Telescope Reviews: New 6"F/8 APM ED arrived today

against the delivery forecast of TNT the telescope arrived today :-).
A first inspection was done already and some comments send to the manufacturer.

- packing was very good , but need to be changed , because its difficult to use the same packing for us again for repacking after testing everything

- weight of the scope is more then promissed , OTA weights at moment without rings 8.7 kg = 19.14 lbs and with rings and 3" Losmandy like dovetail 10.7 kg = 23.5 lbs. That is still ok, but we found some places where we can safe weight, the rings can be made more light weight, the front tube flange which holds the cell can be made a bit more lightweight. Also the tube and dew shield ismade from 2.5 mm thick alu, we hope they can go down to 1.5 mm or 2.0 mm , so we can come close to the forecast they made.

Backfocuse on the telescope behind 2" adapter when focuser is fully racked in was agreed on 180 mm, they did insteed 207 mm. We like to leave it this way, bigger backfocuse helps for binoviewers and also to use our Riccardi Apo Reducer/Flattener. However we request therefore a 2.5" screw extension 2 inch long

Overal fit and finish is superb, no improvement needet.

Coating: the objective have the best Multicoating I have seen from any chinese or taiwanese manufacturer , this one is at the level of famous US apo makers, wow, that was a big surprise that they could do what I wanted :-)

Colorcorrection of the optics: Our LZOS/Riccardi 6"F/8 doublet is diffrent designed then all other doublet apos. The LZOS is designed to be better at the blue end which is easy visible for human eye and worse at the red end where human eyes are less sensitive. So the LZOS/Riccardi show zero chromatical aberration In-focuse ( sharp image), such colorfree image you know only from high end FPL53 triplet apos in-focuse.

Our new Chinese FK61 doublet ED is designed like all other doublet apos, diffrent balansed. With a 4 mm eyepiece = 300 power I see nice clear white airydisc with a little blue-purple , like on any other doublet Apos, I know very many customers who report to see no such left chromatical aberration, so I talk here from a very sensitive and ritical point of view. The colorcorrection I see right now at day time is far better then i expected from the design.

Today w ehave sunny clear sky, so i will take the scope home and test it tonight on stars, deep sky andjupiter and report about my views tomorrow.

Weather Forecast is good, so my company imager will take the scope home tomorrow for doing some test shoots , which we will publish here in some days.

After that I pack it and ship it to Mr. Rohr, that he can test it interferometrical , so we know how it compares to other ED doublets.

Delivery:
APM 152 mm f/1200 mm ED doublet Apo ( FK61 + Lanthanium element) fully multicoated. Delivery including 2.5" rotation focuser with fine focuse, adapter APM 2"/1.25" Deluxe, set of Tube rings with transporting handle, 3" Losmandy Like dovetail, 50 mm finder, Transporting case

Option: Interferometrical Testreport for little extra money.

Our Price for US Buyers include door to door delivery and insurance US $ 3,990.-

first real pictuzres:
http://www.apm-telescopes.net/en/content.html?coID=24
scrioll down to header: Apochromatical Refractors, 2-Lenses, opt. Tube:

http://www.apm-telescopes.net/media/images/lagerliste/popup/2956/152ED%20OTA%20real.jpg
http://www.apm-telescopes.net/media/images/lagerliste/popup/2956/152%20ED%20Logo.jpg
http://www.apm-telescopes.net/media/images/lagerliste/popup/2956/152%20ED%20front%20lens.jpg
http://www.apm-telescopes.net/media/images/lagerliste/popup/2956/152%20ED%20adjusting%20cell%20side.jpg
http://www.apm-telescopes.net/media/images/lagerliste/popup/2956/152Ed%20transporting%20box%20inside.jpg
http://www.apm-telescopes.net/media/images/lagerliste/popup/2956/152Ed%20transporting%20box%20outside%20unpacked.jpg