Hi All,
Had the first good clear night for ages so tried out my new toy, A Vixen FL80S Fluorite Scope (one of the older Real Fluorite Glass ones- the newer scopes use FLP53 Glass which is a synthetic fluorite), took Omega Centauri to check field and sharpness, looks good, then Carina w/an F.6.3 Focal reducer (the Scope is F-8 with a 80 mm objective), on to Cent-A and finally (after the moon was low- moon was about 1/3 Full for all other Pix.) M-20 + M-8.
ngc-5139 was 1 x 2 Min. Exp. at ISO800 no DF removed
ngc-3372 was 5 x 6 Min. Exp. at ISO400 DF removed
ngc-5128 was 3 x 6 Min. Exp. at ISO800 DF removed
M8+M20 were 3 x 6 Min. Exp. at ISO800 DF removed
All Guided, Canon 300D (modded) Scope VIXEN FL80S F-8
Hi All,
Many thanks for all your comments, yes this Scope looks like a winner (I hope) I dont really know how much difference there is colour wise between a good Fluorite Scope and a Good ED Scope (there are good and not so good ED scopes) I consider the Orion ED80 a Very good ED scope, and hard to tell the difference colour wise from its results and those from the Fluorite Scope, but there is some noticeable difference in definition, One can control the colour results with software after exposure to quite a degree, but not sharpness (initial colour convergence ex the Lens), what is amazing is the results we can all obtain from such small (80mm) scopes and DSLR Cameras of Deep Sky objects.
If you look at Vixens website you can see that they sell two tiers of refractors.
Theres the rebadged Chinese ed refractors, and then there's the real Vixen scopes which are in another class altogether.
I just bought an ED115S and I think its great
Hi All,
Thanks for your comments, and Geoff great to hear you got a good Scope, I think the Chinese scopes are fantastic for the price, one can get a 100mm acro. refractor for about AD $400.00 when I think a few years back a 100mm scope would have cost AD $2000.00 +, they are limited in what you can do with them, but a good start for beginners, there is a very good article on ED/FLP53/Fluorite scopes by Astro Physics, Ill dig it out and post it, seems the matching of lenses is the big item.
Eric, yes I went past my bedtime that night (wanted to test the new toy) started at 18.30 went till 01.45 yawnnnn, but it was worth it.
