn't give any advantage (the target is just a bunch of bright stars) and partly because I could set the field of view just right with my eyepiece collection. M31 was no better or worse with the Binoviewer (always slightly underwhelming I find).

The big difference is that observing with both eyes is way more comfortable. I could have gazed at M42 all night!

Unfortunately the Moon isn't up until after midnight and I think that may be where the Binoviewer comes in to its own.

From this limited test I'm thinking that I might stick with the WO 20mm eyepieces as they are 60° and I think that wide angle is the way to go with the Binoviewer rather than the 40° that I would get with a zoom at 20mm. My feeling is that the Binoviewer is perhaps best regarded as 'just another eyepiece' to be selected for appropriate targets alongside all the usual eyepieces.

I already have a Baader Zoom that I don't use much these days but two Hyperflex zooms would still be cheaper than another Baader Zoom! The Baader Zoom is enormous whereas the Hyperflex looks quite neat, still much bigger and weightier than the WO 20mm though. I have it on good authority (from @Louis D) that zooms without clicklock can be successfully used with a Binoviewer.

Tomorrow night is looking promising for a longer session with the MAK (which will achieve focus with the Binoviewer with and without a Barlow).

 

[MalcolmM]

@PeterC65 I'm glad your replacement binoviewers merge correctly. Like you I find it much more relaxing using 2 eyes. I would consider the weight of 2 heavy zoom eyepieces on the binoviewers. It might unbalance your setup. Zooms are great for fine tuning magnification to the seeing but I find even the weight of the WO 20mms with the binoviewer begins to make my setup a tad unweildy. I went for a pair of Baader classic orthos (10mm) for high power. They are exceptionally light but I'm not keen on the winged eyecups and my nose is too close to the thumb screws for comfort (poor nose relief ). I eventually replaced them with a pair of Tak 10mm LEs. For wide field I use a pair of 28mm Tak Erfles, a tad dear but I'm a bit obsessed with Tak! It's questionable whether the small increase in FOV is worth the big outlay though!

So my view would be go for light eyepieces if you're going to get another set! But I'm sure you'll find others strongly advocating the zooms

It's a bloomin' minefield!

Good luck,

Malcolm

[Franklin]

3 minutes ago, MalcolmM said:

I would consider the weight of 2 heavy zoom eyepieces on the binoviewers. It might unbalance your setup.

I agree with Malcolm on that one. I had the WO binos and the 20mm pair work great but I tried a pair of Baader zooms and not only did they effect balance alot, but I also found it difficult to get my huge konk in between them! Barlow the 20mm pair or get a pair of 10mm. 10mm BCO's worked great but only the 50deg fov.

[wulfrun]

3 hours ago, F15Rules said:

I cut it off!!

Dave

I considered that but didn't want to realise later it was for some purpose I'd not realised!

[Chefgage]

On 18/02/2022 at 19:40, Alien 13 said:

No pictures as yet apart from the stock ones, too busy having fun with one of these....

I am printing "fixes" for some of the machines flaws at the moment but have a huge list of things I need for Astro/Microscopy/DSLR and of course the silly things too.

Alan

Mine arrived a couple of weeks ago. Quite impressed with it. Printed off a couple of astronomy related things along with many test pieces as well.

[Alien 13]

1 hour ago, Chefgage said:

Mine arrived a couple of weeks ago. Quite impressed with it. Printed off a couple of astronomy related things along with many test pieces as well.

I am still at the update parts for the printer itself stage, think my first Astro print will be a 77mm screw in solar filter holder for my lenses..

Alan

Edited February 22, 2022 by Alien 13

[Daf1983]

New camera and filter arrived today. Went for the 533 in the end after much deliberation. Great service my @FLO, ordered Saturday night, arrived this morning. Can't wait to give this a go when/if we get a clear night 😬

[Chefgage]

3 hours ago, Alien 13 said:

I am still at the update parts for the printer itself stage, think my first Astro print will be a 77mm screw in solar filter holder for my lenses..

Alan

Sounds good. Out of interest what parts are you updating?

[Dean Hale]

Browsing Amazon yesterday and a flash deal on the voxelabs 3d printers popped up. Oh go on then. Now for the fun part setting it up. Thanks to this thread for planting the seed.

Edited February 22, 2022 by Dean Hale

[Alien 13]

10 hours ago, Dean Hale said:

Browsing Amazon yesterday and a flash deal on the voxelabs 3d printers popped up. Oh go on then. Now for the fun part setting it up. Thanks to this thread for planting the seed.

Hope it wasn't me that planted the idea 🥳 I am loving mine and am sure you will enjoy your new toy..

Alan

[Dean Hale]

7 hours ago, Alien 13 said:

Hope it wasn't me that planted the idea 🥳 I am loving mine and am sure you will enjoy your new toy..

 

I'm certainly glad you did. I'm like a kid at Christmas. Absolutely brilliant.

[johninderby]

Nirvana 4mm eyepiece. 🙂

Always liked the Nirvanas. Find them very comfortable to use. 👍🏻

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

16 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Nirvana 4mm eyepiece. 🙂

Always liked the Nirvanas. Find them very comfortable to use. 👍🏻

I liked mine but it was floater city so sadly sold on. The Vixen SLV 4mm is nowhere near as bad. I wonder is this due to the much reduced fov, eye relief, element grouping, coatings or a combination?

[johninderby]

8 minutes ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

I liked mine but it was floater city so sadly sold on. The Vixen SLV 4mm is nowhere near as bad. I wonder is this due to the much reduced fov, eye relief, element grouping, coatings or a combination?

Replacing an ES 4.7mm that did give mr some floater problems. Used to have a 4mm Nirvana and much less of a problem with floaters so bought another one.  Funny how some eyepieces suit some people better than others. 

 

[Captain Scarlet]

A few months ago I bought an Orion Optics VX8 from Grumpy Martian (whose account no longer seems to exist, I hope he’s OK).

Although the mirror is their ultra grade, their tube is somewhat flexible.

So this arrived today from Germany, it should be MUCH stiffer! ( @ONIKKINEN might be interested too as a further upgrade to his imaging setup)

Starting off of course with the obligatory picture-of-cardboard-box.

Cheers Magnus

[ONIKKINEN]

38 minutes ago, Captain Scarlet said:

A few months ago I bought an Orion Optics VX8 from Grumpy Martian (whose account no longer seems to exist, I hope he’s OK).

Although the mirror is their ultra grade, their tube is somewhat flexible.

So this arrived today from Germany, it should be MUCH stiffer! ( @ONIKKINEN might be interested too as a further upgrade to his imaging setup)

Starting off of course with the obligatory picture-of-cardboard-box.

Cheers Magnus

Is it the helmerichs carbon tube? Looks very nice. 

How long was the wait for it? i read somewhere that the pandemic has impacted the production times for these somewhat.

[Captain Scarlet]

Yes @ONIKKINEN it is Helmerichs. I ordered a tube for my OO 300mm mirror in November 2020, and I think he got COVID just about that time and was out of action for quite a long time. It eventually arrived in March 2021, and I was (am) very pleased with it. On that basis I expressed interest in a 200mm tube but he said that he needed time to rest or something like that and was temporarily not taking orders. Suddenly out of the blue in february he emailed saying did I still want that 200mm tube, it was ready. So, the result is that it will still take time but he seems to be "back up and running". My strategy with him now is "order and wait", I'm quite patient.

M

Edited February 23, 2022 by Captain Scarlet

[cajen2]

Mmmm, new shiny thing! ❤️

Seriously, that looks gorgeous, Magnus. Was it expensive?

[Captain Scarlet]

8 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

Mmmm, new shiny thing! ❤️

Seriously, that looks gorgeous, Magnus. Was it expensive?

It cost €300 but I think that included a “patience discount”, and no holes! I’ll be doing the perforating myself once I get the VX8 to Ireland 

[cajen2]

Great but rather you than me with my DIY skills (or lack of them!).