I have bought a GSO 8" RC

[Paul Haese]

Yep, I have done it too.

I made the purchase during the week and expect to see it on Monday. While I am not expecting it to be totally brilliant, I am sure it will perform quite nicely. I have seen several images taken with several of these scopes and to be honest they look pretty sharp.

I am not being unrealistic and if they do turn out to be good I am sure it will mean good things for amateurs. Pricing for larger RC's is just totally ridiculous to be honest. At least if these RC's are affordable and pretty accurate then it provides a modest stepping stone. High quality imaging should not be for the rich.

So looking forward to testing this new scope myself and making my own assessment. The proof will be in the pudding as they say.

[h0ughy]

good for you Paul - i took a leap of faith with the 127ED and while its no tak i am very happy for the money i paid

[Hagar]

Allways something new is some risk but in this day and age most items sold for a purpose go most if not all of the way to fullfill these requirements.

I took the same gamble with the Vixen VC200L and for the price couldn't be happier.

Hope it works out well and lives up to your expectations. Maybe the 10" will be out soon and even better. Looking forward to seeing some images.

[sheeny]

We'll follow your assessment with interest.

Al.

[allan gould]

I really hope that your scope is a winner Paul, as not only will it give you great sattisfaction but will give others a greater choice with a range of scope options. Really looking forward to your first shots as these scopes piqued my interest.

[gbeal]

On ya mate, lets hope the seagulls don't cause this thread to be locked as well, lets see some images before the mud gets slung.

[Kal]

So how's the weather looking down there Paul? I look forward to your impressions of the scope.

[netwolf]

Congtats Paul, we are all waiting to see how you and Alex go with these scopes. I wonder if there will be some nerve racking cooling mod pictures also in the near future. Being an open tube I would like to know how it is affected by thermal changes.

[Terry B]

Are you trying to create more flooding?

:D:D

[Paul Haese]

Thanks guys for the support.

Kal, the weather is as per normal, not raining buckets yet but that might well be the case soon.:)

Terry, nah mate not expecting a flood.:rofl:However, it might be just what SA needs at present.

I am still yet to take delivery but am sure that Australia Post has it some where.

I will have to get a D bar first I think. I will probably do a first light image in unguided mode on the Em400 before I go buying rings etc for the scope. The EM can go at least 10 minutes without guide corrections, so this should give me enough time to see what the quality of the optics is like.

Like some of you have said, for the price it has to satisfy and that is my expectations. I will give all the forums a complete assessment and images as soon as humanly possible.:thumbsup:

[dugnsuz]

Well done Paul and Alex.
Go the Guinea Pigs!!;)

Look forward to first light from these scopes.
Doug:thumbsup::thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Good on yer Paul. Someone's gotta do it.

Greg.

[davidpretorius]

wow, I go away for a few months and you go and get another scope :)

good luck with it paul.

This little bear has woken up from Jupiter Hibernation and might even try and find the scope down stairs :)

[Octane]

Wow, where have you been, man? I was reading a thread h0ughy linked a few days ago where you welcomed iceman to the forum. :lol:

Miss your witty comments!

Regards,
Humayun

P.S. Congratulations Alex and Paul.

[Paul Haese]

Was talking to a chap I know yesterday who has seen and used one of these scopes. His thoughts were potentially a good scope but still very much development stages. Of note the following were of concern:


Flex in imaging train lead to focus issues.
Diffraction rings not evident in a star test.
Removing the dove tail results in collimation being lost and the instrument is hard to collimate.
Figure of the mirror is a ok but not a high enough standard at present; results in soft images.This should all be measured in light of the idea that Guan Sheng has gone to great expense to get the correct equipment to grind the mirrors and are listening to retailers on developmental ideas.

They are receptive to ideas on mounting, focusor and figure of the mirror. Tests seem to be inconsistent. Some tests come up all right and others show major defects.

All this information was gathered in October last year and some aspects of rectification seem to be already in place. From what Alex has told me the focusor looks to be heavy duty. Although I note that another extension of 50mm is necessary to reach focus on a DSLR. The Vixen dove tail is limiting and will have to be changed for my setup. I use D Saddles, so I am gonna learn all about collimation of these scopes. Surely collimation is not that critical and hard to do. Even RCOS scopes would not be well collimated on delivery.

An image I saw yesterday characterises all the above points. I have agreed not to show this image though, I will be presenting my own images in due course with my thoughts on the OTA construction and star testing. With any luck I will get a good one. If not well then it goes back. I am sure Andrews will do the right thing in that case.

Stay tuned for the next installment. I am expecting the OTA on either today or Wednesday.

[netwolf]

Yes Octane, the tassie tiger went underground for awhile, he pops up now and then in myths and legends. ;)

[Gama]

The RCOS or any of the big Pro RC's are built like sherman tanks and weigh about the same.
This is for exactly the reasons you mention its not critical. But they are very critical.
You cant have droop at all, and the major issue with RC's is that as you go out of collimation, the more severe/crappy the image gets. Where other scopes can take some miscollimation, the RC's need near perfect alignment.

Theo

[Paul Haese]

While I can see the value of what you are saying Theo, I reckon planetary imaging requires far greater attention to collimation when I am imaging at 14,000mm than say imaging at 2000 odd mm's. Given that surely collimation would not be that hard? If I am wrong will you explain why?:shrug:

[Satchmo]

Thats correct. With two highly aspheric surfaces used in conjunction ,the optical axis' have to be very coincident or images deteriorate very rapidly.The primary mirrors on these instruments would be around F3 and hyberbolic.

[allan gould]

Luv these threads

[gregbradley]

My RCOS 12.5 inch wasn't that heavy. My Tak BRC250 is 2.5 inches less aperture and weighs just as much if not slightly more.

Hey when do we get first light from your CDK20???

C'mon Theo I'm hanging out here man.

Greg.

[marki]

Theo posted a pic in this forum under the cdk thread. Have a look :).

Mark

[Chippy]

Me too!

[Paul Haese]

Still waiting for the OTA to arrive. Been over a week since it was sent and seems to have got caught in a Australia Post vacuum. I rang Oz Post this afternoon and they say it should be delivered by 5pm this afternoon. Hmm just in time for the easter break, but I don't know which D bar set it will need. Given it is now 211pm I am not holding my breath that it will be delivered on time.

Mark, in terms of collimation though, surely these OTA's are not that hard to collimate. Sure I get the point that they need to be very accurately aligned, but lets face it, if they were super demanding no one would buy them or else you would hear all sorts of stories about collimating them. Greg, did you have trouble collimating your 12.5?

Anyway, this is all moot at this stage as I still don't know that this OTA will have good optics to begin with. Aside from Ronchi Testing, out of focus star images, any suggestions as to what tests I should use? I will give a focused image of say 10 minutes unguided on the EM400, an out of focus star image and if I can I will ronchi test it. Suggestions thank.:)

[Coen]

Perhaps:
http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Board/reflectors/Number/3020154/page/0/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/o/fpart/all
and the links there in might give ideas?

[Gama]

I did say "Big Pro RC's" with weight. You have a baby RC, more like a shelf model to admire while reading a book in front of a warm fire ;).

Seriously though, the info on alignment is out there, just need to read and understand. Actually, RCOS has a collimation procedure, read it and see how you go.

Theo.