A Newbie's Impression of the FS60CB for ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY

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chancy_sg
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Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2015 3:39 pm
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A Newbie's Impression of the FS60CB for ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY

Post by chancy_sg »

Before delving into the meat, a little history on this little cutie pie scope. I had acquired this used from Japan a few years ago. It was one of the 40th Anniversary Blue versions, and came as a complete Fs60Q set with the 7x30 finder and the CQ1.7x module. I was heavily down with a severe case of Takitis, although less severe now, I have yet to shake off this infection!

Initially I had thought to sell it as I did not see much use for it locally. Somewhere along the line, there was a change of heart and I decided instead to flesh it out completely as an ultra-portable all-in-one visual and imaging tool....SO I acquired the flattener, reducer, Borg 80mm rings and the matching M52 EOS wide-T mount. For some reason, the standard M54 wide t-mount is not standard here - some sneaky marketing ploy? HAHA!

The mechanics of the scope are excellent, and many reviewers have certified its 60mm performs above its class. I am not a visual expert like GRS or Antares, and at a recent Mersing trip with them, we saw that it could chase down those dim DSOs, albeit not as detailed and bright as a 12.5inch dob or a Mewlon210. We had to applaud its fine performance visually at prime and with the Q-module on.

One recent Friday evening, I chanced to see the weather forecast and it showed clear skies all night, so I decided to attempt an imaging session locally with H-alpha. Unfortunately, the 2inch filter could only be screwed on the flattener. Nonetheless, I managed to do Orion, Lagoon and Vela/Pencil area nebulae. I am delighted to say this was an 'eye-opening' experience. Despite its small aperture of 60mm, narrowband imaging produced results way above what I had expected. The images were clear, detailed and defined. As a picture speaks louder than words...please see the results at https://www.flickr.com/photos/clintonhazel/ - Orion and Lagoon are shown in monochrome. (BTW, I am not an expert at post-processing...so please give chance! :P )

I think this is a keeper. The FS60 is not cheap for its aperture class, made worse if you add in the reducer, flattener etc, but the quality of the build, its optics and mechanical excellence eventually pay off. Additionally, its small size and light weight makes it a wonderful travel scope. Mounted on a simple tracker with a DSLR, it can churn out beautiful astro images as souvenirs of a different kind. The more you use it, the more you will fall in love with it! As for me, I certainly intend to bring it out overseas more now....

Minor edit...some specs:
Native prime @f5.9 = 355mm
Flattener @f6.2 = 374mm
Reducer @f4.2 = 255mm
CQ1.7x @f10 = 600mm
Attachments
FS60CB--What a gorgeous shade of BLUE!
FS60CB--What a gorgeous shade of BLUE!
16990950_812385132248301_527815639_osm.jpg (24.41 KiB) Viewed 4048 times
Twinkle twinkle little stars,
How I wonder what you are.
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antares2063
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Re: A Newbie's Impression of the FS60CB for ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY

Post by antares2063 »

Thanks for sharing and writing your review :)
I miss the place where stars shine bright, to gaze upwards in awe of the sight
chancy_sg
Posts: 81
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2015 3:39 pm
Favourite scope: Galileoscope

Re: A Newbie's Impression of the FS60CB for ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY

Post by chancy_sg »

Thansk for your visual inputs too! Invaluable to complete the review!
Twinkle twinkle little stars,
How I wonder what you are.
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Airconvent
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Re: A Newbie's Impression of the FS60CB for ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY

Post by Airconvent »

It's a Tak! Need I say more? :P
The first time I looked through a Tak was Remus' FC60 looking at Jupiter at x300 magnification. It was amazing!
If it does that much for you, do keep it.. :)
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