Those of us who regularly read through the classics forum have read many comments from LukaszLu. I was intrigued about the hobby and state of classics in Poland, so I reached out to Luke and asked. He was kind enough to share this about himself and his interests in our hobby.
"I live in Poland, near Krakow, and my adventure with astronomy began during my school days, in the 1980s. On our side of the Iron Curtain, it was a period of a huge economic crisis and martial law. The market for astronomical equipment was practically non-existent, the only Polish telescope manufactured by PZO was intended exclusively for schools and for export to Western countries. Equipment manufactured in other countries of the Eastern Bloc also did not reach stores and individual customers - just like in Poland, it was most often intended for institutions. This has consequences to this day. The availability of interesting finds is negligible in Poland, and my main area of search is Germany.
At that time, however, I had a good quality 68/800 mm achro lens manufactured by PZO. On its basis, I built my first refractor, using a cardboard tube and PVC sewage pipes. Zeiss ortho eyepiece and Barlow lens, which I managed to "hunt down" in the GDR, allowed me to obtain quite good image quality.
When I returned to astronomy after a long break, my attention was primarily drawn by the revolution of digital astrophotography. Fascinated by the novelties, I didn't even think about the good old refractors. Especially since my youthful fascinations with equipment were rather colorfull SCT tubes advertised on Sky&Telescope. White F/15 refractors from the 60s or 70s has never been the equipment of my dreams. I didn't feel sentimental about them...
HOW DID IT ALL START?
The hero of my story is Towa 60/700 - probably the most banal of all "classics". A completely unprestigious model, rated as "retail quality". I came across it by accident. Intrigued, I decided to have fun with renovation, at the end of which I was double surprised!
When I looked at the finished work, I couldn't believe my eyes. WOW! How beautiful it is! I was used to modern instruments in the "muscle telescope" style - where everything looks big, massive, complicated and hyper-technical. Meanwhile, I was looking at the quintessence of delicacy, simplicity, filigree finesse - an object that did not try to attack me visually or pretend to be anything. It was simply itself. A piece of the old world, where everything seemed simpler, white was white and black was black... How unfashionable today! But maybe that's why we love classic telescopes? Although the brand on the sticker was "Viking" and not "Louis", I thought that this could be the beginning of a wonderful friendship. Especially since the cheap Towa turned out to be absolutely outstanding in terms of optics, outclassing many much more prestigious models!
NOT JUST CLASSICS
I was not wrong and now I share my time between classic telescopes and lunar/planetary astrophotography (see here). I also take care of the Astromaniak.pl forum and run my own blog Astrostrona.pl, where I develop a project of Moon Map with translations of Latin names in Polish and English.
Astromaniak.pl is one of the three largest Polish astronomy forums, founded in 2005 by Janusz Płeszka - a legend of the Polish amateur astronomy community, a man who was able to combine professional activity as a supplier of astronomical equipment with passion for promoting scientific and technical knowledge. Astromaniak.pl was one of his many ventures. After his untimely death in 2019, this valued forum began to gradually decline, and the lack of care was becoming increasingly noticeable. Some time ago, I accepted a proposal from Janusz's heirs to rescue the forum. I undertook to provide it with hosting, technical and administrative care, took over moderation duties and created a new user interface providing a mobile version, that had been missing for years.
Astromaniak currently has about 14 thousand registered users. There is also a modest Classic Telescopes section on the forum, gathering a group of people who had the opportunity to recognize the charms of vintage instruments - despite their limited availability in Poland. Please visit us and see how we are doing there in our small "F15 Club"
My first homemade refractor based on a Polish PZO lens and a "Goliath" photographic tripod manufactured in the GDR. I am currently working on a new metal tube in which I plan to use a Zeiss Jena helical focuser.
Towa "Viking" 60/700 - my first, inconspicuous "classic", which remains one of the best optically in my collection.
My wife systematically increases her plant collection. My answer is clear: more tripods! Thanks for reading and Clear Skies!
Łukasz (Luke)
Thank you Luke, for sharing these insights and for your many contributions to the classics forum.
The basic guideline for this thread is to list ads and auctions for classic/vintage scopes and associated accessories that others may be interested in. Do not post your own ads or the ads of your friends, this includes items you may be trying to sell for someone else. We request that you do not post photos from ads. If you must have some reference to a photo in the post, post a link to the photo, not the photo itself. Concentrate on the item for sale, and not the seller.
Please post a live link to the item. Do not post "PM me for the link".Short discussions can take place about the items listed. When quoting a post, edit the quoted post to include only the part you are replying to. Do not post the entire ad text, or large blocks of it, without permission from the author. Keep on topic, please!
Buyer Beware- CN is not responsible for any of the ads or auctions posted here or their content. There are some scams floating around, so do your homework before pursuing any ad.
and this note from the moderators
Let's remember everybody, there's no one place that has all the best-used scope finds just as there's no one place that never has anything. All have something. No need to beat subjective matter, whatever the topic, into the ground. For the sake of all of us who love the classic forum, please keep moving the thread forward. Remember that many of your fellow forum members are already vintage themselves. Instead of restating your opinions over and over, consider sharing something new, insightful, or otherwise constructive to the topic at hand.Remember too please,there is no need for raining on other's parades.
geez!
