123 replies to this topic

[Terry Smith]

I'm very interested in the Stellamira 80mm f10 APO. Does anyone have any insights on this long FL APO 80mm?

Edited by Terry Smith, 11 May 2022 - 09:45 PM.

[james7ca]

Good question but you might try the following Google search term:

 

Stellamire 80mm f10 site:cloudynights.com

This finds several posts on this particular scope.

 

It seems to be available at First Light Optics (in the U.K.):

 

  https://www.firstlig...rp-focuser.html

 

That's at $977 USD, but the shipping would be $65 from the U.K. plus possible import duties.

 

Also, it might be exactly the same scope as the Long Perng S800G-A.

 

[UPDATE]

Yes, the import duty to the U.S. back in May 2020 was $90.

 

So, in total from the U.K. we might be talking: $977 + $65 + $90 = $1132 USD.

[/UPDATE]

Edited by james7ca, 11 May 2022 - 11:40 PM.

[Terry Smith]

I just ordered one from First Light Optics with the crayford focuser unit plus a William Optics finder shoe. It was $756 + a $22 foreign transaction fee. $756 is including DHL shipping to USA.

 

If the scope's price was approaching $1K, I would have passed on it. I also heard that anything less than $800 value will not have an import duty fee.

Edited by Terry Smith, 12 May 2022 - 08:02 AM.

[firemachine69]

Looks amazing, don't think I can justify that price to myself right now, though. 

[james7ca]

You are correct, the price is lower than I quoted because for U.S. destinations they seem to subtract the VAT once you actually go to checkout. That seems to make about a £133 or $162 difference on the scope with the R&P focuser (which is what I quoted earlier). However, it looks like they charge £150 for the R&P upgrade and that makes up the remainder of the price difference.

[Caldwell 14]

No, but they are lovely looking bits of kit, and I very, very nearly bought one. A few of the guys on SGL have them and they are regarded as being extremely good planetary 3 inch telescopes, I very much doubt you will be disappointed by the optics

Edited by Caldwell 14, 12 May 2022 - 09:02 AM.

[firemachine69]

My original Equinox 80mm FPL 53 was a gem at F6, this thing must be magic with some good orthos. 

[Eric H]

I looked at bringing these in to the US a couple of years ago. I chicken out though. I thought a longer, ED refractor would be really cool for planetary/lunar. I asked Long Perng about a 90mm or 100mm but they had no plans to build them and where really pushing to sell the 80 but my cost was too much to justify and I wouldn't have been able to sell them for the price indicated above. Maybe a place like Astronomics can persuade them with more purchasing clout.

 

Anyway, it looks like a great little scope. I'm hoping for a 90mm f12ED.

[Terry Smith]

My scope will be here on Monday. I'll get to try it out on the moon and some doubles...if the weather is nice that is.

[KWB]

My scope will be here on Monday. I'll get to try it out on the moon and some doubles...if the weather is nice that is.

Congratulations on your new purchase. 

 

Have you decided what mount you will choose?

[Terry Smith]

Congratulations on your new purchase. 

 

Have you decided what mount you will choose?

Right now It'll ride on my CG4 w/ drive. I'm really looking forward to the lunar and double star performance this scope should provide. There are not many long FL 80mm APO's out there.

[KWB]

I once owned a Celestron Firstscope 80, a 900mm F/11 on a CG3. It was slightly under mounted but optically very good on the Moon, planets and double stars. Entry level scopes such as that one being sold as a package don't really exist any more, either. Too bad.

[Terry Smith]

I once owned a Celestron Firstscope 80, a 900mm F/11 on a CG3. It was slightly under mounted but optically very good on the Moon, planets and double stars. Entry level scopes such as that one being sold as a package don't really exist any more, either. Too bad.

I had a Firstscope 80 too, about 1985. It was a very decent telescope. A friend of mine wanted to buy it after we observed Saturn one night. He had never looked through a good telescope before. I sold him the scope, alt-az mount and a couple Silvertop plossls. As far as I know, he still has it.

[ris242]

I would have bought one if I didn't have the F/11.

You might have to wear white gloves - I hear fingerprints are the biggest issue with this scope.

 

The youtube vid - it looks a nice scope.

 

interesting to hear about it - against the TS 90mm

[Terry Smith]

I would have bought one if I didn't have the F/11.

You might have to wear white gloves - I hear fingerprints are the biggest issue with this scope.

 

The youtube vid - it looks a nice scope.

 

interesting to hear about it - against the TS 90mm

I will compare it to my TS 90mm. It should be interesting to see what it will do against a $1600 short FL triplet APO. I do know visually the 90mm produces some very sharp lunar images, even at 200x or more.

[ris242]

I will compare it to my TS 90mm. It should be interesting to see what it will do against a $1600 short FL triplet APO. I do know visually the 90mm produces some very sharp lunar images, even at 200x or more.

My askar maxes out at 100x in mono and binos around 140x with my 5mm eyepiece,

but I much prefer the moon in my 11mm and 18.2mm eyepieces - about 64x and 39x (my GPC is giving me about 1.4x based on its position)

[Retired Dave]

I had a Firstscope 80 too, about 1985. It was a very decent telescope. A friend of mine wanted to buy it after we observed Saturn one night. He had never looked through a good telescope before. I sold him the scope, alt-az mount and a couple Silvertop plossls. As far as I know, he still has it.

I had a First Scope 80 about that same time on an alt-az mount too.  Wish I still had it.  Came close to ordering the Stellamira 80 from FLO a few days ago since I have had good experience ordering from them.  Question:  Does the focuser have two screws for mounting the finder shoe? Let us know how it performs.  Good luck!

[Terry Smith]

I had a First Scope 80 about that same time on an alt-az mount too.  Wish I still had it.  Came close to ordering the Stellamira 80 from FLO a few days ago since I have had good experience ordering from them.  Question:  Does the focuser have two screws for mounting the finder shoe? Let us know how it performs.  Good luck!

As far as I know the finder shoe mounts with just one screw, but I may be mistaken. I have already received the William Optics finder shoe and the Vixen mounting bar...got them yesterday. The scope will get here Monday. I sure hope the weather is good Monday night. The seeing here in Indiana has been wonderful the last few nights. Looks like I'll be up late if the sky is clear.

[Terry Smith]

     Just got my Stellamira 80mm f10 today and getting ready to try it out. It came from FLO in great shape with a very nice hard case. The mechanics are first rate.

     The Williams Optics finder shoe, which was recommended by FLO can only mount with one screw...and I had provide my own screw because the supplied ones were too small. They need to correct this. I personally would not mount a finder larger than my 6x30, but what do I know?

     Also FLO states the telescope comes with a 15" Vixen style mounting bar. I got a 6" mounting bar but that's OK with me. I attached some aluminum strips on both sides to protect the bar from marks.

     The telescope is beautiful to look at and it should be optically excellent too.

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[Terry Smith]

Here's the business end...

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[Retired Dave]

Thanks for the update! She looks great! I agree on the finder shoe, should be an easy fix for the manufacturer.  Let us know how it performs!

Clear skies! 

[alnitak22]

     Just got my Stellamira 80mm f10 today and getting ready to try it out. It came from FLO in great shape with a very nice hard case. The mechanics are first rate.

     The Williams Optics finder shoe, which was recommended by FLO can only mount with one screw...and I had provide my own screw because the supplied ones were too small. They need to correct this. I personally would not mount a finder larger than my 6x30, but what do I know?

     Also FLO states the telescope comes with a 15" Vixen style mounting bar. I got a 6" mounting bar but that's OK with me. I attached some aluminum strips on both sides to protect the bar from marks.

     The telescope is beautiful to look at and it should be optically excellent too.

Nice scope and mount combo!

[james7ca]

The situation with the Vixen dovetail bar (6" or 15") seems a little confusing. It looks like you can order either one (under the "Frequently bought with this product" heading) and then during checkout they don't charge you for 15" bar once you deselect the 6" bar in your order basket). However, the 6" bar seems to be the default unless you actually change the pop-up menu to select the 15" (and they definitely identify which bar you are going to get during the checkout).

 

I was actually thinking about getting one of these scopes too (thus, my knowledge about the dovetail bars), but then I considered that I already had a nice performing Celestron C90 Maksutov-Cassegrain and quite frankly I suspect that the performance of that is about the same as the Stellamira 80mm.

 

That said, the Stellamira should be a very good scope and I'm still somewhat tempted although if I got one I'd want to use it both for visual and for lunar and double star imaging with my ZWO ASI183MM camera since the 800mm focal length and f/10 ratio are almost a perfect match for that camera (to capture the full disk of the moon in a single, 20 megapixel frame). However, I calculated that I'd need a field flattener (not a reducer) and I don't believe than anyone makes a flattener that would work well with a 800mm focal length, f/10 refractor. There are reducers that would probably work to cover the full frame of the ASI183MM but that would negate the advantage of that camera's match to a 800mm focal length (for the moon).

 

In any case, I guess what I'd really like to find is a quality 100mm, f/8 Newtonian that had a proper parabolic mirror. I think they use to make such scopes but now they only seem to offer spherical mirrors in that aperture range and typically 4.5" ≈ f/9 systems with focal lengths between 900 and 1000 millimeters (a bit too long for the ASI183MM camera). A 100mm f/8 (parabolic) would have a flat enough focus to cover the entire moon and would essentially be coma free over that same field of view.

Edited by james7ca, 17 May 2022 - 01:18 AM.

[Astrojensen]

 However, I calculated that I'd need a field flattener (not a reducer) and I don't believe than anyone makes a flattener that would work well with a 800mm focal length, f/10 refractor. 

https://www.teleskop...-Anschluss.html

 

https://www.teleskop...rteleskope.html

 

https://www.teleskop...efraktoren.html

 

 

Clear skies!

Thomas, Denmark

[Terry Smith]

The situation with the Vixen dovetail bar (6" or 15") seems a little confusing. It looks like you can order either one (under the "Frequently bought with this product" heading) and then during checkout they don't charge you for 15" bar once you deselect the 6" bar in your order basket). However, the 6" bar seems to be the default unless you actually change the pop-up menu to select the 15" (and they definitely identify which bar you are going to get during the checkout).

 

I believe you are correct about the dovetail bar. Actually the shorter bare works better for me.

 

There is one thing that surprised me. I use prism diagonals (Baader and a Japan made Celestron prism). They both are excellent. However I found out that the 80mm f10 does not have enough backward focus travel. I had to use a 30mm 2" extension tube and now all my eyepieces come into focus. Other than that, all is AOK.

 

I did have have chance to look at the moon and the double-double last night. Both were very low on the horizon. I could split the double-double cleanly at 130x despite crummy seeing. The moon was fantastic, seeing not so good. Viewing was extremely sharp and no color despite being so low. I'm pleased.