Posts Made By: Robert Lautner

Leslie,
Depending on where you view from and if you look long enough you will occasionally see some aircraft that you WON’T see at the local air port or any where else: At least not legally. I am not talking about alien spacecraft either. They are made right here in the good ole USA.
Bob

Hi Jake,
Thanks for the response. I picked up on it right away but was hoping I would get some more feedback before I responded.
According to the spec sheet at this web site:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/molyned/web-cameras.htm

Both the ToUcam pro and the QuickcamPro4000 use the same ¼” Sony ICX098BQ CCD chip. I guess the folks that made up the data sheet must have goofed. I better take back the QuckCam Pro4000 and get my money back and order a ToUcam Pro.
Thanks again for the help
Bob L

Hello Wei Leong,
I very much appreciate your Mars image and your technical capture information. I am now in the process of getting a laptop and Philips TouCam Pro working. To make a long story short I have discovered it takes more processor power/speed and RAM to run a webcam than I thought ;o)
May I ask you where you obtained your Baader UV-IR filter and if you have any links for more information about it?
Thanks again for the beautiful Mars image and information.
Bob L

Soooo,
There ARE men on Mars. And the speed limit is 25 MPH ;o)
Please tell us the occasion for the picture? Do you all live in Mars or were you passing through? Seriously.
Thanks for the picture.
Bob L

John,
I bought two used laptops, the second one twice as fast as the first and I still need a faster laptop to capture avi’s without dropping frames. I thought webcaming would allow me to get my feet wet in CCD astroimaging without spending a lot of money. Well I was wrong. You save money on the CCD part with a webcam but it requires a much faster computer than single exposure CCD imaging. I hope you have a fast laptop.
Bob

Daniel,
Would you mind telling us what they charged you to refurbish your LX200? Did Meade pay for any part of the shipping?

I was told by Meade that they have a standard charge to refurbish an LX200GPS/Classic and that the return shipping is on them (included in the overall charge).

Thanks

Bob L

This has been an interesting discussion.

I received my ED80 last week and have only been able to use it for astro imaging (the moon shot here posted) and viewing one night for a few minutes. I have however been able to run some tests in daylight against a few other lenses and telescopes. I am very pleased with the results.

The ED80 obviously does not have the build quality of the other APOs on the market, but as far as I am concerned it does have comparable glass! The focuser is just fine for my needs and will not "rack out" with a Canon 10D hanging on the end with the objective pointing to zenith. The focuser is very smooth and has no detectable shift. In addition to a convenient telescope I wanted a lens that I could use for terrestrial photography that had some reach and was some what disposable. I sure do hate it when my Nikkor EDIF 600mm f4 takes a tumble into the drink. Well it really hasn't ever happened...but...I hate thinking about the possibility.

So far this little scope does the trick for me. It is tack sharp and color free. The glass on the end of the tube is worth about $1000 as far as I am concerned. I could remove the cell with optics inside and throw the rest away and be quite happy putting a custom made tube and top notch (name brand) focuser on it to impress my friends if I really felt the need ;o) but I don't. The sample that I got is just fine and dandy.

I shot some tough backlit daylight subjects and images with specular highlights in which I fully expected to see some color fringing. When I examined them in Photoshop CS I was very pleasantly surprised. I even chuckled to my self, thinking, I found a winner here. Others may not get as good a sample as I got, but the way I figured it, if I didn't like the one I got, Orion would exchange it or send my money back with no hassles. You can't beat that with a stick.

My only disappointment in this scope is, it isn't made in the US.

Fair the well

Bob L

Randy,

I own an LX200GPS and oversee the use of a couple of the scopes for a state university. I also have a number of acquaintances that have the scopes.

Before purchasing one of these scopes I would join the Yahoo LX200GPS group and spend at least a week going over the previous posts and then closely (every day) follow the posts for a good looonnnggg while. I am serious. That is exactly what I would do.

The Yahoo site is:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LX200GPS/

Knowing what I know now, if I decided to buy a Meade scope in spite of potential misgivings (you know that little nagging voice that says you might not otta do this?), my next step would be to buy from a dealer that will agree to a money back guarantee if I am not satisfied with the scope. Do not hesitate to take the dealer up on the money back guarantee.

Resist the temptation to return the scope to Meade at their expense for a no cost to you warranty repair. Meade may offer to pay the shipping both ways. Do not fall for it. You will be with out the scope for about a month each time you send it to them for repair. While your scope is gone for the first month you will have lost your opportunity to return it to your dealer for a refund or swap out.

Randy, Some of the scopes are great and some are terrible. I cannot overemphasize this, if you get a bad one get rid of it by sending it back to the dealer.

Good luck

Bob L

The last time I cashed a POMO I had to give the postal employee my drivers license number, telephone, and address, all of which he wrote on the check. I asked why he wanted all of that info from me. He said if the MO were counterfeit, I would have to return the cash. There was more information on the MO about me than the person who bought the POMO. POMOs are NOT CASH they are traceable instruments.

As far as I can tell there is no such thing as Guaranteed Funds. Even wire transfer has its dangers. Seller/buyer beware.

As Dave said the following is worth reading in its entirety.

http://www.carbuyingtips.com/fraud.htm

Our Astromart community needs to be aware of the dangers.

Bob L

Arkady,
Very interesting!

Can you show us in a photograph where the auto focus adjusting screw is located?

Thanks much.

Bob L