Orion field flattener test.

mill (Martin) · #1 02-07-2011, 11:41 AM

Hi all.

I have tested the new Orion field flattener for short refractors last night and it performs very well.
It needs 55mm of distance from the imaging chip and that was easy because i could just screw it on my QHY filter wheel (will make approx 55mm from the imaging chip of the QHY9).

First pic a crop of the left hand side top without the flattener and second pic the same crop but now with the flattener.
Judge for yourselfs and for $149 it is not bad at all

PS: pics are processed roughly

dcalleja · #2 03-07-2011, 08:01 PM

Its a dramatic improvement. Bintel have them advertised for $259 though? Is it the same one?

mill (Martin) · #3 03-07-2011, 08:20 PM

Dan you are looking at the wrong one, it is in imaging and accessories on the fourth page bottom.
It is on the Bintel website.

dcalleja · #4 03-07-2011, 10:30 PM

Got it thanks. it looks good for the price. Do you have any full frame examples?

mill (Martin) · #5 03-07-2011, 10:59 PM

first no flattener.
http://martinsastro.net/displayimage..._display_media

Next with flattener.
http://martinsastro.net/displayimage..._display_media

dcalleja · #6 03-07-2011, 11:05 PM

Martin
Outstanding - many thanks. I'll be off to get one tomorrow. I have an SBIG 8300. The back focus is ~18mm but if I add a 35mm spacer it should be fine

falcoleprof (Jean-Marc) · #7 29-07-2011, 07:59 AM

Does the Orion flattener have filter threads ??? Even Orion where unable to answer it.

Poita (Peter) · #8 29-07-2011, 08:33 AM

Sorry for the noob question, I can see the quite stunning difference in the results, but how exactly does it do its magic?

mill (Martin) · #9 29-07-2011, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by falcoleprof

Does the Orion flattener have filter threads ??? Even Orion where unable to answer it.

I had a look in my flattener and it has filter threads.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poita

Sorry for the noob question, I can see the quite stunning difference in the results, but how exactly does it do its magic?

It is just the glass in the corrector that is shaped in a certain way to make the field as flat as possible.

falcoleprof (Jean-Marc) · #10 29-07-2011, 10:54 AM

I would have been kind of stupid on their part, but in the astrophotography world many things are not always logical.

Poita (Peter) · #11 29-07-2011, 07:22 PM

Thanks.
I found plenty to read on it here:
http://www.telescope-optics.net/field_flattener.htm

I am surprised just how much better the images look with the flattener, I wouldn't have expected it to be so huge, makes one kind of mandatory really.

dcalleja · #12 30-07-2011, 04:48 PM

Yes - I have an Astronomik 2" filter on the front of my one.