New Takahashi FS-60c

[castor]

I bought a new Takahashi FS-60c, a doublet fluorite apochromat from Grand Eye Scientific Company in Hong Kong. They have considerably lower prices on many items, such as the Meade Range and most Takahashi items. This FS-60c cost a total of HK5150 (approx. $870) including the finder and tube holder, compared to the ota alone going at about $1200 in Australia and similar rate in the US.

This thing is small - the OTA weighs only 1.3kg and is certainly small enough to put in your briefcase - all the better when you are on an overseas trip or even camping. It is a f/5.9 tube with an aperture of 60mm with a wonderful rack-and-pinion focusser. Preliminary testing showed that this scope will bear a LOT of magnification - I could actually get it up to 300x during the day without it completely blurring - far greater than the 60x per inch rule, and there was no discernible chromatic aberration.

Test targets on a rare clear night in light-polluted inner Melbourne included Toliman which was very neatly split at 60x - much easier than on a 70mm achromat which has a bigger aperture. Stars snap into tack (Tak?) sharp focus with a quality unseen on ordinary achromats. Jupiter showed three cloud bands and its four moons; the best views were had at 100-120x. Increasing the power beyond this provided no extra detail and integrity of the image was gradually lost in excess of 150x.

One of the shortcomings of this scope was the fact that only a limited range of eyepieces would come into focus at infinity with a standard diagonal. These were the type 6 Naglers and anything parfocal with them (includes all the Radians and the Panoptic 24). Otherwise, there was insufficient in-focus. With a barlow, no eyepiece would come into focus. However, this was solved if a 2.5x Televue Powermate was used, and any eyepiece can be used in conjunction with it (including stacked Barlows), effectively turning the scope into an f/15 instrument.

The included 6x30 finder was, by the way, brilliant. Stars were sharp to the edge, coatings looked wonderful and could be focussed by smoothly turning the eyepiece.

A Takahashi Sky-90 remains on my wish list, but this will be my last astro purchase for a couple of years. Maybe I will save up for a camera to use with this latest acquisition. A more pragmatic alternative at my age (26) would be on a means to eliminate geekiness and acquire an earthly companion!

[netwolf]

Congrats thats a lovely scope you have there excellent for widefield.
There prices are good like he price for the EQ6 with Goto is darn cheap. approx 1200 AUD. The question is cost of shipment and customs costs.

http://www.grandeye.com.hk/sw_telescope.htm

[Panotaker]

I also have a little FS-60C. What a great little scope that is. I use mine as my wide field photography scope and as my guide scope for my AP-130F/6 scope. I either needed to buy a bigger camera, or a smaller scope, so the small Tak was the logical choice. I looked at the new TV-60IS, but I decided to save $1000 and get the small Tak instead. When you are ready to do photography with it, go to my page and you can see how I use mine to get some really wide shots with it: http://www.pbase.com/panotaker/fs-60c
Ralph

[mickoking]

The 60mm Tak sounds like the ideal travel scope. It sounds like something I may purchase when I finish my course and get a real job

[Dennis]

Originally Posted by Panotaker

I also have a little FS-60C. What a great little scope that is. I use mine as my wide field photography scope and as my guide scope for my AP-130F/6 scope. I either needed to buy a bigger camera, or a smaller scope, so the small Tak was the logical choice. I looked at the new TV-60IS, but I decided to save $1000 and get the small Tak instead. When you are ready to do photography with it, go to my page and you can see how I use mine to get some really wide shots with it: http://www.pbase.com/panotaker/fs-60c
Ralph

Hi Ralph

Wow, that is a superb image of the Rosette with the FS-60C. The detail in the nebulosity and the dark regions are quite extraordinary for a 60mm refractor. Well done. I assume the image in H ά?

I note you use the SXV-H9 rather than an SBIG camera. Would be interested to hear your thoughts on the Starlight Express model, as I am thinking of upgrading my SBIG ST7E sometime in the future.

Thanks

Dennis

[Panotaker]

Hello Dennis. Thanks a lot for the compliments and yes, the image was done in H-Alpha with a Schuller H-Alpha filter. My normal imaging scope is an AP-130 and the only other way I could get a shot of the Rossette with that scope was to get a more expensive camera with a bigger chip. So I took a chance and got the little Tak and it did not disappoint. I really like my SXV-H9. Before I bought it, I was looking at the ST-2000XM, which cost about the same as the H9. The only time I would recommend the ST-2000 is if you are going to use it with a scope with a moveable mirror like an SCT. The dual chip is needed for that to be able to guide through the same scope that you are shooting through. I have tried guiding my SCT with a seperate guide scope and have had no luck. There is either too much mirror flop or flexure or both. But to be fair, imaging with an SCT is still a nightmare with a dual chip camera.

If you are imaging through a refractor like I am, then you can use a seperate guide scope and autoguider and you don't need a dual chip camera. I chose the SXV-H9 over the ST-2000 because the H9 is a lot more sensative, especially when it comes to shooting H-Alpha. Plus with the H9 doesn't need to take any dark frames, so you can spend more time imaging. It doesn't need any water cooling either.

So if you really don't need a dual chip camera, then I would go for the SXV-H9. The ST-2000 has a slightly bigger chip, and both cameras take excellent pictures, but with H-Alpha, you will have to image longer with the ST-2000. If you want to save another $1000, look at the Atik 16HR, it is the same chip as the SXV-H9, except it is USB 1 instead of USB 2. Both cameras take the same identical picture with no dark frames needed.
Ralph

[Dennis]

Hi Ralph

Thank you for your comprehensive, detailed and very useful reply regarding your thoughts on CCD selection. Also, apologies to Castor for this minor deviation from his original post!

Thanks guys!

Dennis