Posts Made By: Russell Lederman

The BW Optik was still an excellent unit and I have told that to many callers who ask if they should sell and buy ours. I did this as recently as two days ago and still have the sent email, though I would not post it w/o prior permission of the recipient.

So the issues:

As you know, most all small optics ordered in the USA are then made overseas. This is the reality now. We order all of our parts etc. here in the USA (100%)but I realize that some parts are made overseas. We are performance oriented and always saw that performance in the Standard Binoviewers that we have shipped. The many testimonials about the Standard Deepsky Binoviewer indicate outstanding performance. Many of these folks have used everything out there and have comparison tested. We have always been pleased with performance of our binoviewers and have rejected maybe 5% of the prisms that show artifacts or stray reflections discerned by us via artificial star tests or outdoor tests.

But performance wise, we always felt that for $599 or any price, we could compete with the very best out there. Did we want better? Anyone that deals with me and knows me will tell you that they know that we will not stop until we have the best possible product, PERIOD. I say it now, publicly. If there is room for improvement, I won’t sit here bellowing out the “old review” sites from years ago. We will make a better product and wait for new reviews.

So how about the finish of the prism edges? We were not satisfied and dogged the company to improve this. "Is there a problem with performance" they would ask. Well...er no. We opened up another “top” brand and found the edges to be virtually identical. Maybe the Germans finish the edges better, sure. Well, then, do we just ignore this? We would never ignore poor performance and performance was not an issue so we had trouble getting the company to refine the “look”.


We strongly feel that performance wise, the Standard Deepsky Binoviewer is right up there with anything in the world. Are the prism edges as nice as the BW? Maybe not. What would I want in my scope? The Denkmeier for sure but again, I am involved with this company! Who cares what I would prefer?

We decided that the only way to fine tune our product into the “ultimate binoviewer” was to take total control of such matters ourselves. Therefore we have announced recently the details of our new Premium Binoviewer.

With our Patent Pending Multi-Purpose OCS and the Patent Pending SCT Richfield Starsweeper, we plan to forge a new path into the Binoviewer future. Sounds like a commercial? Well, I’ve got to say it all here, don’t I? Do I have a choice? I have confidence and am psyched bigtime.
I have no interest in attempting to manipulate the buyers out there with BS rhetoric quite frankly. I have no time for that. So here are the facts.

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All of the new Premium Prisms are being made entirely in the USA under our combined efforts with a team of engineers. The prisms details can be seen on our website under “Optical Quality”. They will be incomparable. They will have a 100% dielectric coating (rather than metallic or hybrid) on the beam Splitter junction. They will have 27MM apertures. They will have Broad Band coatings on all of the transmission surfaces that will rate at 99.75% and actually ~ 99.9% in the 500nm-550nm range. There will be both transmission and Zygo data indicating the surface quality (~ 1/8 wave!) and also a certificate of origin accompamying each Premium Unit.

We are taking our own profit to do this project and honoring the price of $799 for all buyers that signed on for the Premiums which were originally going to be the same 26mm prisms from the other guys. We fired the other guys. When we say premium, we mean Premium. The Standard was a “Standard” and a damn incredible one too! Perfect looking prisms?? No. Incredible performance??? Yes.

Will we continue to sell Standards? The great Standard units? I suppose by request. As an ecomomical alternative with incredible performance but maybe some imperfect aspects? If you guys want 'em, we'll make 'em.

Russ/Denkmeier Optical , Inc.

4)
Denkmeier is talking about "100% dielectric coatings on the prism surfaces and the beamsplitter".


We would be happy to explain the difference between 100% Dielectric Coatings on the Beam Splitter Vs The Status Quo. Simply email us via our Website.We will post additional information there under "Optical Quality".
Russ/Denkmeier Optical

Hello Roger. Dust can easily be removed from the inside of most binoviewers. Remove the outer side prism covers and use a canned "Air Duster". Just be sure to "clear" the can first of any liquid propellant. Then, keep the can in an upright position or even tilt it slightly back and do not shake it. Give some quick blasts but again, do not shake the can or use any motion.

I have seen comments suggesting that use of these air cans should be avoided. When used correctly, they can really clear tiny debri from glass and this makes a follow up liquid cleaning procedure much less likely to drag particles across the glass surface. Buy a brand that indicates "Cameras". I have used loops in our shop to inspect thousands of glass surfaces and if the can is used correctly, no propellant residue is to be found. It's not even ultra critcal. Clear. Hold upright. Don't shake it. That's it.

Telescope mirrors, Apo refractor tubes and virtually every other telescope system allows dust to collect inside. They all can be cleared of dust when you think it becomes neccessary.

More importantly, cleaning the outer surfaces of the prisms should be done correctly! If anyone out there wants to know what our procedure is, I can post some comments. Cleaning the inner surfaces with liquid should not be neccessary. The can will do the trick.

Russ/Denkmeier Optical

Hello Tom,

Astroscan: Been there, done it;-)


Actually, this was a very impressive setup at The Mason Dixon Star Party that we attended three years ago. Note the solar filter attached to the front (Glass filter/White Light).

The Astroscan and an early Denk Standard with Apogee Widescan Eyepieces (20mm/70*AFOV) and the 1.25" Newtonian OCS™ provided really pleasing Solar views for everyone around the vending area. No joke. Balance was excellent with no counterweights and the views were really nice.

Astroscan Scope was owned by Jack Wine (Va, USA) who became a loyal customer. He was actually planning on selling all of his equipment due to corneal damage from a heart attack. He suddenly thought that Binoviewing might rescue it all. It did. We were very pleased that his astro life was restored. He now uses a C14 with the Denk and Star Sweeper + some other scopes.

BY the way, we will have a crew at Starfest in Canada in mid August with lots of Denk II/Power Switch and Standard demos. Anyone care to come out and see us? All are welcome to look through ours or bring your own Binoviewers for a comparison view or just a nice gathering of two-eyed astronomy enthusiasts. We can form our own growing clique. Hope to meet lots of great folks and have a good time up north (eh?).

Russ/Denkmeier Optical, Inc.

We are not actively working with other comnpanies on our projects nor do we intend to. The upcoming versions of our patent pending Power x Switch Diagnals including the current SCT Version for single eyepieces listed in Sky & Telescope's "Hot Products of 2005" were conceived and developed soley by members of our company, Denkmeier Optical, Inc. Any version that we introduce will be the result of this work. And, it was hard work.

We understand what is needed to allow the Power Switch Diagonal to operate with other binoviewers and single eyepieces if parameters are supplied to us.

I did politely respond to Siebert's email query regarding the diagonal and his binoviewers. I suppose this resulted in a misunderstanding.

So, let's make this clear:
In the past, we have made adapters allowing our patent pending OCS SYSTEMS to operate with other binoviewers. Our Patent Pending Power x Switch Diagonals
should also operate with many binoviewers and we will introduce these varieties when our machining is complete. All of the neccessary testing for proper operation with typical binoviewers was done a long time ago. I myself spent many nights logging performance notes using versions of the Power x Switch Diagonal with and without binoviewers in several telescope designs before the summer of 2005. Our actual conception of such diagonals utilizing our Power x Switches arrived well before that.

We have requests all of time where we are asked to design or tweak our systems to operate with other products like the Bino Vue, Baader et al. The same occurs with certain telescopes like the TAK FSQ 106, Tal Klestov, and currently the PST. Our response has been the same; "We will consider tweaking our system for your device's specific optical and/or mechanical requirements". Ask Klestov owner Randy Perry who sent us his Tal components 3 years ago.

There are many Bino Vue and Baader users that achieve low power views due to the OCS and special adapters that we made a few years ago in response to the same type of inquiries. We have always tried to accomodate the astro-community to the best of our abilities.

The Klestov was successfully tackled , and currently the FSQ 102 solution will soon be machined. Our response to the Siebert query was done politely and we stated that we would consider tweaking the Diagonals when the time comes if there is a special need. If and when, we just need a few parameters. There was never any intention of doing a joint project.

We are here to answer you questions so perhaps you might consider emailing us before you make an announcement like this. I am sure that you meant no harm and I am flattered that you considered it to be important news.

We are very psyched about the various versions of our Denkmeier Power Switch Diagonal soon to be announced when we thinki that the time is right. This will avert the tendency of some to imply that we peddle vapor ware. If it can aid in making other binoviewers operate better, than so be it. There's room for many brands at various levels in this expanding market, a market that is certainly in it's early stages.

Russ/Denkmeier Optical, Inc.