Seeking Opinions

[mick pinner]

l want to put together a portable deep sky photographic package and seek some input on some equipment. l would like to get some feedback from anyone who has used a Vixen R 200SS f/4 reflector and also opinions on the best photographic refractor around the $2000.00 mark. all replies good or bad appreciated.

[Alchemy (Clive)]

Cant help with the vixen, been considering the refractor issue for myself and have been looking to williams optics personally considering the FLT line 2800 for the 110 plus a flattener, but they have some megrez in the 110 mm size f5.9 for that sort of money. Have looked at some images from the 127mm currently being posted around from china, has plenty of detail probably good value for money but its not APO from what ive seen so far.
you could be lucky and pick up a used Takahashi but youd have to be lucky for 2000.


clive

[mick pinner]

thanks Clive, l've looked at all the W.O scopes and l think all good value for money. we are probably spoiled for choice with all the refractors around at the moment so time to get some real opinions.

[Merlin66 (Ken)]

Still available on the second-hand market, the TV 4" f5 Genesis has a lot going for it! Four element optical design, good wide field and crisp star images..... just love it!

[h0ughy (David)]

mick you have to change the focuser of the vixen R200SS. the images are crisp and pleaseing - wide field of view. Collimation is essential.

I will be testing the 127 fully in a few days and put it through its paces at Duckadang. So far I think it is value for money

[gregbradley]

I owned a Vixen R200SS at one point.

It was hard to collimate but once I got a laser collimator (cheap Antares one) it wasn't that hard. Terrible coma as in all fast Newtonians so it needed its corrector. From memory the Vixen one wasn't that great but I have seen others use a Baader coma corrector that works really well or perhaps a Parracorr.

The scope is super widefield and I have seen some nice images taken with them. The focus is cheapish ala Vixen plastic knob style and the overall fit and finish is OK but not great. I wouldn't really recommend it and there are better alternatives.

For widefield imaging a Tak FSQ is the way to go but of course it is more expensive. I reckon stretch yourself and get one if at all possible as there are many years of super imaging to be extracted from one.

Or maybe the Stellarvue SV90 fluorite triplet they are around $2000.

There are a number of 102mm ED scopes around now - Astrotech has one for US$1095 with a lot of accessories included.

Don't know about Televue refractors as never used one and looked through a 50mm APO of theirs which seemed fine. I don't see many images from people using them but the NP101 or NP127 do get good images like the FSQ.

A TSA 102 Tak would be good and you'd also get a Tak FS102 2nd hand for that money on Astromart and that would be a nice imaging scope.

Bintel has a 127/130mm triplet refractor that looked really nice. I forget the price - either $2000 or $2900. It looked Taiwanese.

You really want a triplet APO or a quadruplet Petsval design for refractor imaging. You also need to consider coma and possibly needing field flatteners or high quality reducers if using DSLR or above sized chips for imaging.

Greg.

[gregbradley]

Here you go, check this baby out:

Stellarvue SV90T - 90mm fluorite triplet!

http://www.stellarvue.com/sv90t.html

http://www.stellarvue.com/astrophotography.html

You know a fluorite triplet is a rare rare lens. Only Tak and TEC
make them. Tak used to make them not any more. Their FCT
series is legendary and extremely expensive. TEC makes a fluorite triplet
for 160 and 180mm. They are US$13,000 and US$19,000 respectively.

So a 90mm fluorite (actual fluorite from Schott Glass in Germany not falsely labelled fluorite FPL53 glass from Japan) is amazing value at US$1995 (about AUD$2050).

Add a few hundred for shipping and a few hundred for GST.

Greg.

[TrevorW]

I saw the title and thought,

"your mother still thinks your beautiful"