Jim Svetlikov
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/06/03
Posts: 2033
Loc: Crescent Beach
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WOW!
I caught a glimps of the moon last night through a hole in the clouds with the new binoviewers and my 10" dob using a TV barlow and the set of 20mm WA that came with binos.
Last night was cold, hence everyones furnace/fireplace was in full operation - rising heat waves destroyed the view for the most part as it was difficult to keep any one surface detail in focus.
However, the experience of the view through binoviewers was terrific!
After bringing the single images into focus I immediately had no problem merging the two images and was surprised how little effort it took to view surface details near the terminator that were taking on an almost 3 dimensional fullness in depth, although this was probably my brain trying to fill in details.
My eyes felt relaxed and unstrained as if I was merely looking through my binoculars.
Although only one night, I am already realizing there may be no turning back to the cycloptic.
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It is better to build a boy than try to mend a man.
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Dennis
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 12/30/03
Posts: 1320
Loc: Westford, Mass
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 Awesome! I'm so looking forward to exploring the moon with two eyes.
"My eyes felt relaxed and unstrained as if I was merely looking through my binoculars."
That really sums up the experience. Once you view with both eyes, viewing with one eye seems like an effort.
I'm in between jobs for two weeks. Was hoping for several 'all nighters'. Here's the forecast for the second week which mirrors last week:
Oh well, can't control the weather!  Been working on my 'honey do' list and making progress!
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Dennis
Nexstar9¼GPS
Edited by Dennis (10/24/04 08:23 PM)
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Jim Svetlikov
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/06/03
Posts: 2033
Loc: Crescent Beach
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The rain and clouds have returned here too, Dennis.
You'll definitely like looking at the moon with these things especially when there's no loss of light. 
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It is better to build a boy than try to mend a man.
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Dennis
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 12/30/03
Posts: 1320
Loc: Westford, Mass
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Well Jim, the clouds parted, and the moon was out. Oh, what a fabulous view! I've never been bothered, concerned, or dissapointed by one-eyed viewing until experiencing two-eyed viewing. Very much like looking at my monitor with one eye .... then using both eyes. Major comfort level difference.
Atmosphere was boiling tonight, I got up to 213x but for a few moments, things calmed down and the views were just stunning. Left the scope set-up and am hoping to stumble out very early tommorrow morning for Orion, and Saturn!
updated: Did stumble out. M42 was just beautiful this morning as was Saturn. Lots of turbulence but very pleasing at lower powers. Jet stream is covering most of the US. Here's an image from wunderground.com:
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Dennis
Nexstar9¼GPS
Edited by Dennis (10/26/04 06:43 AM)
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Jim Shaffer
member
Reged: 10/10/04
Posts: 91
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My binoviewer arrived today from Highpoint. Unfortunately, the eyepieces didn't. The packing slip just says "eyepieces will be shipped separately", but their website now says that they're back-ordered until November. Hopefully I'll be able to get together with some club members for the eclipse -- everybody has a bunch of Celestron 26mm and Orion 25mm around, right? (Unfortunately, I only have one of each.)
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Dennis
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 12/30/03
Posts: 1320
Loc: Westford, Mass
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Congrads on your new binoviewer! Too bad about the EPs. Hope you can find a pair with your club tommorrow night! Let us know!
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Dennis
Nexstar9¼GPS
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Tom L
Reged: 01/07/04
Posts: 31037
Loc: Sunny Oregon
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Ok guys...2 scopes, 2 focal lengths...the 8" is 1200mm and the 12.5" is 1905mm
The 17mm EPs would give me 112x in the 12.5" and 70x in the 8"...
The 20mm gives me 95x in the 12.5 and 60 in the 8"
112x is my magic area for small DSOs. Do they offer the binoviewer without eyepieces? I've thought about just getting another eyepiece to match one I have already...
Thoughts?
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Tom 
Tele Vue 102mm f/8.6 on an EzTouch
Vixen 80mm f/5 A80SSWT on a grab-n-go mount
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Dennis
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 12/30/03
Posts: 1320
Loc: Westford, Mass
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Tom, an additional factor is the 'mag' increase due to the binoviewer system. In my scope, I measured 1.113x. (say 11% increase) Not sure what it would be in your scope.
Because the clear aperature limit with these binoviewer is ~18.2mm, the 20mm EP may vignette, so I'd recommend the 17mm. I think, because of the issue with the 20mm, the 17mm may be in short supply at the moment. Worth the wait in my opinion. Also, both Walt and I received one 'bad' 17mm EP out of two delivered. Bill Burgess quickly replaced them though.
When considering purchase of these BVers, I'd consider the EPs a bonus. Not aware of a 'just binoviewer' offering. What EP do you currently have?
BTW, you will be very happy with this binoviewer! It really increases the comfort/wow factor.
GO SOX --- up 1-0 after the 1st!
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Dennis
Nexstar9¼GPS
Edited by Dennis (10/26/04 09:09 PM)
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Bluemeanie
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 903
Loc: Scranton, PA U.S.A.
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Tom, the 2 EPs that come with the Burgess unit are free. I would guess, and only guess, that after the promotion is over the binoviewer will still be $199, but without EPs.
You could always sell them...
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Walt
- Obsession 15" f/4.5 #1282 w/ Argo Navis, Feathertouch Focuser
- Meade 2080GEM (8" SCT)
- Vixen ED80SF - Celestron CG5-GT Mount
- Coulter CT-100 - Meade DS2000 Mount
- Coronado Halpha PST
- Denkmeier Binoviewer w/ dual PXS
- Canon 300D, Celestron Neximage
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Mark Schulz
super member
Reged: 09/06/04
Posts: 157
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What 17mm ep's did you guys get? As I mentioned in another thread, I got the 16mm SWA's.
Mark
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Mark Schulz
13.1" Tscopes Kit Dob
TV 85
127mm Orion mak
Denk II and Denk Standard Binoviewers
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Tom L
Reged: 01/07/04
Posts: 31037
Loc: Sunny Oregon
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Guys, nothing is free, and it sounds like the EPs are pretty decent. I sent an email to Bill asking if he only offers the BV without EPs....I would then buy an 18mm and 12.5mm ortho to make 2 pairs and go from there. I'll let you know what Bill says.
Dennis, I hear tell he is shipping 16mm EPs as well? That would probably be even better than the 17mm's.
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Tom
Tele Vue 102mm f/8.6 on an EzTouch
Vixen 80mm f/5 A80SSWT on a grab-n-go mount
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Julio Cesar
sage
Reged: 02/24/04
Posts: 194
Loc: Madrid, Spain
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Hi everybody,
I received my BB last week with a 17mm WA eyepiece set and they seem OK. I just tested the BB with WA eyepieces at daylight and noted some colored field of view but they are sharp.
On the other hand, I got two aluminium adapters for Miyauchi eyepieces (1.145" barrel) enabling me to use both pairs in the 1.25" focusers of the BB. Therefore, now I have 3 pairs of eyepieces (Miyauchi's and Burguess WA). Miyauchi eyepieces perform quite well at daylight.
Here you can see a photo of my Miyauchi eyepieces.
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http://www.nocturlabio.com
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tomhole
sage
Reged: 12/20/02
Posts: 443
Loc: California, MD
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On a tip from Tom D, I picked up an older Celestron 2x barlow that was really long (5.5"). It kinda screwed onto the nosepiece of the BB and I measured the mag at 2.7x or so. Better than a short barlow was giving me, but not as low as I hoped.
So, the lowest power I can get is 170x with the 24 Pans. The lowest unvignetted power I can get is 240x with the 17 WA's. Not the best options, but at least I get to look at stuff with the BB's.
I pulled the Starmaster out and put the BB's in with the 17mm WA's from Bill. Oila! It focused. First view was the blue and gold double in the northern cross (I'm sure they have a more proper name, but blue and gold are my alma mater's colors). Whoa! It's now a foursome. That's not good. I wiggled the ep's around and got it down to the normal two stars. I suspected the set screw ep holders might cause merging issues and they did. It's easy enough to wiggle the ep and get them to merge. I used the diopter adjusters and as I rotated the right one, the image would merge and unmerge. Looked kinda cool, but not a desirable characteristic in binoviewers. A wiggle of the ep gets them merged again. This phenomenon is to be expected as the set screw pushes the ep against one side of the ep holder thus, uncentering it. As the ep rotates, the center of the focal path rotates around the center of rotation causing the image to unmerge. This is a minor annoyance, but one that new binoviewer folk should be aware of. It will drive you batty if you don't know what is going on.
On to the double double. Wow! Nice split! Then I remembered I was at 240x. I would hope they split nicely there. I put the 24 monocentrics in and still a clean split, as expected. The 24mm ep's were actually 24 Pans but they vignetted down to about 40 deg AFOV or so. That confirms the baffle acting as a field stop theory.
The skies are crystal clear and fairly steady. I anticipate a wonderful evening with the BB's and the eclipse. The 170x I can get with the 24 orthos will be a bummer. I'll have to pull out the Denks for a wider FOV.
No obvious spherical or chromatic aberrations noted during a star test. Not steady enough for a critical test, but at least there wasn't any obvious issues.
Hope everyone else gets to view the eclipse as well.
Clear skies,
Tom
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11" Starmaster
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Tom L
Reged: 01/07/04
Posts: 31037
Loc: Sunny Oregon
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In case anyone missed this post this morning from Mr. Siebert.
http://www.astromart.com/classifieds/details.asp?classified_id=306983
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Tom
Tele Vue 102mm f/8.6 on an EzTouch
Vixen 80mm f/5 A80SSWT on a grab-n-go mount
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Tom L
Reged: 01/07/04
Posts: 31037
Loc: Sunny Oregon
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BTW, I hope Bill answers this week. I understand he is overseas right now. No answer to my email as yet...
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Tom
Tele Vue 102mm f/8.6 on an EzTouch
Vixen 80mm f/5 A80SSWT on a grab-n-go mount
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Levente
sage
Reged: 01/20/04
Posts: 310
Loc: Budapest, Hungary
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Tom, please do let us know if you receive any reply from Bill as to the binoviewer availability WITHOUT eyepieces. I'm condisering to try one and compare it with my Siebert Dielectric BlackNight unit.
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jrcrilly
Refractor wienie no more
Reged: 04/30/03
Posts: 30716
Loc: NE Ohio
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Quote:
Tom, please do let us know if you receive any reply from Bill as to the binoviewer availability WITHOUT eyepieces. I'm condisering to try one and compare it with my Siebert Dielectric BlackNight unit.
Here's a used set with no eyepieces. I don't know him, so buyer beware.
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John C
Battle Cry of Reno
http://www.wadsworthobservatory.com
My Cloudy Nights gallery
AT12RC
AT65EDQ
QSI683WSG-8
Roper Scientific Quantix 6303E "project" camera
mystery EQ mount on the way
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Bluemeanie
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 903
Loc: Scranton, PA U.S.A.
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Quote:
I don't know him
Well, not personally... 
Sale is pending ,but the buyer may fall through.I'm going to give him 24hrs.
Regardless, I'm hopping on the Denk train!
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Walt
- Obsession 15" f/4.5 #1282 w/ Argo Navis, Feathertouch Focuser
- Meade 2080GEM (8" SCT)
- Vixen ED80SF - Celestron CG5-GT Mount
- Coulter CT-100 - Meade DS2000 Mount
- Coronado Halpha PST
- Denkmeier Binoviewer w/ dual PXS
- Canon 300D, Celestron Neximage
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Tom L
Reged: 01/07/04
Posts: 31037
Loc: Sunny Oregon
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Walt, can you tell us why in 50 words or less?  Seriously, why make the jump?
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Tom
Tele Vue 102mm f/8.6 on an EzTouch
Vixen 80mm f/5 A80SSWT on a grab-n-go mount
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Bluemeanie
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 903
Loc: Scranton, PA U.S.A.
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I don't want to be restricted.. The Denk has more clear aperture and is less restrictive than the Burgess unit when it comes to EPs.
But I have to be truthful Tom, the most important reason is my wife said I could!
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Walt
- Obsession 15" f/4.5 #1282 w/ Argo Navis, Feathertouch Focuser
- Meade 2080GEM (8" SCT)
- Vixen ED80SF - Celestron CG5-GT Mount
- Coulter CT-100 - Meade DS2000 Mount
- Coronado Halpha PST
- Denkmeier Binoviewer w/ dual PXS
- Canon 300D, Celestron Neximage
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