Ikharus 102mm ED Unboxing

[Uranium235]

Very, very interesting scope that is. Its nicely placed between the ED80 and 120 without breaking the bank (or your mount). If I had the dosh id buy one right now.

[ribuck]

Yeah, it fits perfectly in the middle, it's very light weight indeed for a refractor, whilst you dont get schott glass like the ed 120's, the optics are spot on + you get the bonus of an amazing focuser and a free matched field flattener/reducer turning into an F5.4 Astrograph.

I can't think of anything else that comes anywhere close in terms of price/quality

rich.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Neat stuff, and an amazing first image. Looks like a killer astrograph to me.

[ribuck]

Hi Michael,

Yes i'm very impressed so far. I could never get remotely close to this with my old 8" newt as i just found collimation, Focusing a lot more difficult, in contrast the Ikharus is a pleasure to use, very simple and straight forward.

I've had lots of different telescopes, Dobs, SCT's, Newt's and now the Ikharus and I can say without a shadow of a doubt it is the best investment in astronomy that i've ever made.

Rich.

[JamesT]

Hi

I have just purchased an IKHARUS from Ian King. Excuse my ignorance but I cannot see how the field flattener attaches to the scope. I am presuming the flattener is the 2" connecter tube thingy with the lens in it. It is not obvious to me where it goes? The scope arrived with the 2" to 1.25" adapter fitted. Also a minor point but mine did not include a finder bracket so Ian supplied me with a Bader bracket which comes with one central countersunk screw and two slots either side for other fixing screws. Unfortunately the provided screw does not fit any threaded holes in the focuser or rings. Sorry if these are basic questions but any advice would be appreciated. REALLY nice feel and look to the the scope tho' ..... James

[JamesT]

Hi

I have just purchased an IKHARUS from Ian King. Excuse my ignorance but I cannot see how the field flattener attaches to the scope. I am presuming the flattener is the 2" connecter tube thingy with the lens in it. It is not obvious to me where it goes? The scope arrived with the 2" to 1.25" adapter fitted. Also a minor point but mine did not include a finder bracket so Ian supplied me with a Bader bracket which comes with one central countersunk screw and two slots either side for other fixing screws. Unfortunately the provided screw does not fit any threaded holes in the focuser or rings. Sorry if these are basic questions but any advice would be appreciated. REALLY nice feel and look to the the scope tho' ..... James

OK -- The penny dropped with a clang! The field flattener replaces the 2" to 1.25" eyepiece adapter and the Camera T ring screws to the field flattener so the camera can attach! Obvious when I sat back and thought about it! I just need to discover the thread size in the pair of holes on the focusser to attach the bader finder bracket for my red spot finder ...... Phew! James

[ribuck]

HI James,

Glad you figured out the field flattener. Are you planning on any sort of imaging with a DSLR or CCD camera ?

With regards to your finder, i bought a williams optics RDF and that fitted perfectly, and was bought on Ian's recommendation. I also bought, the williams optics small sinderscope rings which again worked perfectly.

The reason to use Williams optics accessories is becuase the scope is basically a williams optics Megrez with a different focuser.

Hope this helps,

Rich.

[JamesT]

Hi Rich

Thanks for info .... I did wonder who the manufacturer of the Ikharus was. I have a red dot finder on my 90mm Mak-Cass which fits the Bader fixture supplied by Ian. I have a Canon EOS 500D camera which I intend to use but it is un-modified for astro photography. I also have the BackyardEOS imaging software which I am playing with.

James

[ribuck]

Hi James,

Just a head up on the imaging side of things, are you aware that for most field flatteners there is a critical spacing requirement when used with DSLR and ccd's ?

When using for imaging, the field flattener attaches to your camera / DSLR and the lip of where the flattener screws into your camera needs to be 55mm away from the surface of your ccd / camera cmos chip. There is about a 1mm tolerance either side i.e. 54 or 56mm but for the best performance it should be 55mm.

Rich.

[JamesT]

Thanks Rich

I will check that. I also use an SPC900 webcam modified for long exposure & Amp off. Is this compatible with the field flattener ?

James

[ribuck]

Hi James, you would never really use a field flattener with a webcam, plus webcams tend to be 2" fittings not 1 1/4".

The only type of lense you would expect to use with web cams would be either barlows or focal reducers and the latter should not be confused with field flatteners but often is.

Regards,

Richard.

[JamesT]

My webcam is 1.25"

Thanks for heads up!

James

[mobi]

Hi ribuck, have you taken any more recent astro pics with your Ikharus 102mm scope?

Would really like to view some recent astro pics you have taken! Your Orion nebulae pic was one of the best I,ve seen for a first test on a new scope.

[ribuck]

Hey Mobi,

No i've not had a change to do any more imaging recently due to a combination of travelling with work, long periods of bad weather, and erm well tripping in the observatory and unfortunately the focuser took the brunt of my fall, which damaged the tension mechanism.

Ian king has my focuser at the moment to give me a quote for repairing it, and hopefully i'll have it back soon and get back doing some images.

Rich.

[mobi]

Hi ribuck, sorry to hear you damaged your Ikharus 102mm scope.It,s easy to damage delicate optical scopes with even the slightest knock.

I,m stuck between getting the Ikharus 102mm from Ian King at £575 or the Orion ED80T CF triplet from scsastro which is £615.The ED80T CF looks really nice with it,s carbon tube and FPL53 optics.

Here is a link to someone who did a user review with lots of photos:

myastroimages.com • View topic - Orion ED80T CF Release Date Pushed

I,m sorely tempted by the ED80 Cf but the Ikharus has an extra 22mm in diameter so more light gathering ability? Maybe?

What do you or others think?

Hope you get your scope back from Ian king all ok and good luck with the clouds and future imaging.

[ribuck]

Mobi,

There are lots of considerations to think about ?

1) Is weight an issue, as triplets can be a lot heavier, but in your case a smaller scope made of carbon fibre would offset this.

2) A good quality doublet will outperform a poorer quality triplet, so be careful here.

3) if you have any collimation issues due to a knock or drop, a triplet will be a lot harder to sort out.

4) Are you planning to do imaging ? if so are you planning to use a colour ccd or a mono, this is important, as if you plan to image with a colour ccd then get a triplet as all of the light (rgb) focuses on the same focal plane, using a doublet with a colour ccd one of the colour channels usually blue light i think, has a ever so slightly different focal point, so can cause a slight softness in the final image.

If you are planning mono ccd with a filter wheel then this makes no difference as it's normal practice to refocus on each filter change.

5) Your comment about 80mm vs 102mm aperture, well dont get bogged down on that, as you gain a wider field of view with the 80mm and even though you get less light grab, you can always compensate with longer exposures.

On the other hand if you are also doing a lot of visual, then the extra light grasp is well worth it.

6) What are the focal ratio's between the 2 scopes ? For imaging the lower the better. The ikharus is great as it's F5.6 with the field flattener which puts in astrograph territory.

7) As i mentioned above, the ikharus comes with a field flattener and gives and excellent flat field right across the image. Expect to add at least another £120+ to the cost of the other scope to add a field flattener which are normally essential for imaging with refractors.

you have a tough choice ahead, and i can't recommend any as i'd probably be biased as i love the Ikharus...........

P.s. the link to other telescope review i didn't read it, i just looked at the pictures, but the first thing that struck me is that he/she had a manual filter wheel and camera on a A/Z mount, so they can't be doing any wide field / DSO imaging, only planetary and that's the wrong type of scope for that, so i'm guessing visual only.

Rich.

[jnc71106]

Also following this thread with interest as I'm also looking at this scope. You say you prefer it to your 8" newt. Could you elaborate on that a bit for me. Do you mean it's better in terms of imaging or visually ??

[ribuck]

I prefer it both for visual and imaging. The visual view are the best i've seen on the moon, very crisp and contrasty. I've not used it on the planets as i'm more interested wide field & DSO imaging.

On the imaging side, well not had much of a chance to play with it, except for M42 image, but i think that speaks for itself especially seeing it was a 30 second sub, with no processing, and no flats.

I guess i just love not needing to worry about the size or weight of the scope, the hassles of limited back focus of a newt, let alone the collimation side of things.

I honestly cant fault the scope, especially at the price as well as the fact that you get a free matched flattener.

in my Humble opinion, i just thing think that there is a better value package out there at the moment.

Rich.

[Tim]

in my Humble opinion, i just thing think that there is a better value package out there at the moment.

Rich.

Oh? Where's that then Rich? :p

[ribuck]

Doooh, typo i meant No better package out there.......lol

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

When looking at the Orion 80mm (which looks the business) I wonder if it uses the same triplet as the TS or APM 80mm f=480mm, but in a carbon tube. The TS and APM are excellent value for money, and only weigh about 2.4 kg, so even my old Great Polaris mount is quite able to carry them for photographic purposes (still need to get an auto-guider extension for it). The Orion (which is more expensive) should be a bit lighter, but whether this is meaningful is another matter.

[ribuck]

Well if the 80mm triplet is using PL53 glass then you will usually get low dispersion and generally very good optics, but in the case of this comparison it comes down to how they want to use it, i.e. visual or imaging or both, and what type of ccd are they using, as well as the cost including ancillary items like field flatteners which are a must for imaging which can bump up the price considerably.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Well if the 80mm triplet is using PL53 glass then you will usually get low dispersion and generally very good optics, but in the case of this comparison it comes down to how they want to use it, i.e. visual or imaging or both, and what type of ccd are they using, as well as the cost including ancillary items like field flatteners which are a must for imaging which can bump up the price considerably.

The TS/APM triplet (using FPL53 indeed) has been compared to TMB and Takahashi, quality-wise. I bought mine with flattener for EUR 847, which is a steal.

[Albireo380]

I just got an Ikharus 102 ED from Ian King. I unpacked it 10 days ago (hence the storms and constant cloud up here in Glasgow).

It came well packed and is a substantial OTA - nice finish too. The focusser is VERY beefy and I had several conversations with Ian about imaging with a Canon 500D using this scope and this focusser. Ian assured me that all would be well. Certainly the focusser is MUCH beefier than the one I had on my previous 'fract, a Meade 80mm triplet APO (Good optics, poor focusser). No chance to image yet, and for the next 2 mths it is light all night up here, so may just have to wait.

I have had 15mins Lunar observing with the Ikharus. I would agree with Ribuck - very nice contrasty, crisp views. So for observing, this looks like a very nice performer. For imaging, I will have to wait to find out, but others on this Forum seem to be getting good results.

I was looking for a 'fract for a mixture of observing (almost grab n' go) and imaging. I am primarily an observer, but do cross to "the dark side" sometimes. Hopefully this 'scope can fulfill some of my needs in both these areas.

Tom

[mobi]

I just got an Ikharus 102 ED from Ian King. I unpacked it 10 days ago (hence the storms and constant cloud up here in Glasgow).

It came well packed and is a substantial OTA - nice finish too. The focusser is VERY beefy and I had several conversations with Ian about imaging with a Canon 500D using this scope and this focusser. Ian assured me that all would be well. Certainly the focusser is MUCH beefier than the one I had on my previous 'fract, a Meade 80mm triplet APO (Good optics, poor focusser). No chance to image yet, and for the next 2 mths it is light all night up here, so may just have to wait.

I have had 15mins Lunar observing with the Ikharus. I would agree with Ribuck - very nice contrasty, crisp views. So for observing, this looks like a very nice performer. For imaging, I will have to wait to find out, but others on this Forum seem to be getting good results.

I was looking for a 'fract for a mixture of observing (almost grab n' go) and imaging. I am primarily an observer, but do cross to "the dark side" sometimes. Hopefully this 'scope can fulfill some of my needs in both these areas.

Tom

Please take some pics of your Ikharus 102mm so we can see always like looking at pics! more the better lol.

Maybe a photo of the moon? So we can see how contrasty the views are?

Good luck with your Ikharus 102mm up there in Scotland,