Posts Made By: Donald Durbin

Oh Wow!

You mean the President's name is Hussein? Oh well, that is it, game over, the President's name is Hussein. You win. What a great point! I bet you were a Master Debater (the spelling might be off there) at the school that you went to.

Was that school Columbia University or the Harvard Law School? Were you the President of the Harvard Law Review?

It is important to remember that Barack Hussein Obama II was elected to the office of President of the United States without his daddy first being President. As a matter of fact, his daddy was not a Senator, a Congressman, a Governor, or even rich. Barack Hussein Obama's daddy was black and not even a citizen of the United States. Oh yeah, we all know what is coming after that.

So go ahead Master Debater. Shock the world by using the name Hussein and President of the United States in the same sentence. Just remember one thing. The man became the President of the United States with the name of "Barack Hussein Obama" and if for nothing else, he deserves our respect for that.

Don Durbin

Larry,

I was waiting for someone else to answer this. Since they have not, then I will take a shot at it. These are my opinions and not any endorsement of any brand or brands of binoviewers.

It is my understanding, although not my experience that the Chinese versions can be knocked out of alignment easier and are harder to align afterward. I have never knocked any of my binoviewers out of alignment and I have had a few accidents with them.

The Denks and the Televue both have more clear aperture than the standard Chinese version. The standard Chinese version has a shorter light path which does help compensate for the smaller clear aperture. If your not looking for superwide views then this is probably a toss up.

The newer Denk IIs and the Televue both have prisms with better surface accuracy. (I am not sure how the prisms in Standard Denks compare). The better prisms should provide a better high power views. The coatings are probably better in the name brand binoviewers. Again this should provide a better view. Is it enough to make a real difference to you? That you will have to decide for yourself.

My advice is to take your binoviewers to a star party and compare them to other binoviewers.

Don Durbin

Great Image Floyd! Definitely worth a thousand words!

Don

I have often thought about the click stop zooms. Other people have tried them. Most reported that they do work OK but I do not remember anyone saying they were dumpimg all their other EP pairs because they had the click stop zooms.

Don Durbin

Hi Steve,

If your R1 is a PowerSwitch diagonal and is like my original R1 then the reducer is on the scope side of the diagonal instead of the binoviewer side of the diagonal. That puts the focal reducer too far away from the binoviewer (in my opinion) and causes problems. Denk fixed this in their newer models by moving the switch with the reducer to the binoviewer side.

For wide views on an SCT I have an original single arm PowerSwitch reducer that works fine in my C9.25 and most other SCTs.

Denk also makes a 1 1/4" nosepiece that will allow you to use the standard blocking filter diagonal. For a PST you would also need an OCA/OCS designed to work with it. I would bet that the Lunt system is the same.

I would ask Lunt about replacing the blocking filter.

Don

Very nice Floyd! What Camera are you using again?

Don

I have both 18mm Radians and 19mm Panoptics. I prefer the Radians to the Panoptics. Another pair that I have been using are the Baader Hyperion 24mm EPs. These give a nice image at a lower cost than the 24mm Panoptics.

I also have Denk 21mm EPs and Siebert 24mm EPs that I enjoy using.

Don Durbin

Looks pretty good to me Floyd.

I just bought a 2" four position filter wheel from Orion. I got it for testing different filters, but you are making me think that I may have to try some RGB imaging with it.

Don

You need to send them out to someone who does that and has the equipment to check them afterward.

Don Durbin

Hi Paul,

One of the better EPs pairs for binoviewing has always been the 24mm Panoptic. I have found a substitute at roughly half the price that performs almost as well in a number of scopes. The substitue is the Baader Planetarium Hyperion 24mm EP. These EPs work well in a binoviewer and can be used in either a 1 1/4" or a 2" focuser.

I did a head to head comparison between the panoptic and the hyperion in a 25" obsession and I found the hyperion quite acceptable as a substitute for the panoptic.

I also like the 18mm Radians, 14mm Radians, 21mm Denks, and 24mm Siebert Ultrawides.

Don Durbin