Image of the day

Captured by
Terry Wood

Jupiter (clearer) Nov 5th 2023 w/Mewlon 180c

My Account

New to Astromart?

Register an account...

Need Help?

Posts Made By: Mike Swaim

January 24, 2004 03:47 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Looking for Honest Opinions

Posted By Mike Swaim

I don't think that anybody with any real credibility has suggested that a 4" anything would beat a well cooled and collimated 12.5" Starmaster given good seeing conditions. Re-read what Jon Isaacs says above. It's good advice, particularly that bit about checking out what the owner of AP has said many times.

Personally, I think that if you've already got a 6" DG and a 12.5" Starmaster that you'd be quite disappointed in a 4" APO, unless you had specific reasons for needing something much more compact and were willing to accept the inevitable tradeoffs in drastically downsizing your aperature size to achieve portability.

Mike Swaim

January 24, 2004 05:20 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Need tripod and head suggestions for a TV-76.

Posted By Mike Swaim

I'd go for a Unistar mount on a surveyor's tripod. Why not give Larry at Universal Astronomics a call and see what he suggests in terms of lightweight vs. standard?

Mike Swaim

January 25, 2004 05:01 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Recommended First Scope???

Posted By Mike Swaim

Absolutely the DOB is the way to go. You might like this article by telescope reviewer, tester & guru Ed Ting:

http://www.buytelescopes.com/container.asp?dest=/manufacturers/scopereviews/beginner.htm

I disagree with his advice to start right out subscribing to one of the astro mags, and the eyepiece info is a little dated. Most likely anything you'd be seriously interested in today from Orion or one of the other major mfg.s will come with low end plossls, so you don't need to worry too much about Ramdens and Huygenians. But check out what he thinks is the ideal beginner scope. It's a conclusion that a lot of us have come to after much searching and trying of lots of other stuff.

6" DOBs regularly occur used here on Astromart for around $200. That would leave you room in the budget for another eyepiece, some type of collimator (homemade or storebought), a star chart or planisphere, a red light (can be homemade) and a folding stool (Walmart). Keep in mind that you are going to need those items anyway. However, I realize that it can be quite daunting (and sometimes ill-advised) for a beginner to even think about starting off with an unknown used scope. If you can possibly bump up the budget to around $400 you could get started pretty well with new equipment and a return policy. Only you can decide which of those paths you're the most comfortable with.

Mike Swaim

January 27, 2004 06:19 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Re: best Binoculars for nebula viewing

Posted By Mike Swaim

Steve, I'm confused by your post. M31 (Andromeda Galaxy) is a naked eye target. In fact, it's one of several things including M44 (Behive Cluster), M42 (Orion nebula) and the stars in Orions head that I use to see if the conditions are even good enough to set up a scope. And I live in a mag 4.5-5 subdivision. Are you saying that you've *never* seen M31? If so, I'm sure it's just a matter of not looking in the right place.

Mike Swaim

January 30, 2004 09:43 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Best Planisphere!

Posted By Mike Swaim

I've never seen a planisphere w/all M objects on the front. That would be probably get so crowded as to be very hard to use. I use the laminated Sky & Telescope Messier card
http://www.buytelescopes.com/search.asp?q=Messier+Card&s=&x=15&y=10

http://www.camcor.com/cgi-bin/bcatalog.cgi/area=tel&id=1048631612

as well as Orion's Deep Space Map.
http://www.telescope.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=15&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=6&iSubCat=28&iProductID=15

The DeepMap is a little deceptive in that it's marketed as being laminated, but is really more like a very thin plastic paper. Even still, it has it's place in the gear box until you move up to something like the Cambridge Star Atlas or Burham's some years down the road.

Mike Swaim

February 1, 2004 10:25 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Amazing

Posted By Mike Swaim

The trouble with astro imaging today is that who knows how much of what's posted is a result of extensive stacking and manipulation, etc. I've actually had folks tell me that they were disappointed in the visual views through various scopes because they'd seen pictures on the web through similar scopes that showed lots more detail. Pictures always did capture more detail than available to the naked eye, even back when it was film doing the imaging. These days, there's not really anything to keep somebody from continuously retouching and Photoshopping until they get the Hubble-esque image that they want. How much is the result of the scope and how much the result of considerable computer editing and enhancement?

My 0.02,
Mike Swaim

February 3, 2004 05:17 PM Forum: Astro Binoculars

Miyauchi 22x71 arrived

Posted By Mike Swaim

Dan, thanks for posting your initial impressions. I especially appreciate the photo, so I can see them on the Unistar. Can't wait for the 1st light report. I'm very interested to read about your impressions of these as time goes on and you've had a good chance to really wring 'em out.

Thanks,
Mike Swaim

February 4, 2004 03:31 AM Forum: Astro Binoculars

Bino Mount

Posted By Mike Swaim

For some people, in some climates, mirror mounts seem to work OK for them. I tried a couple of them here in NC and found that they dewed up very quickly. I also found that I really didn't care for the whole concept but won't belabor that point since it's been made numerous times before, and is merely one subjective opinion.

Mirror mounts are so easy to make that I'd suggest folks try them. Then if they decide to try something else, they at least have some idea of what they might want to look for (or make) in another mount.

The one John made in the photo above looks to be of better quality and to be a bit better thought out than at least one commercial mirror mount coming out of Canada. I like the addition of a Dob style base rather than relying on a photo tripod which may or may not have the correct height and azimuth adjustments. The Dob base would solve for that if pier mounted as in the photo.

Regards,
Mike Swaim

February 4, 2004 03:52 AM Forum: Astro Binoculars

Swarovski 8x50 slc brief impressions

Posted By Mike Swaim

Hi Nils,
Some of the older Swarovski SLC Habichts (older than current SLC) had a known problem with the internal optics hazing after a period of time. One theory that I was told about this suspected the silvering process on the prisms to somehow cause outgasing (or something) that resulted in hazed optics. Another theory just had it that it was the prisms themselves hazing up and thus making the view appear hazy without actually hazing the objectives.

I found out about this the hard way after buying a used set of Swarovski 8x56 SLC Habichts here on Astromart. This was in the days before there were seller ratings in use here. To make matters worse, I initially thought that they binos were just hazy because of the pervasive NC humidity. I never could understand why the Swaros seemed to "dew up" almost immediately upon taking them outside. Well, it wasn't dew. It was internal. It really hadn't occured to me, since I just "knew" that there couldn't possibly be anything wrong with a nitrogen sealed set of the world famous Swarovskis. At the time, it was the most expensive set of binoculars I'd ever bought, and I just couldn't believe that there could be anything wrong with them. I mean, we are talking Swarovski.

Anyway, 2 binocular repair shops that I contacted knew of the problem immediately and said that it was a problem with the specific limited production model Swaroski SLCs, not across the whole Swarovski line. A good repair shop can replace those prisms, re-align and re-collimate them and clean up all the internal surfaces. Prices I was quoted ranged from $100-$300 depending on which shop one talked to.

Once the prisms are replaced and everything is well cleaned up, recollimated, etc. those can be some amazing glasses. However, like you, I just never really warmed to the ergonomics of the older style. (Different and larger than yours.)

One thing I've *got* to know though. You mentioned overall light scuffing and no documentation. Did yours have a serial number professionally done anywhere on them, or was there a rougher spot somewhere near the top hinge?

Mike Swaim

February 6, 2004 10:28 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Buying direct vs. from dealer

Posted By Mike Swaim

One thing to keep in mind is that it's a dealer, not a direct manufacturer that hosts this site. That's pretty huge, in and of itself.

There are a lot of brands beyond just Discovery & Stellarvue that offer choice of direct from importer or dealer. University Optics, Orion, Oberwerk, TAL, Intes, all come to mind.

The advantages of shopping with a *local* dealer are fairly obvious:
- may have equip. in stock
- may offer selection advice
- may allow in-store, or even field testing
- may or may not charge shipping
- may or may not offer setup & testing as part of purchase
- may handle any problems with purchase

That last point is one that definitely bears checking out with each specific dealer. Paying any dealer extra, only to be told that it's up to you (the purchaser) to ship warranty items back to the factory has turned off many a potential repeat customer.

The advantages of shopping through an online dealer are sometimes a little less clear.

- may have lowest price
- may not charge sales tax
- may offer far more brands and models to choose from
- may offer vast amounts of otherwise unavailable info. in terms of online forums and downloadable manuals and tech help

Anacortes and Company7 are both good examples of the latter.

On the flip side, buying directly from the mfr. or importer can have some advantages:

- sometimes lower price
- sometimes ultimately cheaper shipping
- may offer specialty items not available to any dealer

On the last point, above. At times, Discovery has offered telescope configurations that were available only online. For instance, I was very keen on their "Mars Special" Dob, but my local dealer not only couldn't get that scope, but couldn't get any info. on it, beyond what was available to me on the Discovery web site. Similarly, various volume dealers and importers are often able to offer special configurations or package deals that aren't available through other channels.

So really, there is no real rule of thumb. You've got to weigh the merits of each particular purchase. Personally, I think that there is some merit to giving biz to a local stocking dealer, if, and only if, they represent an actual service in terms of helping the local astro community and not just a mechanism for extracting profit.

It's a minefield out there. Be careful, and work to establish a good relationship with a few trusted sources.

Mike Swaim