Posts Made By: Donald Regan

Just seen the new pics of Siebert Opticals new Premium binoviewer. It has diopter adjustments on both eyepiece holders, and 26mm clear aperture, with all metal body. Looks like the days of the leather covering is gone.

Don

It seems like Jeffrey has been having a hard time making a decision and these decision should not be made quickly. Either unit (Denk std or Black Night) have received the highest honors from their users. But if you are leaning toward the Denk std and want the benefit of a Focal length reducer that you know will focus in your 9.25 as attested by some on this group you may want to get the Denk standard and one of Siebert Optics focal length reducer. He may be able to make a monocle out of one for you if he needs to. Just kidd'n. That way you can have it both ways and support both vendors. I have heard a few individuals who have thrown out the idea that you should not mix and match components from different manufacturers, but I disagree. The binoviewer is not made for the accessories, the accessories are made for the binoviewer. So if a manufacturer has access to numerous binoviewers then he can custom make accessories to go with them that should work as good or better than the manufactured supplied accessories. I think you will agree that there are some companies like Williams Optics and Televue that are selling better diagonals than the dealer supplied diagonal. Now to be fair I am not saying Siebert Optics accessories will be better than a Denkmeier accessory for a Denk binoviewer. But every bit as good? Why not? If I am not mistaken Mr. Siebert has purchased and keeps on hand numerous binoviewers for R&D purposes of accessories. Now why would anyone insist on NOT going outside of a vendor's product line to support his binoviewer? Your guess is as good as mine. I personally have a Siebert Optics Focal length reducer for my TV unit and SCT. I also use optical correctors from other manufacturers on binoviewers such as the Zeiss/Garcia and BW Optiks unit with great results. So far even when an optical corrector was used that was not intended for that binoviewer no problems were detected. So much less should that be the case for one that was designed for the specific unit no matter who the manufacturer is. In fact, I only know of one example of a mismatch between binoviewer and optical corrector and out of courtesy for the manufacturer I will not mention it.

Don

My first sunset pic with my new Nikon D100.

Don

He had a long night at work.

Don

Winter may be over.

Don

Most of your Chinese microscope head conversions are good today. But, IMO I think only four conversion unit are worth the money. So here is my list of conversion units to take a good look at. This is not a number one is the best and the rest follow list.
The two most innovating companies out there today are my fist two that should be looked at. They being the ones by Dank and Siebert. These two companies have made some of the most advanced optical designs to date for binos. Their asking prices are way to low. But in todays market with all the cheap binos out there, they have to keep theirs as low as they can. Badder is a company that does and always will use top grade optics in their binos. SV is one company that will not let garbage out their doors. Vic has come a long way very fast and I would never look at his stuff as being low end.
side note:
As for Bill B., well he and I go way back. At one time he had two of the best artists with metal and his stuff was at that time was made here in the USA and very worth the money. His focuser's were the best on the market. It is sad to see a man that once made some of the best, go to a man that can only talk and not deliver.
on a different note it is to bad that is unlikely that BB's backpacker will ever see the light of day and a $400 80mm Archro. is a poor sub at f/11 even if it is given a fancy name and claims to be design by Thomas Beck. I think it is devious to claim that an achromatic objective listed as not using spec. ED glass, that it would be four times superior without stating what it is superior to. It seems like making the assumed affordable good scope, not so affordable because it is not what it is claimed to be.

It is good to see this forum has changed to the good, and is not like it use to be.
DonR.

This was the test subject. Lens used :Nikon 500mm

I've looked at the Burgess website and Yahoo group, but I can't find any information on where he sources the optics, or if they're matched or tested. Anybody have any info? The mechanics on the scopes are undoubtedly superb, and the price is fantastic, but I don't want to play Chinese roulette.

Jeff,

Bill will not sell any scope that will not pass his testing. As for the optics, he did a lot of researching in finding the best source of matched objectives for his refractors. The whole layout of his refractors, from the focusers to the dew cap, are top quality.

Don

Go to the Burgess Optical website at: burgessoptical.com
They make some of the best focusers out there.
Don

Chad,

I own a Denkmeier with 25mm clear aperture, and a BW Optik, and a Siebert Black Night both with 22mm clear aperture. On Planets and Lunar, there is no big difference. On deep sky objects using optical systems of 10" and larger, I also see no big difference. You should go to Todd Gross's website and read his unbiased review on a 27mm clear aperture Tele Vue compared to a 22mm Siebert Optics unit. Todd use's 10" and larger scopes, and he seems to see no big difference between the two. During day time observing, I also see no difference between the 25mm clear aperture Denk, and the BW Optik and the Black Night with 22mm clear aperture.

Don