First attempt at binoviewing

[JJDOBBER79 (Jas)]

Hi all,
Just thought I would provide an update on the Binoviewing. To recap. I bought a cheap Andrews binoviewer ($99). And I have been trying to make it work in my 12" lightbridge for months. I, obviously searched many forums on what equipment is needed to binoview with my particular scope and I found nothing.
After trying many different options, (thanks to MattT for some gear on loan from him) I have found a way to binoview successfully. A couple of things that I would like to mention first.
1.) I have read on CN that one cannot do DSO Binoviewing with a cheap bino. Not true. Tonight, I had the best view of eta carina I have ever had, (before the moon came up) and the best view of Saturn I have ever had.
2.) this whole setup, including the binoviewer and eyepieces cost about $400. So, it doesn't have to be expensive.
3.) I am increasingly impressed with the quality of Chinese optics. Simply awesome for the price.

So, here's all the gear one needs to binoview with a 12" LB. I'm sure there maybe other combos but I didn't find them.
1.) Andrews binoviewer
2.) pair of gso superview 20mm
3.) pair of gso superview 40mm.
4.) a multimag oca from siebert optics.
The multi mag is genius in case anyone is unfamiliar with it. It's basically 2 extension tubes and 2 lenses. Depending on what order you screw them together in you will get 1.25x, 2x, or 3.5x.
So, with my eps I get 32, 20, 16, 10, 6. This is pretty much all that one needs.
The only complaint is with my filters rather than the oca. My lumicon o111 is only threaded on one side so it won't screw in. I should be able to get a cheap filter, take the glass out and piggy back the 0111. Thanks to everyone who helped me with this. It was worth it. I can't wait for the new moon and the 0111. I don't see myself going back to single ep viewing now.

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

What are DSO's like with it? Some reports on CN find them a bit dark?

The muktimag sounds interesting too as that's a good combination to use for deep sky and planets.

[JJDOBBER79 (Jas)]

Hi Cometcatcher,
Last night was the first I have used the bino for DSO at the right magnification. Previously, the only way I could get it to focus was with the 20mm EP's and a 2x barlow which I understand gives more than double because of some reason that I dont understand. Last night I viewed eta carina from my home in the suburbs which is not ideal and it was as bright as any other time I have seen it from there. When I was using the higher magnification from a dark site last week, the same target was very bright even with the o111 although I could only get a fraction of it in the FOV. I did notice last night that the target was the biggest/widest/ I had ever seen it. A few people have said that binoviewing gives a more emmersive almost 3d view so maybe thats got something to do with it. Saturn felt that way also, mars was just mars. I have a super dark site near here so I will be taking this setup there for the upcoming new moon and, from what I have seen so far, I am preparing to be blown away by whatever I point the scope at. Im very happy.

[MattT]

So a few months in Jas and how is it?
Bright DSO's in WO bino's are sensational is all I can say, Globs especially are so much better than mono.
Matt

[Starlite (John)]

Originally Posted by JJDOBBER79

Hey guys, just an update on the binoviewing. I'm still having the same problem. I took the scope away for the weekend and had plenty of time to test. The best image I can get looks like I've turned the focuser until a star is a pinpoint, and then turned it a quarter turn too much. As I mentioned before, Intravel doesn't seem to be a factor, I have tried focusing the individual ep's and I have tried turning them in their holders. The next thing going through my head is attempting to collimate the unit. Any other suggestions from binoviewers? It's not the gso ep's coz I put my tak le 24 in and tried to focus. Same issue.

Jas, what brand of telescope and bino do you have and have you got them sorted yet? cheers John. Sorry, I did not read all the posts, I see you are very happy with your set up....

[doug mc]

I too recently bought possibly the last of the cheap binos from Andrews. Checking back and forth mono vs bino on luna detail leaves me satisfied that bino is definitely better. The unit I have has no obvious problems. I use 20mm GSO plossls, 12.5 Stirling plossls and a pair of 9mm Meade 5000 plossls. They give around 114x, 182x and 253x in my C8. The William optics 1.6x barlow nose piece works just fine in these units. By placing the barlow in front of the diagonal increased the power to close to 2x. It also places the back focus even closer than a standard setup for viewing eliminating the problem of aperture reduction. With this setup I can access a wide range of magnifications ecsept lowest power. For that one can go back to 2inch mono. At 62 my eyes are not what they used to be,but I can attest that bino viewing is much more relaxing way to observe, with improvements in definition over mono for medium to high power views on most objects. I can't wait for Jupiter's return.