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Posts Made By: Bill Radich

May 17, 2004 02:31 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Check it out: Megrez II review

Posted By Bill Radich
Doug Peterson has a nice review of the new (non-APO)
Megrez II in the William's Optics forum.

bill

June 13, 2004 08:20 PM Forum: TeleVue

TV 76 and Pronto OTA's

Posted By Bill Radich
I'm just curious, are the OTA's identical
in the TV 76 and pronto? (I realize the objectives are of slightly different size- but it would seem economical to have one OTA for both). And if so, would
it be possible to have Televue 'upgrade'
a pronto objective, yielding essentially
a TV76?

bill

August 19, 2004 06:29 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

williams optics megrez II design change to triplet

Posted By Bill Radich
For those that may be interested, the 'new' non-apo megrez 80 II ( f6.25) is already discontinued,
and is being replaced by a newer 80 mm design (still called megrez II i think)- that is
f7.0 with an ED triplet design (middle element is Schott FK-ED). The color
correction is claimed to be much better than TV pronto-level (but not APO fluorite level),
for $800. It's already listed in atwb for september shipment.

bill

October 19, 2004 08:07 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

18" or larger Obsessions for sale

Posted By Bill Radich
Just curious on everyone's take regarding the relatively large number of obsessions for sale
in the classified in the 18-20" range. They seem to move slowly, and at about the same price
(or only a little more) than what people list and pay for 12.5" starmasters. Seems to me
like these 18" scopes are good deals, and I'd probably pick one up if I had the extra cash.

Is it the size/convenience factor that makes the larger scopes move slower??

bill

November 3, 2004 05:40 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Hey, what happened to weatherman.com

Posted By Bill Radich
Seems like Todd Gross's www.weatherman.com site hasn't been up for a week or so.
Anybody know what's up? TOdd?

thanks,
bill


January 9, 2005 07:28 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

chromatic aberrations and astrophotography

Posted By Bill Radich
I've been curious about something: does chromatic aberration follow linear superposition? In other words,
if I try something like wide-field astrophotography with my Pronto, will longer exposures (and hence
brighter, final star images) show false color on sources that showed little or none visually? I realize
that bright visual images (such as planets) will, of course, show false color on film or CCD- but I'm curious about the integration over time of dimmer sources.

By the way, I just received my oberwerk 15x70 binocs- and am knocked out by their performance, especially
for $150!! I wish I had bought them long ago.

best regards,
bill

October 22, 2003 03:22 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

C11 or C9.25

Posted By Bill Radich
I'm also curious as to what people think here, and am
trying to decide between the two. I know that 11GPS has
been getting really good reviews, BUT on scopereviews.com,
Ed Ting puts the C11 tube in the 3) (recommended) category,
and the 9.25 in the 4) (highly recommended) category.

So, has celestron improved the optics on the 11 inch? Or
does the aperture advantage more than make up for the
'better' optics in the 9.25?

By the way Woodland Camera has a $100 off deal on these
scopes through Oct 26th (or 28th?)- plus shipping was
only $55 for the 9.25GPS. Seems like the best price
I've seen.

-bill

February 6, 2004 02:55 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Buying direct vs. from dealer

Posted By Bill Radich
My own experience is that it depends on the size of the
equipment maker. For instance, with smaller purchases from
an accessory-type equipment maker, that may not have the
up-to-date bookkeeping/shipping-tracking of a TeleVue, things
can get painful.

I'm still waiting to find out what happened to my order
for a laser-collimator from a very well-respected
Astromart sponser. After being told it would be shipped
earlier last month, I'm no longer getting replies to
e-mails, phone calls, etc, and am really wishing I'd have
ordered this from Anacortes instead. This very problem
has happened to me before with other similar-sized operations.

-bill


February 9, 2004 12:01 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

clear skies from Minnesota with an FS78

Posted By Bill Radich
Kent,

Thanks for the MN report! It was very nice last night,
and of course, with my luck, I had committed to visit family
in Duluth and didn't take a scope over the weekend. Still,
I enjoyed the view from my sister/brother-in law's deck
overlooking the harbor quite a bit.

Just curious, are your interests primarily planetary?
Also, are you a MAS member? I'm not (yet)- but plan on
joining.

best regards,
bill


February 17, 2004 05:15 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Best View w/ Lens Cap On

Posted By Bill Radich
John,

I remember very well my best view with a lens cap
on. It was on a fairly fast achromat- and the capilaries
in my eyes looked so 3-dimensional that I cried almost as
much as when I saw 'Steel Magnolias' for the eighth time!
I DID notice some false color on the brighter blood vessels,
but I didn't really mind.

bill


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