Posts Made By: Nils Schoultz

Hello all,
I am interested in this binoviewer, but it seems there is disagreement on exactly how low you can go with it in terms of power before light loss occurs.
The rule of thumb is that anything higher power than 26mm is ok, but shouldn't the field stop size affect matters? If the prisms only have a clear path of 22mms, doesn't this spell trouble for a 24mm panoptic (field stop 27mms), and a 23mm Axiom, 24.5mm Meade swa, etc as well?
Also, if there is darkening, is it likely to be evident just on the edges of the field of view, or will it darken the entire view?
If anyone has any experience with these issues, I'd be very grateful for your advice. Thanks for your time, and I hope that these issues are of interest to others as well.
Nils Schoultz

I will be very surprised and thankful if anyone has any advice on this question. I recently bought a pair of 10x80 second world war German binoculars (thanks Markus for the cloudy nights review if you are reading this) and they have heavy cleaning marks all over the lenses - inside and out. Does anyone know if it is possible and cost effective to have these polished? By whom? Is application of coating feasible?
Thanks a lot to anyone who has any experience with this.
Nils

Hello all,
I was also sad to see that the Binoviewer group was gone. A couple of months ago I posted some questions on the forum and was surprised to receive very long and thoughtful answers which helped a lot in my decision making.
Of course I, and I think many others, would like to make sure that I do not do business in the future with the person concerned. My question is, how am I to know who the person concerned is? I could make an educated guess (and I may on this forum if no one else is willing to name names), but I would obviously not like to make a mistake. If the matter is how it appears, I can see no legal risk in naming the eyepiece/binoviewer maker so that others who may be just now thinking about buying a binoviewer can know who to avoid.
Of course, the next message may be from a John Doe claiming to be a lawyer and warning us all!
Thanks again to Jim for setting up the group, sorry for the hassle it caused you in the end.
best wishes,
Nils

The new TAO-130 is the "first of the new Ortho-Apochromat series", according to their website, but does anyone know anything about other telescopes that may be on the way? Perhaps the cuts in price for the Sky 90, FS102, etc. signals that they are soon to be replaced? Anyone have any info they could share?
Nils

Markus,
Now that it seems you have finalized the design for these eyepieces, could you let us know what the eye relief will be for the different focal lengths?
thanks,
Nils

I have used the Pentax 40mm xl for a year or so, and although I like it for astronomy, it has a problem for me in the daytime. Something about the design means that every single piece of dust/pollen/eyelash dandruff/etc. is in focus and shows up as a glaring bad speck. This is not noticable at night, but during the day, unless I was willing to clean the eye lens meticulously before every use, it was very distracting. No other eyepiece I have ever used does this. Does the new XW suffer from the same problem?
thanks,
Nils

I'm thinking of buying a pair of these now that they are being heavily discounted but for me the apparent field of view is one of the most important stats for a binocular and I can't find it anywhere. The real field of view is 115m at 1000m or 6.6 degrees, but I know of no formula to convert to afov. Can anyone who has a pair of these describe what the view is like? Many thanks if so.

I finally decided last week on the Swarovski 8x50 slc over the Zeiss 8x56 victory, and they arrived today from Adorama. Unfortunately, I knew within a few minutes that I had to return them. There was a fog / haze on the inside of one of the elements, a couple of cleaning wipe marks on the inside of another element, general light scuffing all over the body, and no documentation of any kind. Overall the impression was of a defective demo unit. I emailed Swarovski, who were very reasonable but pointed out that Adorama were not an authorized dealer and the binos were thus not under warranty. I then called Adorama to complain, to their credit they scheduled a UPS pickup of the binos at their cost for return.
I had only a few minutes to try these out, so take my impressions for what they are worth (not much). Still, I was able to look at trees and telephone poles at home that I know very well through other binoculars and telescopes, so my quick look was better than a look in the shop. The slcs gave the impression of high quality, as they should, but did not fit my hands well. If I put my thumbs in the indentations on the underside, the focus dial was out of reach. The screw up/down eyecup mechanism was excellent, the best of its kind I have ever used. The apparent field of 56 degrees matched the specs, and was just wide enough to satisfy me - noticably wider than my Fujinon 7x50 FMT-SX, which I had on hand to compare. They were pleasantly lighter and smaller than the Fujinon, as I had hoped (this was the reason for buying the slcs).
The view was beautiful. Just as bright as the Fujinons despite the slightly smaller exit pupil. The amount of softening at the edge of field was almost exactly the same in the two binoculars. The Swarovskis were better in that they had none of the chromatic abberation I notice sometimes in the Fujinon in high contrast situations like (today) dark tree trunks against blue sky or melting snow on grass. It was obvious, however, that the slcs had a golden/yellow cast to the view. It was not unpleasant, and may have even increased the contrast of the view slightly. I may not have noticed had I not had the absolutely pure image of the Fujinon to compare it to.
In any event, I would have been very satisfied with a non-defective pair of Swarovskis, but now the search continues for handheld astro binos to replace the Fujinons. I am thinking that the Zeiss 8x56 victory will get a try.

I'm awaiting the arrival of a new Orion XT10 (10" f4.7) which I bought instead of a high-zoot dob, thinking I could upgrade the components, learn something, and save at the same time. My enthusiasm has outrun my knowledge, unfortunately. Two of the upgrades I want to make (focuser and secondary mirror / heated mount) seem to affect each other, and I am at a bit of a loss what to do.
The stock focuser is a full 3" high, and I'd like to replace it with a 1.5" moonlite or feathertouch. This seems possible, although some ungainly spacers may be needed. The secondary is 2.48", which seems oversized according to the sec.exe program. It is also not a normal size - the protostars and antares I'd like are either 2.14" or 2.60". Has anyone done a secondary upgrade on this telescope and have an idea about which I should choose? Will the lower profile focuser affect the secondary size I can use? From reading past posts here, it seems like it may even help to install a lower profile focuser and smaller diagonal mirror at the same time. A possible fly in the ointment is the Denkmeier binoviewer/OCS I'll be using.
My eternal thanks and the standing offer of a cold frosty one in central NC to anyone who can help.