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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Theron Mag82, Zen Ray ED 2, Celestron F-ED 80 (1 Viewer)

Henry, I would think the Sky-90 would have a pretty decent view with less aberrations stopped down to 80mm. What was the resolution measured in the Sky 90/80 mm?

I think most people would be happy with these scope. I have two 60mm Fieldscopes that are very close to diffraction limited and I don't have to search for focus on either one.
 
Yin and yang reviewers are both welcomed, and needed, to give us readers the opurtunity to question ourselves what do we really need when buying optics. Do we really need "the perfect optics" scope, or do most of us will notice some of the aberrations? Some probably do.....some dont

Probably the Zen is not perfect, probably there are better units out there than the ones that were sent to you, but like you said, if you buy an Alpha you could get with a unit worst than the ED2.....J. Meijerink review proved that, and I dont see anyone questioning their scopes, if it as named on it "Alpha brand". Probably they dont want to find out.....
For now I am very pleased with my unit, and find it better than a 77 APO Leica, that I use for field work...never tested them exaustly, but in action I prefer the Zen, its more user friendly.

Thats the advantage of not having an allmost aberration free astro refractor like your Tak, we get happy for a lot long more time, with our scopes |:D|
 
mooreorless said:
Henry, I would think the Sky-90 would have a pretty decent view with less aberrations stopped down to 80mm. What was the resolution measured in the Sky 90/80 mm?
Click to expand...

Steve,

It's about 1.44 arcsec with the 80mm stopdown and prism diagonal. I haven't measured the full aperture lately. I'm sure it's also diffraction limited, but that only takes 1/4 wave optics. In the world of high end astronomical refractors diffraction limited is pretty much a minimum standard.

Henry
 
Henry, Thanks for your reply. So stopped down the Sky 90 is not quite diffraction limited at 80mm if I am reading this right. So this Sky 90 was the best of three, if I remember what you said before about sending 2 back.

I still think most people non optic curmudgeons ;)might be happy with these scopes, esp. 1.6 arc seconds for the ZR
 
Steve,

No, the Sky-90 is diffraction limited (1.44 arcsec X 80mm =115.2). 115-116/D is diffraction limited on the USAF chart. It doesn't have the prettiest diffraction limited image out there, but it will split the double stars and line pairs needed to qualify.

Henry
 
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With some help I was able to modify the Celestron X-cel LX 25 mm to focus to infinity and to fit perfectly into the Theron Mag82 scope. I had some time to kill this evening before taking the kids to the drive-in. I took several pics but this was, I felt, the best of them.

I will try to do some with the Zen Ray ED2 after I have time to find the best eyepiece combination for digiscoping.
 

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Here are two digiscoped shots through the Zen Ray ED2 with a very simple Super-plossl attached via the astro adapter. The color, brightness and CA control seem very good but the apparent sharpness is not as good as the Celestron X-cel LX in the Theron....at least in my opinion. I wish I could mount the Celestron eyepiece up to the Zen Ray ED2 but without the appropriate adapter..... :-(
 

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Curious at this setting, the apparent sharpness is limited by the scope or by how well the digiscoping is set up.

I have tried to take pictures with my ED2 spotter. The view through the eyepiece is absolutely awesome. But I still have difficult time capturing some pictures that I can brag about. Maybe it's my point and shoot camera's fault too. I used Vortex large universal adapter. If Zen-ray comes up with adapter designed for ED2, I will put an order in right away.
 
NW,

It could be either but I am going to chalk it up to the eyepiece for now. Like I said, it is bright, colorful and relatively free of CA. It just isn't as sharp as the other eyepieces I have put on the scope. I have two others on order that I will try with the ED2 and the astro adapter. Not sure if they will be compatible but I am willing to give it a try. Maybe Zen Ray will come out with an updated adapter that will allow the use of the astro eyepieces without removing the barrel. It should be fairly simple....bayonet mount, 1.25 inch mounting hole and a simple setscrew or possibly a rotating collar. The challenge, of course, will be getting the eyepiece to sit deep enough into the scope to allow for focus at all distances.

FWIW, I have had frustrations with my digital camera at times too. It does introduce a level of CA into the image that just isn't visible to my eye through any given eyepiece. It doesn't change despite which eyepiece I use so it has to be the camera. For what it is I am happy with it. If I wanted to take pics of the highest quality then I would probably spend a day or two over in Andy Bright's digiscoping forum researching which current point and shoot camera is producing the best images for digiscoping. A few years back it was one of the Fuji models...F30 maybe?...as well as several of the older Nikon Coolpix models. I am not sure what is popular and effective now but probably could find out if I had the time. It would be nice if there was a truly inexpensive point and shoot that produced superb images for digiscoping. There probably is but I haven't done enough digging through the info to find it.
 
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Frank, do you think the x-cel lx will reach focus on the ED2? Have you tried to handheld the eyepiece on the scope without the zen adaptor, centering the image could be more complicated, but should give an idea how it performs.
 
Rui,

The Excel LX does reach focus in the ED2 while handholding the eyepiece into the scope body. I think it would be an excellent all around combination. I have actually been trying a variety of astro eyepieces in both the Theron Mag82 and the Zen Ray ED2. I am currently experimenting with a Meade 5000 24 mm SWA and have an Orion Stratus 21 mm due in any day now. Oh the joy of astromart. ;)

I may, eventually, just have to bite the proverbial bullet and try the Pentax XW 20 mm in both scopes. Cheapest I have seen for it new was $275. If I could find a used one for under $200 then I would probably already own it. ;)
 
Frank you might be waiting quite a while for a XW20 at that price.Cheapest on Astromart was $240 used. Every size Pentax XW on there sold.
 
Yeah, I know. I never should have sold mine but circumstances were different then. I will still keep my eye out for it though.

It is a shame they don't make a 25 mm XW. I would be in heaven then. ;)
 
FrankD said:
The Excel LX does reach focus in the ED2 while handholding the eyepiece into the scope body. I think it would be an excellent all around combination. I have actually been trying a variety of astro eyepieces in both the Theron Mag82 and the Zen Ray ED2. I am currently experimenting with a Meade 5000 24 mm SWA and have an Orion Stratus 21 mm due in any day now. Oh the joy of astromart.
Click to expand...

Good to know, if the new swaro astro adapter fits the ED2, I will probably go for the x-cel lx 5mm or the 7mm , I am hoping that in some good days the extra magnification could give me some more details to read color rings.
 
Rui,

As I mentioned, I am probably going to order anothe X-cel LX or two. My initial intent was to try them primarily with the Mag82 since the optical performance is so close to ideal with the 25 mm....plus I have a Theron adapter that actually allows it to mount quite nicely to the scope. A simple twist of the barrel and I am able to change to a different focal length eyepiece.

Will give it a go in the ED2 once a newer style astro adapter becomes available.
 
Yes, it was. I am not sure if it is going to be commercially available at this time. With the similarity of the two spotting scope bodies I would not see why it would not work on the Nikon 82 ED as well. I will have to get my hands on an 82 ED and see if it fits.

It is an external adapter and not one that screws into the spotting scope body.
 
Thanks Frank.

Are you able/allowed to post any pictures of it? I'm guessing it is some kind of collet attachment to the outside of the tube existing eyepices slide/screw into.
 
Yes. I will post pics this evening. I believe it is a material called delcron but I could be mistaken. It is a compression design in a sense as it uses two rubber o-rings to keep the eyepiece and scope body securely attached to it.
 
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