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Posts Made By: Rod Kaufman

December 1, 2022 05:59 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

New Meade 12" ACF with LX200 unable to focus with 15mm, 10mm, etc

Posted By Rod Kaufman
I'll add one other thing: try observing the moon tonight with the eyepieces in question. Although you may see the effects of poor seeing while doing so, you should still be able to get a reasonably focused image so you'll know that you can, in fact, focus with your 15mm and 10mm eyepieces...

July 4, 2023 12:03 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Celestron Starsense 8 inch Dob - buying used

Posted By Rod Kaufman
Originally Posted by Thomas Portera
Has anyone purchased a used Celestron Starsense 8 inch Dob? I was just wondering is there a code or something you need to download the starsence to your phone - and does Celestron give you a hard time if you are buying one of these scopes used. Any help from anyone would be appreciated. Thanks!
Tom
There should be a code with the scope for the download so you can use the starsense with your phone. 
See Ed Ting's video:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mfr9dQM3ZBU&t=49s
As far as Celestron's customer support goes, it may be ok---if you can get through to 'em...

March 26, 2024 09:04 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

What is the best diagonal

Posted By Rod Kaufman
Originally Posted by Maxwell Palau
Hello all,

I’m looking to upgrade my diagonal. It’s hard to pick with so many options. Just want to get a consensus of what everyone believes to be the best 2” diagonal. I’ll be pairing it with a Stellarvue SV105 APO refractor with a focal length of 735mm. 

I’ve already upgraded all my eyepieces to Televue’s and was considering the same with the diagonal. But there is also the Baader clickwheel I’ve heard great things about as well.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Why don't you get the one from Stellarvue for your stellarvue refractor?

https://www.stellarvue.com/dielectric-star-diagonal-2-d1028ecf/

I like that easy clean feature depicted in their link and the twistlock collet. 
I've got an old 1.25" stellarvue unit with an enhanced silver mirror in it and it performs splendidly after decades of use.

March 5, 2003 10:03 PM Forum: Eyepieces

Orion Lanthanum Super Wides?

Posted By Rod Kaufman
I agree with Bob Hart on his assessment of the overall superiority of the Pentax eyepieces in the focal lengths in question. I find the Pentax units to be virtually distortion-free in my fast dobs with excellent contrast and superb light transmission. I have followed Bob Hart's advice throughout the years on various web sites and I find his information to be "on target".

April 13, 2003 05:29 PM Forum: Eyepieces

High power EP for Mars

Posted By Rod Kaufman
Jason,
Both televue plossls and university orthos are reviewed in an article on planetary eyepieces appearing in www.cloudynights.com. My experience with the 8mm televue is that it's a good eyepiece but eye relief is very tight. The university optics orthos have performed superbly on planets in my 16" f4.5 dob. I don't think you could go wrong with either televue or university but I would prefer the ortho design on the planets. I note that university now has an improved coating available on a somewhat higher priced version of their ortho design.You may want to try it and give us a report on your results.

April 28, 2003 05:27 AM Forum: Eyepieces

Pentex E.P.s

Posted By Rod Kaufman
Joe,
I find the pentax models work quite well in my Discovery 12.5" F-5 and in my astrosystems 16" F4.5 dob. Excellent contrast and virtually no distortion with the 10.5 mm model in both scopes.I don't know why you experienced a problem with the 14mm unit;that is weird.
At any rate, it's good to see a post on eyepieces in the eyepiece forum, compared to what I've been reading recently...

May 1, 2003 07:27 PM Forum: Eyepieces

Pro Optics Ultra-Wide Eyepieces

Posted By Rod Kaufman
Vito,
I have the pro-optic 6mm widefield eyepiece and I feel it reveals very good color rendition in Saturn's globe in my astrosystems 16" F4.5 dob. The edges are soft but not terrible. I think the naglers would have a much better corrected edge and a wider field as well. I did compare my 6mm pro-optic widefield with my UO 6mm ortho and I think the ortho is a tad sharper but the color rendition was more accurate in the pro-optic eyepiece.Just a side note: I have a speers-waler 10mm eyepiece with a 75 degree or greater field of view and you can position Saturn at the extreme edge and visualize the divisions in the ring structure. Not too many eyepieces have that kind of edge sharpness with a wide field of view.

June 12, 2003 03:27 PM Forum: Eyepieces

Seibert lenses - disappointed

Posted By Rod Kaufman
Mike,
I have a Seibert wide-angle eyepiece in a similiar focal length and a 7mm unit and I have experienced good visual performance with both eyepieces. Why don't you send your eyepiece back to Seibert and take advantage of his 30 day momey-back guarantee?

July 4, 2003 12:11 AM Forum: Eyepieces

Axiom 23mm

Posted By Rod Kaufman
Roman,
I have a 23mm Axiom eyepiece that I use regularly in my 16" f4.5 Astrosystems dob. The edge exhibits significant astigmatism and curvature of the field at a short focal length. However, the on-axis performance is superb and typical of the ultima line of eyepieces. It is particularly useful for planetary observations when atmospheric conditions are less than optimal and during twilight. I also have a fine view of the veil nebula in this eyepiece with a lumicon oxygen filter.

August 29, 2003 03:26 PM Forum: Eyepieces

Spees-Waler WA series vs KK Magellan WideScan III?

Posted By Rod Kaufman
Dan, While I have not done a direct comparison, I do own the Speers 10mm and 14mm units. The 10mm Speers eyepiece has very good edge correction while the 14mm benefits from my 1.25" paracor in my F4.5 16" dob. Both eyepieces, however, deliver excellent images given their widefield of view. I haven't used the 18mm Speers but it appears to have poor reviews due to aberrations such as astigmatism. I would not purchase the 18mm unit for use in my fast dobs. I think the best corrected eyepieces I have used are the moderate to low focal length pentax XL eyepieces which have no distortion in my F4.5 dob despite their 65 degree apparent field of view.

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