Posts Made By: Ross Stein

Has anyone bought and had a chance to really use the new 24mm TV Panoptic? I have been looking for a wide field eyepiece at this FL and missed on an old TV "Widefield" on eBay, and now this is out, with the widest possible true field in 1.25". How is it? Thanks.

I am using a homemade binoviewer using the same type of Nikon
head as the advertised models, and it works very well. I use Nikon
widefield microscope eyepieces, the advertised versions have
adapters for standard eyepieces. The Nikon bino head is a well made
relatively lightweight unit. The mounting flange has a low profile
and may work without a Barlow on some telescopes, depending on how it is
mounted.

I have my TV-85 mounted on a Mini-Giro head attached to a Davis and Sanford (Tiffen) Model A tripod, with a 2 pound counterweight. This can be carried outside with one hand, points anywhere, and tracks smoothly at high power. The tripod was $75 used, the head was $170 (plus shipping from Germany, mine was the first sold in the US, I don't know about availabilty now). It was a little tricky attaching the TV to the head, I made an adapter for it.