Zeiss 3x12 Monocular (1 Viewer)

[Binastro]

Personally, I object to paying the high price for the Zeiss 3x12 monocular.

I would spend the same money on a 200mm Dobsonian telescope for observing planets etc.

I do have a Swarovski booster and Opticron both as new secondhand but I don't know how these perform with scopes as I have not tried them.

It is not that the Zeiss 3x12 is not worth the price.
It is not worth it to me.

Regards,
B.

 

[Ivydwg]

Bortle 4 is a description of light pollution and Transparency.

It is not a description of Seeing conditions.

Indeed, but in central England light pollution is far more of an issue than seeing conditions!

 

[Ivydwg]

Personally, I object to paying the high price for the Zeiss 3x12 monocular.

Fully agree! I have seen one second hand for £120 and wondered whether it was worth a punt.

 

[Binastro]

If, as new, then £120 sounds O.K.

Regards,
B.

 

[tenex]

It depends mainly on the seeing at your location...

I should add that as usual, there are also mechanical factors to consider. Even if I could get a good detailed image at 120x or more, it would be a logistical nightmare with 45° viewing, no fine focus knob, and without further gear like a driven equatorial mount ($500++) at which point one should be buying a real telescope instead. A spotter is nice for casual astronomy.

 

[Binastro]

I have a small microdrive unit that fits between the scope and the tripod head.

It works well although with photo tripods there is an initial drop due to slack.

The microdrive has a limited travel, so after perhaps half an hour it must be reset.

It is manual, but there are probably electric versions also.

It works in azimuth and elevation.

I think it is Japanese and cost less than £20.
All metal I think.

If the planet is on the meridian it only needs azimuth movement, as there is virtually no elevation change.

My friends use laser pointers attached to their scopes.
I disapprove of these as I think they are somewhat dangerous.

Even without the microdrive unit I have used 180x and been able to follow planets with a Slik 88 tripod.
I have little problem at 100x.

Regards,
B.

 

[tenex]

Even without the microdrive unit I have used 180x

I believe the "scope" you're talking about is at least a proper astronomical refractor? Otherwise I must just be the problem myself, somehow.

 

[Binastro]

Various scopes on Slik 88 tripod.

Acuter 80mm angled spotting scope at 100x.

Vivitar Series 1 600mm f/8 solid Cat at 180x. Epsilon Lyrae both components easily split with dark space in between about 2.4 arcseconds.

Mirror lenses 500mm f/8 at 150x. Minolta, Canon, Nikon, Tamron and another independent maybe Tokina. Epsilon Lyrae usually split but some temperature effects. Using 3x Barlows and 10mm monocular converters.
In some cases further boosted by 1.2x adapters from one brand to another with weak achromatic lenses.

Pentax 500mm mirror angled spotter with dropped in 24.5mm eyepieces Normally 50x but also 125x.
The Pentax back fits any T2 mount lens. The Pentax lenses (two) are not very good.

Mirador 30-120x70 Maksutov Cassegrain easily used at 120x.

90mm Maksutov Cassegrains 135x to 190x.

Skywatcher 127mm Maksutov Cassegrain used at high power but the optics are not great on my sample.

Also Celestron 5.

300mm f/2.8 Sigma and Exakta mount 300mm f/2.8 with 2x to 3x teleconverters and monocular converter. 90x.

The Samyang 800mm f/8 mirror lens I have is poor. It has poor contrast.
The Bell and Howell 650mm f/9.5? is rather good.

There are others.

Regards,
B.

 

[Binastro]

The Yukon 6x-25x-100x100 angled folded refractor scope is easily used at 100x on the Slik 88 tripod.

The image on my sample at 100x is good.

It doesn't need a 3x12 booster.

The problems are that the coatings are rather poor so transmission is not high and the telescope is plastic and would probably not survive a drop.

It weighs 1.5 Kg.

B.

 

[Hermann]

Do you use an adapter with the 30x WA? I have the 30x DS and the WA zoom.

One of the adapters Zeiss sold for use of the 3x12 with their binoculars fits quite nicely into the eyecup of the 30x WA. No adapters for the DS eyepieces. If you want one, you need to make one yourself.

Hermann

 

[Hermann]

Even if I could get a good detailed image at 120x or more, it would be a logistical nightmare with 45° viewing, no fine focus knob, and without further gear like a driven equatorial mount ($500++) at which point one should be buying a real telescope instead. A spotter is nice for casual astronomy.

45° viewing is no problem if you use a cable tie sight (Make your own simple sight (aiming) device for telescopes: illustrated instructions). You can use the focuser of the 3x12 as a fine focusing knob. No problem.

I do agree though, spotting scopes are good for casual astronomy. For serious stuff I'd prefer a dedicated scope.

Hermann

 

[Ivydwg]

A spotter is nice for casual astronomy.

Agreed, only use mine to occasionally look at planets on the moon with my son.

I have the FL 8X42 so the tripler wld also come in use for that.

It ain't worth the £400 price tag alone but the one I have seen locally for much cheaper might be worth a punt. I think it's an older model.