1447 replies to this topic

[Spyke]

I love the matte finishes on those scopes. I know a gloss finish is considered more traditional, but matte looks so nice.

Yes, I agree. It makes the tube fingerprint-proof for one thing!   

[Jon Isaacs]

Yes, I agree. It makes the tube fingerprint-proof for one thing!  

 

TeleVue uses an off-white hammered finish.  It is not sexy like the glossy William Optics scopes but it sure is durable, it's really tough.. My NP-101 is 20 years old and there are no chips or scratches in the paint. 

 

Jon 

[quilty]

My new 3" frac: f/3.7 doublet short (Benriach 12 yo whisky) paper tube powered by gaffertape

3in.JPG

When you remember the triplet lens was astigged. No clack try helped at setting back the offset lens.

But these cheap dia slide projector triplet lenses


were quite common, no matter if Enna, Braun or Agfa branded, all the same.
Not quite. Coating reflections are differently coloured. and this Braun one has no astig but some condensed water somewhere out of reach on a lens,
had it over baked silica gel and potash in a Tupperware pot for a week or so.
Pity to own no exsiccator which does much better, a vacuum pump is here :-)

Think a slight improvement in terms of fog reduction yet way off being complete.

But off patience and the thing seems to do a good finderscope with the 20mm Plössl at 14x

Plan to replace the poor homemade 30 mm C9 finderscope on it's odd, incompatible support.

Maybe just fixing it by circumference gaffertape.

Great combo then the C9 with a 3" low pow frac

Edited by quilty, 13 June 2025 - 10:26 AM.

[quilty]

An aluminium slat and an iron dummy for the 90 mm paper tube shall do



mischief done



looks better than the ridiculous homemade 6 x 30 mm RA finderscope

Edited by quilty, 13 June 2025 - 10:25 AM.

[quilty]

Edited by quilty, 13 June 2025 - 02:07 PM.

[Spikey131]

DSCF3193.JPG

Sorry, but I am confused.

 

Is that a small refractor?

[maniack]

Sorry, but I am confused.

 

Is that a small refractor?

The finder is.

[j.gardavsky]

Leica Telyt 4" F/5.6 converted to an achromatic refractor

 

Hello all,

 

it took more than one year to source in Germany on the price popint the parts neded to convert the Leica Telyt R front doublet in Leica baffled tube,

into a small and easy portable refractor for the rich field deep skies,

 

 

The refractor body is accessorised with the Wild Heerbrugg 2" prism, and alternatively with the Baader 2" BBHS zenith mirror. The nebular filters are on the ATIK filter wheel.

 

The complete refractor is mounted on the Culmann Titan CT200 tripod with the central geared column, and Cullmann Alpha 900 fluid video head.

 

Thank you for looking,

JG

 

 

[Astro-Remete]

Leica Telyt 4" F/5.6 converted to an achromatic refractor

Hello all,

it took more than one year to source in Germany on the price popint the parts neded to convert the Leica Telyt R front doublet in Leica baffled tube,
into a small and easy portable refractor for the rich field deep skies,

Leitz Telyt refractor.jpg

The refractor body is accessorised with the Wild Heerbrugg 2" prism, and alternatively with the Baader 2" BBHS zenith mirror. The nebular filters are on the ATIK filter wheel.

The complete refractor is mounted on the Culmann Titan CT200 tripod with the central geared column, and Cullmann Alpha 900 fluid video head.

Thank you for looking,
JG

WOW, beautiful. What an engineering job.

[j.gardavsky]

Re: Leica Telyt 4" F/5.6 converted to an achromatic refractor

 

Thanks to all for the likes!

 

The lens shield is retractable, it has been retracted for the photos.

The tube interior is baffled like h***, the last baffle is in front of the focuser.

 

The best match deliver the eyepieces:

Leica L Plan 8x/25 f=31.3mm Brille #506806, AFOV 45°

Leica HC Plan S 10x/22  f=25mm #507807, AFOV 50°

Leica HC Plan 10x/25 f=25mm Brille M #507800, AFOV 57° (the pair at the moment on my ZEISS stereo microscope replacing the ZEISS, otherwise excellent, eyepieces).

Leica HC 12,5x/16 Plan M #506515, f=20mm, AFOV, 45°

Leica B 32x WW Leica Camera 2081078, f=13.75mm, AFOV 75.4°

Leica 40x WW Leica Camera 2208185, f=11mm, AFOV 73.6°

 

The wide field Leica Camera spotting eyepieces deliver a sharp view edge to edge, and nearly without any noticeable distortion. The respectful resolution has been tested on the white lichens fine structures on the roof about 60m away.

 

Clear skies,

JG

[John R.]

The ultimate JOY! Cobbled together from various bits. My smallest refractor. First, the stats; 

Objective, cemented achromat, diameter 28mm, FL 100mm. Borrowed from Tamron aux. 4X telephoto lens, series 5 size.

RACI diagonal from Spectrum refractor kit. 
Eyepiece, 20mm Kellner from some forgotten kit. 
Magnification 5x at 7degrees (I figured the cheap Kellner has an apparent 35 degree field.) 
The focus (sliding eyepiece in or out) is set to infinity and left there, thus the rubber band spacers. 

Pictures; 

And, 

And one more with a 32mm plossl, 3.125x with at least a 16 degree TFoV! 
​

The 32mm lands right at infinity without spacers. 

 

Edit; I'm thinking about removing the blue painters tape that holds the objective to the tube before it leaves a residue. I would replace it with some black contact shelf paper. 

......To make things look 'professional'. 

And of course it will need a finder to be a proper telescope. 

Edited by John R., 16 June 2025 - 10:41 PM.

[Mihai]

John R,I really like your home-made alt-az mount...can you share some photos and tips?...thanks !

[Lentini]

Just acquired from another CN member… The f/10 50mm Borg ED Apochromat. From maybe around 2005?

I’ve decided to start off with this as a semi-dedicated solar scope. We’ll see how it does.

Love how they labeled the lens element!

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Edited by Lentini, 18 June 2025 - 02:22 PM.

[John R.]

John R,I really like your home-made alt-az mount...can you share some photos and tips?...thanks !

That mount was inspired by one Mark Mittlesteadt put together from two SkyWatcher dec brackets. I purchased two used ones and have configured it several different ways. 
Straight alt-az,

Small, light duty equatorial,

And last, alt-az with arm to better balance scope,

Besides the used dec brackets I bought a length of 1/4inch thick (6.35mm) aluminum ‘L’ shaped rail to cut the brackets from. 
The vixen clamp came from a small Orion mount that was included with their 90mm maksutov. 

Edited by John R., 18 June 2025 - 04:30 PM.

[Mihai]

John R , that's awesome!...thank you 😀

[GSansoucie]

Before we hit the road to go Fulltime RV two years back (May of 2023), I decided to get a TV76 to take with us, instead of the TV85 kit I’d assembled (and posted about in this thread).

The TV85 was just too bulky, not the OTA but the mount, the tripod, lenses, etc.

I found a lightly used TV76 and put together a much more paired down kit that took up far less space.

Fast forward a few years, I had my TV85 listed out here and someone asked me to sell just the OTA which for some reason got me to thinking about switching out the focuser. The TV76 had the single speed and my TV85 has the dual speed.  I called Televue yesterday (love that I get the correct technical contact on the first try) and found the caveats.  It was a five minute task this afternoon.  The dual speed is slick in the TV76 and the single speed didnt fit at all on the TV85 (which isn’t a problem as I pulled my Ad and will let my TV86 continue resting in a temperature and humidity controlled storage locker for at least another couple years until we are back in the area).

 

[Matthew Trail]

Which mount is that with the TV-76? Very nice looking!

[GSansoucie]

That’s the Desert Sky Astro DSV-1.

 

You have to cross your fingers and wait a bit if you want to order one but it’s worth it.

 

While I really wish it had worm gears and slow speed controls, what it does have is a super small footprint that makes this kit store into a small location.

[Bill Barlow]

Do you see a big difference in the views between the TV 85 and 76?  

 

Bill

[GSansoucie]

Do you see a big difference in the views between the TV 85 and 76?  

 

Bill

While I’ve never had them side by side, I do know the TV85 has more reach. Because it was  bigger scope, I had a bigger mount and also much better EPs (my 13mm Ethos was a hoot to just gaze through). 
 

If we had a home base and I could only keep one, it’s the TV85. 

[Bill Barlow]

The TV 85 has 25% more light grasp than the 76, but I guess it is noticeable.  Hope you enjoy your trip.

 

Bill

Edited by Bill Barlow, 27 June 2025 - 06:36 PM.

[Cheeku]

Leica Telyt 4" F/5.6 converted to an achromatic refractor

 

Hello all,

 

it took more than one year to source in Germany on the price popint the parts neded to convert the Leica Telyt R front doublet in Leica baffled tube,

into a small and easy portable refractor for the rich field deep skies,

 

Leitz Telyt refractor.jpg

 

The refractor body is accessorised with the Wild Heerbrugg 2" prism, and alternatively with the Baader 2" BBHS zenith mirror. The nebular filters are on the ATIK filter wheel.

 

The complete refractor is mounted on the Culmann Titan CT200 tripod with the central geared column, and Cullmann Alpha 900 fluid video head.

 

Thank you for looking,

JG

  I have been playing around with the idea of using the Telyts / Apo Telyts as a refractor, you are motivating me now, very well done.

I will open a new Topic for this.

[John R.]

Had my cheap and cheerful Spectrum 90mm f7.3 out again last night. It is now my upper size limit for a ‘small’ refractor. (All up w/diagonal and eyepiece, 4lb. 11oz. and 29 inches OAL.)
A basic achromat of serviceable construction, nothing fancy, but definitely useable. It has a 1.25 visual back only so, at the 660mm focal length the widest AoV is 2.5 degrees at 21x with a 32mm plossl. Wide enough for my use. 
I also have a gifted 24mm 68 degree eyepiece that will yield about the same at 27x. 
My first target was the moon, already heading for the western horizon the best view was at 44x with a 15mm Orion Expanse. By that time epsilon Lyrae was fairly high and presented perfectly separated components at 110x with a 5.5mm AT-PF. 
After that I just wandered through the neighborhood with a 25mm plossl, seeing what I could see. Came across M13 and put the 15mm back in. But no matter how long I looked I just could not tease out any granularity in the image, just a featureless gray ball. 
It was about 1:00 AM when I finally packed it in. 
Maybe tonight I will try for M13 again, but with my 8 inch dob. 
 

Edit; There is a related thread, ‘Unusually inexpensive refractors’ that this post would also fit into. Although, what exactly is meant by ‘inexpensive’ is a moving target, open to much debate and interpretation. This thread has featured everything from very inexpensive achromats to stratospheric priced APO’s, a nice mix of low to high end glass. Something for every budget. 

Edited by John R., 29 June 2025 - 09:08 PM.

[Lentini]

More pics.  This scope has me excited. Dedicated solar scope?? Save it for travel?

First, brief, view showed ultra pinpoint stars. Very excited to get to know it better.

Borg 50mm f/10 apochromat.

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Edited by Lentini, 01 July 2025 - 09:56 PM.

[jcj380]

Borg 50mm f/10 apochromat.

I've been looking at Borg bits.  How's the helical focuser?  Do you think an R&P would be better / same / whatever?