88 replies to this topic

[Ben Bajorek]

I like the paint match with the Gitzo tripod.  Anyhow the optics seem very sharp with this scope.  

 

 

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[Ben Bajorek]

The stuff that came with the scope, check out the little lens brush.

 

 

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[steve t]

Nice scope. 

Just curious, do the eyepieces screw on or are they a slide fit? 

[Ben Bajorek]

Nice scope. 

Just curious, do the eyepieces screw on or are they a slide fit? 

The eyepieces slide into a collet attached to the telescope.  The outer collar of the collet turns and tightens to hold the eyepiece.  Similar to the collet chucks used on lathes.  The each eyepiece has a built in helical focus mechanism, which requires that it is held firmly in place.  It is all very precisely made.  

[Ben Bajorek]

Here's a picture of the eyepiece collet.

 

 

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[steve t]

Wow, they just don't make quality equipment like this anymore (except for Questar)

Thanks for the information and photo. I've never had the pleasure of seeing one of these scopes in person.

Edited by steve t, 02 September 2020 - 09:06 AM.

[davidmcgo]

The hand drawn sketch in the Jaeger’s Optical catalog didn’t do justice to these.  Wish I would have bought one way back!

 

Dave

[Terra Nova]

I love the CZJ/DDR no frills, heavy utilitarian look of the PZO Maks. I had a big, heavy black Lomo 95mm Mak from the early Russian Federation era that was built like a tank. If Tupalov woulda made telescopes that woulda been it! It looked and weighed more than a 5” Mak!

[RichA]

Some of the documentation that came with this telescope.

$200 was cheap for any Mak back then. 

[Ben Bajorek]

One last shot of the this PZO T50x70.  This time in it's storage box, which required a bit of restoration with glue and reinforced paper packing tape.  The label on the box reads "Teleskop Szkolny" which translates to School Telescope.  

 

 

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[Bagwell]

I should build a box like that for mine.  I am still looking for another eyepiece for it as well.  I have a bent bolt holding the tube to the yoke that I need to heat up and straighten as well.  Great lil mak.  

 

Vaughn

[John Carlini]

This thread was a nice flashback for me. I bought a PZO T50x70 about 40 years ago from a US importer after seeing an ad in an astronomy magazine. It was beige colored, came in the blue Copernicus box and looked similar to one featured in this thread. I made a wooden pine box (carry case) for it but wasn't able to find other eyepieces. I eventually made additional eyepieces from Edmund parts. I sold the scope and used the funds towards the purchase of a pre-owned Questar. The PZO was my first introduction to Maks...

[nowhere]

I missed this thread when it first appeared so I'm only finding out about these telescopes now. Like Terra I find the no-frills. no-flash utilitarian nature of them combined with what appears to be good design and precision manufacturing with high quality materials. Reminds me somewhat of the Czechoslovakian L-13 gliders my flying club used to have as training aircraft. If I didn't need to keep my telescope acquisitiveness under control I would be looking for one right now - or a TAL, or a Telementor etc, etc. As it is the only Eastern bloc optics I have are a pair of Tento 7x50 binoculars. Bought them back around 1990-ish I think. FOV is small on those but otherwise they're good and they've been incredibly durable.

[LukaszLu]

This telescope has never been available for retail sale in Poland. It could not be purchased at a store for private use. It was manufactured by PZO (Polish Optical Works) as school equipment for public, heavy-duty use. This is what it owes its relatively clunky but durable metal construction. Some of the production was sold in the West and went to private users, but originally this telescope was not designed for such use.

Edited by LukaszLu, 17 February 2021 - 02:14 PM.

[Terra Nova]

I missed this thread when it first appeared so I'm only finding out about these telescopes now. Like Terra I find the no-frills. no-flash utilitarian nature of them combined with what appears to be good design and precision manufacturing with high quality materials. Reminds me somewhat of the Czechoslovakian L-13 gliders my flying club used to have as training aircraft. If I didn't need to keep my telescope acquisitiveness under control I would be looking for one right now - or a TAL, or a Telementor etc, etc. As it is the only Eastern bloc optics I have are a pair of Tento 7x50 binoculars. Bought them back around 1990-ish I think. FOV is small on those but otherwise they're good and they've been incredibly durable.

I’m with you there. With my Telementors and Zeiss eyepieces gone, the only Eastern bloc optics I have anymore is my pair of Zeiss, Jena 10x50 Dekarems (DDR). (I do still have a lovely wooden Zeiss, Jena surveyors tripod).

[Steve_M_M]

I have had three of the PZO T50's over the past 30 years.  Each time, the lack of ability to adapt to 1.25" or even .965" eyepieces caused me to sell the telescope.

 

But now, my 3D printer has rendered all adapters issues something of the past (my pentax scopes are very happy).  If someone wants to measure the I.D. of the T50 lock ring, I would be happy to try and make an adapter for .965" eyepieces.  I could do 1.25" but I do not think they would be fully illuminated.

[LukaszLu]

This non-standard eyepieces is a typical example of the idiocy accompanying a centrally planned socialist economy. Someone came up with this at the desk. This decision had no chance to be verified by the market, because the telescope was not available for sale, and schools that received it were not able to buy other eyepieces for it. So this type of idiocy had a chance to last for long, long years. We encountered similar absurdities in socialism at every turn. The whole life looked like one big theater of the absurd - who did not survive it, will not understand :-)

[Organics]

I have one of these with 50x and 92x eyepieces and the solar aperture reducer. Any idea what it is worth, were I to part with it? Bought locally in the 1970s, Essex, UK. Perfect condition and original box with "Telescope" in friendly red letters on the top. Wooden tripod with it isn't worth much.

 

 

[Steve_M_M]

$150-$200US

[Ben Bajorek]

I have one of these with 50x and 92x eyepieces and the solar aperture reducer. Any idea what it is worth, were I to part with it? Bought locally in the 1970s, Essex, UK. Perfect condition and original box with "Telescope" in friendly red letters on the top. Wooden tripod with it isn't worth much.

Perfect condition sounds great, especially having the original packaging, the Copernicus country box.  While I have purchased my PZO telescopes for not a lot of money I think that is mainly because they are quite rare and unknown to the limited market.  I've shown pictures of my PZOs to modernist design gallerist friends here in New York City and they all want to buy them from me to resell in their galleries alongside Prouve chairs, Nakashima coffee tables and Castiglione lamps.

[RichA]

Here's a picture of the eyepiece collet.

Hey!  They had eyepiece locks long before Baader and the like started offering them.

[Tommeeto]

Hi. I just found an old PZO T50x70 telescope at the attic. My grandmom used to be a teacher in Poland and she borrowed it to a student years ago. When student returned the telescope, she found it missing some parts, a lens probably, in the center of eyepiece mounting part. Could anyone be so kind to post a detailed photo of collet and screw that's inside of it? The pic in post #55 is almost what I need. Thanks in advance.

Edited by Tommeeto, 31 January 2023 - 03:34 PM.

[Ben Bajorek]

IMG-20230131-WA0005.jpgHi. I just found an old PZO T50x70 telescope at the attic. My grandmom used to be a teacher in Poland and she borrowed it to a student years ago. When student returned the telescope, she found it missing some parts, a lens probably, in the center of eyepiece mounting part. Could anyone be so kind to post a detailed photo of collet and screw that's inside of it? The pic in post #55 is almost what I need. Thanks in advance.

What you are missing is just the eyepiece.  Post #52 shows the two eyepieces that came with the telescope.  It will be difficult to find eyepieces for this telescope, they only fit this telescope design.  And they are similar to binocular eyepieces which sometimes have a built in helical focus mechanism.  The telescope is a nice find, and a historic piece of optics from the communist era of Poland.

 

Repeating my previous post. 

 

"The eyepieces slide into a collet attached to the telescope.  The outer collar of the collet turns and tightens to hold the eyepiece.  Similar to the collet chucks used on lathes.  The each eyepiece has a built in helical focus mechanism, which requires that it is held firmly in place.  It is all very precisely made."

[Tommeeto]

I am terribly sorry, Mr. Ben, for being inacurate. Both eyepieces are attached to the whole set. The optical part, that I think is missing is inside the eyepiece mount, tightened with a screw. The screw itself is also gone. 

 

Since T50x70 it is very rare piece of equipement, I didn't find any accurate photos of this part. The best ones I found are in this thread.  

I know I probably will not be able to obtain any parts for the telescope, but it represents an emotional value.

I would be very grateful if you just confirm my asumptions. 

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[Ben Bajorek]

From what I can gather from your picture I don't think you are missing any parts.  If you think I'm wrong takes some more pictures!  The chrome clamping ring unscrews allowing the insertion of the eyepiece.  Tightening the clamping ring fixes the eyepiece and allows the telescope eyepiece to focus.  The Makustov telescope is an ingenious design.  "Perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add but when there is no longer anything to take away",  Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

 

I would be interested in how the Polish schools used these telescope in their curriculum, perhaps you could ask your grandmother?