ST80 with binoviewers ???

[Moon-Monkey]

Good evening lovely people I’ve tried searching on here but haven’t hit a match yet has anyone used binoviewers on a SW ST80 ?? If so what binoviewers and what barlows / spacers etc did you have to use am looking at the possibility of using this with my wedge for white light any thoughts ?? 
clear skies 

[MalcolmM]

I've used Williams Optics binoviewers on a SW Star Travel 102.

I used a Baader prism diagonal with the WO 1.6 GPC attached to the telescope end of the diagonal. I have been told this is not the best place for the GPC (it should be attached to the binoviewer), but it allowed me to reach focus easily and gave me great immersive views of the moon and very relaxed viewing of star clusters.

Note, this was not using a wedge. A wedge will have a longer light path than the prism diagonal and therefore require more inward focus which might be an issue.

Malcolm 

[Moon-Monkey]

11 hours ago, MalcolmM said:

I've used Williams Optics binoviewers on a SW Star Travel 102.

I used a Baader prism diagonal with the WO 1.6 GPC attached to the telescope end of the diagonal. I have been told this is not the best place for the GPC (it should be attached to the binoviewer), but it allowed me to reach focus easily and gave me great immersive views of the moon and very relaxed viewing of star clusters.

Note, this was not using a wedge. A wedge will have a longer light path than the prism diagonal and therefore require more inward focus which might be an issue.

Malcolm 

Thanks Malcolm some good points lol here buddy I appreciate that it never occurred to me about the wedge being of a longer light path than my normal 2” diagonal hmmm I may have to reassess the situation I was looking forward to trying this out in the future but I guess it may not work with the little ST 

clear skies my friend 

[MalcolmM]

1 hour ago, Moon-Monkey said:

Thanks Malcolm some good points lol here buddy I appreciate that it never occurred to me about the wedge being of a longer light path than my normal 2” diagonal hmmm I may have to reassess the situation I was looking forward to trying this out in the future but I guess it may not work with the little ST 

clear skies my friend 

I was using a 1.25" diagonal. Your 2" will have a longer lightpath than that. Don't give up hope yet! @Stu is a bit of an expert on binoviewing and I think he uses a wedge. You also have the option of Baader solar film for example?

Malcolm 

[Stu]

13 hours ago, Moon-Monkey said:

Good evening lovely people I’ve tried searching on here but haven’t hit a match yet has anyone used binoviewers on a SW ST80 ?? If so what binoviewers and what barlows / spacers etc did you have to use am looking at the possibility of using this with my wedge for white light any thoughts ?? 
clear skies 

I could certainly try this but only have a 2” wedge which I suspect may have too long a light path. I can give it a go and let you know how much back focus is available.

[Nik271]

I use a solar wedge and even with the x2 an x3 GPC lenses which came with the binoviewer I could not achieve focus. There is a way around this too provided the default nosepiece of your binoviewer is threaded for filters (which I guess they all are nowdays). Screw in a x2 or a x3 barlow lens insead of a filter to the nosepiece. In my case this works. You can even put the barlow  further away from the nosepiece to accommodate longer and longer light paths. The distadvantage of this being

1. No idea what magnification results. You can esitmate the size of the sun compared to a known field of view of an eyepiece to get a reasonable estimate.

2. No place for a filter after the wedge. I have found that in small apertures (up to 80mm) you can put your colour  filter in front of the wedge without any adverse effects, the focal plane is so far away and the aperture is small, so the heat of the sun is not strong enough to damage the filter.

 

Edited April 23, 2023 by Nik271

[Moon-Monkey]

1 hour ago, MalcolmM said:

I was using a 1.25" diagonal. Your 2" will have a longer lightpath than that. Don't give up hope yet! @Stu is a bit of an expert on binoviewing and I think he uses a wedge. You also have the option of Baader solar film for example?

Malcolm 

Very true thabks bud It kind of erks me to go back to film now I have this wedge and can see the increase in contrasts and detail I’m getting now though 🙂

[Moon-Monkey]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

I could certainly try this but only have a 2” wedge which I suspect may have too long a light path. I can give it a go and let you know how much back focus is available.

Hey buddy that would be great thanks !! It was some of your posts that led me down the Lacerta wedge path and I’m so glad I did !!!! Holy cow this thing is awesome just wondering if binoviewers will give even more resolution to this setup 🙂 

[Moon-Monkey]

1 hour ago, Nik271 said:

I use a solar wedge and even with the x2 an x3 GPC lenses which came with the binoviewer I could not achieve focus. There is a way around this too provided the default nosepiece of your binoviewer is threaded for filters (which I guess they all are nowdays). Screw in a x2 or a x3 barlow lens insead of a filter to the nosepiece. In my case this works. You can even put the barlow  further away from the nosepiece to accommodate longer and longer light paths. The distadvantage of this being

1. No idea what magnification results. You can esitmate the size of the sun compared to a known field of view of an eyepiece to get a reasonable estimate.

2. No place for a filter after the wedge. I have found that in small apertures (up to 80mm) you can put your colour  filter in front of the wedge without any adverse effects, the focal plane is so far away and the aperture is small, so the heat of the sun is not strong enough to damage the filter.

 

That’s a good point bud never thought of Barlow oh after the binoviewer !! Not sure if I would risk my continuum direct in the path although as you say if the focus point is far off it should be ok this is what criterion did many years ago isn’t it with their solar filters 🙂🙂

[Chaz2b]

Are we assuming you’re placing the barlow in the nose piece of the binoviewer? If so, then you will need to be carefull you don’t strike the inside of the wedge surface, my Televue/ diagonal can accommodate the extra length but I don’t know if the lacerta wedge will. If there is an issue then you may need to insert ring spacer to bring the barlow away from any optical surface.

chaz

Edited May 6, 2023 by Chaz2b