Well, last night we had a good night out at a local site. One of the first things I wanted to do was to try out the Meade 32mm SP.
I collimated well and let the Orion 10" f/4.7 cool completely before observing.
The first thing that I noticed was the amount of seagulls visible on the FOV. The edge was pretty bad actually, but they also seemed to be present over a lot of the FOV, with even the On-Axis not a crisp as I would like.
I figured it did not like the f/4.7 so I put it in another f/5 10" next to me. The same thing was observed in this scope. It seemed worse on the bright stars.
I waited until late in the night to try it again. I used M-46 as a test area. The on-axis was better, but the off-axis was still not sharp.
Then I moved to Saturn and noted that the planet had a large flare that would not go away. I drifted the planet to the edges and saw a great deal of coma on every edge. Staring at about 80% it got completely unusable. :S
This seems to be contrary to what other have said in their reviews, so I will try it on the 10" f/6 at my next chance.
Let me say that I checked the scope with other EPs, such as the 31mm Nagler and the problem was not in the scope.
It also showed the same results in another scope so I am sure it is in the EP. This might be a isolated case or maybe focal ratio, I just don't know.
I am not stating that it is a bad EP, just not an exceptional EP. It is not nearly as good as reported by others in my opinion. The fit and finish was nice, but all the grease in the insta-adjust eye cup was not good. It took a while to remove it all. It got on your hands easily when it was raised. Very poor idea using that much grease! >
Overall, I would rate it at this time as no better than a GSO or other Chinese EPs that I have tested.
I collimated well and let the Orion 10" f/4.7 cool completely before observing.
The first thing that I noticed was the amount of seagulls visible on the FOV. The edge was pretty bad actually, but they also seemed to be present over a lot of the FOV, with even the On-Axis not a crisp as I would like.
I figured it did not like the f/4.7 so I put it in another f/5 10" next to me. The same thing was observed in this scope. It seemed worse on the bright stars.
I waited until late in the night to try it again. I used M-46 as a test area. The on-axis was better, but the off-axis was still not sharp.
Then I moved to Saturn and noted that the planet had a large flare that would not go away. I drifted the planet to the edges and saw a great deal of coma on every edge. Staring at about 80% it got completely unusable. :S
This seems to be contrary to what other have said in their reviews, so I will try it on the 10" f/6 at my next chance.
Let me say that I checked the scope with other EPs, such as the 31mm Nagler and the problem was not in the scope.
It also showed the same results in another scope so I am sure it is in the EP. This might be a isolated case or maybe focal ratio, I just don't know.I am not stating that it is a bad EP, just not an exceptional EP. It is not nearly as good as reported by others in my opinion. The fit and finish was nice, but all the grease in the insta-adjust eye cup was not good. It took a while to remove it all. It got on your hands easily when it was raised. Very poor idea using that much grease! >
Overall, I would rate it at this time as no better than a GSO or other Chinese EPs that I have tested.
[SIZE="Large"][/SIZE][COLOR="Blue"][/COLOR] Floyd Blue
Amateur Imager
