Borg 76 ED APO Refractor
Up for sale is my Borg 76ED with the M57 Helical Focuser, adapters to go down to the included 1.25 EP holder.
Price includes.
Pelican 1500 Case
A set of custom made Parallax Rings
William Optics 45 degree erect image prism Diagonal
Red Dot finder
Canon Camera Adapter Mount
All adapters to turn OTA into Telescope/Spotting scope/Telephoto Lens.
The Borg 76ED is a scope with fine optics, superb portability and unmatched configurability. Its strength lies in its wonderful astrophotography support and modular design: from an f/6.6 instrument it can be transformed into an f/4 astrograph or a binoviewer! This is a scope that grows with you, whether it is visual observation, serious astrophotography, or travel.
Introduction
The Borg 76ED is a Japanese 3" (76mm) doublet, apochromatic refractor.
(fl=500mm f6.6) I was looking for a small, portable scope that could serve as a 500 mm Telephoto lens, visual instrument and an astrophotography tool. Why choose a Borg?
- Vast selection of astrophotography accessories.
- Size and weight.(OTA 1.7kg)
- Optical quality.
This is one scope that does it all. The crux of its design is the modularity of its components: the objective lens cell, OTA, focuser (and associated adapters) are all separable. This allows one to upgrade the components individually or reconfigure the scope for visual, astrophotography, etc. For example, one could upgrade to a 101mm ED scope by just replacing the objective cell, instead of purchasing an entirely new scope. Or swap the main OTA with a shorter one so that a binoviewer can be used without a barlow.
The suppied Borg focuser is a helical one. It is quite well made and comes with a locking screw to hold focus during astrophotography. If you have not used helical focusers before, they have smooth motion, no backlash and are ideal for astrophotography. The Borg system allows the helical focuser to be swapped out for another focuser, such as Starlight Instrument's FeatherTouch focuser.
A plethora of accessories can be attached to this focuser. It easily handles the weight of a 2" diagonal and small eyepiece or a reducer and 35mm camera. A very neat feature exclusive to the Borg scopes (and in particular this series) is the capability to move the helical focuser to the front of the OTA. This has two significant benefits:
- Focusing is easier, especially when there is heavy imaging equipment or eyepieces involved, because the focuser only has to move the mass of the lens. Benefits both visual and astrophotography.
- Balance is easily achieved. This is crucial for astrophotography. In the standard configuration, with the focuser in the rear, it is just about impossible to balance the scope because it is too rear heavy (with camera, reducer/flattener, focuser, and adapters). The front focusing position uses the weight of the focuser to offset the weight of the camera and reducer/flattener.
Its main use has been as a 500mm telephoto lens, and spotting scope. See attached photo of Wedgetail eagle.
Replacement cost would be over $2,000.00
Tripod, Camera and Ball Mount NOT INCLUDED...
Asking $810.00 plus postage.
