First light - Zeiss Telementor

[Stu]

I received this chunky little scope on Thursday and have managed a quick first light with it tonight. (Over) Mounted on the Vixen Sphinx, I've had a relatively quick look at the Moon and then a couple of doubles but it has clouded over at the moment.

Despite its diminutive 63mm aperture, I'm impressed by the sharpness I've seen so far. Colour correction seems pretty good too, even Vega was quite tight and without any horrible colour flaring around it although obviously there is CA present.

There was some yellow fringing around the limb of the Moon, although the terminator was sharp and largely colour free. I took it up to x168 at which point the scope was still sharp but with a 0.375mm exit pupil my floaters became quite evident.

The only other target I managed properly was Izar. This showed as beautiful airy disk with one complete, and fairly bright diffraction ring, plus other faint ones. The secondary showed clearly as a blue grey dot planted exactly on the first diffraction ring. That made it a little harder to see, but still obvious and in the right place.

This is an early Telementor I believe, with the Helical focuser which I'm happy about. It takes 1.25" eyepieces and it is quite and easy to reach focus by a combination of coarse focusing with the extension tube and then fine focus with the helical focuser.

The Objective was actually pretty grubby when I recieved it. However, there are two Allen bolts on the side of the scope which allow you to remove the lens cell, and it was quite straightforward to clean. It still shows some faint marks on the coatings but these don't have an impact on the views. Refitting the cell was easier than I expected.

Pleased to have one of these in my possession. If I had a nice study then I fancy one on the full mount to show in there, as it is, just the OTA is much more practical given the number of mounts I seem to own!

Pictures attached. A couple of the moon this evening too. One at x35, the other at x168

[Helen]

Nice first light Stu 😎  they do punch above their weight! 

(The tripod and mount are lovely bits of engineering too. )

A real classic!  Mine does sometimes live set up in the study - but my study is rather too small really 🙄  But when we retire to a house by the sea, with great skies, a large garden with unobstructed views, and a large study or hallway...... 😉

Enjoy!

Helen

[Stu]

Thanks Helen. Yes I'm sure the mount and tripod are lovely too, I just don't have space for them until we move into a bigger house!

As an update, I've just caught the Double Double which split very easily at x140 and would have done so at lower mag too 👍👍

[F15Rules]

That's lovely Stu, congratulations. They really are great scopes.

My later 1989 Mk II version seems to behave more like an 80mm rather than a 63 mm! The optics have a wonderful polish and figure and are razor sharp with very tight stellar points..just great on doubles and Lunar etc.

I agree with Helen, the mount is also excellent: very well engineered, (actually maybe over-engineered, but that helps deal with the longish tube), and extremely smooth on each axis.

Something that is not always realised is that the mount can also be used in both equatorial and altaz modes (see photos below)..a simple Allen key adjustment, done in seconds.

I can also use mine natively with binoviewers by removing the long black focuser extension tube and replacing it with a Baader  Zeiss-T2 adapter to give much more in-focus.

All in all a wonderful scope. Sadly, mine has to be sold soon as part of my imminent  enforced early retirement, but I shall miss it.

Thanks for sharing Stu 😊.

Dave

[Rob]

Nice report Stu, thanks. Always wanted to have a look through one I have to say!. Their quality reputation has been around for such a long time.

Rob

[estwing]

First scope I bought, still love it. Congratulations Stu....

 

[Stu]

@F15Rules Dave, I must have a try with my binoviewers. Not sure if I will have enough in focus with the helical focuser setup but there are a few things I could try to shorten the light path. It would certainly help with the floaters at high power!

Need a 1.25" wedge now to try it for solar WL

 

[johninderby]

They are nice little scopes and quite reasonably priced as well. 👍🏻

One of those must get one one day scopes. Well actually I’d rather have a Zeiss APQ 130/1000 trriplet fluorite but ££££ 🙂

[Helen]

Mine was a pure nostalgia purchase.  It was the scope I drooled over when I started in the 1980s but it was out of my price bracket.  One came up in excellent condition, at an excellent price around my 50th birthday when my parents were looking for something special to buy me.  I couldn't resist 😁

I too use the mount in alt az - very smooth.

Helen

[Stu]

3 hours ago, johninderby said:

They are nice little scopes and quite reasonably priced as well. 👍🏻

One of those must get one one day scopes. Well actually I’d rather have a Zeiss APQ 130/1000 trriplet fluorite but ££££ 🙂

Yes, it was quite reasonable so thought I would scratch that itch! Good fun to use, and optically very sharp. I love the perfect airy disk and diffraction ring it produces. Very different to the Tak which puts much more into the airy disk with a less pronounced ring, but very 'text book' 

Re the APQ, wouldn't we all!!

[RobertI]

Lovely little scope, looks fab on the Sphinx. 

[saarmason]

I wish you many wonderful hours at the Telementor 2 eyepieces!   Truly a robust, perfectly engineered double star observing platform!  I have been enjoying my T2 for over three years now and it is a wonderful Lunar observing and double star splitter platform.  Jupiter and Saturn are stunning at higher powers also - during good seeing conditions.  I especially enjoy using the Zeiss eyepiece turret which provides wonderful upright viewing with it's amici system.  The .965 Zeiss Jena Orthos and Huygens are well suited for this longer focal length 62mm refractor and I have a 1.25 inch adapter fitted to the larger eyepiece threaded hole which I installed my trusty TV 22mm Panoptic.  Such a wonderful, simple observing system in both alt az (shown in pic) and GEM position.  I was fortunate, recently, and found an original 40mm Zeiss finder scope assembly from two sources (one in the USA and the other in Europe) which mounts on the back just before the turret.  That addition is what makes finding doubles so much a easier.  The tough part was trying to find them in those gun sights built-into the OTA.  That "old school" sighting system was not comfortable to use at night.  I attached a photo of the rear of my TV with turret fully locked and loaded.  I didn't have a pic including the Zeiss finder scope, but this shows how well designed the turret system is with the Panoptic installed.  Can't wait to view the environs of Sagittarius in the South from the south shore of Long Island, NY, in the weeks ahead with this great "school scope".  Clear skies to all!

[Stu]

Thanks @saarmason that turret looks fantastic and I'm sure the original Zeiss eyepieces are excellent to use with it.

Mine is actually a first version Telementor with the helical focuser, which actually works surprisingly well and has very flexible back focus by way of the draw tube which can be removed completely for use with binoviewers.

Might even take it with me to try on the eclipse tonight.

[nicoscy]

Stu, congrats on acquiring a classic!

For the moon, a Baader Moon & Skyglow filter will clean up the image completely.

Actually, whatever scope one uses on the moon, this filter will clean up the image on so many levels.

[Stu]

Thanks Nicos. I only have a 2" Baader Neodymium at the moment and use it alot. Will try to pick up a little one 👍