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Rifles, Reloading, Optics, Equipment
Long Range Scopes and Other Optics
Leupold=China Junk!
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<blockquote data-quote="FAL Shot" data-source="post: 564538" data-attributes="member: 27328"><p>Gary,</p><p> </p><p>Just what Russian telescope do you own? The ones sold by Orion were not of the quality of a LOMO or several other Russian manufacturers. A LOMO Mak-Cass similar to mine was examined and found to have 1/35 wave optical figure. An optical figure of 1/10 wave is considered extremely high end. Celestron and Meade only claim 1/4 wave as that is the "diffraction limit". The fact is, all degradation in the optical chain adds up, and 1/10 wave guarantee or better is a sign of a quality made scope.</p><p> </p><p>What is the optical wave figure of your Teleview and Takahashi refractors? It will not be better than my LOMO Mak-Cass, I assure you. I talked to Vic Maris who owns Stellarvue (builds scopes every bit as good as Televue....only larger) and when he was in St. Petersburg, Russia, dealing with LOMO he asked them to start making again the Mak-Cass scope that I own so he could sell them under Stellarvue brand. He knew it was equal to his BEST 5" refractors at a fraction of the cost. The LOMO guys flatly refused to consider the request, as they were very disappointed at the amateur astronomy community that bought Meade and Celestron scopes for a couple hundred dollars less when they could have had world's best if they weren't such idiot tightwads and obviously prejudiced against Russian optics. If you don't believe me, call up Vic Maris at Stellarvue and talk to him yourself. The LOMO Astele scopes were some of the best ever built in their aperture range.</p><p> </p><p>Also, if you look in Telescope Optics by Rutten & van Verooij, you will see that at high magnifications a Mak-Cass or Mak-Newt scope of high quality will have higher contrast at high magnification than any refractor scope. The best visual scopes for high power lunar viewing are considerd to be Mak-Cass scopes, and they are better at double-star splitting as well.</p><p> </p><p>I own a Stellarvue refractor, and refractor scopes are better at low power viewing as they have higher contrast at low powers and do not have the hole in the middle of the exit pupil that all obstructed scopes possess. Camera scopes are chosen for a low f ratio, but that is of no concern in visual scopes and high f ratios such as my f/15 Mak-Cass make eyepieces perform better, and they can be simple ones with higher contrast.</p><p> </p><p>Televue Nagler eyepieces are famous for rectilinear distortion. They often have 8 elements. They can't compete with simple eyepieces of 3, 4 or 5 elements as far as image contrast and sharpness goes. The Baader Eudiascopic eyepieces are classics at a reasonable price, and they carry a US government contract number if you care to check it out. Celestron once sold them (pre Synta) as the Ultima eyepiece, and Orion as the Ultrascopic, and Parks sold them as well. They may vary in the coatings involved. My telescope dealer lists them as his favorites, over Televue which he sells a lot of as well.</p><p> </p><p>Look up reviews of the LOMO Astele 150mm Mak-Cass and you will see that it is 10 out of 10 from about every reviewer. I have yet to see the refractor that can beat it on high power lunar viewing, literally yielding a thousand shades of gray from the purest whites to the blackest blacks. Ansel Adams would freak out over this scope. If you want to buy one....good luck. Nobody seems to want to sell them these days......but contact me if your pockets are deep enough. I have a guy who will locate one if anybody can. I have a 4" LOMO Mak-Newt for sale. I'm the original owner, mostly been stored away these past 5 years. One of the best lunar scopes out there for early and late moon phases. At f/5.5 it is a very fast photo tube.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="FAL Shot, post: 564538, member: 27328"] Gary, Just what Russian telescope do you own? The ones sold by Orion were not of the quality of a LOMO or several other Russian manufacturers. A LOMO Mak-Cass similar to mine was examined and found to have 1/35 wave optical figure. An optical figure of 1/10 wave is considered extremely high end. Celestron and Meade only claim 1/4 wave as that is the "diffraction limit". The fact is, all degradation in the optical chain adds up, and 1/10 wave guarantee or better is a sign of a quality made scope. What is the optical wave figure of your Teleview and Takahashi refractors? It will not be better than my LOMO Mak-Cass, I assure you. I talked to Vic Maris who owns Stellarvue (builds scopes every bit as good as Televue....only larger) and when he was in St. Petersburg, Russia, dealing with LOMO he asked them to start making again the Mak-Cass scope that I own so he could sell them under Stellarvue brand. He knew it was equal to his BEST 5" refractors at a fraction of the cost. The LOMO guys flatly refused to consider the request, as they were very disappointed at the amateur astronomy community that bought Meade and Celestron scopes for a couple hundred dollars less when they could have had world's best if they weren't such idiot tightwads and obviously prejudiced against Russian optics. If you don't believe me, call up Vic Maris at Stellarvue and talk to him yourself. The LOMO Astele scopes were some of the best ever built in their aperture range. Also, if you look in Telescope Optics by Rutten & van Verooij, you will see that at high magnifications a Mak-Cass or Mak-Newt scope of high quality will have higher contrast at high magnification than any refractor scope. The best visual scopes for high power lunar viewing are considerd to be Mak-Cass scopes, and they are better at double-star splitting as well. I own a Stellarvue refractor, and refractor scopes are better at low power viewing as they have higher contrast at low powers and do not have the hole in the middle of the exit pupil that all obstructed scopes possess. Camera scopes are chosen for a low f ratio, but that is of no concern in visual scopes and high f ratios such as my f/15 Mak-Cass make eyepieces perform better, and they can be simple ones with higher contrast. Televue Nagler eyepieces are famous for rectilinear distortion. They often have 8 elements. They can't compete with simple eyepieces of 3, 4 or 5 elements as far as image contrast and sharpness goes. The Baader Eudiascopic eyepieces are classics at a reasonable price, and they carry a US government contract number if you care to check it out. Celestron once sold them (pre Synta) as the Ultima eyepiece, and Orion as the Ultrascopic, and Parks sold them as well. They may vary in the coatings involved. My telescope dealer lists them as his favorites, over Televue which he sells a lot of as well. Look up reviews of the LOMO Astele 150mm Mak-Cass and you will see that it is 10 out of 10 from about every reviewer. I have yet to see the refractor that can beat it on high power lunar viewing, literally yielding a thousand shades of gray from the purest whites to the blackest blacks. Ansel Adams would freak out over this scope. If you want to buy one....good luck. Nobody seems to want to sell them these days......but contact me if your pockets are deep enough. I have a guy who will locate one if anybody can. I have a 4" LOMO Mak-Newt for sale. I'm the original owner, mostly been stored away these past 5 years. One of the best lunar scopes out there for early and late moon phases. At f/5.5 it is a very fast photo tube. [/QUOTE]
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