High magnification without a fine focus knob? (1 Viewer)

[tenex]

Last fall I tried a 3.5mm eyepiece on Jupiter and Saturn, giving about 125x on my S2 scope. I suspect its optics would support that, but it was a dismal failure due mainly to poor seeing (probably typical here) but also the mechanical challenge of focusing. Actually, that's already beginning to be tricky at 88x with the 5mm eyepiece I have, which works well for planets and sometimes also for daylight birding. Does anyone have practical tips for managing this better with a single focusing ring?

 

[wllmspd]

Depends if there is backlash in the focus. If not and it’s just a case of making very small movements then adding a large diameter knob to the focusser would help. If it’s just a soft focusser with backlash then trial and error come in. I have some scopes with poor focussers and find that you have to focus through in one direction, note what best focus looks like and then focus back through and stop as close to it as possible. If you try to adjust the focus back and forth near best focus then the backlash leads to no motion and frustration. I have to use this on some scopes that even have a fine focus knob.

Good luck

Peter