Show us your mini scope

[Nakedgun]

1 minute ago, Pancho61 said:

To complet the information about vixen halley ( orange scope), we have a magazine who done some measurements on it.

 

 

 

So, what's the upshot of the translation?

[markse68]

3 hours ago, Stu said:

 

 

 

What’s this one Stu?

[tooth_dr]

Here is my little 60mm Tasso scope, £10.

Got a trip to London and showed friends the planets. 

[Tiny Clanger]

10 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

Here is my little 60mm Tasso scope, £10.

Got a trip to London and showed friends the planets. 

Is that the special  "masonic edition"  'scope ? 😀😀

[Stu]

14 hours ago, markse68 said:

What’s this one Stu?

One of my crazy inventions 🤪🤪. It actually worked very well as a mega finder. The objective from an 80mm binocular with a small RACI prism and a bit of toothpaste dispenser (or film canister?) in between to make a RACI finder. It was mounted on my 106mm triplet, very nice scope.

[markse68]

2 hours ago, Stu said:

One of my crazy inventions 🤪🤪. It actually worked very well as a mega finder. The objective from an 80mm binocular with a small RACI prism and a bit of toothpaste dispenser (or film canister?) in between to make a RACI finder. It was mounted on my 106mm triplet, very nice scope.

That’s very cool Stu- reminded me a bit of the Russian spotting scope I picked up a while ago- very quirky design with a miniature porro prism inverter (half a bino-viewer 😂) and a really odd fixed eyepiece that gives 30 or 60x by simply reversing it! Pretty sharp as it goes.

Mark

[RT65CB-SWL]

On 09/12/2020 at 20:11, Nakedgun said:

 

What is it?

Objective cell/body is from a 50mm binocular with a short [50mm] delrin tube to accept a 1/4” BSW fitting and 1.25” mirror diagonal, topped off with my TeleVue 13mm Nagler (type 1 & 6). 🤪 I made it for a bit of fun, but will eventually end up as a finderscope. 

Works out to be about f4 or thereabouts. 

Edited December 14, 2020 by Philip R

[Pancho61]

On 10/12/2020 at 00:15, Nakedgun said:

 

So, what's the upshot of the translation?

So mean of the translation in red square:

Focus on optical measure:

Test old equipment on bench measurement is always exciting as it allowed to verify some qualify "word" who has been use in the past and compare to modern equipement. Measure has been done by Airylab company. It has been done three wavelenght blue, green and red. Result was very good especcially in the blue. The mains defaults who has been detect concern the spherical aberration and residual chromatism who has been of course present due to low F/D, non ED glass and/or special optic formula.

 

[LDW1]

Here are a couple of 60mm, f5’s ! One for each finger, lol !

[Nakedgun]

2 hours ago, Pancho61 said:

So mean of the translation in red square:

Focus on optical measure:

Test old equipment on bench measurement is always exciting as it allowed to verify some qualify "word" who has been use in the past and compare to modern equipement. Measure has been done by Airylab company. It has been done three wavelenght blue, green and red. Result was very good especcially in the blue. The mains defaults who has been detect concern the spherical aberration and residual chromatism who has been of course present due to low F/D, non ED glass and/or special optic formula.

 

OK, thank you.

[Second Time Around]

I have various mini scopes based on Tamron's Wide Field Tele-View.  This a 90 degree Amici prism and 20mm/70 degree eyepiece.  It attaches to any of Tamron's Adaptall camera lenses.  2 of the 3 I've bought have a 49mm internal thread and so with a 42mm step down ring may also take a T thread lens.  When I find a suitable one I'll check if it'll reach infinity focus when set up like this.  It does of course do so with Tamron's Adaptall lenses.  The Tele-View is long discontinued now, but does come up fairly often on eBay, as do the Adaptall lenses.

The picture above shows a 35-80mm f/2.8-3.8 lens attached to the built-in tripod adapter on the Tele-View.  As you can see, I've fitted it with finder rings.

This configuration is an excellent substitute for a Telrad, but it's a right angle correct image (RACI) finder, so much more comfortable to look through.

With the lens set at 35mm it gives 1.75x magnification with an aperture of 12.5mm and a 40 degree field of view .  At 80mm it becomes a 4x21 with a 17.5 deg FOV. 

I've fitted my Tele-Views with crosshairs (the eyepiece screws out with a bit of force), but found the crosshairs move when the lens is zoomed, so are centered at only one magnification.

Amongst the other lenses I use are a 35-210mm f/3.5-4.2.  This again can be a RACI replacement for a Telrad, giving the same 1.75x magnification with a 40 deg FOV but with an aperture of 10mm.  Set at 210mm it becomes a 10.5x50 with a 6.66 deg FOV.

There's a wide range of Tamron lenses that can be attached.  Longer focus ones will of course give higher powers, some of which can be fitted with a 1.4x and/or 2x tele-converter that's like a Powermate.

Edited December 18, 2020 by Second Time Around

[bish]

On 08/12/2020 at 13:24, F15Rules said:

I've just this morning taken delivery of this beautiful little Carton Japan 60mm F11.8 refractor 😊.

Like many of us, I grew up with 60mm class scopes as a first "proper" telescope. I was 14 or 15 when I had my first scope, a 60mm Prinz F15 from Dixon's camera store.

Nowadays most of us have much bigger scopes, but as the recent flurry of activity (and sales) of Zeiss Telementors demonstrates, there is still an affection and demand for these little instruments. I myself owned a Telementor until about a year ago, and had some wonderful views through it.

All this made me think how nice it would be to see some other "mini scopes" and hear what people have seen through them and how they use them.

I suppose I should define what I consider a "mini" or "small" scope, so let's say scopes up to 70mm aperture, of any type, any focal length, on any mount.

I will post up my thoughts on this new little Carton once the wretched clouds clear, but I'll start a new thread for that..

For this thread, please show us yours, if necessary get up in the loft, in the shed or garage, or show us your brand new 60mm Tak - all are welcome!😊🤘.

Thanks 

Dave

I had a Prinz 60mm in the 80's. It was a varipower,  that magnified by x15, x30 and x75 if I remember correctly. Wish I had kept it now.

[Pixies]

On 09/12/2020 at 08:25, RobertI said:

Nice thread! I have a couple which fit the bill. My William Optics Zenithstar 66SD - very useful on a tripod for quick grab and go, but also good for birdwatching. And the Altair Astro 60mm guidescope, which when fitted with a 21mm Hyperion gives a view of nearly 6 degrees, exit pupil of nearly 6 mm and is a true “richest field” telescope. Incredibly light weight too. In fact I must get it out again! 😁

Snap with the Altair.

How do you find the Hyperion works with a F3.75 scope?

[RobertI]

40 minutes ago, Pixies said:

How do you find the Hyperion works with a F3.75 scope?

A good question as the Hyperion are not renowned for their performance in fast scopes are they? It was a while since I last used that setup but  I can’t recall it being that bad. You have piqued my curiosity though and I will have a squint when I get a clear night and let you know. 👍

[CCD-Freak]

Does this scope make my butt  mount look big ?? 🤪   AT60ED ready for some imaging.

 

 

John Love
CCD-Freak
WD5IKX

[vlaiv]

Just had this come in after two month wait for stock to refill:

It accepts eyepieces - so I'm counting it as a mini scope

I'm seriously surprised that 32mm Plossl works well with this 32mm F/4 scope and that scope is quite sharp and does not display rainbow on any mention of light falling on it's objective.

Yes, that is x4 32mm with 8mm exit pupil - wide field "telescope" .

Here it is in imaging role:

image of international sharpness standard next to international color calibration standard

This is with ASI178mcc - pixel size 4.8µm (super pixel debayer - for those who care about such things).

Field curvature is rather excessive and there is some lateral chromatic aberration as well:

Center / edge

[Louis D]

On 18/12/2020 at 09:01, vlaiv said:

Just had this come in after two month wait for stock to refill:

 

Do you make a habit of dangling new astro toys above a considerable drop?  Are you demonstrating how confident you are of your equipment handling skills?  Perhaps you're demonstrating to the new guys in the astro toolbox who's in charge?

Given my sometimes shaky hands, I found those images terrifying and should have been prefaced with the warning "Some viewers may find the following images disturbing."

[vlaiv]

13 minutes ago, Louis D said:

Do you make a habit of dangling new astro toys above a considerable drop?  Are you demonstrating how confident you are of your equipment handling skills?  Perhaps you're demonstrating to the new guys in the astro toolbox who's in charge?

Given my sometimes shaky hands, I found those images terrifying and should have been prefaced with the warning "Some viewers may find the following images disturbing."

Never thought about it really - but that little finder / guider is really light - 287g.

Also - I wanted nice background for the images - one that captures perpetual cloud coverage / fog

[Pancho61]

A new tiny scope build by tomy brand between 1985 and 1986 for halley comet. Lot of people knows this brand not for scope but for toys. 

Full plastic, focuser is not present you need to turn the body of scope for reaching focus. As it is plastic not very precise but it works. 

For optics part, it was made by konica/borg doublet was base on ED glass. Chromatism was very good for the fast ratio. 

Sold 35GBP whent it get in market.

For conclusion, it is more a mini borg than a toy and at affordable price. Will push pictures of it and picture took with phone on eyepiece directly 

[theropod]

My 60mm DIY refractor. Only able to test on terrestrial targets, but so far so good. The oversize dew shield really knocks out side glare, and I’m not sure it will be of much use against dew but I’ll see when warmer nights come back. Using it freehand, and braced against my house, it really made M42 pop. If the stinking weather ever permits I’ll give it a good test on some faint fuzzies.

I did test out my SV105 with this scope today, mostly messing around with Sharpcap, and I’m pretty pumped to get a couple hours under clear skies to push the envelope. M1?

The FOV is so much wider than my C90, but the apparent magnification seems very close. Maybe this will make those 1, 2, & 3 star alignments pretty easy by comparison. My EQM 35 ought to act as if there wasn’t even a scope mounted, except for maybe wind issues, but as light (<1k) as it is I’m not worried about that too much.

The objective (formerly from binos) really came to life after I removed the prism stack, and the upside down view doesn’t both me near as much as I thought it would. Sharpcap makes that a non issue. 

 

[Louis D]

14 hours ago, theropod said:

My 60mm DIY refractor. Only able to test on terrestrial targets, but so far so good. The oversize dew shield really knocks out side glare, and I’m not sure it will be of much use against dew but I’ll see when warmer nights come back. Using it freehand, and braced against my house, it really made M42 pop. If the stinking weather ever permits I’ll give it a good test on some faint fuzzies.

I did test out my SV105 with this scope today, mostly messing around with Sharpcap, and I’m pretty pumped to get a couple hours under clear skies to push the envelope. M1?

The FOV is so much wider than my C90, but the apparent magnification seems very close. Maybe this will make those 1, 2, & 3 star alignments pretty easy by comparison. My EQM 35 ought to act as if there wasn’t even a scope mounted, except for maybe wind issues, but as light (<1k) as it is I’m not worried about that too much.

The objective (formerly from binos) really came to life after I removed the prism stack, and the upside down view doesn’t both me near as much as I thought it would. Sharpcap makes that a non issue. 

 

When I saw the radiator clamp, I knew you had to be an American.  I've got one holding together some splitting wood on my Adirondack rocker.  It can be added to the list of duct (duck) tape and baling wiring for fixing anything.

[callisto]

18 hours ago, Pancho61 said:

A new tiny scope build by tomy brand between 1985 and 1986 for halley comet. Lot of people knows this brand not for scope but for toys. 

Full plastic, focuser is not present you need to turn the body of scope for reaching focus. As it is plastic not very precise but it works. 

For optics part, it was made by konica/borg doublet was base on ED glass. Chromatism was very good for the fast ratio. 

Sold 35GBP whent it get in market.

For conclusion, it is more a mini borg than a toy and at affordable price. Will push pictures of it and picture took with phone on eyepiece directly 

Aww....Very cute

[Louis D]

23 minutes ago, callisto said:

Aww....Very cute

I looked it up, and now I want one if I can find one for cheap.

It turns out TOMYTEC still owns Borg:

[Pancho61]

Good idea is to made a diy refractor base on tomy famisco optics. Could give a very good semi-apo scope at very affordable price. At the moment found one is easy but found one in good status is very hard as when it get in market this scope was create for children so I think you understand what I mean 😁😁

In actual market for good exemplary, you must pay around 50 euros so maybe 45GBP.

[theropod]

7 hours ago, Louis D said:

When I saw the radiator clamp, I knew you had to be an American.  I've got one holding together some splitting wood on my Adirondack rocker.  It can be added to the list of duct (duck) tape and baling wiring for fixing anything.

I will replace the hose clamp as soon as I track down the right drill bit size to make a 1/4” X 20 hole/thread to affix it properly. Give a hillbilly a break. My dad said there would never be a manned mission to the moon, and he was involved in the Manhattan project. If he could see M42, and the trapezium (sp?) he would have been blown away. I am, and everyone I know is when I show it to them, but my C90 doesn’t let down on that monster. Less stupendous are the clipped views of Andromeda. This little scope, resurrected from the dead,  might just work as a guider.

My buddy that has the mating objective has a PVC fitting for both objective and EP. He holds it or braces off a tree/building and swears it’s the coolest thing he owns. The binos that gave up these objectives came under the rear wheel of a full sized pickup.

I’m experimenting with this little scope and the alt/az mount I built out of junk, but now driven by an Arduino to move in proportion to the movement of a joystick. I posted about it somewhere here, but I’m too lazy to track it down. That mount was a little overburdened by the C90, but this tiny refractor ought to be a dandelion seed by comparison. Might be fun to play with while the EQM is doing something else.

If I could find a properly made objective in the 6” - 150mm range without having to take out a reverse mortgage to buy it I would. I know a machinist that could set me up with precise mounting thereof, among other goodies.