Mounting for Explorer Scientific ED127

[Gary]

@Vivid - Congrats on finally making your scope purchase! This is perhaps a valuable virtue that newcomers looking to buy their first scope can learn from. Something that the veterans have mentioned in this forum for many years - patience. I think you will be well rewarded with yours!

Do start a new thread for your new toy so we can share your excitement and adventures using it!

[vivid]

Thanks Gary.

The fringe killer is backordered, so i took it out last week. Then i was told yesterday that the book that i ordered is also backordered. Argh....

Decided to wait 6-10 days more for the book.

Told them that i'd change from this (a) 4.7mm (b) 8.8mm (c) 14mm (d) 30mm All 82 deg EPs

to this (a) 6.7mm 82 deg (b) 14mm 100 deg (c) 30mm 82 deg.

Coz i am thinking it takes about 8 seconds for the 6.7mm 82 deg 0.56deg TFOV to drift across... That's just about the limit.

The 14mm 100 deg and ES 82 is the flavour of the month due to the discounts. Just yesterday someone did a pretty detailed shootout in CN and determined that the difference between this and the usd650 13mm Ethos is that the 14ES-100 has 1mm less eye relief with usage in reality (due to the way the rubber guard is designed). Very very close.

So, just sorting these things out and hope the equipment can do enough for me over here....

I just came back from a grey site (actually it's close to black) in Riau (P Tebbingtinggi)...... trust me, the skies are %!##@!$ dark. I see the zenith here in SG I wanna puke, forget about Pulau Samakau.... coz i am always on the ferry between Batam and SG, still not there. It's usually so dark already on the streets (they use like 20W CFLs for street lamps and that is IF they are working in the first place so it's only your motorbike's headlamps LOL!), you don't even have to get dark adapted there to see the milky way. It is that WOW! The horizon is jet black, can't even tell the trees from a 2km straits of water from the sky/horizon, just one whole black patch. 7 x 50 lets you see enough stars that counting is like nearly impossible.

[vivid]

Well some items are backordered and need about 6-10 working days to arrive. So took the chance to order more, like changing the eyepieces, adding filters, Vibration Supression pads, a small counterweight system, orion telescope bag, 2" ND filter (originally the system refused to send Orion/Celestron/Meade stuff for overseas orders) etc.... So now I don't have to get from agenaaastro. Saved a bit and more secure as it's usd20 shipping from agenaastro but that's USPS First Class mail so a bit more dangerous....though I have probably ordered like 20 times from US-> SG before no issue.

I paid via Credit card (Maybank Mastercard) for the new order and realised that Maybank only charges 1.25x for exchange which is pretty close to the real-time rates at XE.com, while Paypal is the usual + 3% over exchange. I was paying for a new order with all the duplicated items so it's like i am pay over twice for all the items, just that they will refund the difference later. Of course, i told them to refund the Paypal, but in the end they refunded the difference with a partial Credit card reversal. Ughh..... wasted usd70 in this process. My guess is that they take less of a hit with paypal coz i am paying for it, while CC is maybe 1% charge on their side.

So important, folks buying stuff next time might want to use Credit Card for payment. Just didn't think of that..... Coz i was more concerned with USPS Internation Express charges. I have gone to Highpoint Scientific and telescopes.net (Windland Hill telescopes) and the USPS Internation Express is like usd460-470. OPTcorp still stays at $397. And every item which you add/subtract, you will see that the shipping varies a few dollars to maybe 10-20 dollars depending on weight. Oh well you win some and you lose some...

So far OPTcorp is the lowest, i added a large orion telescope bag and counterweight system which probably is at least another 4kg and still did not move. In fact i was tempted to get a Astrotech 8" newtonian as it still stayed the same. LOL! (just hope they don't email you to ask for more for shipping). So for buyers next time getting a lot of stuff, take note on this....


PS. One more thing that i noticed from OPTcorp/telescopes.net, is that say if you order 9 items like 1 scope, 1 mount/tripod, some eyepieces and filters, it might charge you $490 for USPS and sometimes USPS might not be available and you do UPS. If you add some more items, maybe just 1, 2 or 3 more depending on the situation, USPS International Express option shows up or the USPS shipping might even drop in price. The drop is in the region of about usd70, at least from what i have played with. So you may want to take note on this and "play around with the system". Even adding 1 single cheap $20 filter may trigger the drop in shipping price. Conversely, just adding a small item may cause the shipping price to jump like 30 bucks, coz the system may mark the item as "not combinable" meaning the USPS cost is eg 9 items + 1 item but of course they will send it as 1 single package of 10 items, that's what my sales advisor told me but they corrected the item in the system. So do play around with it and note the shipping.

[cloud_cover]

Just as an aside, I find that generally its cheaper to use comgateway and there's tracking at every step of the way as well.
I've shipped in a Vixen SXD, VMC200L, Orion 110ED, a 100ED, an 80ED, misc eyepieces and parts, all no issues.
The most comparable shipping was on the 4" refractor inside a hard case designed for a 5" refractor plus padded double shipping box was about USD170, not inclusive GST (7% for declared values above SGD400 inclusive shipping)

[weixing]

Hi,
Congrats on the purchase. I initially want to get this scope also, but the 10kg weight scare me off... ha ha ha

See you got a 1.25" variable polarizing filter which can be very useful for fast achro refractor viewing of the Moon, Saturn and Jupiter at high power if your Baader Fringe Killer cannot remove enough CA.

Also, if you think the colour of Moon/planet become too yellowish when using the Baader Fringe Killer, you might want to try the Moon and Skyglow-Filter which will bring the colour back to more normal.

Happy obbing and have a nice day.

[vivid]

Just as an aside, I find that generally its cheaper to use comgateway and there's tracking at every step of the way as well.
I've shipped in a Vixen SXD, VMC200L, Orion 110ED, a 100ED, an 80ED, misc eyepieces and parts, all no issues.
The most comparable shipping was on the 4" refractor inside a hard case designed for a 5" refractor plus padded double shipping box was about USD170, not inclusive GST (7% for declared values above SGD400 inclusive shipping)

Hi bro.... yeah there are actually cheaper options with other frieght forwarders, i usually ask them to quote me a FF like Bax Global. DHL can ask for 1.2k while Bax Global/DB Schenker can do usd750....and that's for a massive 125kg palleted item. I have done that before, 700 bucks for 125kg from the US of A is like crazy low lor.... hehe...

Not sure about Comgateway, maybe next time. But i guess i small fry lah....OPTcorp seems to be doing quite well. If you are dealing with a company which is hungry, then of course anything also can...

[vivid]

Hi,
Congrats on the purchase. I initially want to get this scope also, but the 10kg weight scare me off... ha ha ha

See you got a 1.25" variable polarizing filter which can be very useful for fast achro refractor viewing of the Moon, Saturn and Jupiter at high power if your Baader Fringe Killer cannot remove enough CA.

Also, if you think the colour of Moon/planet become too yellowish when using the Baader Fringe Killer, you might want to try the Moon and Skyglow-Filter which will bring the colour back to more normal.

Happy obbing and have a nice day.

Hi bro....yeah i did consider the Baader Moon and Skyglow, but many folks said that it dims the image too much. I have seen images using the same exposure, it seems to be about 2/3 or even 1 stop, quite a lot. Fringe Killer is ok, it makes stuff a bit yellowish....but i am ok with that (I just stopped doing my professional photography this year, 9th year liao). Basically Fringe Killer + MSG filter = Semi APO (2-in-1).

CA i guess depends on individual preferences. Coz I have been into both amateur and then professional photography i have actually learnt to accept it. What is important is the sharpness and also what some people fail to notice that with prime lenses is that added micro-contrast. I am sure most would be familar with the excellet youtube vid of James' ISTAR. The CA is there on the limb, but heck is the image full of details and microcontrast. A picture can be sharp but devoid of that micro-contrast. Eg a Tamron 17-50 f2.8 lens stopped down to f8, it's damn sharp actually. With a prime lens it's a whole new world, it could even be that it is not that sharp, but the macro and micro contrast are all way up there.

If my ES82 6.7mm or ES100 14mm in the scope can achieve 70% of this, i damn happy liao.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3E-xtFlZWw

[Gary]

@vivid. Thanks for your sharing your online purchasing experience. Very useful and may save some readers of these posts some serious $ in the future.

[weixing]

Hi,

Hi,
Congrats on the purchase. I initially want to get this scope also, but the 10kg weight scare me off... ha ha ha

See you got a 1.25" variable polarizing filter which can be very useful for fast achro refractor viewing of the Moon, Saturn and Jupiter at high power if your Baader Fringe Killer cannot remove enough CA.

Also, if you think the colour of Moon/planet become too yellowish when using the Baader Fringe Killer, you might want to try the Moon and Skyglow-Filter which will bring the colour back to more normal.

Happy obbing and have a nice day.

Hi bro....yeah i did consider the Baader Moon and Skyglow, but many folks said that it dims the image too much. I have seen images using the same exposure, it seems to be about 2/3 or even 1 stop, quite a lot. Fringe Killer is ok, it makes stuff a bit yellowish....but i am ok with that (I just stopped doing my professional photography this year, 9th year liao). Basically Fringe Killer + MSG filter = Semi APO (2-in-1).

CA i guess depends on individual preferences. Coz I have been into both amateur and then professional photography i have actually learnt to accept it. What is important is the sharpness and also what some people fail to notice that with prime lenses is that added micro-contrast. I am sure most would be familar with the excellet youtube vid of James' ISTAR. The CA is there on the limb, but heck is the image full of details and microcontrast. A picture can be sharp but devoid of that micro-contrast. Eg a Tamron 17-50 f2.8 lens stopped down to f8, it's damn sharp actually. With a prime lens it's a whole new world, it could even be that it is not that sharp, but the macro and micro contrast are all way up there.

If my ES82 6.7mm or ES100 14mm in the scope can achieve 70% of this, i damn happy liao.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3E-xtFlZWw

I don't have problem with Moon at high power (may be because Moon is basically a "grayscale" object?? ), but Jupiter is the one that cause most CA problem at high power. Anyway, your scope might have less problem than my F5 scope.

Happy obbing and have a nice day.

[vivid]

Hi Weixing, just wondering...which F5 refractor do you have? Celestron 150? (just wondering, i am thinking you have much better goodies hahaa ). Thanks....so the moon is also good. Well for Jupiter, i guess i'll just skip it or more like for casual ob (still not a problem though).

Ok folks, how would you grade tonight's Tuesday night seeing and transparency? I think it's amongst the best nights i have ever seen in the context of Singapore's sky, seeing is very steady as I base on the Batam HPS lights which are 23km away. Literally no twinkle away even though it's over the sea. WOW!

Transparency is good, literally no haze.

And sorry, NO SCOPE!! And i am on OFF tomorrow! ARGH!!!

Just viewed the zenith at 8pm, wow.... the effect is getting somewhat close to what i have seen in a grey zone in Indonesia, just that over there the sky is literally black (contrasted with even faint nebulas which usually would be somewhat lost without UHC/O-III). I am getting that nearly 100 objects in a 7 x 50 kinda feeling.

My DGM Optics NPB (UHC type) is on the way though..... it could have been useful even with naked eyes or through the eyepiece of the 7 x 50.