8mm Ethos arrives in New Zealand

[Rob S]

I have it in my hot little hands with it's older/bigger brother.

Am I first down this way

Rob.

[iceman (Mike)]

Post a picture, Rob!

Clear skies tonight?

[Rob S]

:d

[iceman (Mike)]

Did you press the shutter with your nose?

Nice, quite a bit smaller than big brother.

[Rob S]

Not quite

Was able to look at the odd star between the cloud and rain, long enough only to work out how much focuser travel I need. Terrible seeing, so no report on image quality, and literally I only had a few seconds, it was that bad - and it took 3 trips out just to get that.

It is as per the TV specifications - on paper the field stop is lower than on the 13 Ethos (0.7" below the bottom of the body proper vs 0.27" below) so it needs about 11mm more out-travel when in 2" mode.

1.25" mode is scarier as that part of the barrel is not very long on the 13E, so I don't like using it that way. The 8E has a longer 1.25" barrel, so in this mode needs nearly 15mm more out-travel than the 13E.

Rob.

[DaveM]

My 8E turned up in the post today. It's looking a bit cloudy out (no surprises there), so maybe I should organise say a dozen or so high powered laser pointers to burn a viewing hole in the clouds. I'm sure the planes coming in to land at the airport wouldn't mind...

[DaveM]

Tried the 8E in the Lightbridge tonight, and the EP is very nice. Compared with a T6 9mm Nagler the image is slightly less 'warm' to my eyes (though the effect is subtle). I can't bring it to focus in 2" mode (not enough out-travel), and so used it in 1.25" mode, which I don't think is preferable. I'll have to use an extension tube to use it in 2" mode, which is a bit of a pain, but worth it I think. The other plus for me is less nudging of the dob because of the wide FOV.

[renormalised (Carl)]

Another Televue "hand grenade", just like the old Naglers!!!

Although, not quite