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Celestron EDs? |
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tucansam
Optics Apprentice Joined: February/05/2007 Status: Offline Points: 140 |
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Posted: February/13/2007 at 13:41 |
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I've been scouring various optics forums for days now, and I've never been so confused I keep seeing several brands/models getting mentioned over and over in particular, but I am not prepared to commit that kind of bread to my first scope purchase.
Initially I had figured on avoiding ED in the interest of budget, however all of my research has at least convinced me that its something I need, as I plan to do some photography with the scope.
Bearing that in mind, I have been looking closely at the Celestron EDs. I know they're not "European" optics, but I am wondering what your overall impressions are of these particular scopes. I'm interested in their ability to accept fixed-power 1.25" eyepieces(as I'm not interested in zoom), as well as the bang-for-buck offered by their glass. That rationale would be that any future scope purchases would also accept 1.25" eyepieces, so if I ever went with an astro-only scope I would already have a handful of eyepieces sitting around to try out. At this point I'm not even sure they can indeed accept eyepieces -- if they can't what's the least expensive ED scope that can?
Thanks for any advice. |
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anweis
Optics Master Joined: January/29/2006 Status: Offline Points: 1148 |
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Pentax 65, 80, or 100 mm Edited by anweis |
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spf2
Optics Apprentice Joined: February/02/2007 Status: Offline Points: 169 |
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You are not alone having that feeling.. I guess there are few people on this forum have special interest one way or another to promote some particular brand (s). This makes it very difficult to determine which one is better suited for you. If I were you, I will set a budget for myself and go to some local stores to check out the several brands in that class. Once you decided, just go online (online store or eBay) to shop for the best deal you can find..
Sorry, I don't have particular experience with Celestron. given the facts that most of the spotting scopes from different brands originated from one or two Chinese/Japanese factories, you won't see too much difference in terms of optical quality. |
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lucznik
Optics Master Joined: November/27/2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1436 |
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This is the first (and only) time I have ever heard such a comment about the regular posters on this forum. In fact, until now, the comments made about the quality and well-roundedness of the advice and opinions given has been universally the opposite of your allegation.
I wonder what has caused you to come to your conclusion. |
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What if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about?
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spf2
Optics Apprentice Joined: February/02/2007 Status: Offline Points: 169 |
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Most of the regular posters on this forum have given fair and unbiased opinion about the optics selection. I have tremendous respect to them. But I do sense few people who represent either some manufacturers or retailers are trying to steer the opinion of perceived optics quality among different brands. That's very troubling to me. I'd rather see this forum is driven by the end consumers who just want to get the best deal for the best quality optics.
BTW, I did not even mention any names. Why are you so upset? If you are like me, an average joe who just want to seek and give unbiased opinion on optics and have no connection in this business, there is nothing you should be upset about.
Anyway, I will stop this topic now so not to upset few more people. I think I will go to another forum that is more driven by consumers there... Edited by spf2 |
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anweis
Optics Master Joined: January/29/2006 Status: Offline Points: 1148 |
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Yes, you will see a lot of differences between models originated from the same factories. Sometimes these models share the same bodies, or the same optical design, but there are differences in lens coatings and lens quality.
You will also see differences between samples within the brands/models, there are some variations at that price point.
To comment on the Celestron Ultima ED scopes: as far as i remeber, they don't take 1.25" astro eyepieces, but they are an excellent value and an excellent scope. They are not quite as good as the best Kowas and Zeiss and so forth, but they are close. Edited by anweis |
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spf2
Optics Apprentice Joined: February/02/2007 Status: Offline Points: 169 |
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Anweis, yes, you are correct! I mean for the same spec and configuration. If both scopes have BAK4 prisms, FMC coating, similar close focus spec, same power, same objective lens diameter, the difference will be small. Of course, some manufacturers may snap on some extra features, like Bushnell's rainguard coating, to differentiate themselves from others.. |
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lucznik
Optics Master Joined: November/27/2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1436 |
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Did I come off as upset? If so, I apologize.
Actually, (as I stated) I was just simply curious what brought you to your conclusion relating to forum bias as it is not something that has ever been alleged before.
(There are a few factory reps from Minox, Vortex, etc. who occasionally post on the board and obviously they will have some brand loyalty and/or bias but, that's to be expected and to my knowledge they have been pretty open about declaring themselves for both who they are and what they represent. Such individuals have been very helpful in the past at answering questions about their respective firms' products and I definately welcome/encourage their continued involvement on the board.)
BTW, my wife likes to flatter me by insisting that I am in no way "average." |
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What if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about?
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FrankD
Optics Journeyman Joined: November/11/2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 686 |
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This should be where I walk in with the comment...
" Yeah, but your wife told me....." but I just don't know you that well lucznik despite the fact that we agree more often than not on optics.
spf2,
Let me also start my post with...I am just an average Joe with no affiliation to any company. My apologies if I ever came off that way. I have owned Nikon, Zeiss, Swaro, Leica, Pentax, Bushnell, Vortex, Meopta and one or two others I am sure I don't remember. I purchased them all myself and am quite proud of that fact.
Now, as to the question at hand, I have no experience with this particular line of scopes. My experience with Celestron is fairly limited to in store evaluations only and then only in reference to their binoculars. From what I can gauge from the various optics forums I frequent they are an "either or" type company. They either produce a superb product for much less cost than their competitors or they produce something with questionable quality control. I have seen comments in both regards.
At the time I purchased my scope I was unaware of the Celestron ED series of scopes or I would have probably considered them. However, in some sense I am glad I did not because the scope I did end up with, the Pentax 65 ED, offers such versatility and performance for such a low price (compared to similarly performing scopes) that I am glad I did not waste the time and money pursuing other scope ventures.
As Anweis posted beyond the Celestron ED the Pentax 65 mm ED is probably the least expensive decent ED style scope on the market. With the high end Pentax XF and XW eyepieces the image quality rivals that of the high end Swaro, Leica and Zeiss models but for less than half the price. I have seen the 65 ED with the zoom XF eyepiece advertised for as little as $599 recently. That is a steal when you consider the optical performance! Ofcourse you also have the versatility of using any standard 1.25 inch astro/terrestrial eyepieces with it. A word of caution though and something I mentioned to lucznik in his thread...using a non-ED eyepiece with an ED scope body somewhat wastes the advantage of the ED objective lens. You are still going to get color fringing especially at higher magnifications and that would be detrimental to your image and picture quality. Heck, even the digital camera you use can introduce CA into the image.
The scope body can be had for as little as $420 a few places and there are a variety of fixed and zoom ED style eyepieces on the market. Vixen makes a really nice lanthanum (ED) zoom for about $180 and I believe Orion has a highly regarded set of ED fixed power eyepieces for about $70 a piece.
Just some things to think over. |
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Frank
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spf2
Optics Apprentice Joined: February/02/2007 Status: Offline Points: 169 |
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Frank,
Have read many of your posts. Always regard you to "Most of the regular posters on this forum have given fair and unbiased opinion about the optics selection. I have tremendous respect to them." I hope my original comment did not appear to be citizen censorship type of thing. As alwalys, it is a real pleasure reading your insightful thoughts on optics. |
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