New Orion 80mm Semi-APO refractor

Post by **Airconvent** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 3:20 am

I've always thought that my Orion ED80 was a tad too long but this new one seems to be the correct size for true portability. Only problem its a "semi" apo ..what do you all think? price-wise a little on the high side compared with the ED80 but the finish does look very nice in the drawing. could this be the one to relief me of my Tak FS60 hunger? :-)

http://www.telescope.com/shopping/produ ... Express+80

arided · Post by **arided** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 7:30 am

This tube is made by OEM of William Optics. It's convenient to adapt to many types of rings. The ED lens is made by Synta. I checked its achromatic aberretion is lower than their achromatic 80mm lens. However, the image quality is not any better than fluorite lens Tak FS-78.

anat · Post by **anat** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 8:25 am

Rich:

This would be the right medicine to cure your Tak FS60 hunger

http://www.william-optics.com/wowebs/pr ... tures0.htm

The focal reducer/field flattener for FS60 is no longer in production. They recommend the Borg 0.85xDG reducer.
http://www.mmjp.or.jp/takahashi-sb/data/fs60cbrx.htm
http://www.tomytec.co.jp/borg/product/p ... index.html

Anat

Post by **Airconvent** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 1:42 pm

arided wrote:This tube is made by OEM of William Optics. It's convenient to adapt to many types of rings. The ED lens is made by Synta. I checked its achromatic aberretion is lower than their achromatic 80mm lens. However, the image quality is not any better than fluorite lens Tak FS-78.

Hi,
I suspected this is the same ED lens as the ED80. But as it is not completely colour free in itself, they increased the focal length to 600mm to compensate.
For this scope, due to the much shorter FL of 350mm, the colour becomes a little more obvios, hence they call it "Semi-APO".
BTW, don't have to be better than the Tak 78mm, same performance enough already (remember their price difference!).

anat wrote:Rich:

This would be the right medicine to cure your Tak FS60 hunger
http://www.william-optics.com/wowebs/pr ... tures0.htm

The focal reducer/field flattener for FS60 is no longer in production. They recommend the Borg 0.85xDG reducer.
http://www.mmjp.or.jp/takahashi-sb/data/fs60cbrx.htm
http://www.tomytec.co.jp/borg/product/p ... index.html

Anat

Hi Anat,
The WO66 is also much more expensive! I was thinking of getting a cheap semi-apo 60-70mm aperture that I can keep in my car boot permanently so I can deploy anytime anywhere! (like what i did with an old ST80 which has since been sold). Having a WO66 or a Tak 60 means I have to add more padlocks to the boot (like mr bean)..heh heh
In anycase, I know everyone loves the 66 design but I personally found it very ugly... :roll: a simply white or dark blue and matt aluminium fittings would do it for me...gold colour looks so "Ah pek"...

btw, curious to know how much McGill are selling for these 2 OTAs?

rich

Post by **weixing** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 2:02 pm

Hi,

The WO66 is also much more expensive! I was thinking of getting a cheap semi-apo 60-70mm aperture that I can keep in my car boot permanently so I can deploy anytime anywhere! (like what i did with an old ST80 which has since been sold). Having a WO66 or a Tak 60 means I have to add more padlocks to the boot (like mr bean)..heh heh
In anycase, I know everyone loves the 66 design but I personally found it very ugly... a simply white or dark blue and matt aluminium fittings would do it for me...gold colour looks so "Ah pek"...

btw, curious to know how much McGill are selling for these 2 OTAs?

May be not the ED version... what about the WO ZenithStar 66 Petzval Semi-APO... shouldn't be that expensive compare to the APO version...

Have a nice day.

Tachyon · Post by **Tachyon** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 2:12 pm

Actually, the ZS66 APO is about the same price locally as the Orion Express 80, if you were to import it in. Check with Robin about the price.

If you wanna see the performance of ZS66 APO lemme know..

Cheers!

anat · Post by **anat** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 2:46 pm

Note that the "new" SD Doublet APO costs US$399 which is the same as the Orion semi-APO. The triplet APO costs US$499.

I still wonder why WO maintains too many similar products (three 66mm scopes, and five 80 mm scopes). Just my feelings

Anat

ariefm71 · Post by **ariefm71** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 11:09 am

Beware, the orion express 80 is a plain achro. Performance will be the same as Vixen A80SS (the term semi-apo means better-corrected achro). No ED glass, there's no magic here. See extensive discussion on cloudynights or AM. I would personally prefer Vixen over the Orion.

arided · Post by **arided** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 6:23 pm

Note that the "new" SD Doublet APO costs US$399 which is the same as the Orion semi-APO. The triplet APO costs US$499.

I still wonder why WO maintains too many similar products (three 66mm scopes, and five 80 mm scopes). Just my feelings

Anat

WO lens come from many lens makers. Like TMB, ARIES, Synta, taiwan sub-vener, self made, etc.. Its 80 mm series contains a lot of types for lens grade. The most easy way to judge is the price. But in my experience the triplet flurite series (80mm F/6.7) is the best. It's even better than Tak FS-78, but the price is also higher.

Post by **Airconvent** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 12:10 am

ariefm71 wrote:Beware, the orion express 80 is a plain achro. Performance will be the same as Vixen A80SS (the term semi-apo means better-corrected achro). No ED glass, there's no magic here. See extensive discussion on cloudynights or AM. I would personally prefer Vixen over the Orion.

mm...than like the WO, their "Semi-APO" scopes are basically pure marketing?...in that case, maybe I''ll wait for a second hand sale from Vincent Senior!