Posts Made By: Doug Culbertson

My 20mm T2 Nagler was made in Japan.

Doug
Midway, FL

There's always 2117, right?

Doug
Midway, FL

Same here.

Doug
Midway, FL

Hi Bob! How's Emily?

Doug
Midway, FL

I was truly saddened to hear this news. Comet Hyakutake was my first naked eye comet, and it is one that I will always remember. I had read an interview with Mr. Hyakutake shortly after the comet was discovered, and he seemed a very kind and gentle soul. He will be missed.

Doug
Midway, FL

You know Mark, I just realized that I never came over for a look at the sun through your rig, dangit all! BTW, it was great meeting you at Chiefland.

Doug
Midway, Fl

Thanks for the review, Don. These eyepieces do indeed sound like they are worth their price and then some. While I normally use Pentaxes and Panoptics, I did just order a pair of the 12.3mm Epics for use in a Bino Vue I have coming. I just couldn't resist the low price for what sounded like a very promising eyepiece with the long eye relief and the decent fov. BTW, was the eye relief the 20mm as described by Orion?

I will try to post an initial impression report myself...once we get past the rain that is forecast for at least the next week!

Doug
Midway, FL

I found the AP/Baader/Zeiss to be a tad brighter than the TeleVue BV, and I think that the coatings are probably a bit better.
In spite of that, I went with the TeleVue for a couple of reasons; (a)for my f/4.2 Starmaster I still would have needed the TeleVue barlow/corrector to reach focus(if I wanted to achieve true 2x). This would have also required me to have an adapter machined to fit the TV corrector to the AP/Baader bino. I figured if I gotta use the TV barlow uint, I might as well buy the TV bino and save a few shekels (b) The TeleVue bino is available now, while the AP unit has a waiting list like almost everything else they sell.

The AP bino uses 28mm prisms, and the TV uses 26mm prisms. Neither will vinette with eyepieces over 30mm focal length like the ones with smaller prisms.

Doug
Midway, FL

Luca,

I just received a pair of Epic 12.5mm eps that I bought for a binoviewer that should arrive in the next couple of days. I was really curious about these, and the price seemed too good to be true. I would be glad to give a report, if it ever clears up down here. My other bino pairs will include a pair of 19mm Panoptics, and some plossls. I also use Pentaxes in the shorter focal lengths (5.2mm, 7mm, 10.5mm and 14mm)for one eyed observing, so I will compare the Epic to the Pentax 14mm.

My initial impression, however, is pretty favorable. They are larger than a similar focal length plossl, probably by about 1.5x, wouldn't you say? Coatings look to be uniform, and it appears to be pretty well built. I found the coatings to be kind of strange though, in that they look to be reddish at one angle, and almost amber at another angle. I am really curious as to how they will perform on brighter objects like the moon and gas giants. In holding it up to a shop light, I noticed no aberrations, dust particles between elements, etc. One thing that I did notice was that if I put my eye flush up to the eyecup, then the outer edge of the fov tends to black out. But, as you said, the eyerelief does make up for some shortfalls. Incidently, I did find that if I pulled my eye back from the eyecup by just another millimeter or so, then I could see the entire fov. Speaking of which, the fov seems larger than the advertised 55 degrees, but a drift test will determine that. I really like the large eye lens, and apparently all of the ED-2s share that feature. When I held the eyepiece over a line of type on a white sheet of paper and moved it across the line, I did notice what appeared to be a slight bit of pincushion distortion. No big deal, the Panoptics also display this and I do not find it bothersome for nighttime observing.

I still have high hopes for these eyepieces, and think that I am going to be pleased with them once I can get them under the stars. At $69, I think that they will prove to be a real bargain!

Doug
Midway, FL

I have an 18" Starmaster with the Sky Tracker goto then track system and it is amazing! The goto is pretty accurate, or at least as accurate as the Sky Commander will allow (w/in the fov 95% of the time), but for me the real joy is the tracking. The joy of having a large dob tracking at mid to high power can not be overstated! IMHO, the Starmaster system is worth every penny of its price, which isn't cheap. The thing with this system, of course, is that Rick will not sell it for use on any scope other than Starmaster.

A friend of mine uses the Dob Driver II on his 12.5" dob, and is not overly impressed with it. He finds that it drifts quickly, must be retrained every time you move to another object, etc.

If I were looking at tracking for a big dob, I would either consider the Starmaster, or go with an equatorial platform. Three of them come to mind; the Johnsonian, which allows use at any latitude, the Tom Osypowsky platform (Equatorial Platforms, Inc.) and Affordable Equatorial Platforms, which run less than $400 for scopes up to 20". The last platform requires the buyer to finish it with either varnish, paint, or whatever else you choose.

I just placed an order for a Tom O. Compact model for my Starmaster 11" ELT, so I will warn you that the lead times are long. I will not receive my platform until around January, but Tom's platforms are arguably the best around.

What I like about the Starmaster system is that it is not latitude dependent (platforms generally work within 5 degrees of home), and I do not have to haul an extra piece of equipment around with me. What I like about the platform is that you do not lose the Dob motions (the Sky Tracker requires you to lock both axes), so it is more or less invisible.

Oh yeah, to answer Tom's question: only a dual axis platform will allow long exposure astrophotography, and the dual axis models are not cheap by any means! You can do some limited imaging with a single axis model or one of the alt/az tracking systems, but you are going to run into to problem of field rotation and/or drift.

Hope this helps,
Doug Culbertson
Midway, FL