If 1ponders' new scope is a bazooka then this must be a pea shooter.
Aimed at the budget buyer (me) it's an entry level ED scope. At 80mm f5.5 the focal length is 440mm.
Pic02 is the blue Ekinox ED805.5 paired to my 68mm f8.8 guidescope. Don't they look cute together? Mounting hardware made from wood, all bolted to my ancient EQ whatever it is that was originally a mount for an 80mm f15 Tasco refractor.
One day I'll upgrade the mount.
Pic03 the front end. Since the Chinese can't spell when they try to get it right, they may as well deliberately get it rong to save us wondering if it was a deliberate error or not.
Pic04 of the Jewelbox is from my old Tokina 400mm f5.6 lens that served me well during the film era, but has bad colour fringing on my unmodded Pentax K-x. Pic05 is a comparison shot with the Ekinox ED805.5. Both lenses are flaring / producing ghosts from Mimosa, but the ED80 has much better colour correction.
Pic06 blew me away. I wasn't going to shoot any nebula tonight with the full moon, but just for laughs I though I'd take a few subs with the Deep Sky filter of IC2944 and see what came out. 20 x 30 seconds produced an amazing amount of nebula considering the full moon.
Pic07 At f5.5 this scope has quite pronounced field curvature. Looks like a field flattener is essential. I'm thinking of giving the Orion field flattener a go, unless anyone has more suitable recommendations?
Visually I can't detect much in the way of edge distortion with my 13mm Nagler, except at the very edge. Stars are sharp as a tack for the most part.
In all it seems like a good entry level ED scope. For me this will be my "comet hunting" scope.
don't forget you can get focal reducers that just slide in. With a 0.5x reducer the F ratio goes down to F2.25!
