FC100 DZ first light

[Trentend]

Quick session last night with the scope, Binotron/powerswitch, x2 Denk barlow and a couple of eyepieces on a scopetech mount. Targets were limited to Jupiter and Saturn as they danced inbetween the local rooftops coming in to and out of view.

First impressions on Jupiter - wow. Crystal clear straight out the box. Zero cool down required but huge amounts of contrast/detail and brightness. I’m yet to fully master working out magnifications with the various powerswitch / OCS / Denk Barlow combinations and conscious the scale of the views were significantly smaller than my C11 but somehow didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything. Tried both 24mm panoptics and D14s. The latter were great on the middle and lower powerswitch. The 24’s though are just so comfortable to use in a binoviewer and think I preferred these. Worked fine on all 3 powerswitch levels with the 2” extension tube in place. Could clearly see more than the usual number of observed bands on Jupiter. Not sure if I could add a Tak 1.6 extender in addition to the Denk Barlow for even greater magnification or would U.K. skies limit that?

Saturn was good but noticeably smaller compared to the C11 (to be expected) and not quite as much of a wow factor, although appreciate I’m comparing apples and pears - and hate to say it but views seemed comparable to the little mak127 if the latter is left to cool! The mak though was quite “mushy” at higher mags on Jupiter compared to the Tak.

So all in all a great mini session. Very pleased with the results on Jupiter teasing out detail I hadn’t seen before (even from bigger scopes). Can’t wait to try it on the moon.

A few technical points I’d appreciate folks thoughts on:

1. I had to move the diagonal back about 10mm to get high mag powerswitch focus with one of the eyepieces. Was fine doing this but wonder if there’s an adapter or something I could put in place instead

2. I didn’t get on well at all with the focuser. Found it very stiff - so much so that the whole scope wobbled quite a bit when trying to fine tune so struggled to get the best performance out the scope. I tried adjusting the draw tube clamp but this didn’t seem to make any difference (loosening or tightening up). There was also quite a bit of grease on the draw tube itself. The scope’s not brand new but is this just a case of letting it bed in further or is there something else I should do? Would prefer not to have to replace the focuser with a mef3 or more blue at this early stage.

3. I bought a Vixen HR 1.6mm eyepiece many years ago. Tried in mono mode in the diagonal with no Barlow but still couldn’t get anything to focus. Appreciate this would be very high mag but what set up would people recommend?

4. Wonder if I should buy a Baader dovetail levelling bar to help with balancing? A lot of weight at the back end with my set up and the slow motion controls on the mount were ok but struggling a little at times. Was windy though which didn’t help.

5. I’d like to stick a rigel finder on to the scope in addition to the finder scope (helps with encoder alignment). I could just use the double sided tape on the rigel baseplate and position on the tube - presume this would be simple to remove at a later point and wouldn’t damage the immaculate Tak paintwork!?

Any advice much appreciated.

 

Edited October 10, 2021 by Trentend

[Franklin]

Sounds good to me. Probably the best 4" optic on the market. I'm jealous!

[Highburymark]

Nice report! The cool down time on these scopes is so fast, it can be almost ignored most of the year.

[Space Hopper]

I'm interested to know the focusing range. Does it have a scale on it.

I find when binoviewing i need around a 70mm range to work with low power / high power 

with my Baader system. Its difficult and the tube ideally needs to be just the right length.

But with the OCA i thought it would be easier. If you adjust it so you can get focus with the low power arm in,

with the focuser almost fully raked in, are you then running out of out focus in high power mode ?

[johnturley]

Tempted to get one as a more portable scope to take on trips.

Would be interested to see how in compares with my ES 127 FCD100 Refractor on planets, according some some claims it may give superior views, if I find that to be the case then I would offset some of the cost by selling my ES 127.

John 

[Deadlake]

I'd be interested to know how long it would take for the C11 too cool down to get a comparable image of Jupiter or Saturn? 
Also does the C11 and the DZ balance out when mounted side by side on the AZ100?

[Trentend]

7 hours ago, Space Hopper said:

I'm interested to know the focusing range. Does it have a scale on it.

I find when binoviewing i need around a 70mm range to work with low power / high power 

with my Baader system. Its difficult and the tube ideally needs to be just the right length.

But with the OCA i thought it would be easier. If you adjust it so you can get focus with the low power arm in,

with the focuser almost fully raked in, are you then running out of out focus in high power mode ?

I’ll take some measurements next time I’m out. I think 2 out of the 3 power settings were fine. Just needed 10mm more travel for all 3 to work. Still a ,or less hassle I find than changing eyepieces!

[Trentend]

6 hours ago, Deadlake said:

I'd be interested to know how long it would take for the C11 too cool down to get a comparable image of Jupiter or Saturn? 
Also does the C11 and the DZ balance out when mounted side by side on the AZ100?

The other week I had the C11 out for about an hour to cool down (nothing more). Saturn was like holding a 2p piece at arms length rather than a 1p with the mak/Tak. Moments of incredible clarity. Jupiter was also large and I could clearly see brownish banding and the GRS. I’ll need to get some more bits and bobs before I can mount two scopes on the AZ100 but am looking forward to that. The AZ100 is absolutely fine with just the C11 on one side and no counterweight so am sure adding a second scope will improve things (but not my back moving stuff around…)

[Trentend]

Spent half an hour or so this evening comparing a Tak and mak127. Usual set up with Binotron, 24mm pans and either OCS45 or x2 Barlow. Had both scopes on an AZ100 mount so was able to repeatably compare the two. Targets were Saturn and Jupiter again.

Tak was crystal clear out the box either with the OCS or Barlow.  Had the 2” extension tube in and the Binotron worked on all powerswitch settings with the Barlow but just the medium and high with the OCS (not quite enough in focus on the low).

Tak was noticeably brighter with more contrast. Best views were with the Barlow and powerswitch on medium and high setting. The latter I think works out around x200. Tried the same set up in the mak and view was ok in the low powerswitch setting which is a little less magnification. Not quite as sharp or bright but for 1/10th the cost still very good. Not worth using the mak though on the medium or high powerswitch settings. Perhaps would be better with time to cool down a little.
 

Overall very happy with the recent Tak purchase. Good to know I can get great planetary views (moments when Saturn although small really snapped in to view). Looking forward to some lunar action. Also have some Denk 3D eyepieces kicking around somewhere which I’ve never got around to trying…

 

Edited October 25, 2021 by Trentend