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Posts Made By: Darren Drake

October 12, 2005 03:19 PM Forum: Eyepieces

Whatever happened to the new TMB line?

Posted By Darren Drake
At this years WSP wasn't there a new line of TMB eyepieces with a fairly wide field and longish eye relief? I remember they looked Pentax-like but haven't heard any more about them. Anyone have any info out there?

October 12, 2005 03:25 PM Forum: Refractors

Are Orion ED lenses machine made?

Posted By Darren Drake
Are these lenses completely automated in the production line or do actual human opticians intervene to help produce the lens' figure? I suspect that production is automated 100% but am not sure.

Thanks

October 12, 2005 03:25 PM Forum: Refractors

Are Orion ED lenses machine made?

Posted By Darren Drake
Are these lenses completely automated in the production line or do actual human opticians intervene to help produce the lens' figure? I suspect that production is automated 100% but am not sure.

Thanks

October 12, 2005 07:17 PM Forum: Eyepieces

question about the 32mm Konig MK-80

Posted By Darren Drake
Is the 32mm Konig MK-80 any competition at all for the 31 Nagler as far as edge correction goes? I suspect not but it is priced at $295 which is definately a step or 2 above the other wide angle eyepieces in that fl range. Thanks

October 17, 2005 12:32 AM Forum: Eyepieces

new Pentax eyepieces?

Posted By Darren Drake
Has anyone had a chance to try these new Pentax's yet. They seem interesting at $149 for these new XF versions.
http://www.handsonoptics.com/ep_pentax.html

October 31, 2005 02:44 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Berral or Ion bright?

Posted By Darren Drake
I'll be taking my newly completed 17.5 inch backup mirror to Cluasing (to save on shipping charges) and would like to know which coating type might be the best for the money. Any personal experiences? I did check my 8 inch berral coating last night. It's a year old and still looks good so far.

November 4, 2005 01:09 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

optical testing methods

Posted By Darren Drake
Exactly what do the well known mirror makers use to test their optics as final figureing is reached? Is the focalt usually the main instrument or just a compliment to something more such as an interferometer. Is the focault usually accurate enough if it is the only test methoud at say F/4? Thanks

January 28, 2006 07:12 PM Forum: Eyepieces

12mm T4 vs 14mm UW

Posted By Darren Drake
The other night while a friend was over we decided to compare his 12mm T4 to my 14mm UW in my f/4.5 dob. I expected the edge sharpness to be comperable in the Nagler to the wonderfull edge sharpness I've been use to in this original style ultra wide. I was surprised to see that while the edge sharpness was spectacular as always in the 14mm the edge sharpness in the Nagler was not on par. It was still very respectable but definately not as good as with the Meade. The paracorr fixed it right up of course but nontheless I was still surprised.
I myself have the 22mm T4 and know that it needs a paracorr and the 31mm T5 that I have actually performs better than the 22mm but I expected the 12mm to be right there with the 14 UW. Do my experiences match those of others out there?

February 27, 2006 02:46 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

small mirror quality vs big mirror quality

Posted By Darren Drake
I've noticed over the years that a good % of 8-inch and smaller mirrors often tend to have good star tests and that the bigger mirrors tend to show more questionable star test patterns. Is there a general trend for bigger mirrors to not have quite the same quality or strehl as the smaller mirrors? Certainly the bigger mirrors are considrably more challenging to make but the question still remains.....

April 1, 2006 12:28 AM Forum: Refractors

New Celestron 80 EDF

Posted By Darren Drake
It's advertised on the back cover of May S&T. So does this have the same optics as the other 80 ED scopes out there and if not how does it compare? The f-ratio is not mentioned either so there seems to be a lot of unknowns about this scope. A google search comes up empty.

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