The creator of the portaball scope design and Mag1 Instruments passed away some time last week.
http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/ ... in/6144006
Was my dream to own one for a while after looking through an 8" Portaball a few times in dark sites during early 2000s
I remembered seeing Jupiter at quite high power and thinking "wow! holy #%^* what kind of mirror is this" ? Turns out all the scopes he made use only Carl Zambuto mirrors..
RIP for an innovator to the Dobsonian design.
Passing of Peter Smitka
-
antares2063
- Posts: 687
- Joined: Sat Jan 22, 2005 3:34 pm
- Favourite scope: Newtonians
- Location: Bedok North Street 2, Singapore
Passing of Peter Smitka
Last edited by antares2063 on Wed Oct 23, 2013 6:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
I miss the place where stars shine bright, to gaze upwards in awe of the sight
Re: Passing of Peter Smitka
R.I.P. Peter Smitka
http://www.astro.sg
email: gary[at]astro.sg
twitter: @astrosg
"The importance of a telescope is not how big it is, how well made it is.
It is how many people, less fortunate than you, got to look through it."
-- John Dobson.
email: gary[at]astro.sg
twitter: @astrosg
"The importance of a telescope is not how big it is, how well made it is.
It is how many people, less fortunate than you, got to look through it."
-- John Dobson.
Re: Passing of Peter Smitka
rest in peace. looking at his design, looks like with a guidescope, and a good rotating motor, can actually make a super good tracking mount
Born to be Free
Re: Passing of Peter Smitka
Oh man....
I believe I was the first guy to bring a Portaball into SGP more than a decade back. Back then, it wasn't easy to figure out shipping and freight forwarding to bring this to SGP. It comes in a big drum barrel, and you can't go through a normal courier for that. Pete was always there supportive, never fail to answer every questions and assure me that he will get it done. The whole process of getting the Portaball ready and shipped to Singapore took nearly 6 months, but he was always there whenever I needed assurances. The entire customer experience was just awesome, and it's hard to say the same for the many other scope dealers that I have dealt with.
After receiving the scope, I was so impressed by the workmanship and quality. The mirror was fantastic. Nothing else back then in the market looks like it. I was astounded actually when I took it out of the drum. Back then, I already had tried several scopes and had a good judgement of what can be seen in our skies for an 8" scope. But the 8" Portaball blows everything else that I know about 8" scope out of the water. I found myself asking how on earth can this scope see M17 with direct clear vision in our skies? And I did that with no finder, no filter nothing, in the middle of a MSCP with tall HDBs surrounding me smack in the middle of a bright heartland. It's just so contrasty, I find it hard to believe. And the ease of finding is also due to the design of the scope...that ball shape dome is such a pleasure to use.
I then brought it to Mersing, and it gives everybody there such unbelievable views that if you are one of them who view through it more than a decade back in Mersing, I am pretty sure you could still remember till today. That Zambuto mirror just keep eating power for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You know it's crazy when you can do 200x on nebulaes and the object just keep staring back at you fully intact with no breakdown at all. All with an 8" scope? It's amazing back then, but of course, new mirror makers have caught up and now we do have a variety of choices of great mirrors.
The biggest challenge back then working with Pete is to think of how to add GOTO for it or at least a PUSH-TO. I gave him some idea, but he thinks it's just impossible. With today's technology, GPS and so on, it's not a difficult feat anymore but the fact that it is such an intuitive scope really makes any GOTO or PUSH-TO redundant. The movement itself is a joy and it would have been a crime to replace that with a GOTO.
After using so many scopes in my lifetime, only one scope had me written a review to cloudynights and Astromart. And that's the Portaball. I can't speak enough of how well Pete has design that scope, and put in all the effort to ensure top notch customer experience. The community had just lost a truly wonderful person as scope vendor and a fellow amateur. RIP Pete and thanks for the many joys you brought to the community and opening our eyes on what we can truly see with a super well design and thought-of scope.
I believe I was the first guy to bring a Portaball into SGP more than a decade back. Back then, it wasn't easy to figure out shipping and freight forwarding to bring this to SGP. It comes in a big drum barrel, and you can't go through a normal courier for that. Pete was always there supportive, never fail to answer every questions and assure me that he will get it done. The whole process of getting the Portaball ready and shipped to Singapore took nearly 6 months, but he was always there whenever I needed assurances. The entire customer experience was just awesome, and it's hard to say the same for the many other scope dealers that I have dealt with.
After receiving the scope, I was so impressed by the workmanship and quality. The mirror was fantastic. Nothing else back then in the market looks like it. I was astounded actually when I took it out of the drum. Back then, I already had tried several scopes and had a good judgement of what can be seen in our skies for an 8" scope. But the 8" Portaball blows everything else that I know about 8" scope out of the water. I found myself asking how on earth can this scope see M17 with direct clear vision in our skies? And I did that with no finder, no filter nothing, in the middle of a MSCP with tall HDBs surrounding me smack in the middle of a bright heartland. It's just so contrasty, I find it hard to believe. And the ease of finding is also due to the design of the scope...that ball shape dome is such a pleasure to use.
I then brought it to Mersing, and it gives everybody there such unbelievable views that if you are one of them who view through it more than a decade back in Mersing, I am pretty sure you could still remember till today. That Zambuto mirror just keep eating power for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You know it's crazy when you can do 200x on nebulaes and the object just keep staring back at you fully intact with no breakdown at all. All with an 8" scope? It's amazing back then, but of course, new mirror makers have caught up and now we do have a variety of choices of great mirrors.
The biggest challenge back then working with Pete is to think of how to add GOTO for it or at least a PUSH-TO. I gave him some idea, but he thinks it's just impossible. With today's technology, GPS and so on, it's not a difficult feat anymore but the fact that it is such an intuitive scope really makes any GOTO or PUSH-TO redundant. The movement itself is a joy and it would have been a crime to replace that with a GOTO.
After using so many scopes in my lifetime, only one scope had me written a review to cloudynights and Astromart. And that's the Portaball. I can't speak enough of how well Pete has design that scope, and put in all the effort to ensure top notch customer experience. The community had just lost a truly wonderful person as scope vendor and a fellow amateur. RIP Pete and thanks for the many joys you brought to the community and opening our eyes on what we can truly see with a super well design and thought-of scope.
Re: Passing of Peter Smitka
@VnrSnr - Thanks for sharing your experiences and bringing in this dob to share the views with others. Hope to look through one someday.
http://www.astro.sg
email: gary[at]astro.sg
twitter: @astrosg
"The importance of a telescope is not how big it is, how well made it is.
It is how many people, less fortunate than you, got to look through it."
-- John Dobson.
email: gary[at]astro.sg
twitter: @astrosg
"The importance of a telescope is not how big it is, how well made it is.
It is how many people, less fortunate than you, got to look through it."
-- John Dobson.
Re: Passing of Peter Smitka
Gary, not sure who is holding that 8" Portaball now. I sold it to Chee Chien, who of course later brought in the 12.5" Portaball. I think CC sold the 8" to another guy. I hope it still remains with some forumers here. It's such a fantastic lovely small scope.Gary wrote:@VnrSnr - Thanks for sharing your experiences and bringing in this dob to share the views with others. Hope to look through one someday.