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geoffrey
sage
Reged: 01/05/04
Posts: 358
Loc: North West England
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Just got an Opticron Product Guide in the post this morning, and it shows a 2.5x Universal Tele-Adapter.
"converts one half of the instrument into a higher powered long eye relief monocular. Designed for use with or with out spectacles with a twist type retractable eyecup assembly"
Kenny, Edz, what do you think? It seems a good idea to me to add to my 10x50's
Would it be ok for stargaxing? perhaps the moon etc.
I assume it would gather less light and narrow the FOV, but still sounds attractive giving me 25x50. Not cheap at £100.
Any thoughts or experience?
Another question. Can Spotting/Field Scopes be used for Astronomy?
Geoffrey
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Celestron Nextstar 8SE
6.25" F7.6 Dob
Skywatcher ST80
Opticron imagic BGA PC ASF T 8x42
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EdZ
Professor EdZ
Reged: 02/15/02
Posts: 12566
Loc: Cumberland, R I , USA42N71.4W
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Sounds like what Kenny was doing recently, magnifying the image thru his binocs to get much higher power.
I suspect it reduces image quality.
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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moynihan
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 07/22/03
Posts: 1517
Loc: Wisconsin
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I have a 2.5 extender from Eagle Optics. I have not used it with a binocular for astronomy, (but see last part of post)since i currently only use binoculars hand held. I can tell you something about the daytime performance of mine.
First, I would strongly recommend against using it with any handheld bino on astro objects, (i cannot comment on image stablized models). The difficulty in holding a bino with extender steady in daytime is extreme, at night it must be really hairy.
My extender was surprisingly good "for the money". Good enough to fill in for a spotting scope when traveling light.
But:
Unless your talking the Zeiss or Swarovsky (sp?) extenders that are matched to their respective binos, an extender is not "top notch" optics. It is kind of like those add on telephotos or wide-angle lenses for cameras that fit over the objective.
The image is magnified, but softer. I have used my extender with 4 pair of binos, and one spotter, daytime. Generally, it "magnifies" any color abberation present in the bino already. So it in essence gives you a poorly corrected spotting scope, useful to avoid wieght of tripod/scope.
Below are my thoughts on performance with different optics:
A friend's Eagle Optics 8x30 Ranger Platinium.
Best match it fit, 2nd best in performance, which figures due to same manufacturer.
7x42 Zeiss Classic
Poor fit physically on eyepiece, best performance. That is due though to this binocular being that which the gods use 
10x42 Leica
Good fit, adequate performance. Higher mag/higher color.
8.5x44 Swift porro
Good fit, performance between the zeiss and leica.
Bausch and Lomb 22x60mm fixed eyepiece spotter. (digression. 15" long, 20mm eye relief, 3 degree field, waterproof, built-like-a-tank. Color correction not-the-best, but sharp. Lives in my car trunk with a small tripod and a small bean bag. My only birding scope. No longer produced, never seen on used market. Use in a pinch on sky)
With extender(55x)softer image and accentuated color abberation. Have tried it on Moon, ditto.
jay
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"Gosh, you've... really got some nice toys here"
Dual mount/ambient temperature Hominid Widefield Photon Collectors®
Pleistocene™ ½ watt Wetware Integration Unit.
entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem
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geoffrey
sage
Reged: 01/05/04
Posts: 358
Loc: North West England
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Thanks Edz and Jay. Getting the message.
Jay, the 2.5x is made by Opticron for their own Binos. so I assume would be good optics like my Imagic.
Will wait for Kenny's comments and anyone else please.
Are we all saying that spotting/field scopes are really no good for the sky?
Geoff
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Celestron Nextstar 8SE
6.25" F7.6 Dob
Skywatcher ST80
Opticron imagic BGA PC ASF T 8x42
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moynihan
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 07/22/03
Posts: 1517
Loc: Wisconsin
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I would not in anyway imply that "...that spotting/field scopes are really no good for the sky". My little 22x60 spotter does quite well on brighter DSO's for it's aperture and magnification and correction. But I only use it if nothing else along.
Prismatic spotting scopes of high quality can make excellent sky viewers. The best example is the Leica Trinovid 77mm APO with 20x-60x zoom, It is reviewd on Cloudy Nights.
jay
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"Gosh, you've... really got some nice toys here"
Dual mount/ambient temperature Hominid Widefield Photon Collectors®
Pleistocene™ ½ watt Wetware Integration Unit.
entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem
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moynihan
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 07/22/03
Posts: 1517
Loc: Wisconsin
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The high end ED or APO spotters make for really good dual -use scopes. Animals by day, stars by night. Rugged and Waterproof. Best zoom occulars are generally felt to be on the Leica and Swarvoski (sp?).
BTW: Another use I found for my 2.5x extender is testing binos and spotters. It "magnifies" inherent characteristics, good or bad, of any optic it is used with. Handy.
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"Gosh, you've... really got some nice toys here"
Dual mount/ambient temperature Hominid Widefield Photon Collectors®
Pleistocene™ ½ watt Wetware Integration Unit.
entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem
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EdZ
Professor EdZ
Reged: 02/15/02
Posts: 12566
Loc: Cumberland, R I , USA42N71.4W
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Some have obtained excellent results in observing cassini divion using spotter scopes. Some spotters are really good.
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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KennyJ
Reged: 04/27/03
Posts: 10143
Loc: Lancashire UK
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I can safely say from a combination of personal use and reading trustworthy reviews that the main difference between a spotting scope that "truly works" for astronomy and one with which one can "get-by" at a pinch is the quality of the objective glass.
Fluorite or similar quality glass would seem to be the secret here.
Leica's "APO" as used in their Televids , Swarovski "HD" ,
Zeiss "Diascope" quality , top of the range from Kowa ,the Pentax 80mm and reportedly the latest from Nikon would all seem to have objective lenses of sufficiently high quality glass.
Personally , I have a hunch that the Opticron HR could be added to this list too ,and probably a few others.
The little experiments I've been trying recently ( and very dissapointed not to have received any feedback on ) were using FAR higher combinations of power than these 2x to 3x extenders/ boosters, which sound good in theory.
Jay's post is priceless !
Unless you have a mounting system , uses and advantages are limited --but I suspect the Opticron version will represent very good value for money as compared with the Zeiss or Swarovski versions.
I know 3 people who have tried the 2 x Swarovski versions with varying reported results. One guy said he would never use one while the other two thought it a great little alternative "gadget".
There is mention of this item in the CN binocular review of the Swarovski 15 x 56 SLC. The author seemed pleased.
2x certainly makes more sense to me than the 3x version that Zeiss have available.
Perhaps 2.5 just about falls into the "useful" category.
As previously mentioned , such an accesory is indeed vey useful if used as a means of inspecting image quality in the exit -pupil , and depending on it's design , might also be useful as an emergency magnifying lens.
Final opinion -- worthy of consideration --but TRY before you buy !
Regards -- Kenny.
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Two eyes and a preference to use both
Zeiss 7 x 42 BGAT
Captain's Helmsman 7 x 50
Nikon 10 x 42 Superior E
Swift Audubon Kestrel 10 x 50
Helios 15 x 70 Observation
Strathspey 20 x 90
Televue 76 APO
Zeiss 85 Diascope
Helios 102 f5 refractor
Various eyepieces barlows tripods mounts etc.
Panasonic Lumix DMC - TZ5 digital camera
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geoffrey
sage
Reged: 01/05/04
Posts: 358
Loc: North West England
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Thanks Kenny, (and others who posted as I was writing) Very useful on both counts. I was only asking for advice, as I had never heard of the 2x Adapter until the catalogue came today, but it seemed like a good idea.
I do have a Tripod, so support is not a problem. In fact, after 62 years, I have just discovered nearly the only benefit of being only 5'4" short. With the Tripod centre column nearly fully extended, I can view near Zenith with only a slight tilt of the head. Bet you are all jealous!!!
The Moon came out for 10 mins. tonight, so tried the opticron on it. Very good.Full Moon so no depth, but all the outlines were clear and bright. I managed to see Saturns Rings(is that normal for 10x50 or good?
Might buy a Monopod. Any ideas Kenny. Opticron is £25 plus £29 for a Pan Head. But probably good quality? Do you or others use a Monopod much?
Thanks for all the help Gents.
Regards
Geoff
P.S. Kenny, where is your post reviewing your 10x50? I could not find it. Was it before 2003?
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Celestron Nextstar 8SE
6.25" F7.6 Dob
Skywatcher ST80
Opticron imagic BGA PC ASF T 8x42
Edited by geoffrey (01/08/04 04:13 PM)
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Hi geoffrey,
I have just ordered an Opticron 2.5x UTA from the good people of Green Witch, along with the requisite adapter rings to connect it to the 20x and 30x eyepieces of my 77mm Miyauchi binoculars. This will allow the binocs to double as a 50x/75x77mm semi-apo erect-image spotting scope with integral 20x77 finder! I'll let you know how I get on.
Rgds,
Richard
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geoffrey
sage
Reged: 01/05/04
Posts: 358
Loc: North West England
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Hello Richard,
Thanks for the post. I will be interested, as I was thinking of ordering one. I will now wait to hear your thoughts, especially of how easy it is to fit?. If it works for you, then on my Opticron it should be even better perhaps?
Regards
Geoffrey
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Celestron Nextstar 8SE
6.25" F7.6 Dob
Skywatcher ST80
Opticron imagic BGA PC ASF T 8x42
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geoffrey
sage
Reged: 01/05/04
Posts: 358
Loc: North West England
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Hi Richard
Have you tried your 2.5 UTA yet, or are you waiting to see the sky?
Regards
Geoffrey
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Celestron Nextstar 8SE
6.25" F7.6 Dob
Skywatcher ST80
Opticron imagic BGA PC ASF T 8x42
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Hi Geoffrey,
The UTA arrived last Thursday, and I had a chance to try it out at the weekend.
Initial impressions are that it is optically excellent; in daylight I compared the views given by my Ranger + 2.5x powermate + 15mm Panoptic (80x) with those using the 15PO with the UTA sat on top instead. I could not see any loss of sharpness or increase in false colour using the UTA, although the field of view was substantially reduced using the UTA.
The UTA is sensitive to eye positioning, and the image will disappear if you don't get your head position just right.
Used with the Miyauchi binoculars, for which I have the correct UTA adaptor rings, I found that the UTA is likely to droop or, especially with the 30x eyepiece which has very little for the UTA to grip on, fall off altogether if left unattended; you should be prepared to hold the UTA while in use (though this may be less of an issue with Opticron bins - I don't know).
Hope this helps. I haven't managed any prolonged use under night skies yet, so the above is really just initial impressions.
R
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geoffrey
sage
Reged: 01/05/04
Posts: 358
Loc: North West England
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Hello Richard
Thanks for that. perhaps you would be kind enough to post a report should you ever see the sky.
Regards
Geoffrey
--------------------
Celestron Nextstar 8SE
6.25" F7.6 Dob
Skywatcher ST80
Opticron imagic BGA PC ASF T 8x42
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