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advice omc-140

nightfisher

By nightfisher
in Discussions - Cameras

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nightfisher

nightfisher

Posted
Posted

Hi fellow stargazers,

i have bought a second hand orion omc-140 deluxe, i want to keep the scope but im not getting of to a good start and have found myself starting to look at refractors again!

so can you give me some useful tips on how to get the best from this quality instrument, so far i have found on low power its great but as the mag increases it fuzze`s out .

The previous owner mentioned using a barlow with lens removed as an extension on higher power eye piece`s and i have found i get image shift when focusing.

I really would like to stick with this scope, i know it has a long cooldown time and i will be using it for lunar planetary obs and imaging with spc900, many thanks in advance for any tips and advice:glasses1:

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PaulG

PaulG

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I used to run a 140 OMC along with a 120 F8.3 refractor last year.

I too experienced image shift, something I never experienced with my SW 127Mak.

As others have said, wait for good seeing conditions and let it cool down and star test it.

I used to have both the Mak and refractor set up when star testing, just to compare.

Paul

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F15Rules

F15Rules

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Hi Nightfisher,

I had an OMC140 for a few months last year. It was the hilux coating version and was optically very very good. At heart I am a refractor fan, but Maks are my next favourite scopes, and I really liked many things about the scope: the compact size, twin finder brackets (I had two finders on mine one either side of straight ahead, which is very convenient), and a smooth focuser (I didn't detect any image shift to be honest).

So why did I not keep it? Well, two reasons: I had a 5" Tal Refractor (which I stupidly later sold and really regret), which showed me everything the OMC could, but just had that sharper "snap" that fracs have. Second, the looooong cooldown period just got to me: I keep my scopes in the garage, so cooldown should be minimal, but even so, the OMC could take 90 minutes to be fully usable - and I don't get more than 2 hours per session as a rule!

Interestingly, my main scope now is also a Mak: it's a Lomo Astele 150mm and it is superb - hard to tell it's not a refractor. BUT: it has a mirror made of Astro sital glass, which is known to cool down very quickly. As a result, the Lomo is ready to use to best performance within 15minutes or less, every time.

I believe Intes scopes also use Astro sital glass - one reason they cost more, but it IS worth it.

I hope you can persevere with the OMC. They are a nice scope.

HTH,

cheers

Dave

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nightfisher

nightfisher

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the cool down on the omc, is horrendous, my plan is to set up the refractor and do an hour on that, then swap "frac for mak", but in the real world i would like to have just one scope to do all

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spaceboy

spaceboy

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The views from my 127 skymax were as good as I got from my 200k on planets which is good going. But I purchased it in March and only used it over the warmer months so I was set up in no time. As soon as I got wind of dew issues and cool down times my bubble burst. I sold that last week as I want to observe not sit the MAK out side for an Hr waiting for it to cool down only to watch clouds come over. Hence as you know my want for a refractor.

As long as you collimation is smack on you will get some great views but it will come at a cost during the colder months.

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PaulG

PaulG

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the cool down on the omc, is horrendous, my plan is to set up the refractor and do an hour on that, then swap "frac for mak", but in the real world i would like to have just one scope to do all

I've always wanted just one scope but never manged it yet :D (much to the annoyance of my better half lol).

For purely visual I prefer the refractor and for prime focus photography i prefer the 127Mak (for increased image scale).

The main reason for letting go of the OMC140 was visually the refractor was more pleasing to my eyes and photographically at F14 it was simply too slow for prime focus photography with my DSLR.

Paul

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nightfisher

nightfisher

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I've always wanted just one scope but never manged it yet :D (much to the annoyance of my better half lol).

For purely visual I prefer the refractor and for prime focus photography i prefer the 127Mak (for increased image scale).

The main reason for letting go of the OMC140 was visually the refractor was more pleasing to my eyes and photographically at F14 it was simply too slow for prime focus photography with my DSLR.

Paul

does the f14 mean this will be useless for webcam imaging

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Ags

Ags

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does the f14 mean this will be useless for webcam imaging

I have read that planetary webcams operate best between F20 and F30, so F14 is quite good... get a 1.5x and 2x barlow, maybe?

If you want to shoot DSOs F14 is really not good!

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  • 2 weeks later...
nightfisher

nightfisher

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Glad to hear everything turned out OK. Look forward to seeing some images. How's the 100rs shaping up??

the tal is a thing of beauty, to look at, and to look through had first light and very pleased, i find it strange that these wonderful instruments are not suggested more in "which scope" threads;)

"Yes good to hear that the scope is working alright now. Have you sorted out the focus travel issues and the image shift?"

I think these issue`s were down to me not being used to the quirks of a mak, focus is good and shift not to bad more noticeable when focusing at each end of focus travel, the omc is prone to bad seeing conditions, quite fussy and the legendary long cool down, but hey,i have a lovely tal to play with while its cooling

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