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Baader ortho or University Optics ortho?!

milkyjoe

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John

John

Posted
Posted
Nope - and there's never been any claim to the contrary. They're all the same.

Just plain ol' Circle-Ts - the same as the Telescope House versions, and all the others, except with the words "University Optics" on the sides.

There's your answer then milkyjoe - it's overpriced !.

If you hang on a bit some £20 ones might come along :o

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John

John

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Hopefully John. I'm still looking for a Televue 25mm ep too, but not found one as of yet. :-(

TV 25mm plossl ? - I recall having to wait some time before one of those came along when I was building my collection of that range - I think most folks go for the 32mm and the 20mm and skip the 25mm - not that there's anything wrong with it.

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great_bear

great_bear

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Yay! - Top class sleuthing there!!!

I had seen "Tani" crop up as a candidate in the past, but without any substantiating evidence. However, the link you've provided has excellent photos that pretty much close this mystery for good.

Here's the Google Translated version: Google Translate

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milkyjoe

milkyjoe

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Yay! - Top class sleuthing there!!!

I had seen "Tani" crop up as a candidate in the past, but without any substantiating evidence. However, the link you've provided has excellent photos that pretty much close this mystery for good.

Here's the Google Translated version: Google Translate

It was quite easy really, google is your friend! ;-)

It's fascinating to see how these are made. :o

Richard.

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glowjet

glowjet

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Milkyjoe, this confirms what Barry Gooley of KK advised a couple of years back when I inquired, that CircleT were manufactured in Tokyo in a small factory run by a very old Japanese Optician who was called Mr Tani, he has been making the ep, it seems, for most of his life, he does not posses a mobile or a computer.

John.

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Astro_Baby

Astro_Baby

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The original Baader GOs made much of the Phantom Coatings which were supposed to offer better views, interestingly when Baader dropped the GOs and the old UO Hs returned along with the Astro Hutech everyone who tested said they could discern no difference beteen the non Phantom Coated Astro Hutechs and the original Baader GOs which kind of made me suspect the Phantom coatings were hyped up somewhat - seeing as people said the new non-phantom coated were every bit as good.

There was a really indepth review of 5mm orthos on CN for the 6mm  - take  look here http://www.cloudynights.com/page/articles/cat/user-reviews/eyepieces/eyepieces-3mm-13mm/6mm-lunarplanetary-eyepiece-comparison-r1865= the BGO was rated as better that the UO - bear in mind in that test the BGO was up against some divinely exotic glass in that test.

I had quite a few of the BGOs and the UO VT types  - most of my BGOs were sold off as I found i just didnt use them but I retained the VTs as I find them more comfy to use - some people do prefer the VTs and claim they are easier to cope with on the eyeballs.  Personally looking through the BGOs and the UO VTs I would have been hard pressed to say one was better than the other.

Bear in mind ANY ortho will have a tight eye relief at the shorter focal lengths - I generally only run down to about 9mm - of all of my GOs I only have the 6mm and the 5mm left - they arent ever used but I never got round to buying the VTs in this size and UO stopped making them without much warning :( I normally dont go down that small in orthos as the eye relief gets awkward for me so I decided to keep the BGOs- but would have liked to complete the set of VTs.

Its fair to say a Pentax XW will run either of them off the road for clarity and sharpness not to mention wider field and comfort but you would find it a tad difficult to find an XW going up for sale at anything like the price of a 2nd hand BGO or UO VT.

I messed around with all sorts of mid range EPs and found the only thing that trounced the VTs for clrity and sharpness were XWs but thats a big step up in cost.

Heres a pic of my set as was.....

post-2158-0-09758500-1447191986.jpg

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glowjet

glowjet

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So maybe the old man manufacturing them in a low-tech way is a myth then ?

Last time I spoke with Barry Gooley of KK, he told me that Mr Tani had now retired, his small workshop would never reopen, this is a few Christmases ago now. As a consequence new Circle T are no longer manufactured or available, where the Old Japanese Gentleman obtained his glass from, I have no idea. I don't doubt though, that if anyone was interested in the history of this, Barry of KK, the former distributor of the eye pieces, could possibly throw some light on it  :)

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John

John

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Last time I spoke with Barry Gooley of KK, he told me that Mr Tani had now retired, his small workshop would never reopen, this is a few Christmases ago now. As a consequence new Circle T are no longer manufactured or available, where the Old Japanese Gentleman obtained his glass from, I have no idea. I don't doubt though, that if anyone was interested in the history of this, Barry of KK, the former distributor of the eye pieces, could possibly throw some light on it  :)

Barry put a notice on the KK website regarding Mt Tani's retirement I seem to recall.

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Astro_Baby

Astro_Baby

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Tani san did in fact retire a few years ago - I always thought the venerable Tani was the maker of Circle T - I seem to recall seeing a web article of him polishing lenses up so assumed he made the whole thing.  Maybe not.  I thought BGOs were discontinued because Tani retired and therefore the source of glass dried up - ditto the UO VTs.

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John

John

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Tani san did in fact retire a few years ago - I always thought the venerable Tani was the maker of Circle T - I seem to recall seeing a web article of him polishing lenses up so assumed he made the whole thing.  Maybe not.  I thought BGOs were discontinued because Tani retired and therefore the source of glass dried up - ditto the UO VTs.

I thought that the BGO production was knocked out by the Japanese earthquake / tsunami of 2011 :icon_scratch:

There was a sudden but short lived hike in the prices of the BGO's. The prices settled back again when the Astro Hutech and Fujiyama orthos came on stream.

I guess it's quite possible that there is more than one manufacturer of this pattern of eyepiece ?

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