Posts Made By: Kevin Barker

Phil
Stick this on the Russian Optics forum. Someone will know.

Kevin

Anthony
You mean an HB right??

Kevin

PS have you got the AS80 up and running on Mars yet??
I am getting great views with my wee AS63.

Roland
I presume the Victory you used were the Victory II's.

The ones with the neck strap lugs positioned out of the way of hands.

I understand the Victory are manufactured in Hungary. Zeiss have changed the lug position, have put more baffles in and are now using another glass type in the II's.

I have the ClassiC 10X40's which I shall keep after reading a few poor reviews like yours. They view superbly although a little chromatic aberrtaion is visible off axis if you look for it and this does affect contrast in a backlit setting.

I see the 10X40's are no longer sold but the venerable ClassiC 7X42's are still sold and apparently sell well to this day. I think if I was going to splash out on expensive Zeiss binoculars the 7X42's would be the ones I would go for.

Best wishes

Kevin

Steve
I had a similar problem a couple of years back. A pair of expensive binoculars from an ebay tranaction went missing. From Italy.

The tracking found they had been delivered to a wrong address. The cause was the fact the half-witted delivery man was confused by continental 7's and 1's.

An elderly lady received the parcel, unwrapped it and then put oily fingers all over the lenses and binoculars before just letting it sit. Eventually she contacted the post office.

By now I was complaining and had the seller track it too.

The post office recovered them for me and now my twin uses them for going to race meetings!!!

If I remember rightly the postage from Italy was rather expensive but becuase it was insured and tracked I came out all right.

Best wishes

Kevin

Larry
I have read reviews re Mak Newtons performances versus a 5 inch apo and compared them myself.
I have a 5.1 inch true apo. A friend had a 6 inch Mak Newt. I had the opportunity to compare on several occasions and took it.

On contrast I personally would out the 6 inch Mak Newt at more like a 4.5 inch refractor. The refractor revealeda tad better lunar and planetary detail easier in good seeing.

I recall craterlets appearing that were not seen in the MN plus other lunar detail and better belt detail on Jupiter in the refractor. More contrast per brightness.

On deeper sky and doubles the differences were smaller.

My brother has just got his hands on a 715 Rumak. Now that will be interesting to compare to say my 5.1 inch apo.

I wonder if anyone has seen a comparison between this scope(180 mm aperture and 24 % obstruction and a 6 or 7 inch Mak Newtonian?

Kevin B

Jim
Yes Weta's are distant relatives of Crickets. They evolved seperately in NZ which has been seperated by ocean for nigh on 100 million years from other countries.

The Giant Wetapunga's on Great Barrier island are massive with 80 mm long bodies and back legs that straighten out to over 5 inches. And they are really fat compared to this tree Weta.

They look scary but are quite cute to handle. Their back legs allow them to jump like a cricket just not as high.

This female's body was about 60 mm long. I often hear them while star gazing. They rub their legs together to produce high pitched scratching sounds.

They are pretty impressive insects all in all.

Best wishes

Kevin

Paul
Very few Zeiss scopes were/are sold in the US. The price to get one was/is very high. Too high for most newer astronomers who want a cheaper telescope but are prepared to comproise a little on optical quality for aperture.

Zeiss owners seem to be mainly longer term enthusiasts who have owned or used a range of telescopes and can afford a special one off. Of course they get addicted and Zeiss gets into the Psyche. So owning as many as 6 or 7 is not at all uncommon.

I got hooked by the image quality. The Zeiss image quality and contrast per aperture is virtually unrivalled IMHO. there is also a lot to be said for German engineering.

I understand Zeiss telescopes are relatively common in Germany and Northern and eastern Europe.
A lot of British astronomers own Telementors as they were sold in England relatively cheaply.

Pride of ownership is also a big Zeiss thing. i mean a Zeiss telescope is generally made to last a lifetime(s).......

My APQ 100 looks as new as the day I receieved it and then it was a showroom model that had been used extensively.
They are also functional and made to be used. It is very satisfying knowing the atmosphere and perhaps aperture is the limiting quantity, not the equipments quality.

Best wishes

Kevin Barker

Terry
The scope looks nice. I have just read the review in Sky and Telescope by Ed Ting and this scope seems a very good value. Orion will sell many.

I am currently working on constructing an ota for an old Zeiss semi apo lens AS80/840.

It is a bit longer in focus and will probably have a bit more false colour and perhaps better spherical correction than Orion's scope?? It cost me a lot more though in total. Although I can not directly buy Orion products from New Zealand.

I will be painting it white and have matched two pac car paint in Zeiss white/gray.

I agree refractors look best in white.

Best wishes

Kevin B

Chris
I have owned a 6 inch f-12 D&G and it was an impressive scope but a bit long and hefty for my mount so I sold it.

D&G's lenses are excellent, they are polished well and have excellent figures. I do not think it is reasonable to speak of Synta 6 f-8 inch lenses and compare to D&G. D&G lenses star test really well, the Synta types I have used have not.
On deeper sky my lens produced better contrast on eta Carina nebula than a C-8. More structure was seen although the image was slightly brighter in the C8.

D&G are another class(compared to the mass produced Chinese scopes) in terms of quality and construction of the lens cell which can be easily collimated. Hence their higher cost.

My f-12 did not reveal significant chromatic aberration to the eye when viewing Jupiter at about 180 X. A faint purple halo was barely discernible and perhaps at say 250 X was visible. Contrast was very impressive, better than in a well made 6 inch f 8 Dobsonian a friend owned.

Saturn did not show false colour in focus at 200 X. Neither did the moon's surface at even higher powers although the image was slightly yellower than in my Zeiss 100 mm APQ. On the Moon's limb at 200 X false colour was not too bad. Better than in a Vixen f 9.8 4 inch at a similar magnification. To see false colour well with the D&G I had to push the telescope to ridiculous powers.

For visual planetary use the views were impressive, Mars did show a little false colour at 200 X and higher but still contrast was very good.

Vlad speaks of 1/4 wave out of focus colour. This is true but not seen by the eye as our eye when looking at bright planets picks up well focused green light.

Bright first magnitude stars at high magnification did show a little flase colour.

There was a review of a D&G 6 inch f-15 in "Southern Stars" a no longer published Australian magazine back in 1995. The reviewer compared the deep sky performance to a well made 8 to 10 inch reflector and the planetary contrast as good as any other 6 inch telescope bar an apochromat.

I tend to think this assertion is accurate after owning and using the f-12 version for over a year. On double stars I recall no other telescope around 6 inch that could blast tight doubles with relative ease in good seeing. That is except my APQ 130 which is able to do similar tricks.

Best wishes

Kevin

Marc
I have a photocopy of one and plenty of other Zeiss memorabilia.

If you email me at [email protected] if you are after a photocopy. I will be away for a few days at the N Island Stardate.

You may have some Zeiss stuff you could copy and send in exchange.

The manual is not really that helpful although the parts and connection section is useful.

I have sent copies of this stuff to other folks that use this forum.

The yahoo Telementor group is also great for getting to know about Zeiss.

Best wishes

Kevin

Also if you have any questions do ask?
the Jpeg is an AS80/840 I am making. I am talking about constructing refractors st Stardate.