Posts Made By: Michael Franzyshen

James Witt said:

Hello,

I've never been to an event like NEAF. Is there something like NEAF on the West Coast? Are new scopes available for purchase at NEAF, such as AP's?

-JW:

NEAF is a great show and worth the trip if you can do it. You can definitely purchase new scopes at NEAF. However, picking up an AP is really unlikely. AP usually has a booth with their AP900, AP1200 mounts setup and various sizes of OTAs; i.e. 130,155,160. Celestron, Meade, William Optics, Televue, Burgess, and many others are readily available. Pricing varies, but there are some decent deals. As a general rule, don't expect any huge bargains (although William Optics usually has agressive show pricing).

I don't know of anything comparable to NEAF on the West Coast although I know that Anacortes and OPT have sponsored events/workshops each year. Please check their respective website for upcoming events.

-MSF

James - I have a Denk II and use it primarily with a two of my scopes (8" LX200 SCT/5" AP 130 EDT). The Denkmeirer binoviewers are terrific quality (even the standard and the Big Easy versions). I do think binoviewing is worth the money, but the costs can add up quickly.

Your Meade refractor will work with a binoviewer, but I would recommend you talk to Russ at Denkmeirer first - he'll include the necessary adapter tubes to make it work properly. I wouldn't hesitate to go with the Denkmeirer Big Easy or Standard and a decent set of eyepieces with reasonable eye relief 12-20mm. I use a pair of 19mm Panoptics in my Denk II, but you really don't need to spend that much for good performance.

For what it's worth, I had trouble merging images with both a Burgess Optical and a Williams Optics binoviewer. I didn't experience the same issues with the Denkmeirer. I'm not sure why that was, but I wanted to mention it.

James Wilson said:

I'm a newby with a Meade AR 6" Refractor. I upgraded my AR6 with a new Moonlite focuser,and Televue 2" Everbrite 90 Diagonal. I am interested in Binoviewing with a Denk2 and a couple of Televue 11 mm Nags. Befor I spend any more money, I would like to hear from those who have had some experience with Binoviewing and or Denkmeier.
1)Is Binoviewing nice, but not worth the money? etc.
2)Do I have the right scope for binoviewing? etc.
3)Any experiences with the Denk2? etc.

I have a Starfire 130 EDT (F/8.35) from about 1995. It's a great scope with razor sharp images and excellent contrast. There is a trace amount of CA when observing the moon's limb (shows as light green). This is certainly not distracting (and I'm a bit picky) and not noticable on other ojects (Jupiter, Saturn, etc).

A few years ago, I compared the AP 130 EDT to a friend's 5" D&G Doublet(F/12??) and there was no comparison in levels of CA (as expected). Now I own both a TAK TSA-102 (f/8) and an NP-101 (F/5.4) -- don't ask why - 8O. On the moon's limb, the level of CA in the TAK is better than the AP 130 Starfire EDT. There is faint hint of color at focus(very, very faint green). This is hard to notice unless you're looking for it. My NP-101 is colorless. The newer AP's I've looked through (130 GT and 140) are colorless as well. I don't think it's any news to say the newer optical designs/glass from the top manufacturers are yielding essentially better apochromatic images then they did 10-15 years ago.

Just curious - How come in such a harsh environment, the hardware isn't under a conventional dome?