Posts Made By: Floyd Blue

If I could only take 3 EP out in a night, I guess it would be.
31 Nagler
22 Nagler
12 Nagler
But it depends on what I am looking at that night.
So another night might be.
22 Nagler
14 UWA
10.5mm Pentax XL
Then again if I was doing Planetary
10.5mm Pentax XL
6mm Radian
4mm Radian
Or if it was the Moon.
7mm Pentax XL
5mm Radian
3mm Radian
If it was DSO
20mm Nagler
17mm Nagler
12mm Nagler
This is the problem, different objects require different EPs to get the most of them.
This is the best I can do.

I am getting a few complaints about the Burgess Planetary EP thread.
My thoughts so far is that it has not gotten out of hand, but some seem to think that it is a Burgess Bashing thread. I have not found that it has become this, but let us keep to the factual accounts and information and try not to just make claims or comments meant to inflame others and companies.
I know that there has been a bit of hard feelings toward Burgess and I will not argue that he has brought this all upon himself. Just seems that re hashing of old news is not constructive. We are all aware of the past, let us look to the future and present.
Carry on with the thread by all means, I am not trying to end it.

He is there, but he is also gone to work a lot. Try to call again. I talked with him about 8 months ago. So maybe something has happened since then?

All of those not so good UO Orthos can be sent to me for proper disposal! I have UO Orthos, both Volcano Top and HD style and they all seem to work rather well. I also have some other Volcano tops that are a little earlier of Circle-T and they all seem to work about the same. :S So, just maybe a certain run of manufacture were not as good?

I just could not help myself and I have purchased another Steven Collett Dob. This is another 12.5" that is the sister scope to my other 12.5", ut this one is f/5.2 where the other was f/4.9.
Here is a picture of the scope with it's former owner at private site last August. Another nice Collett special.

I got an older 1975-77 Meade Circle-T (Japan) 50mm f/12 guide scope in a trade at yesterday's club swap meet. It is really a very nice little 50mm scope! Images of Jupiter are pretty good really. I hope to use in for some Astro Photography in the future. It had set on a shelf for about 8 years at a friend's house.

I have a question.
When you read reviews and articles about EPs, isn't it interesting how the reviewers will understate the fact that the EP has a soft edge at 20%. They will say how wonderfully crisp the on-axis is as a point of reference and down play the poor 20-30% where the image quality falls off. In the same breath, I have read where the comparison to better EPs stated that this was not a concern, because on-axis was the most important factor.
My question is, why is the off-axis performance not a concern? Why is it OK for a lessor cost EP to have poor off-axis performance where an expensive EP must perform to a much higher standard? Is it really correct to apply this double standard when evaluating EPs. This leads to the old statement "Good for the Money" which is always a problem for me. The EP is either good or bad or in between, but money is not the consideration when evaluating products is it?
So, is a $50 EP a better deal with a 20% soft edge and other aberrations than a $100 EP with 5% or less?
Should an EP that performs well at f/10 but poorly at f/4.3 be rated as very good or rated as good at f/10?
Where exactly do we draw the line between cost and quality?
Just food for thought, what is your opinion?

Why thank you Steve. I am proud to be able to help Astromart by moderating this forum. I love Astronomy and the equipment and am more than happy to be of service.

I just recently traded a larger EP case for a smaller one that contained a Meade 50mm Guide Scope, it is a Circle-T made in Japan around 1975-77.
It is amazing that the little scope actually works pretty well. The images are sharp withonly a little color on Jupiter, but the bands were visible and the moons looked great!
Not such a great focuser, but light and well built really. It certainly was an inexpensive scope to start with, but the optics are quite good. I hope to use it for photography in the future.
It is funny that something that no one wanted could be a decent little scope. It had sat on a shelf for at least 7-8 years.

I like the Radians, some do, some don't. There is a slight off color at the edge or on a very bright object like the full Moon when looking at the limb.
Konig EPs are fine at f/8-f/10 but ar f/5 they are not too great at the edge, so FOV suffers as far as useful FOV is concerned.
The Radian is sharp over the entire FOV.
The 12mm Nagler T-4 is another fine EP. Wide field at 82° and very nicely corrected, but it too uses the Insta-Adjust, which I happen to like. But some people just don't like using the Insta-Adjust. Why? I just don't know.