Posts Made By: Martin Willes

Really, so if I wasn't a supporter and wanted to sell my AP 160 for $5,000 you would say no?

This image looks just as good as my image with a ST-4000XCM camera with hours of exposure. Very well done! Martin

Jim have you thought of a Lunt product?

Chris that looks real nice for a first attempt!

I've used just about every eyepiece out there on the planets and other objects. Yes sometimes differences are subtle and other times when seeing is good a certain design pulls way ahead of all others. I always considered my SPL's to be the best eyepieces pulling way in front of a Nagler, Brandon and plossl. I use a Baader V binoviewer on my AP 160 with with the eyepieces being compared in the bino so I can switch back and forth quickly. The SPL's beat everything hands down until I was loaned a set of ZAO's at the WSP a few years back. At first the sharpness and contrast was subtle but it soon became apparent the ZAO's were slightly sharper and much more contrasty. In average seeing I doubt you would be able to tell the difference between a ortho and plossl but when seeing improves you may want a good ocular in your eyepiece case. I've never seen a eyepiece that scatters so little light and is sharp and contrasty as a SPL or ZAO. My advise is to figure out the focal length you want and wait for one of these to come on the used market. If you can't wait I find a TeleVue 3mm to 6mm zoom surprisingly good on the planets so long as you don't mind the warm color. This eyepiece performs very well when the seeing is average and let's face it that's most nights. The eyepiece is also available from most vendors new but I almost never see it used on Astomart the last one was offered in August 08'. What does that tell you? I like that I can zoom from focal length to focal length depending on the seeing conditions. I rarely use the 3mm setting but find myself at 5mm most nights. This eyepiece rarely is considered by most as a serious planetary eyepiece but I find the performance to be very good. Hope this helps, Martin

Ivan I would use the same set up you used for that wonderful Rosette Nebula photo. Martin

I've tried and had no luck. I even copied comet information from Starry Nights data and imported it into my comet txt. file. Customer service hasn't returned a e-mail from 3 weeks ago concerning this problem. This version doesn't seem to update this comet and I have my reservations now if it's correctly updating other comets and asteroids correctly. Martin

Very nice!

It sounds like the elements have shifted and not a collimation problem. Martin

That looks real nice especially when the trapezium area isn't overexposed. Well done!