Takahashi 6 x 30 Finderscope Question

[jock1958]

Love my FC100 DL but cant make my mind up about the Tak finderscope, it looks great, it belongs to the scope and has crystal clear optics, but....you've guessed it everything is upside down and back to front, and my neck hurts...why o why don't Takahashi give you an option to put a nice diagonal on it!!

I've tried my Antares RACI finder on but its heavy, bulky and looks like it shouldn't be there (looked ok on my Tal though).  

Is there a small diagonal out there that will screw on to my Tak finder without having to butcher things?

[John]

I have the Tak 6x30 finder with my FC-100DL as well. It's a lovely little thing but I find the same as you do, so it's not used, unfortunately. I use a 6x30 RACI Skywatcher finder instead and that works fine. It fits in the Tak finder bracket too.

The trouble with trying to convert straight through finders is that the diagonal mirror / prism uses up quite a bit of the light path of the finder objective so you find yourself needing to shorten the finder tube by a fair chunk to get an eyepiece to focus. It can end up a rather messy conversion.

 

[Peter Drew]

Thanks John, I was halfway through typing the same reply.

[jock1958]

7 minutes ago, John said:

I have the Tak 6x30 finder with my FC-100DL as well. It's a lovely little thing but I find the same as you do, so it's not used, unfortunately. I use a 6x30 RACI Skywatcher finder instead and that works fine. It fits in the Tak finder bracket too.

The trouble with trying to convert straight through finders is that the diagonal mirror / prism uses up quite a bit of the light path of the finder objective so you find yourself needing to shorten the finder tube by a fair chunk to get an eyepiece to focus. It can end up a rather messy conversion.

 

Thanks John

Will probably follow a similar path to you. I definitely wont be chopping bits off my Tak finder!

[John]

You can pick the Skywatcher 6x30 RACI finders up, used, for £20 or so. My guess is that the dust caps on the Tak finder would cost about the same as that !

[jock1958]

3 minutes ago, John said:

You can pick the Skywatcher 6x30 RACI finders up, used, for £20 or so. My guess is that the dust caps on the Tak finder would cost about the same as that !

Funny you should say that there was one on Gumtree in the last few days going for £20, I contacted the seller but it was sold.

Also I didn't realise that the Skywatcher 6 x 30 will fit into the Tak finder bracket that's a definite positive  ? 

[John]

It sure does fit

 

[jock1958]

5 minutes ago, John said:

It sure does fit

 

Thanks John that will do nicely, I'll keep my eye out for one second hand!

[DirkSteele]

I love that little finder.  If only all finders were created at that quality level.  I am still just the right side of 40 so my neck still tolerates it (and my knees sometimes depending on mount and tripod combination in use) but it might not be too long before I change my tune on that.  However, I will need to teach myself how to use a right angle finder as I actually superimpose the image seen with the finder on top of what my naked eye is seeing when aiming.

[JeremyS]

Depends what you are using the finder for. If is bright things like planets the Tak 30 will be OK. If for fainter stuff go for the Tak 50 finder - you will be surprised how faint you can go. 

I use both on different Tak scopes and they are wonderful finders. Your 100DL deserves a Tak finder. 

I don’t “get” these finders with diagonals, RACI or not.

[John]

16 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

....I don’t “get” these finders with diagonals, RACI or not.

Finders are a personal thing. Having tried many types I find that RACI's work better for me than the straight through type (Tak or otherwise). For one thing, the finder view matches that in my Sky & Telescope Pocket Sky Atlas so thats a bonus

I do have a 9x50 RACI finder (also Skywatcher) that I could put on my Tak if desired.

If it works for you - go with it !

[JeremyS]

4 minutes ago, John said:

For one thing, the finder view matches that in my Sky & Telescope Pocket Sky Atlas so thats a bonus

Just rotate the atlas so it's upside down and you'll be fine John ?

[John]

2 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Just rotate the atlas so it's upside down and you'll be fine John ?

Then it does not match the view my eyes see, which is part of my finding process

I've tried loads of straight through finders over the years - while I can of course "find things" with them, they just don't "do it" for me

YMMV of course

[JeremyS]

3 minutes ago, John said:

Then it does not match the view my eyes see, which is part of my finding process

But your eyes will be looking through the finder at this point.

Indeed it comes down to what you are happy with doing.