For any one interested , here are a few photos of my home built , from parts got from here at IIS and others , Istar 127mm f8 achromat .
This lense is a stunner ! the views belie the fact that its only a 'Low'ly" achromat in some peoples eyes , but don't believe that for a minuite it performs very , very well .
Almost as good as my now sold NT triplet .
The American company Istar hand figure all their lenses to a high degree before sale and it shows in the final images , awesome stuff . .
Hope you all enjoy and to any one contemplating building a refractor these Istar lenses are great value .
My OTA cost only $630 total , including focuser , finder , OTA , rings and Istar lense .
I did all the machine work my self so saved a bit there .
Total cost was only $1200 mounted , great for a world class 5 inch f8 refractor .
A big thanks to all who contributed to this build here at IIS and others .
Brian.
Cant seem to up load any more photos at the moment , will try again later .
Last edited by brian nordstrom; 04-07-2013 at 02:23 PM.
Reason: cant up load any more photos ????
I will try and down load a few more photos now , hope all is good today .
Oh well it managed 3 more .
Note the stainless steel adaptor I made to fit the HEQ5 mount onto my TV Gibralter tripod , as the SW s/s tube tripod could not be used here in Darwin at 12 degrees south because the counter weights hit the legs at that setting , there is plenty of clearance now , and very sturdy .
Hope you all enjoy .
Brian.
To all the good people waiting with baited breath , here are the last 3 photos of my Istar build .
For crying out loud !!!! Upload has failed again and again !! oh yes , again ...
And it aint the size that matters , 31.8kb -217.8kb it makes no difference ,,
More tomorrow .
Brian.
To all the good people waiting with baited breath , here are the last 3 photos of my Istar build .
For crying out loud !!!! Upload has failed again and again !! oh yes , again ...
And it aint the size that matters , 31.8kb -217.8kb it makes no difference ,,
More tomorrow .
Brian.
Looks great Brian. Still having problems with the damn Internet in Darwin?
Thanks Peter , the Istar lense is a beauty , performs excelent'y .
No I think its an IIS problem as I trialled a few 200kb photos to FB , Yahoo and friends , no problems there ..
On a side note how many sleeps till the USA mate ?
Enjoy you holiday mate .
Oh yea Peter fellow SIFI movie fan , I was in JB, HI FI today , and Star trek franchise has gone our way .
I grabbed "Star Trek " , 'Time Travel' fan collection . 4 discs 10 eposides , from Kirk to Janeway on time travel and only $19.99 ,, cool , my weekend is happening last week .....cool
have a look .
Brian.
Last edited by brian nordstrom; 06-07-2013 at 07:39 PM.
On a side note how many sleeps till the USA mate ?
Enjoy you holiday mate .
Oh yea Peter fellow SIFI movie fan , I was in JB, HI FI today , and Star trek franchise has gone our way .
I grabbed "Star Trek " , 'Time Travel' fan collection . 4 discs 10 eposides , from Kirk to Janeway on time travel and only $19.99 ,, cool , my weekend is happening last week .....cool
have a look .
Brian.
Hi Brian,
Only 7 more sleeps mate. But I am still not excited yet. I changed my flights to leave 5 days earlier to have more time in LA. Then I find out the temp in LA is 54C I know I want to get away from these 2C nightly temps we have been having over the past couple of nights, but to jump into a flaming furnace......not that happy! Gee, I like the heat, but not that much!!!! Hope it is a little cooler by the time I get there.
I always thought WA was the last place to get anything. Glad to hear that you havce3 finally got the Star Trek collections there, and at a much cheaper price than I paid, way cheaper.
"Times Arrow Part 1 & 2" were the best Star Trek episodes on time travel.
The TeleVue 76mm Scope v my TeleVue Pronto.
Coatings are obviously different by the pic's.
Had a look using a Orion Ultrascopic 35mm 1.25 eyepiece ( not the one in the pic's )....I've seen some very sharp and crisp views with the different Scopes I have owned ... but this TV76 ( in it's class ) is simply ' outstanding ' ...I doubt I've seen anything as clear and sharp as this Scope....as good as the TV85 IMHO.
The Focus Mate 10:1 is ' silky ' smooth....build quality is just superb....solid as...good ' feel ' to it all round.
Weight ...very similar ...TV76 maybe a ' touch ' heavier.
If I wanted to be ' picky ' ...the Pronto would be the ' runner up ' in a viewing contest....but there would be very little in it between them.
Yet to see the sky at night ....tonight I hope...weather permitting.
Very pleased with my purchase.
Flash.....
Last edited by FlashDrive; 09-07-2013 at 01:57 PM.
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Thanks Peter , the Istar lense is a beauty , performs excelent'y .
Would if I could Logan , but the 'Pearl" white paint job is really nice , but as you know its not what's on the outside that counts , 
