New refractor

[johnrt]

Evening folks,

Currently imaging through a skywatcher 150/750mm newt and a 1000d. This give a decent enough fov for smaller stuff but not enough for nebula and larger objects.

So, I made my bonus again and have some spare cash I'm trying to find a reason not to buy an IKI 70mm refractor with flattener & hard case from ian King.

Refractors from Ian King Imaging

Looks like a good deal. Does anyone have one to comment? Can anyone confirm the focal length, I can't seem to see it on the page? I imaging around 400mm?

I use an ST80 as a guide scope and would want to mount it up with the IKI refractor, would it be possible to piggy back it on to the top of the ST80 using the camera bolt, or would it weigh too much?

Cheers

[Euan]

Avoid the camera bolt and either stick two sets of tube rings together or use a side-by-side bar, the bolt doesn't have the stability to hold the guide scope, it has to be a rigid as possible

Just remember that with a small refractor like that and a chip the size of the 1000D you will get loads of coma / distortion around the egdes. If you want a nice crisp image you will need a field flattener of some sort, here are a few examples:

Reducers/Flatteners - Skywatcher Field Flattener

Reducers/Flatteners - Skywatcher Focal Reducers

Reducers/Flatteners - William Optics 0.8x Reducer / Flattener II

[johnrt]

The IKI comes with a flattener for £306. Wouldn't it be up to the task?

Anyone have a pic of how they have mounted a similar size refractor?

[johnrt]

One of these do the trick? On EQ5 mount.

Astro Engineering AC694 Gemini-Bar for Sky Watcher and other GEMs