Svbony 8-3 zoom

[Don Pensack]

8 hours ago, Mumia said:

With such exponential growth of Chinese optics companies, I am more concerned about our local European manufacturers

Other than the Docter/Noblex, and ATC, what European companies actually make eyepieces in the EU or UK?

Baader is made in China, as are APM, Omegon, Tecnosky, etc., etc.

[Louis D]

Don't Leica, Zeiss, and Swarovski still make some eyepieces in Europe for their spotting scopes?  They can be adapted for astronomy use.

[JeremyS]

My Leica Zoom was made in Portugal.

I was mortified to discover Baader are made in China.

I try to avoid EPs from PRC, but sometimes there is no option, like the SVB 3-8 zoom.

[Louis D]

Best not to go down this rabbit hole any further to avoid this thread being locked for being too political.

[Ratlet]

There is currently a sale on the official svbony website.  There are a few shipping options but I usually go for the one that includes customs and taxes which is more expensive but avoids hassle.  Using this option you can pick up the eyepiece for under £100 including delivery.

[Moonlit Night]

On 26/02/2024 at 20:37, JeremyS said:

My Leica Zoom was made in Portugal.

I was mortified to discover Baader are made in China.

I try to avoid EPs from PRC, but sometimes there is no option, like the SVB 3-8 zoom.

My TV 102 was made in America, the objective was made in Japan. Not that’s exactly the same thing. I wonder which country the glass in your zoom was produced in? I am sure it must have been assembled in Portugal. 
 

Do you not have to buy from Russia to obtain glass produced on the European continent? 

Edited March 2 by Moonlit Night

[Mr Spock]

Just ordered one. I have too many eyepieces already but I'm curious to see what all the fuss is about.

[Ratlet]

1 hour ago, Mr Spock said:

Just ordered one. I have too many eyepieces already but I'm curious to see what all the fuss is about.

I'm curious to see your opinion on it too.  I think for the price it's at, if you don't like it you can probably sell it on for the same you paid for it easily enough.

[Louis D]

2 hours ago, Moonlit Night said:

Do you not have to buy from Russia to obtain glass produced on the European continent? 

What about Schott?  Isn't it still made in Germany?

[Moonlit Night]

Dunno, maybe you’re right. Are they still making objectives for Skywatcher? They certainly don’t badge their scopes with Schott anymore. 

[F15Rules]

On 25/02/2024 at 19:32, Mumia said:

In recent days, after positive opinions about this eyepiece, I managed to buy it. In the coming days I will see how it compares to Tele Vue 3-6. There's going to be a duel between a first-league team and a second-league . We'll see what comes out of this comparison.

What makes you think the Tele Vue is Second League?😁🙃

Dave

[Don Pensack]

2 hours ago, Moonlit Night said:

Dunno, maybe you’re right. Are they still making objectives for Skywatcher? They certainly don’t badge their scopes with Schott anymore. 

Sky Watcher is Chinese, including the glass.

[Don Pensack]

5 hours ago, Moonlit Night said:

My TV 102 was made in America, the objective was made in Japan. Not that’s exactly the same thing. I wonder which country the glass in your zoom was produced in? I am sure it must have been assembled in Portugal. 
 

Do you not have to buy from Russia to obtain glass produced on the European continent? 

Here is a list of 23 world optical glass manufacturers:

https://us.metoree.com/categories/5194/

The list includes many in Japan, US, Germany and elsewhere.

It does not include any Russian sources and is light on Chinese sources (I don't know why),

but there are many sources in the EU and UK.

[Moonlit Night]

Interesting 

[Jforson]

7 hours ago, Ratlet said:

There is currently a sale on the official svbony website.  There are a few shipping options but I usually go for the one that includes customs and taxes which is more expensive but avoids hassle.  Using this option you can pick up the eyepiece for under £100 including delivery.

Thanks for the heads up, now on order

[Moonlit Night]

Well there you go. So the question is why aren’t refractors made in the UK? We do have OO and they do make decent mirrors. Only problem is you have to deal with OO to buy one. Unfortunately their legendary customer service is toe curling. I wonder where they get their correcter plates for their ridiculously overpriced cats from?
 

 

[Second Time Around]

Telescope Express in Germany hold good stocks of OOUK products.

Go to https://www.teleskop-express.de/en/orion-uk

[Knighty2112]

8 hours ago, Ratlet said:

There is currently a sale on the official svbony website.  There are a few shipping options but I usually go for the one that includes customs and taxes which is more expensive but avoids hassle.  Using this option you can pick up the eyepiece for under £100 including delivery.

Thanks. Just ordered one. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[Moonlit Night]

36 minutes ago, Second Time Around said:

Telescope Express in Germany hold good stocks of OOUK products.

Go to https://www.teleskop-express.de/en/orion-uk

I used to get loads of stuff from them before the event we don’t talk about on here. It got far too expensive afterwards. I got hit for a tax bill I didn’t expect, so that was the end of that. 

[John]

1 hour ago, Moonlit Night said:

Well there you go. So the question is why aren’t refractors made in the UK? 

 

It's off topic but there is / was I R Poyser:

IR Poyser – Telescope Makers | Makers of fine Brass Telescopes in the traditional style

And also we had Moonraker Telescopes:

Moonraker Telescopes - Home

And, again in the past, Skylight Telescopes.

All niche instruments, I guess. 

A topic for another thread perhaps ?

[Moonlit Night]

1 minute ago, John said:

It's off topic but there is / was I R Poyser:

IR Poyser – Telescope Makers | Makers of fine Brass Telescopes in the traditional style

And also we had Moonraker Telescopes:

Moonraker Telescopes - Home

And, again in the past, Skylight Telescopes.

All niche instruments, I guess. 

A topic for another thread perhaps ?

Perhaps, I remember those candy red and brass scopes. I didn’t think they make the glass themselves. I remember they used TV achro glass in some of them. The others were steam punk numbers I seem to remember. They still come up for sale now and then. 

Edited March 2 by Moonlit Night

[Moonlit Night]

Anyway, back on topic

[Louis D]

4 hours ago, Don Pensack said:

Here is a list of 23 world optical glass manufacturers:

https://us.metoree.com/categories/5194/

The list includes many in Japan, US, Germany and elsewhere.

It does not include any Russian sources and is light on Chinese sources (I don't know why),

but there are many sources in the EU and UK.

Weird that Corning isn't mentioned.  I'm pretty sure they still supply a lot of optical glass for various space and DoD projects.

[Louis D]

2 hours ago, Moonlit Night said:

Anyway, back on topic

Here's my contribution on this topic last year:

 

[Don Pensack]

23 hours ago, Louis D said:

Weird that Corning isn't mentioned.  I'm pretty sure they still supply a lot of optical glass for various space and DoD projects.

Yes, but no longer to the astronomy market.