Review of Orion Starblast Imaging Reflector
Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 11:52 am
Hi all,
I think, in this forum, I try to introduce people into astrophotography in a cheap but decent way. Hence I will mostly reviewing lower end products from Synta, Skywatcher or Orion.
Pardon my frankness, if I were to spend S$10k on a telescope, I wouldn't bear to touch it or use it. One mark on the scope and I will
This Orion Starblast Reflector is from China modified slightly by Orion. The secondary mirror is slightly enlarged to provide a full illuminated view on small CCD chips, such as Meade DSI Pro CCDs.
Appearance:
Gun-metallic gray tube made of steel is indeed a solid tube. The front and back parts are made of plastic but nothing is flimsy. The mirror is centre-spotted for easy collimation. Very Nice feature. The undesirable part is the 1.25" plastic rack and pinon focuser which can't really allow you to hold a DSLR or SBIG on it at all! I tightened the focuser to ensure the StarShoot deepsky camera does not slip out of focus during imaging. So because of the focuser, it can only hold cameras like DSI pro, StarShoot, or small Starlight Xpress cameras.
Optical performance:
Since this is also a RFT (Rich Field Telescope), the views of Orion Neb and starclusters are nice. But remember there is a minimum magnification for Newtonians. Lower than that, you will see the secondary mirror shadow even at focus. For small chip cameras, the coma is almost negligible (see the bottom pic) and vignetting is also negligible as claimed. Due to its small f-ratio, imaging is fast with many details captured!
Conclusion:
At S$330+, this telescope is unbeatable as a very light imaging scope and a good scope to lug around overseas. Collimation is also very easy. No false color also! The 4.5" aperture is big enough for you to image many things. Of course the plastic focuser is the worst part of the scope. The software is idiot proof and automatic and reading the help file will let you learn the basics!
(Before beginners plunge into imaging, make sure the fundamentals or imaging are observed: polar alignment, guiding, balancing, collimation and so on)
Hope this sets the blood of beginners boiling!
Pic: Orion Neb, 40 x 20 seconds, no dark frame subtraction (or rather, its forget to take dark frames!), processed in MaxIm DL essentials and Photoshop.
I think, in this forum, I try to introduce people into astrophotography in a cheap but decent way. Hence I will mostly reviewing lower end products from Synta, Skywatcher or Orion.
Pardon my frankness, if I were to spend S$10k on a telescope, I wouldn't bear to touch it or use it. One mark on the scope and I will
This Orion Starblast Reflector is from China modified slightly by Orion. The secondary mirror is slightly enlarged to provide a full illuminated view on small CCD chips, such as Meade DSI Pro CCDs.
Appearance:
Gun-metallic gray tube made of steel is indeed a solid tube. The front and back parts are made of plastic but nothing is flimsy. The mirror is centre-spotted for easy collimation. Very Nice feature. The undesirable part is the 1.25" plastic rack and pinon focuser which can't really allow you to hold a DSLR or SBIG on it at all! I tightened the focuser to ensure the StarShoot deepsky camera does not slip out of focus during imaging. So because of the focuser, it can only hold cameras like DSI pro, StarShoot, or small Starlight Xpress cameras.
Optical performance:
Since this is also a RFT (Rich Field Telescope), the views of Orion Neb and starclusters are nice. But remember there is a minimum magnification for Newtonians. Lower than that, you will see the secondary mirror shadow even at focus. For small chip cameras, the coma is almost negligible (see the bottom pic) and vignetting is also negligible as claimed. Due to its small f-ratio, imaging is fast with many details captured!
Conclusion:
At S$330+, this telescope is unbeatable as a very light imaging scope and a good scope to lug around overseas. Collimation is also very easy. No false color also! The 4.5" aperture is big enough for you to image many things. Of course the plastic focuser is the worst part of the scope. The software is idiot proof and automatic and reading the help file will let you learn the basics!
(Before beginners plunge into imaging, make sure the fundamentals or imaging are observed: polar alignment, guiding, balancing, collimation and so on)
Hope this sets the blood of beginners boiling!
Pic: Orion Neb, 40 x 20 seconds, no dark frame subtraction (or rather, its forget to take dark frames!), processed in MaxIm DL essentials and Photoshop.