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Posts Made By: Greg Nowell

March 29, 2009 02:11 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Too good to use/lose?

Posted By Greg Nowell

Looks like I'm making a trip abroad in early June on some work-related stuff that will have me traveling around quite a bit. I'm thinking of taking my Swarovski or Pentax binoculars but I'm also thinking that I would hate to leave them somewhere and never see them again or alternatively have them "walk away" from a hotel room or restaurant table when I'm not paying attention.

So I was thinking that maybe I should buy some binocs for under $200 that are under my "pain threshold" if I lose them and keep the expensive binocs for home where they get used for walks and stargazing. I was thinking of reselling the inexpensive ones on my return but then realized that maybe I should keep them for general travel.

Any thoughts?

Greg N


April 3, 2009 11:20 AM Forum: AstroMart FAQ

Anacortes pics?

Posted By Greg Nowell

Herb:

A recently posted picture from ATWB showed a small part of an attractive show room floor and a view. I was wondering if you could get someone with a camera to put up a dozen pics of ATWB from the outside looking in, inside looking out, the various displays, and the staff.

I've spent thousands of $$$ on astronomy but only been inside two or three stores: Orion in SF just as it closed, and Scopecity, also in SF; and Maison de l'Astronomie in Montreal.

Anyhow it would be nice if a photo essay something like "meet the folks at ATWB" (and some shots of ATWB's biz layout as well) were available to help make the place seem more real. These days I imagine astronomy stores in dank industrial areas where the rent is cheap and everything stays in a box till shipped. I'm also very fond of shots of lots of telescopes set up together. I'll bet you also have displays of eyepieces and binoculars and what not....looks like you have an attractive setting for the store, it would be nice to visualize that too.

You might already have something like this somewhere, but I don't know where it is.

thanks
Greg N

April 4, 2009 01:11 PM Forum: Beginning Astronomy?

Do binoculars EVER die?

Posted By Greg Nowell

I can't help but marvel that the binocular market contains dozens of contemporary manufacturers as well as used equipment going back to WWI.

Are binoculars forever? Do they EVER die?

Greg N

April 5, 2009 08:34 PM Forum: Birding Optics and Photos

Binocular tricks

Posted By Greg Nowell

I was reading about the Steiner Predator 10x42 binoculars. The text said something along the lines that the coatings were optimized for red transmission and against blue, the theory being that reds and browns are best for detecting game at dusk.

It seems to me though that we don't use much red in visual astronomy and that one could rephrase the Steiner text as saying that these binoculars are optimized for anti-astronomy.

My question is whether these sorts of "optimizations" in fact make a difference? And I guess as a more subtle point: how would you know what a particular binocular company is emphasizing in its design? Most of the sales blurbs just say maximum light transmission. It may not be the case that good birding or game binoculars are optimized for astronomy.

regards
Greg N

April 6, 2009 12:53 PM Forum: AstroMart FAQ

Is this excessive?

Posted By Greg Nowell

These days when I ship an item I try to photograph the item going into the box and the box itself before shipping; I then send a scan or pic of the tracking receipt. Detailed packing pics on expensive items also help any insurance claims.

Since astromart creates a public record of transactions it occurred to me that it might be a nice touch to include the tracking receipt in the picture array of the expiring ad as a notice of "the deed is done." I didn't put in the address.

Any thoughts? I did this for one ad

http://www.astromart.com/classifieds/details.asp?classified_id=620683

to kick off the discussion but will remove it if "the boss" says, or general sentiment is, that it's a bad idea.

thanks
Greg N

April 7, 2009 11:34 PM Forum: Birding Optics and Photos

Argon vs. Nitrogen: do we care?

Posted By Greg Nowell

Argon vs. Nitrogen in binoculars: do we care?

Also, is "gas leakage" a potential cause of death, in the long term, for the modern binocular?

thanks
Greg N

April 9, 2009 02:00 PM Forum: Eyepieces

coatings discussion

Posted By Greg Nowell

Down in the "other groups" in the astro-physics section I've posted a whole bunch of pics that expolore the issue of optical coatings in a primitive manner. I thought I would point y'all down to it since I'd rather not have to re-post the pictures.

thanks
Greg N

April 14, 2009 03:11 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Guess what this is?

Posted By Greg Nowell

Let's see if we can get this in three guesses or less?

Greg N

April 14, 2009 04:34 AM Forum: Eyepieces

Full set of Naglers...

Posted By Greg Nowell

I know a full set of XWs can be bought for around $2800. I'm curious to know what the complete set of Nagler 82 degree eyepiece would cost. Please leave out the not-so-great 4.8 T1 or whatever that thing is.

thanks
Greg N

April 15, 2009 02:19 AM Forum: Eyepieces

More Nagler thoughts

Posted By Greg Nowell

I found that when I started mounting an f/6.5 102mm on my C14, I was "driven" to acquire the full set of XWs. We don't really NEED this stuff, right? But what I mean was that operated a 102mm refractor (and even the FS128, which does not ride the c14) one OFTEN uses eyepieces in the 3.5, 5, and 7mm range, which one NEVER uses in the C14. In fact with the refractor I find I use MOST the very short fls and the very longest fl eyepieces for "wide field goodness" (17x and 25x).

By contrast in the c14 I indulge somewhat in the wide field eyepieces but I don't kid myself: the most I can get is 43 arc minutes and my true wide field views are to be had in the refractor. But I also use the 10, 14, and 20 a lot because they cover the optimal magnifcation range for the instrument and help it do what it does best from 195x to 390x. So when one is operating two such dissimilar instruments it is nice to have a full spectrum set of eyepieces.

I'm wondering how one would handle a similar situation if one were using Naglers, given the different design options.

Thoughts?

regards
Greg N