Shooting the January 2019 Total Lunar Eclipse, Solar Imaging in Ha with small scale aperture, deep sky and planetary astrophotography with goto dobsonian and monochrome cmos, Review: Explore Scientific “Essential Series” ED80, Samyang 800mm Lens Review: A Night & Day Companion, Celestron CGX Equatorial Mount: Unboxing, Setup, & First Impressions, A Newbie’s Impression of the Astrophysics 92mm Stowaway (2018 version), Hutech/Canon Performance-Enhanced Digital SLR Cameras, Omegon Dobson telescope Push+ mini N 150/750 Pro, Light Pollution Suppression (LPS) Filters. The scope comes with a full 1-year warranty from date of purchase. You’d be hard pressed to find anything better for this price. After a quick adjustment using Sirius as my alignment and focus star, the illuminated reticle finder scope was a pleasure to use and to center my target in the frame. Loosening the lock nuts causes the whole focuser assembly to wobble in the scope tube. While under the night sky, the dew-shield blocks stray light and protects the high-quality ED (extra-low dispersion) glass on the objective. The visual performance of this scope is excellent, especially when viewing bright planets or the moon. Overall, construction seems solid with a great finish. Views of the moon are clear with great contrast and no chromatic aberration at the edges, even at advanced stages when the moon is very bright. Note that the mount is the Meade-style mount, so most standard dovetail finder scopes won’t fit. Jupiter was a fine sight. One very notable exception is for collimation. This is essentially the same scope … If you have to buy one, buy an Explore Scientific model (preferably a right angle finder) vs a Meade, as the ES finder is of significantly higher quality than anything Meade has to offer. Chances are if you’re buying this scope, it likely isn’t your first scope and you’ll already have eyepieces. I’m used to seeing the planets with my 8 SCT and my older 120mm f/5 achromatic refractor. Deep sky objects within its reach show fantastic contrast. It has a few shortcomings and compromises that keep its price affordable, but overall, this fine instrument will fulfil the needs of the most demanding photographer without breaking the bank in the process. I can’t get the super high power views of the moon that I can get with an 8 instrument, but the quality of the images is unquestionably superior. The scope comes extremely well packaged in an attractive box. It’s not a show stopper, but it’s something that definitely could have been done better. If you’re into astrophotography, chances are that a short focal length apochromatic refractor is on your “to buy” list if you don’t already own one. There are prized instruments for their elimination of chromatic aberration and high contrast, true colour images and the tool of choice for many astrophotographers. While no apochromatic refractors of this aperture in this price range is perfect, this one is a definite step up from others brands in terms of performance. I learned that a triplet apochromatic telescope design offered impressive color correction and brilliant high-contrast images. Once focus is achieved and the drawtube is locked into place with the thumb screws, it holds focus accurately over an entire imaging session. I would suggest using the Orion 50mm guidescope in the stock finderscope rings included with the Explore Scientific ED80. The astrophotos I have been able to capture with this telescope have opened my eyes to a higher level of image quality. Collimation of such an instrument is a delicate task that’s not easily achieved. This results in not being able to push the scope far enough forward in my mount’s saddled to properly balance it on the declination axis once a camera is attached. Without having the second 10:1 knob, I feel precise focusing would be nearly impossible. I would recommend swapping the finder shoe for a Synta type and getting a padded plastic box to hold it. Explore Scientific ED102 FCD-100 refractor review. More short exposures or fewer long exposures – Which is better? It has a few shortcomings and compromises that keep its price affordable, but overall, this fine instrument will fulfil the needs of the most demanding photographer without breaking the bank in the process. Focal Length: 480mm These things just could have been done better. I fitted a Skywatcher remote focusser but it did need a bit of Engineering to do it. - Small and lightweight aluminium construction, - Razor sharp optics with phenomenal colour, - Collapsable dew shield makes for a small size for transportation, - Focuser has an imprecise, “spongy” feel, - Meade finder scope mount makes attaching other finders impossible without replace the bracket, - Poor tolerances on some of the machining, This fine instrument delivers a lot of performance for it’s affordable price. Most telescopes will have a curved focal plane and comatic aberration, particularly short focal length refractors. Shooting the moon with my Explore Scientific ED80 and Nikon D750 on my Celestron AVX. The contrast on the fine surface details is far more pronounced on this scope, despite the higher resolution and power of the larger instrument. While this is a great feature on paper, its implementation is rather poor compared to other focusers that have this feature. For my most up to date DSLR astrophotography images and information, please follow AstroBackyard on Facebook. Choose your book when you subscribe to BBC Sky at Night Magazine today! Explore Scientific ES 80 ED Triplet APO Review . But an extra 2cm of height on that riser block here would make a world of difference and allow proper balancing. The metal objective lens cover fits snugly without slipping off. 100 minutes of exposure time with a Nikon D5100, First shot of M31 with my ES ED80. Not all refractors are the same though, and it’s the quality and design of the main objective lens that is key to their success or failure. You’ll have to tweak the knob back and forth a lot to get perfect focus, as there’s a delayed response to your action, making it feel less accurate than it should. I must confess that I am not an expert when it comes to comparing the visual performance of telescopes. You won’t be disappointed. The diagonal also features compression rings rather than screws to hold your eyepieces in place, so you won’t marr your eyepieces using it. You get the optical tube permanently attached to its Vixen-style dovetail mounting plate, 2 x 2 extension tubes (to reach focus, you’ll need 1 extension if using for visual use, or both with a camera attached), and a 2 carbon fibre diagonal fitted with a 1.25 converter. While a very basic package, it contains everything you need except an eyepiece. The image posted above of M81 and M82 were taken before I got my coma corrector / field flattener (it was on back order). Its specs are quite impressive. S not easily achieved s required for both visual observing and astrophotography hex bolts and a small riser block implementation! Mount for a night of astrophotography a small riser block hex bolts and a diagonal common, were! Well-Seated and it ’ s few minor shortcomings and go ” scope with my 40mm eyepiece nothing! 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