William Optics Zenithstar 80 II ED (1 Viewer)

[birdeast]

William Optics Zenithstar 80 II ED - affordable scope alternative

Hi All,

I actively asked questions last year and have lurked here for the past six months trying to decide how I would finally take the plunge into digiscoping. Well, I made up my mind and took the first step buying a William Optics Zenithstar telescope. The images are reversed (right to left), it is a bit heavy (but not bad) and it is not waterproof. However, It uses high quality FPL-51ED glass, gets good reviews by the astronomy guys at cloudy nights and astromart, and best of all only set me back $598 (eyepiece not included). I took it out the other night to 'play' and had an awesome experience viewing the moon at 27x (25mm eyepiece). I was amazed at what I could see in the sky.

It will be a while before I get a chance to digiscope with it though due to the fact I will be traveling and I need to talk the wife into letting me get another eyepiece. I am really excited about the prospects of finally get the chance to digiscope without having to pay $1500 or more for an 80mm spotting scope. Did I mention you can use any 1.25inch eyepiece available on the market??? The flexibility is awesome if you can live with the drawbacks mentioned above.

When I get a chance to digiscope with this scope, I will report back with some 'novice' findings.

 

[birdeast]

I had a chance to play around with my scope this morning. I attempted to handhold a Nikon Coolpix L4 to the eyepiece. This did not work out very well. Part of the problem I suspect lies in the fact the eyepiece has relatively short eye relief. I could frame the subject, but the I could never achieve focus. As it would try to focus, it would focus and then loose focus before signaling that it had locked in the subject. Looking through the viewfinder of the L4 provided good clean views during those brief moments of transition when it achieved focus.

I also dont think the L4 is a great digiscoping camera. Throw in the fact that I have never held a camera up to a scope before and you have a recipe for the results I achieved today.

I will continue to work with the scope and provide updates as and when I have them.