International Astronomy Show

IAS will be held in UK May 17th & 18th.

In cooperation with our partners – Ian King and FLO, we have the booth as Hutech/Borg at IAS. Please come and stop by us. I’m looking forward to meeting you there. Also I’m always interested in European astro products since I feel European taste is different from US and Japan. It’s fun to see those fresh items too.  And personally I like to go to English pubs for my most favorite and British original beer, IPA – Indian Pale Ale.

Sigma 35mmF1.4 – 3

I just made quick processing. Only curve and level are applied.

Sigma 35mm @F3.5 and 6DH w/LPS-V4, 6min x 10 at ISO1600 (No dark and flat)

35mm @F3.5 and 6DH w/LPS-V4, 5min x 10 @ISO1600 (w/dark, no flat)

There is unusual shadow I’ve never seen before. A mirror might not have been completely up due to the interference with rear lens filter. Also there are many lines around shadow area, which I didn’t see last time either. This might be related to the incomplete mirror-up. —–> I looked into and I found one of screws on rear filter frame was loosened. So it seems a mirror was hit to a screw.

In any cases, Sigma 35mm/F1.4 shows wonderful performance and I can say the best I own. I believe Sigma plans to release more “ART”-grade lenses time to time. I look forward to them. If someone is looking for wide-angle lens which fully covers full frame sensors, this is the one. I highly recommend this lens.

Solar Ha filter vs Broadband Solar filter

The club friend, Jim Windlinger made the interesting comparison between Lunt 60mm and IDAS 82mm.

Each result is as expected. But video shows us how each filter re-produces different solar surface. IDAS UHB D5.2 is top of the line as solar broadband filter in the market, which is carefully designed for the safe of visual observing and minimizing the internal reflection for high contrast image.

 

 

Saturn & Astro Photos

It was really great view for Saturn with Nozomi Binoscope last night. This is my 1st experience to use tracking mount with binoscopes. As expected, it’s really convenient and relax. I kept watching Saturn more than 1 hour. EMS’s mirror collimator allows for easy collimation tweak under high magnification. Very nice system!!

I enjoyed visual observing a lot last night while taking pictures.

I noticed there are some issues for equatorial platform. First, we need more counterweight than it looks like since the equatorial platform arm moves the scopes up further from the mount.  Second, two scopes’ tilting adjustment affects the weight balance a lot. Especially in DEC. So at least we have to use the mounts which let the clutch completely tighten. Half-clutch system is not recommended. Also handling must be carefully done under dark condition since the scopes are tilted down right or left quickly when the platform’s tilt clutch is loosened. With these extra attentions, this platform gives us wonderful visual observing – Completely erect images under high magnification. So we can see the true planet faces with both eyes at high power!!

Alt-az arm should eliminate above issues. But I think EQ setup might be more stable and smoother tracking under high magnification. One day, I want to test with alt-az arm.

BTW, Saturn was very good looking because of tilted. I will try to push more power next.

I got images from Chris Howey, UK.  They are taken with 125SD F3.9 recently he got.

Jellyfish Nebula with 7nm Ha filter, 24 x 300sec at ISO 1600 with CentralDS Cooled Canon 60D

Markarian’s Chain with Hutech  Idas LP filter, 34 x 300 at iso 1600 also with CentralDS Cooled Canon 60D

Olympus E-P5

Olympus E-P5 is just announced today. This is really what I was eagerly waiting for. Key features for me are focus peaking and 1/8000 sec. “mechanical” shutter. I like silver body design too and looks solid-made. It clearly reminds me of the old PEN. That’s nice. I’m sure old Olympus fan love this design too. I still like the feeling of mechanical shutter since I can feel taking pictures. But I’m very curious how shutter performs.  Shutter is open during idle because of mirroless camera. So before taking a shot, it is closed once and open/close at 1/8000 sec., and finally open? These sequence? Very complicated.

Fortunately, an old EVF can work with E-P5. (I wish to try to use latest one though)  This is obviously perfect combination with BORGs – lightweight body, EVF, strong image stabilizer and now focus peaking. I don’t think we need anything else. I can’t wait for using E-P5 with 36ED.

Olympus development team is still doing great job!! And thanks for showing us your advanced technology.

 

AOK Binoscope Platform

New AOK platform has the wonderful design. I’d like to describe how it can be used based on each user’s favorite.

1) On regular fluid heads

Platform base only  (BB-130)

BB-130 has 1/4″-20 at the bottom. So for terrestrial use, I don’t think you will need anything else. Also if you are looking for most basic system, this is the one.

2)  On equatorial mounts

BB-130 + EQM(equatorial arm)

3) On alt-az mounts

BB-130 + ALTM(alt-az arm) + optional handle

This modular design allows to re-configure the system based on the mount you use.  I start using it with 2 x 89EDs (Nozomi). Very stable. Great platform!!

Series 45 – 36ED [2]

These pictures should show you how 36ED performs very well. All were taken with 36ED & Canon 60D by Naoki Nakanishi.

Great image contrast!! Very clean and naturalistic

And TV broadcasted the photographer and his 36ED system

Theoretically we can shoot as closer as possible by adding extension tubes. So it should be great macro lens too.