Focal Reducer for visual observation

[Baron von Richthofen (Vaclav)]

Hi All
I am thinking of getting a .5 Focal Reducer for my ETX90 Has anybody used a Focal Reducer for visual observation
Vars

[dannat (Daniel)]

i have a 0.5 for photography,it did not fit in the train for visual - the diagonal couldn't fit it in

[Geoff45 (Geoff)]

Why not just get a wide field eyepiece?

[Kal (Andrew)]

An ETX90 will vignette with even a > 25mm plossl eyepiece. Using a focal reducer for visual is pointless as you can get virtually the same result with a regular 1.25" eyepiece with a large field stop.

[Robbie]

I have a saxon ed80 that I added a .5 focal reducer into (1.25 screw in type) Visually its fantastic no problems. Add a ccd and it all goes pear shaped, Im not sure what the term is but the images are clear in the center then streak increasingly towards the edges.

If there is a remedy for this Im all ears

[5ash (Philip)]

I to experienced the effect you mentioned and put the reducer to one side .Later i purchased a lumican reducer and observed the distance of the lens from the ccd was double that of the previous 0.5 reducer. So i tried it again at double the distance and it worked. Worth a try. I also have a SCT rich field adapter which is incorporated in a star diagonal , it works well with DSLR and ccd.
philip

[Robbie]

thanks I have some spacers so I'll give that a whirl.
much appreciated