SkyArcher
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/12/06
Posts: 2006
Loc: 9545' in Colorado
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So I decided to get me a pair of Binos to go with my scopes and after doing a ton of research decided to get Oberwerks 15x70 for $140. In surfing the net for the best prices, I ran across the Barskas at Amazon.com for $49 plus free shipping.
Darn, I could never turn down a good deal. So I got the Barskas.
They needed a little colimating when I got them and two minutes later they were just fine. 
So my next question is, can these Barskas be modded/bluprinted for better performance?
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An 8" Deep Space Hunter
4.5 w/ GOTO
4.5 newt w/ home built Dob mount
Omphaloskepsis - I didn't realize that there is a word for what I do while waiting for web pages to download 
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charen
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 05/28/05
Posts: 778
Loc: New Zealand
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I have a pair and notice the minimal / no baffling - my Barskas do have secondary ghosting on bright objects and moderate internal reflections which are noticable and distracting . I had thought that adding baffles would be the number one modification but I'am no expert in this area - any one with experience at this ?
The other mod. would be to reduce any free 'play' in the focus assembly as some reports about the Barskas notice movements which affect fine focus - mine are reasonably firm. Just some thoughts.
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35 binos.
80mm Cat.
WO66ED
SV NH 80mm / EQ3
Meade 8in.LX90
Skywatcher Equinox ED120 / Goto HEQ5.
Edited by charen (07/23/06 09:40 PM)
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EdZ
Professor EdZ
Reged: 02/15/02
Posts: 12499
Loc: Cumberland, R I , USA42N71.4W
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Quote:
So my next question is, can these Barskas be modded/bluprinted for better performance?
Sure they can.
use prisms that have been inspected for cut and polish.
use objective lens that have been slow polished rather than fast polished.
use objective lenses that have been inspected.
use multicoatings on all lens surfaces.
use multicoatings on all prism surfaces.
use coatings that are actually verified as 1/4 wavelength thickness.
use a slowfocus shaft on the focuser.
use well corrected eyepieces
use eyepieces with longer eye relief
inspect the completed binocular.
But then you'd probably have an Oberwerk.
edz
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Teach a kid something today. The feeling you'll get is one of life's greatest rewards.
member#21
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XT10Guy
super member
Reged: 05/28/06
Posts: 199
Loc: USA
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Glassthrower
Vendor - Galactic Stone & Ironworks
Reged: 04/07/05
Posts: 14594
Loc: Hurricane Alley
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Quote:
use prisms that have been inspected for cut and polish.
use objective lens that have been slow polished rather than fast polished.
use objective lenses that have been inspected.
use multicoatings on all lens surfaces.
use multicoatings on all prism surfaces.
use coatings that are actually verified as 1/4 wavelength thickness.
use a slowfocus shaft on the focuser.
use well corrected eyepieces
use eyepieces with longer eye relief
inspect the completed binocular.
I'm gonna try that on my Celestrons tonight!
MikeG
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Michael Gilmer - Member of the Meteoritical Society & Collector of Falling Stars.
Galactic Stone & Ironworks - Buy/Sell/Trade Meteorites, Moon Rocks, Mars Rocks, & 35 different falls and types!
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SkyArcher
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/12/06
Posts: 2006
Loc: 9545' in Colorado
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That's funny, Edz. If I wanted Oberwerks, I would have bought Oberwerks. As it is, I'm perfectly happy with the sharpness, clarity and viewing comfort of my Barskas.
My focus knob is nice and tight so no problem there. I wouldn't know a ghost if it poked me in the eye but I'm thinking that it would be a good idea to paint the inside of the prism housing flat black. The barells look like they're flat black already.
Can the focus shaft be adjusted or changed.
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An 8" Deep Space Hunter
4.5 w/ GOTO
4.5 newt w/ home built Dob mount
Omphaloskepsis - I didn't realize that there is a word for what I do while waiting for web pages to download
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Glassthrower
Vendor - Galactic Stone & Ironworks
Reged: 04/07/05
Posts: 14594
Loc: Hurricane Alley
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SkyArcher -
You are a brave and adventurous man indeed for wanting to open up and tinker with your binoculars. Honestly, I envy that gusto. I have wanted to tinker with my Skymasters on more than one occasion, but refrained from doing so out of fear - fear of messing them up and not being able to restore them to their previous level of function.
Just keep in mind that altering the fundamentals of the light path will likely throw the unit out of collimation. Unlike a scope, a binocular cannot be collimated by the owner - unless that owner is one of perhaps a dozen people in this country that owns a collimator and has the necessary skills to use it. The best that can be achieved by the end user, once true collimation is lost, is "conditional alignment" - which will only produce a usable image at a given IPD. Any other IPD in the range may result in images that will not merge - regardless of how much tinkering you do with the prism alignment.
If you choose to open those binoculars up and start inserting baffles, flat-blacking, or otherwise altering the instrument for the better, then I will be here cheering for your success. I'm curious about such things myself. Like I said, I just have a fear of screwing things up - that and a total lack of technical skills or patience.
I'm curious though.....what exactly are you hoping for when you say "modded/bluprinted for better performance" ?
Good luck and clear dark skies...
MikeG
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Michael Gilmer - Member of the Meteoritical Society & Collector of Falling Stars.
Galactic Stone & Ironworks - Buy/Sell/Trade Meteorites, Moon Rocks, Mars Rocks, & 35 different falls and types!
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EdZ
Professor EdZ
Reged: 02/15/02
Posts: 12499
Loc: Cumberland, R I , USA42N71.4W
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Quote:
I'm thinking that it would be a good idea to paint the inside of the prism housing flat black
You are going to get a lot more light scatter and ghost reflections from the 9 internal single coated surfaces than you are from any stray light hitting the sidewalls in the prism housing. So, making the prism housing flat black, (if it is not alreay) is a good thing, but you are considering a tremendous amount of disassembly work to attack 10% of the problem, while you would be able to do nothing about the other 90% that remains.
edz
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Teach a kid something today. The feeling you'll get is one of life's greatest rewards.
member#21
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Mark9473
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 07/21/05
Posts: 2663
Loc: 51°N 4°E
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please don't discourage him, I want to find out in what shape those binoculars end up.
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Mark
Leica 8x20; Vixen 8x42; Swift 8.5x44, 10x50 and 20x80; TS 7x50; Orion 15x63
WO Megrez II 80 FD + Baader 90° T2 Amici
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jpniewski
super member
Reged: 11/27/05
Posts: 150
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When I got my Barskas, even after collimation, I had a problem with flare around bright stars and planets (Jupiter was not round but oval). This sounded to me like pinched objectives as can happen in refractors. I loosened the objective retaining rings and tightened them back just barely snug. Be careful though. The retaining rings are made of plastic and were incredibly tight. I didn't have the proper tool at the time, and gouged up one of the rings (but luckly didn't scratch the objectives). The gouged ring doesn't hurt performance though. Use an optical spanner wrench to be safe (got to get one of those, one of the few tools I don't have). Anyway, after this mod, Jupiter was round and stars were very tight with no flare. Very happy with the performace for the $70 I paid. I'll bet a lot of the lower priced binos with less than average optics might be improved in this manner.
Joe
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SkyArcher
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/12/06
Posts: 2006
Loc: 9545' in Colorado
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I'm well aware that any mass produced item will be made with a broad tolerance as regards to fit and finish.
As opposed to a craftsman who will sit there and carefully fit the parts together so that the instrument can perform to the best of it's ability.
By blueprinting, I mean tuning and fitting my Barskas so that it will perform to the best of it's abilities. Even with it's fully coated optics. It is like blueprinting a car engine or a rifle.
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An 8" Deep Space Hunter
4.5 w/ GOTO
4.5 newt w/ home built Dob mount
Omphaloskepsis - I didn't realize that there is a word for what I do while waiting for web pages to download
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SkyArcher
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/12/06
Posts: 2006
Loc: 9545' in Colorado
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Well, I had the thing apart in about 5 mins, looked at it put it back together in about 10 min, tweeked the colimation and went out to look at Jupiter. Works very well. Once I braced against a fence post, I could see three moons on Jupiter. But because it was overcast, Jupiter was the only thing visible in the sky.
The inside of the prism housing had some overspray but no real paint work done. I need to stop by the store get some flat black paint.
BTW Don't try this at home. The Barskas were very easy to disassemble and assemble but some people shouldn't be allowed around tools.
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An 8" Deep Space Hunter
4.5 w/ GOTO
4.5 newt w/ home built Dob mount
Omphaloskepsis - I didn't realize that there is a word for what I do while waiting for web pages to download
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johnno
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 05/03/04
Posts: 807
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Yes,
I have to admit.
EDZ,post,cracked me up too.
Regards.
John
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upsguy
Uff da
Reged: 10/01/05
Posts: 3100
Loc: schaumburg, il.
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Quote:
Well, I had the thing apart in about 5 mins, looked at it put it back together in about 10 min, tweeked the colimation and went out to look at Jupiter. Works very well. Once I braced against a fence post, I could see three moons on Jupiter. But because it was overcast, Jupiter was the only thing visible in the sky.
The inside of the prism housing had some overspray but no real paint work done. I need to stop by the store get some flat black paint.
BTW Don't try this at home. The Barskas were very easy to disassemble and assemble but some people shouldn't be allowed around tools.
i was wondering if you painted the insides and how did it turn out?
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Jim
Meade lx90 8" uhtc
Meade 80mm refractor
Orion 70mm refractor
Barska 15x70
Obies 11x56
Canon 400D
Canon SX100IS
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SkyArcher
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/12/06
Posts: 2006
Loc: 9545' in Colorado
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To tell you the truth, after posting this thread, I finally got to spend quite some time with my Barskas. By far the best mod that I did was to make a P-mount for $20 and attach it to a Bogen clamp type head. It made it a lot more comfortable to use the Barskas and I have since spent many hours with my Barskas. I'm very happy with my Barskas and see no reason to mod them other than tweaking the collimation.
Some people may not like them and I would encourage them to spend more money to get better binos.
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An 8" Deep Space Hunter
4.5 w/ GOTO
4.5 newt w/ home built Dob mount
Omphaloskepsis - I didn't realize that there is a word for what I do while waiting for web pages to download
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Glassthrower
Vendor - Galactic Stone & Ironworks
Reged: 04/07/05
Posts: 14594
Loc: Hurricane Alley
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I always like getting a late update on these kinds of threads. I often wonder what happened, months later, to these issues.
Thanks for the update. And continued good luck with your Barksa.
Clear dark skies...
MikeG
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Michael Gilmer - Member of the Meteoritical Society & Collector of Falling Stars.
Galactic Stone & Ironworks - Buy/Sell/Trade Meteorites, Moon Rocks, Mars Rocks, & 35 different falls and types!
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upsguy
Uff da
Reged: 10/01/05
Posts: 3100
Loc: schaumburg, il.
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i enjoy using my barskas too, but if i had money to spend on better ones, i would.
fyi, i got mine on amazon for $49, so i figured, how bad could these be? best $ spent on "cheaper" binos.
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Jim
Meade lx90 8" uhtc
Meade 80mm refractor
Orion 70mm refractor
Barska 15x70
Obies 11x56
Canon 400D
Canon SX100IS
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ftodonoghue
member
Reged: 12/02/05
Posts: 47
Loc: Ireland
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Got a pair of these yesterday, I already own the 20X80's and I found that with some tweaking of the collimation screws, I got excellent results. I was expecting the 15X70's also to be out of whack but hoping otherwise. Sure enough, I had to take the screwdriver to them. Now they are performing great.
I am very happy with them, but if both of my pairs of barska needed collimation, maybe they would not be suitable for someone who is not afraid to mess around with optics. I for one get a thrill out of squeezing performance out of $50 70mms
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12" F5 truss tube (planning stage)
8" F5 homemade dob
90mm F5.5 refractor
70mm F10 bresser skylux refractor
Barska 20X80's
Barska/Meade Hybrid 15X70's
Bresser 10X50's
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