Posts Made By: Evan Chan

Congrats Ron! I look forward to your many new adventures with the NP127. Have you christened it with a name yet?

I wonder if there's been any discussion or news on this scope or the Backpacker in the Burgess Optical Yahoo group. Or perhaps there's been a moratorium in place on the discussion of the aforementioned scopes.

I really wish someone would come clean and let us know!!!

Super nice shot Ron. I've always wondered what a 4" apo could do imaging the planets. This shot is truly amazing. I had the FCT100 out on Mars two nights ago and it was quite similar...except with lower contrast of course.

My personal opinion:
Initially, I felt that the reviewer obviously has spent ample time behind the eyepiece of different telescopes and is clearly not a novice observer. I found the piece wonderfully written and the physical description of the TV85 to be right on. Furthermore, the comparison to the ED80's of Chinese origin echoes the sentiments of an in-depth review performed by cloudynights.com. BUT...

"Looking at the moon at 25X, where the entire moon is visible, the TV-85 showed a lot of color. Around the edge of the moon, in to about 1/8 of its diameter the color was a yellow green"

"Jupiter, on the other hand, is pretty close to white and false color is visible as a blue-violet halo"

These excerpts I find questionable. As the past owner of a TV85 and the present owner of a TV102, I never see any false color at 25x on the moon. Perhaps the reviewer had a decentered lens or was viewing the moon at the edge of the FOV? Or perhaps he was describing extra-focal color? A barely perceptible violet halo around Vega at 200x or more...maybe. The aforementioned excerpts have me rethinking my original assessment of the reviewer.

Interestingly though, the article makes a salient point worthy of discussion. Will the TV85 go the way of the Pronto/Ranger? I think that the Pronto/Ranger were discontinued because the market became flooded with cheaper alternatives that gave comparable views (ie Megrez, SV). With the advent of the 80ED's of Chinese origin, will the TV85 eventually be discontinued as well? From what I have read, the 80ED's are pretty much the optical equal to the TV85.

Just my thoughts...

WOW...very nice Patrick!

And yes, I still have that fab scope you sold me several years back...

-Evan

Now THAT'S a great shot!!!

Oooooh! If the lenses are being made in China, that would make sense then. Chinese manufacturers have done a fine job with 80mm and 100mm - the next logical step would be 130mm.

You raise some very very interesting questions Philip. I think the coming year will be telling...

I presently own a TSA102 and once owned a FSQ106N. The FSQ106N requires the ext-Q to achieve the higher powers required for meaningful planetary observations. That means more glass in the light path, which isn't really what you wanna do. The FSQ106N is already operating with 8 air to glass surfaces. Putting more in the way cannot possibly fare well for the image...if even marginally.

The TSA102, at f8 and perfectly color corrected, would in my opinion be better planetary scope. If I remember correctly, even Al Nagler has admitted the TV102 (doublet) would provide better contrast than the 4 element TV101 (or was that NP101?).

Just my 2 cents.

-Evan

Can you do us a favor and post em here? Not all of us are members of that Yahoo group. Personally, I left because of what I perceived to be unnecessarily high moderation. So since BO membership seems to be the prerequisite for getting the info, those of us who aren't members won't be privy to the design info and spot diagrams you refer to.

Another reason is that it would be interesting to compare with RC's spot diagrams for an 80mm f11 achro.

Thank you.

-Evan

My goodness...that is absolutely GREAT...and a first attempt?!?!

-Evan