Quote:
Originally Posted by Hans Tucker
A proponent of the Officina Stellare brand might disagree.
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OS RHA you mean? I like the extensive use of carbon fibre on the OS range. I also notice the 10 inch RHA is now F5.6. Perhaps F3 was over optimistic and the requirement for perfection on the mechnicals was an issue. Bert had all sorts of rigs and stuff to correct flex on his etc. Mind you has was overloading it beyond its specification. Roland and Massimo worked together when making the AP RHA. So it has Massimo's optical genius coupled with Roland's optical genius but also Roland's decades worth of engineering excellence and quest for perfection. The difference is Roland makes the scopes, I don't think Massimo does, he designs them. Correct me if I am wrong. F3.8 is still very very fast but probably that little bit more workable. The Tak Epsilon F2.8 is famous for being difficult to collimate. So F3 is adventurous.
That is a huge difference. Also compared to other scopes I have used, you can tell Roland has done a lot of imaging and that know how ends up in the scopes. So I have never heard of flexure issues with focusers made by AP yet I have with every other brand. The AP RHA does not require collimation as well, a big plus. The mirror coating is on the rear side of the glass so it can't degrade, another big plus.
That attention to detail and the obvious standard that there is no compromise on quality is what makes them special.
I don't know the Mak Cass is not going to be made. There was a prototype 12 inch one a few years back. It may be a lot of work tooling up to make all these different models and you'd have to get a return on the Honders investment first. I am sure it took a lot of tooling up.
Anyway its all speculation. Why don't you ask Roland direct on the AP Yahoo Group. He's likely to answer you.
Greg.