Telescope Reviews: First light Nobilem 15x60

The sky cleared and so I was out tonight with my new Docter Nobilem 15x60.

As the first stars started to show in twilight, the Nobilem's first light was on brilliant white Vega, and I liked what I saw, a lot, but I didn't linger there for long as Vega was almost exactly overhead and therefore not in the most comfortable viewing location. Altair was much better placed and that's where I spent the next few minutes.

In these early minutes I had my Orion MiniGiant 15x63 along with me, and comparing the two views quickly showed a superior overall light transmission in the Nobilem. Despite having a slight exit pupil disadvantage (4 mm vs 4.2 mm), the Nobilem showed a noticeably brighter sky background and more vivid sky colour.

First DSO seen was M11. This was still in twilight, with the Sun just over 7° below the horizon. M11 was nothing but a smudge with a star right next to it. But it was visible directly, whereas in the Orion I needed averted viewing and then still only saw it intermittently. I'd say this amounts to a contrast advantage for the Nobilems.

45 minutes later the view on M11 was much nicer, showing its typical glow-with-some-stars appearance. By this time the Sun was already 14° below the horizon and the first glimpses of the Milky Way were becoming visible. The sky was promising to be a bit better than usual at my site, and I gave up comparing with the Orions, deciding to just sit back and enjoy the new toy. For some time I just scanned around the sky, picking up a few targets here and there - M27, M71, Coathanger, etc. Had a nice good-bye view of M17 the Swan Nebula, which will soon be gone from view.

I got a great hand-held view of the beautiful double star Albireo. Hand-holding really is a breeze for me with these 15x60. Something about the ratio of weight / size / form factor / balance makes them just right for hand-holding for short periods of time or for scanning around the sky, which is exactly my viewing style on most nights. For comparison I went back inside to get my 10x50, which for many people is a benchmark of what they can just hold steady enough. I half expected the 15x60 to be as steady as the 10x50, but that was a bit foolish of course. But there really wasn't that much difference.

Bright stars focus tightly without significant flaring or spiking, and fainter ones are just points. Away from the center it degrades a bit quicker than I had hoped, and at the edge bright stars look like seagulls. In normal viewing when the target is centered, the overal impression is of a pleasing, natural, quality view leading right up to the edges without gross defects distracting the attention (unless perhaps when there's a really bright star at the edge), and bordered by a sharp black edge.

Focus is decisive and stays put. No need to fiddle with it once they're focussed. The focus wheel and right eyepiece diopter setting are both sufficiently stiff that they won't get knocked off their intended position.

High haze and clouds are rolling in, so that's all for tonight.