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MessierScott
super member
Reged: 06/18/07
Posts: 180
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Our club had a public night at the observatory and I had my 20-inch with the Denk II's on. After about 30 minutes, I gave up and put a single eyepiece back in. It was too difficult to get every one of them to space the binoviewers correctly and to get their position just right ....especially when I had 20 people in line waiting for a view.
There were 2 or 3 that stuck around all night and much later in the evening after the rest of the public had left, I let them view through the binos then.
Am I safe to assume to most of you go back to a single eyepiece when dealing lots of public?
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Scott Kranz
20-inch f/4.3 Starmaster w/Zambuto mirror, Feathertouch focuser, GO TO & tracking
7-inch Starmaster
H-alpha Coronado PST
Denkmeier II binoviewers w/24mm Panoptics
16x80 binos
Astronomical Society of Kansas City
Astronomical League Messier, Meteor, Sunspotter, & Asteroid Observing Programs Coordinator
ASKC Dark Sky Site
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BlueRidge
sage
Reged: 01/12/07
Posts: 288
Loc: Blue Ridge Mtns., VA
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IMO, binoviewers confuse the public.
Bill H.
Syria, VA
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Celestron Skymaster 15 x 70's, Miyauchi BR-141's
Celestron Nexstar 11 GPS, SkyAlign upgrade
Celestron 9.25 XLT OTA, CG-5 Mount
Stellarvue SV90TBV
Denk II Binoviewers/#S2 Power/Filterswitch
21mm and 14mm Denk EPs
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EdZ
Professor EdZ
Reged: 02/15/02
Posts: 12485
Loc: Cumberland, R I , USA42N71.4W
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I've found that binoviewers are a poor choice for public viewing where people with different IPD and focus requirements and who are not well versed in the equipmet just do not mix.
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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Fred1
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 09/19/07
Posts: 767
Loc: Garnet Valley, Pennsylvania
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Well, as usual, I'm the odd man out. I was just at a public star party on August 9 that was very well attended. My TV binos were in the SCT with 24Pans on a just passed 1st 1/4 Moon and the Nighthawk had the Stellarvue Binos with a new pair of 10mm Agenas (70* AFOV) on Jupiter. Skies were good, the crowd was well behaved and I got quite a few WOWS for the SCT view. I didn't take a head count but other than 1 person, an elderly lady who had a problem so I switched to mono for her, nobody had a problem adjusting the binos after minimal instructions. Many said they preferred the view over the other dozen or so scopes they looked through albeit mono. I think the trick is to give verbal instructions before they look and demonstrate how the IPD adjusts. Also, I focused with my glasses on before hand and there were very little focusing issues. Again I gave verbal instructions on how to. Maybe I was lucky and got a batch of bino friendly eye/brain lookers.
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Fred
Celestron 8" SCT w/Starizona Feathertouch Microfocuser and Orion 9x50 RACI FinderScope;
Stellarvue Nighthawk Aplanat w/Orion 6x30 RACI Finderscope
Vixen Sphinx SXD/Hal 130
Celestron CG5-ASGT
Stellarvue M1/Surveyor Tripod
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Nick Lloyd
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/24/06
Posts: 1618
Loc: cincinnati
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When there is LOTS of public, I skip the binoviewers. However, if there are a few stragglers that seem well-mannered, sober, patient, and interested... then it's binoviewer time. Hearing the quiet response of "oh... wow... oh... wow!" is worth it.
Public binoviewer targets are usually luna and planets.
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"The best scope is the one you use." -rcg
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David E
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 05/25/06
Posts: 1711
Loc: North Carolina
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Quote:
When there is LOTS of public, I skip the binoviewers. However, if there are a few stragglers that seem well-mannered, sober, patient, and interested... then it's binoviewer time. Hearing the quiet response of "oh... wow... oh... wow!" is worth it.
Public binoviewer targets are usually luna and planets.
That's my experience too. If I have a line of people I use single eyepiece. But I've had binos out twice with a small crowd and they were crowd pleasers. Most people can merge as long as I keep the power 100x or under.
David E
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David E
So when at times the mob is swayed
To carry praise or blame too far,
We may choose something like a star
To stay our minds on and be staid.
-Robert Frost
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MessierScott
super member
Reged: 06/18/07
Posts: 180
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Thanks for the responses!
I figured most of you will go back to a single eyepiece with a crowd of people waiting to view.
And with the few people at the end who were genuinely interested, they loved the binoviewers.
Thanks!
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Scott Kranz
20-inch f/4.3 Starmaster w/Zambuto mirror, Feathertouch focuser, GO TO & tracking
7-inch Starmaster
H-alpha Coronado PST
Denkmeier II binoviewers w/24mm Panoptics
16x80 binos
Astronomical Society of Kansas City
Astronomical League Messier, Meteor, Sunspotter, & Asteroid Observing Programs Coordinator
ASKC Dark Sky Site
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BluewaterObserva
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/18/04
Posts: 4763
Loc: Zuni Mtns, NM
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Binoculars in general are tough to share views. Ever used a JMI reverse binos? Impossible to share views with.
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George N
sage
Reged: 05/19/06
Posts: 296
Loc: Binghamton & Indian Lake NY
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Quote:
When there is LOTS of public, I skip the binoviewers. However, if there are a few stragglers that seem well-mannered, sober, patient, and interested... then it's binoviewer time. Hearing the quiet response of "oh... wow... oh... wow!" is worth it. ....
That's been my experience too! I find about one in ten people don't like bino's, and that includes experienced observers.
Russ from Denkmeier told me that even *he* goes "mono" when faced with a large public group.
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George N
Obsession 20
Optical Guidance Systems 10" F/9 R-C Cass
6" F/5 & 8" F/8 home-made Newts
MI-250 mount
SBIG STL-1301E CCD
Member, International Dark-Sky Association
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warf
professor emeritus
Reged: 10/25/04
Posts: 709
Loc: Wisconsin
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I am in Fred's group... I have always set up one of my scopes with a binoviewer. I ususally use the NS11 SCT simply because of its light gathering capability which is important with binoviewers. I too give instructions to the users prior to them using them. I also like to use a easy target, such as jupiter at this time of the year. The tracking capabilities of the the NS11 allows the user to turn their attention to the binos. I have only had handful of people who couldn't merge the images. The binos are always a hit with club members and the public audience. I will admit it can slow down the viewing, but I think in the end the positive experience the viewers have is always worth it.
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Marsh
Celestron NS 11 GPS, Denk Standard Binoviewer, Pair of Denk 21 EP, Denk PowerSwitch Diagonal, Denk PST Corrector, Coronado PST Double Stacked, WO ZS80 Anniversary,Celestron 15x70 Binoculars
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Doug L
super member
Reged: 08/17/08
Posts: 122
Loc: Ottawa, Canada
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Another factor to consider might be that the binoviewer could be better collimated at a certain inter-pupilary setting. Using Glenn LeDrew's suggested method of removing the eyepieces & looking through the binoviewer backwards (one eye looking into the single aperture - eyepiece barrels to the sky) at a high contrast object like the moon, my viewer is great - 2 moon discs almost perfectly overlapping. However, as I rotate the barrels apart (wider eyepiece spacing) the discs begin moving apart diagonally. Therefore, those with "raptor eyes" would have much more trouble merging the images when looking through the binoviewer in the field. It would also help to explain why a group of seasoned observers comparing multiple viewers at a star party can differ with their opinion of which binoviewer is better collimated. I have looked through about 15 binoviewers, low end to Denks, and I'd hesitate to purchase any binoviewer unless I could look through it first.  
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Bino reality... 1 + 1 > 2
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