TAL 1M - advice on replacement barlow

[chrisp]

Hi,

I have a TAL 1M of 1994 vintage that I have dusted off, removed the mouse nest etc.

I'm using it for prime focus photography using the supplied 3x barlow.

I think this barlow is rather poor quality. Can anyone suggest a suitable replacement barlow for this 4.5 inch Newtonian please?

Thank you

[rawhead]

Hi,

I have a TAL 1M of 1994 vintage .....

I'm using it for prime focus photography using the supplied 3x barlow.

I think this barlow is rather poor quality. Can anyone suggest a suitable replacement barlow for this 4.5 inch Newtonian please?

Thank you

Hi Chris (again )

Firstly I'm not convinced that barlow is a lemon. Tal barlows generally come highly recommended in the economy range....

Secondly, for some reason best known to the Ruskies, the early Tals do not have standard size (1.25'') EPs

That means a new EP or barlow will not fit your focuser. Definitely worth a check before you fork out for a new one.

That said the Orion Shorty Plus is an excellent X2 (Exactly the same as the Celestron Ultima only a good bit cheaper...)

Cheers

Jon

[chrisp]

Thanks for the info, Jon. I shall have to do some more tests.

Might be a focussing problem. It's so difficult to focus with camera attached as the image is so faint.