Show us your Tak

[garryblueboy]

My FS NSV 

[josefk]

Using this rainy Friday to mess about weighing eyepieces and fine tune balancing arrangements on the AZ100 - just dialling out minor irritations in my set-up basically to enjoy next time it's clear - anyway - here the TOA behaving itself with an EP at the heavier end of the scale.

[Sunshine]

On 31/03/2023 at 05:59, josefk said:

Using this rainy Friday to mess about weighing eyepieces and fine tune balancing arrangements on the AZ100 - just dialling out minor irritations in my set-up basically to enjoy next time it's clear - anyway - here the TOA behaving itself with an EP at the heavier end of the scale.

Beautiful setup, beautiful image!

[SamAndrew]

Well, it has happened, having had many different scopes over the years, I have finally joined the Tak owners club 😁

Picked up this FSQ-106ED over the weeked. Now a waiting game for some clear skies!

[josefk]

5 hours ago, SamAndrew said:

Well, it has happened, having had many different scopes over the years, I have finally joined the Tak owners club 😁

Picked up this FSQ-106ED over the weeked. Now a waiting game for some clear skies!

Superb - for visual and the joy of a wide FOV without field curvature or for imaging? In either case a lovely scope!

Edited April 24, 2023 by josefk

[josefk]

16 hours ago, Sunshine said:

Beautiful setup, beautiful image!

Thank you. It might even make it outside of the house tonight 🤣. Clear Outside forecasts clear outside for the first time in what feels like weeks and weeks...

[JeremyS]

8 hours ago, SamAndrew said:

Well, it has happened, having had many different scopes over the years, I have finally joined the Tak owners club 😁

Picked up this FSQ-106ED over the weeked. Now a waiting game for some clear skies!

Lovely. But tradition dictates we have a shot of the OG 😊

[SamAndrew]

8 hours ago, josefk said:

Superb - for visual and the joy of a wide FOV without field curvature or for imaging? In either case a lovely scope!

Thanks. It will mostly be for imaging, but it would be criminal not to look through it from time to time. Looking forward to visually testing it on the Moon to start with. 

Will post some more pics once it stops raining and I set it up outside.

Edited April 24, 2023 by SamAndrew

[The60mmKid]

I've decided to bump this thread in appreciation of my FOA-60Q. I'll post a fresh picture of it soon.

The conditions in London this evening could hardly have been more lamentable - strong wind propelling thick blankets of clouds, accompanied by mushy seeing and a full moon. One massive cloud was receding to the east, and there was a strip of sky ahead of the next cloud wall arriving from the west. A 20-minute window... FOA-60 is on it, providing beautiful, crystal-clear views of Zet UMa, Eps Boo, Alp Her, Eps Lyr, and 61 Cyg. A night with brief glimpses of a few of your favorite double stars is better than a night of wishing you were looking at double stars.

I've read assessments of FOA-60/FOA-60Q that claim that you need excellent conditions to see how they outperform other 60mm refractors. I completely disagree. I've owned other fine 60mm refractors, and I am wowed every time I look through this scope.

Edited July 2, 2023 by The60mmKid

[MalcolmM]

Just paying homage to a gorgeous little scope that I have had a lot of fun with recently, observing Venus . The Extender-Q gives it a bit of extra punch without the slightly extra hassle of fitting the CQ 1.7x Extender. The addition of an MEF3 micro focuser makes it even more of a pleasure to use.

Malcolm 

 

[Mr Spock]

I have a couple of these things lurking around...

 

[garryblueboy]

I Did miss this for a while not the bad back pain though but now I have the TEC140 ED in its place it’s every bit as good and half the weight 

[Highburymark]

1 hour ago, Mr Spock said:

I have a couple of these things lurking around...

 

Very nice. What’s the 45 degree diagonal with the FS60 out of interest?
Going against the classic Tak grain, I also like the More Blue rings for the bigger scopes. They’re smart and well built. I think Tak has missed a trick not offering its own line of slightly more affordable rings.

[Stu]

1 minute ago, Highburymark said:

Very nice. What’s the 45 degree diagonal with the FS60 out of interest?
Going against the classic Tak grain, I also like the More Blue rings for the bigger scopes. They’re smart and well built. I think Tak has missed a trick not offering its own line of slightly more affordable rings.

Agreed, I think the MoreBlue rings work really well, look good and are light but strong.

Strangely I’ve got MoreBlue on my three smaller Taks but have kept the clamp on the FS-128 as it seems to work very well, easy to loosen to move the scope of needed but very solid.

[Highburymark]

11 minutes ago, Stu said:

Agreed, I think the MoreBlue rings work really well, look good and are light but strong.

Strangely I’ve got MoreBlue on my three smaller Taks but have kept the clamp on the FS-128 as it seems to work very well, easy to loosen to move the scope of needed but very solid.

For the FS-128 I think I’d have done the same Stu. More of a classic look.

[Highburymark]

Bizarrely, the More Blue rings even seem to work with the turbobanana.

[Mr Spock]

19 minutes ago, Highburymark said:

Very nice. What’s the 45 degree diagonal with the FS60 out of interest?

It's for birding  Unfortunately given the 'awkward' focuser on the 60, this combination is all I can get to work. The diagonal has horrible CA at any decent magnification 

 

20 minutes ago, Highburymark said:

Going against the classic Tak grain, I also like the More Blue rings for the bigger scopes.

The MoreBlue rings are superb - as is the rest of their stuff. I got the MEF3 because it matched the scope but others say the MoreBlue fine focuser works better.

[JeremyS]

I got a set of More Blue rings for one of my Tak refractors recently. I found them disappointing. The knobs were fiddly to loosen (I sometimes loosen to adjust balance by sliding the OTA - the Tak clamshell knob is easier to loosen and there is only one, not two as with More Blue rings). I wasn’t impressed by the finish either. 
They went back 😊

[MalcolmM]

The big advantage of the Tak cradle from my point of view is the ease with which you can loosen the clamp a bit and slide the scope so easily to achieve balance. Great for swapping between mono and binoviewers. Looks great too in my opinion. I use them in all my Taks (Mewlon excepted)

Malcolm 

[JeremyS]

Tessa waiting for darkness 

[Nicola Fletcher]

4 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Tessa waiting for darkness 

Looks like a lovely clear day there! Still cloudy on the east coast of Ireland 🥲

[Nicola Fletcher]

My new FC100DZ, set up but no stars to be seen yet. I can’t wait to get it out for first light. I was so tempted to get the TSA120 instead but went with the DZ to get a bit of extra aperture but keep the portability that I like from the FC76. 
 

In a fit of frustration at the clouds, last night I ordered the Baader 2” BBHS mirror diagonal and the 41mm Panoptic for some widefield views if the weather ever improves. I’m a bit apprehensive about the size of the gigantic Panoptic but the 24mm is so much fun in the FC76, I thought the big brother in the DZ could be great. Let’s see if my mad plan works out!

[johnturley]

6 minutes ago, Nicola Fletcher said:

My new FC100DZ, set up but no stars to be seen yet. I can’t wait to get it out for first light. I was so tempted to get the TSA120 instead but went with the DZ to get a bit of extra aperture but keep the portability that I like from the FC76. 
 

In a fit of frustration at the clouds, last night I ordered the Baader 2” BBHS mirror diagonal and the 41mm Panoptic for some widefield views if the weather ever improves. I’m a bit apprehensive about the size of the gigantic Panoptic but the 24mm is so much fun in the FC76, I thought the big brother in the DZ could be great. Let’s see if my mad plan works out!

Looks like you've got it mounted on a Skywatcher AZ-EQ5, which should be more than adequate.

John 

[Nicola Fletcher]

23 minutes ago, johnturley said:

Looks like you've got it mounted on a Skywatcher AZ-EQ5, which should be more than adequate.

I hope so - the AZ-EQ5 is a great mount and I think it should be able for the scope with a big EP. I was more worried about overloading the Tak focuser. The Scopeviews review for this scope says you can get slop with the use of heavy CCDs or binoviewers. I don’t think the 41 Pan will be as heavy as that though (1.4kg for both diagonal and EP 😬)

Edited July 21, 2023 by Nicola Fletcher

[dweller25]

2 hours ago, Nicola Fletcher said:

I hope so - the AZ-EQ5 is a great mount and I think it should be able for the scope with a big EP. I was more worried about overloading the Tak focuser. The Scopeviews review for this scope says you can get slop with the use of heavy CCDs or binoviewers. I don’t think the 41 Pan will be as heavy as that though (1.4kg for both diagonal and EP 😬)

I’m using a Baader MK V binoviewer in my DZ with no issues 👍