Posts Made By: Douglas Foote

I have a Meade model 395 refractor. I bought it used on Ebay a few years ago .. the guy shipped it covered in packing peanuts which left all the lenses covered in peanut dust (the eyepiece had been removed and the peanuts were actually inside the scope).

I took the big lense apart and cleaned it... I probably did hurt the coatings but I just couldn't bear the dust and lens stains.

It works ok for me but I do have a little problem.. when I look at bright objects such as stars they are not perfect and have blue color to one side… I have improved it by loosening and rotating the outer lens.. so I most likely didn’t align my lenses correctly when re-assembling.

Are there any tricks or better methods to help wit this? The scope was only a little over a hundred dollars and I would like to fix it on my own if possible.

If this is the wrong forum, please point me in the right direction.

I have a Meade 395 90mm refractor and a Canon A80 (4MP, 3X Opt, Manual control and remote control via laptop), MA 25mm, Plossl 12mm, 2X Barlow.

I currently am trying to hold the camera behind the eyepiece... I really need to either buy or make something to mount the camera (too many shakes, too hard to focus)... any suggestions are welcome.. the less expensive the better.

Would anyone happen to have suggestions on what the shutter speed, aperture and ISO settings should be? I have tried now for 3 nights... my images (for example ISO 400, shutter speed 0.6 and f2.8, using the 12mm and 25mm eyepieces) have Jupiter bright white like it is a sun/star and the moons are either very faint or don't show. Does this sound like I am not focusing the telescope correctly for the camera?

Thank you

I am not in a rush, but would like to keep my eyes open for any potential good 8" reflector deals (ebay, garage sales,...).

What I would like is good quality at a good price.

From looking a few years ago, I recall these as being quality names:
Meade
Celestron
Orion

I have heard of a few others like Hardin and Discovery being decent. Are there some other MFR names that I should be on the lookout for? Are there MFR's that are know to put out junk that people should avoid (maybe like Tasco, Bushnell,..)?

There are many 6" reflectors sold on ebay (ex: wdy133 / Scopewise) that sell for only ~$160.. and the buyer reviews seem positive... sounds too cheap to be decent though.

Roughly what would a person expect to pay for a decent used 8" reflector (not motorized)... maybe $300?

Thanks

Would any of you happen to have (or have used) Hardins Deep Space hunter 8"?

I can't find many reviews on this scope. The ones that I have read seem to indicate that the base is somewhat cheap, the pull rings are not good and need upgraded, the primary mirror is ok but not as good as on other scopes like Discovery... but overall the reviews seem to indicate that it is a good buy for the money (I believe this is in reference to a $400 cost)

Question... would a "f/6 Dobsonian operating at 1200mm focal length" be suited for taking digital pictures of the planets/moon"? Is a scope like this ok to use with a digital camera or does the additional camera weight cause problems?


I have a 90mm refractor (Meade 395) which should meet my needs.. but seeing a 8" reflector at this price is tempting.

Thanks

Equipment:
Meade 395 (90mm refractor w/ 1000mm fl)
Eyepieces MA 25mm, Plossl 13mm, 2X Barlow
Digital Cameral: Canon A80 (4MP, 3X Optical) connected to a laptop for manual control

The camera will be connected afocally with an Orion SteadyPix and I would like to primarily use the Plossl eyepiece.

I tried this previously without the SteadyPix and it was frustrating... Jupiter looked bright white like it is a sun/star and its moons are either very faint or don't show

Could someone please suggest intitial camera settings for the shutter speed, aperture and ISO for Jupiter, Saturn (ISO 400?) and the Moon(ISO 50?)?

Thanks

I have a Meade 395 (90mm refractor). I have been thinking about getting a 8" reflector... but maybe choosing a decent set of binoculars would be the best next step. I like looking at the planets and the moon.. besides those and a few major constellations I am pretty clueless.

Would say $50 ~ $150 be able to get a nice pair of binoculars for astronomy? From reading it seems like 8/10/12 X 50 are popular sizes. If you could point out some specific models in this price range it would be appreciated.

Also, what are some good names of free astro software (planets, constellations for planning ahead and also to help with locating objects)

Thanks,
Doug

In researching the 15X70 "affordable/inexpensive" options:

Barska/Bear/Galileo - Occasional cheap sales ($50-60), coatings aren't very good, quality control problems... some people curse these while others say they are the best performance/price available

Celestron Skymaster - Better coatings, quality control problems. ~$64 w/ free shipping from Amazon. Some customers seem very happy, some mention receiving "crap". Isn't clear whether it has screws for correcting collimation problems.

Burgess - $99. Better QC. Some reviews seem to say these are identical to Skymasters.. possibly hand picked by Burgess to get the better units.

Oberwerk - Good coatings, $149. Some mention that it is the same design as all the others with better coatings.. a few post mention that is not true ad this is a unique design.

Makes my head spin. The Skymasters appeal to me due to the price... but if you can't correct the collimation...

Doug

Do you know of any good/stable tripods for using ~ 3lb binoculars (15X70) for ~ $50? If not, what are some good low cost tripods and ~ how much?

Thanks,
Doug

Saturday morning I awoke at around 4:30am. The sky here in this city of 30-40k with Chicago an hour to the East suffers from light pollution, but Sat. morning for whatever reason more stars were showing than usual and all seemed intensely bright.

I recently bought some Celestron Skymaster 15X70's from Amazon for the very reasonable price of $63 (no tax and free shipping). I also bought a $30 Walmart tripod. The views of the crescent moon were very pleasing.. the details were very sharp and the 3D image seemed much more natural. For example the flat lava fields had the curvature you would expect instead of just appearing flat
as in my refractor. The tripod is not that good and the binoculars do wobble for ~5-10s after adjustments.. but the long eye relief worked very well with my glasses and allowed me to avoid bumping the binoculars with my glasses.

Venus was so intense that it just appeared like a ball of light in both the binoculars and the refractor. I am guessing that a filter was needed to see it... it seemed just as bright as the moon.

The sky around the moon appeared slightly gray in color in the skymasters. I am guessing this is a difference that would look darker in better quality/more expensive binocs due to better coatings and or baffling.

Considering that I only spent about $95 for both the binoculars and the tripod, I was thrilled with the results that morning. My wife came out also was impressed by the performance of the binoculars while looking at the moon.

Doug

There was a neat coating comparison at the Oberwerk site:
http://www.oberwerk.com/products/mccomp.htm

I take it the "B" brand is the Burgess. Burgess now has type 2 15X70's that cost more but have better coatings.

Thanks for the input and that parallelogram mount is a good idea.