Field Flattener for ED80?

[danielsun]

Hi all, Have been doing some searching for the best flattener for an ED 80 .
I see that there is a William optics P-Flat 3 which says is suitable for M72, M 80 and upwards Yet there is a new WO P-Flat 4 which says it is suitable for refractors but a little more expensive . Does anyone Know which is better suited for the ED 80 or is there something else?

Cheers Daniel.

[koputai (Jason)]

Daniel, Bintel advertise one specifically made for the SW ED80,

https://www.bintelshop.com.au/Product.aspx?ID=8584

Might be worth a look.

Cheers,
Jason.

[danielsun]

Thanks Jason your a Champion! I have the Saxon /Synta ED80 so seems like this is the one.


Cheers Daniel.

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

I'm pretty sure Troy Piggo tried both WO flateners on his SW ED80 and settled for the P-Flat 4 as the one that worked best.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by peter_4059

I'm pretty sure Troy Piggo tried both WO flateners on his SW ED80 and settled for the P-Flat 4 as the one that worked best.

+1 WO P-Flat IV it is.

[Tilt (Michael)]

WO Pflat4 seems to be getting the nod lately, I would have more than likely purchased that over the Pflat2 if it was available at the time.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

WO II if still available.

Refractor and Focal Reducer Trials

I haven't found that the IV is any better than the II. Definitely do not get the III.

[dcalleja]

Does anyone have any feedback on the Bintel one or is the WO the choice of champions?

[danielsun]

Thanks all for the responses I found this on Cloudy nights and on one of the posts down the page show a comparison with and without using the Skywatcher Flattener and is impressive.
http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthrea...7/Main/3614200

Cheers Daniel.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by danielsun

Thanks all for the responses I found this on Cloudy nights and on one of the posts down the page show a comparison with and without using the Skywatcher Flattener and is impressive.
http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthrea...7/Main/3614200

Cheers Daniel.

That does look very good too.

[dcalleja]

The before and afters look good. The blurb seems to imply that you can only use the Synta\Bintel one with a DSLR? I wonder how I could then connect my ST8300 to it?

[troypiggo (Troy)]

WO FF IV gets my vote absolutely. My latest image here: http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ad.php?t=59695
Check out the 1600px version.

I haven't tried the WO FF II, but understand it gets good results too. It's also a 0.8x reducer. The IV isn't a reducer, in fact it's around 1.1x.

I did try the FF III on my ED80. Not good.

That ED80 0.8x flattener looks promising.

[Tilt (Michael)]

Originally Posted by troypiggo

The IV isn't a reducer, in fact it's around 1.1x.

I thought it was also a 0.8 reducer?

[dcalleja]

Troy
The results looks great. Are you connecting it to a DSLR or CCD. I was interested in what fittings the FF IV comes with ie: will it connect to a standard CCD type fitting?

[troypiggo (Troy)]

Originally Posted by Tilt

I thought it was also a 0.8 reducer?

No, the IV isn't a reducer. I did see a post or website recently that mentioned it was a 0.8x, but that's wrong. It's actually about 1.1-1.15x

Originally Posted by dcalleja

Troy
The results looks great. Are you connecting it to a DSLR or CCD. I was interested in what fittings the FF IV comes with ie: will it connect to a standard CCD type fitting?

I'm using a DSLR. The EOS adapter screws straight into it as though it's a T-adapter. Not sure what your CCD type fittings consist of.

[dcalleja]

Hi all
I decided to go with the PFlat IV from Williams. Got it from Andrews. Good service and advice. I was concerned it would not fit the SBIG but all is well as per the photo. Have not had a chance to use it as the clouds have now rolled in

[dugnsuz (Doug)]

Originally Posted by dcalleja

Hi all
I decided to go with the PFlat IV from Williams. Got it from Andrews. Good service and advice. I was concerned it would not fit the SBIG but all is well as per the photo. Have not had a chance to use it as the clouds have now rolled in

Hey Dan,
How does the ED80 focuser cope with all that weight hanging off the back?
Doug

[dcalleja]

Doug
Still havent tried it. Will post as soon as I get a chance

[mill (Martin)]

Originally Posted by dugnsuz

Hey Dan,
How does the ED80 focuser cope with all that weight hanging off the back?
Doug

I have an ED80 with the stock focusser and hanging off it is a pflat2,QHY9with filterwheel and it doesn't sag or moves.
The way to get it right is to file the flat part of the drawtube very flat so the roller is touching the whole flat on the drawtube.
With the stock focusser the roller is only touching the sides of the flat and is very crappy
The ED80 focusser modded this way will hold a lot of weight

[MrB (Simon)]

Originally Posted by troypiggo

No, the IV isn't a reducer. I did see a post or website recently that mentioned it was a 0.8x, but that's wrong. It's actually about 1.1-1.15x

Depends which FF4 it is, there are 3 versions, can't remember exactly but I think the first one 0.8 or 0.75x or something but was flawed so got recalled. The second version was 1.1 or 1.2x. (maybe this was the flawed recalled one?)
Version three is supposed to be all good (if your scope has enough in focus ) but I too thought it was 1x.

EDIT: just to confuse things, WO's website currently specs the FF4 as 0.75 to 0.8x
It's about time WO put version numbers on their products and some archived data... like Flat4 Mk1, Flat4 Mk2, Mk3 etc
The different versions of the Megrez90 are just as confusing!