Ultimate Nikon Coolpix Telephoto setup

William R. Sterling said:

I think the thread has been pretty illuminating ... ;-)

My original purpose in posting this thread was to alert the good
readers to the availability of the WILLIAMS OPTICS DCL-28 Coolpix
dedicated 1.25 inch 24mm fl eyepiece. I admit the "Ultimate" part
was a bit of puffery to encourage folks to take a peek at the
thread. It was not meant as an absolute. Shucks, as I see it right
now my ULTIMATE setup in this genre (a short focal length
portable refractor) would be the $99 Williams Coolpix DCL-28 ocular
used on a TeleVue NP-101 ( NP = Nagler - Petzval ) a 101mm 4
element super-APO 540mm Focal Length f5.4 with a $4900 list price -
currently in stock at Anacortes for a measly $3385. Option$ extra
of cour$e. ;-)

Here's an image of the Al Nagler designed NP-101 - NICE!



W.R.Sterling

p.s. I'm currently in a discourse with William Yang in Taiwan
about the Megrez getting more tech details. It appears the Megrez
80SD ( note the SD term there - it usually means 'special
dispersion' ) might an exotic doublet using the two glasses - FPL53
by Ohara and KzFN2 by Schott. For a discussion of the benefits of
this design see ...

http://silverstar.pccenter.ru/doublets.htm

p.p.s. The apparent consensus of reviewers of the Megrez 80SD seems
to be that the fit and finish is as fine as the best and the
optical performance falls somewhere between the best of the short
focal length achromatic doublets and the apochromatic triplets. At
least one reviewer said it outperforms some scopes that are
currently being marketed as APO.

p.p.p.s. ;-) William Optics have noted on their Taiwan site that
they are getting ready to market a .75X focal legth reducer that
would make turn the Megrez 80SD into a 15 power f/4.5 four element
scope - maybe giving the NP -101 a run for its money. Well, maybe
not, but it will be interesting to say the least ...

Snake Plissken said:

What I would like to figure out is why some of these threads, like
this one, degenerate from one topic to another. It is interesting
that the thread is about the Megrez 80 and it turns into a
Celestron C5 or G5 telescope. Is somebody trying to sell a
Celestron scope here. Or is it they have second thoughts about
their own purchase and are trying to justify the reason why they
bought their scope to themselves. Maybe if they can convince enough
people that the Celestron is better than the Megrez they will feel
better about what they bought the scope they did. I can't figure it.

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Snake Plissken said:

Anthony Medici said:

I searched for the first price I could bring up for a G5 and it
listed at $695 at

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000051TMS/telescopesand-20/104-9085658-2336742 and that's with the BIG Equitorial tripod! Now the scope is no longer than the Megrez 80 but it 1.5" wider in diameter.

BOTH are good scopes. BOTH are telescopes. BOTH can fit in your
car. And BOTH can do the job. The celestron simply allows you to
do it in lower light and higher power (which is not always a good
thing!)

Tony

Scooter said:

Had I spent the money that you did on the Celestron, I would be
pissed, too. But I am not that interested in taking pictures of the
stars, and I don't need the magnification of the G5, esp. at that
price, and those F stops. I need the light! Besides, I don't think
I can fit it in my car. My main interest is terrestrial
photography, and you cannot refute the quality of this big piece of
glass. =)

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Snake Plissken said:

I noticed that Williams is offering the DCL-28 with the scope in
one of their packages for $649.00.

William R. Sterling said:

I think the thread has been pretty illuminating ... ;-)

My original purpose in posting this thread was to alert the good
readers to the availability of the WILLIAMS OPTICS DCL-28 Coolpix
dedicated 1.25 inch 24mm fl eyepiece. I admit the "Ultimate" part
was a bit of puffery to encourage folks to take a peek at the
thread. It was not meant as an absolute. Shucks, as I see it right
now my ULTIMATE setup in this genre (a short focal length
portable refractor) would be the $99 Williams Coolpix DCL-28 ocular
used on a TeleVue NP-101 ( NP = Nagler - Petzval ) a 101mm 4
element super-APO 540mm Focal Length f5.4 with a $4900 list price -
currently in stock at Anacortes for a measly $3385. Option$ extra
of cour$e. ;-)

Here's an image of the Al Nagler designed NP-101 - NICE!



W.R.Sterling

p.s. I'm currently in a discourse with William Yang in Taiwan
about the Megrez getting more tech details. It appears the Megrez
80SD ( note the SD term there - it usually means 'special
dispersion' ) might an exotic doublet using the two glasses - FPL53
by Ohara and KzFN2 by Schott. For a discussion of the benefits of
this design see ...

http://silverstar.pccenter.ru/doublets.htm

p.p.s. The apparent consensus of reviewers of the Megrez 80SD seems
to be that the fit and finish is as fine as the best and the
optical performance falls somewhere between the best of the short
focal length achromatic doublets and the apochromatic triplets. At
least one reviewer said it outperforms some scopes that are
currently being marketed as APO.

p.p.p.s. ;-) William Optics have noted on their Taiwan site that
they are getting ready to market a .75X focal legth reducer that
would make turn the Megrez 80SD into a 15 power f/4.5 four element
scope - maybe giving the NP -101 a run for its money. Well, maybe
not, but it will be interesting to say the least ...

Snake Plissken said:

What I would like to figure out is why some of these threads, like
this one, degenerate from one topic to another. It is interesting
that the thread is about the Megrez 80 and it turns into a
Celestron C5 or G5 telescope. Is somebody trying to sell a
Celestron scope here. Or is it they have second thoughts about
their own purchase and are trying to justify the reason why they
bought their scope to themselves. Maybe if they can convince enough
people that the Celestron is better than the Megrez they will feel
better about what they bought the scope they did. I can't figure it.

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dee_newbee said:

Wow, I had no idea that you could attach a scope to a digicam! Let
alone get such marvelous results! Say I wanted to go with a Nikon,
Fujinon, or Swarovski scope, are there any type of adapters for the
CoolPix cameras that will let you mount the CP camera on any of
these scopes? If so, where can you buy them/who makes such adapter?
Man, I can just imagine what a CP5000 and a good scope are capable
of! I've been holding off buying a camera for many many months
(even though I've been doing heavy research and keeping daily tabs
on the digicam world), but now that the CP5000 is at hand and now
that I know I can use scopes, it looks like all systems are "Go!"
this holiday season! If anybody could answer my questions, I would
greatly appreciate it!

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dee_newbee said:

Wow, I had no idea that you could attach a scope to a digicam! Let
alone get such marvelous results! Say I wanted to go with a Nikon,
Fujinon, or Swarovski scope, are there any type of adapters for the
CoolPix cameras that will let you mount the CP camera on any of
these scopes? If so, where can you buy them/who makes such adapter?
Man, I can just imagine what a CP5000 and a good scope are capable
of! I've been holding off buying a camera for many many months
(even though I've been doing heavy research and keeping daily tabs
on the digicam world), but now that the CP5000 is at hand and now
that I know I can use scopes, it looks like all systems are "Go!"
this holiday season! If anybody could answer my questions, I would
greatly appreciate it!

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William R. Sterling said:

I found the Nikon telescope adapter for $99 - 28mm to 1.25" in the
USA here ...

http://www.buytelescopes.com/product.asp?t=&pid=3346&m=&show=images

They also have the Williams Optics telescope. Megrez 80

W.R.STerling

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Lin Evans said:

William R. Sterling said:

I found the Nikon telescope adapter for $99 - 28mm to 1.25" in the
USA here ...

http://www.buytelescopes.com/product.asp?t=&pid=3346&m=&show=images

They also have the Williams Optics telescope. Megrez 80

W.R.STerling

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In researching the possiblity of using the William Optics eyepiece
with my Swarovski HD spotting scope, I was almost ready to buy a
Pentax PF80 ED just to be able to use this eyepiece with a rugged,
nitrogen purged waterproof spotter.

I called Swarovski on the recommendation of one of my local
dealers, and guess what? Several years ago, Swarovski offered a
couple astro-eyepieces for high power use for their spotting
scopes. Because they were non-Swarovski eyepieces but standard
astro-sized (1.25" barrel), Swarovski manufactured an adapter which
they sell for $65.90 U.S.

This adapter is: Part # 629-0307A called the Swarovski 1.25
Astronomy Eyepiece Adapter.

The good news then is that the Swarovski spotting scopes can use
the William Optics eyepiece!

Lin

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Lin Evans said:

In researching the possiblity of using the William Optics eyepiece
with my Swarovski HD spotting scope, I was almost ready to buy a
Pentax PF80 ED just to be able to use this eyepiece with a rugged,
nitrogen purged waterproof spotter.

I called Swarovski on the recommendation of one of my local
dealers, and guess what? Several years ago, Swarovski offered a
couple astro-eyepieces for high power use for their spotting
scopes. Because they were non-Swarovski eyepieces but standard
astro-sized (1.25" barrel), Swarovski manufactured an adapter which
they sell for $65.90 U.S.

This adapter is: Part # 629-0307A called the Swarovski 1.25
Astronomy Eyepiece Adapter.

The good news then is that the Swarovski spotting scopes can use
the William Optics eyepiece!

Lin

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William R. Sterling said:

Lin,

Hey! now that's good news ... one of the reasons I had shied away
from the 'spotting scopes' was their use of proprietary lens
systems and the difficulty of getting a tight rigid coupling
between the camera and the scope ... only one problem, it seems
everyone who buys a Swarovski never ever sells it used. ;-) Will
the adapter attach to the 'straight through' models?

I'm checking out another scope of interest, the Brandon Master
Birding Telescope. I'll post a separate message about it.

Thanks for doing the extra homework Lin!

W.R.Sterling

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Snake Plissken said:

Yeah....but just think.......now I change the topic from/to.....the
Pentax PF80 adapts to several of their own Pentax eyepieces that
are the circumference of a can of condensed soup. The Pentax
eyepieces are some of the best in the business for field of view
and are massive. They are most excellent! I would doubt that DCL-28
would adapt to these "gems."

Pentax PF80 ED (rules) (yes)

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William R. Sterling said:

The good folks over at Vernonscope have a product that looks very
interesting ...

An fully armored 80mm f5.6 ( 448mm focal length ) TRIPLET design
available as an OTA only ( no amici prism, no ocular, no case ) for
the paltry sum of $749

( the fully tricked out configuation with tube assembly with
focusing unit, 2" 15x - 50x zoom eyepiece, 2" 45º Amici Prism and
carrying case goes fo $1295 )



This unit does have a 2 inch focuser so a 2 inch to 1.25 adapter
will be needed to be able to use the Williams DCL-28 ocular.

Here is the $30 Vernonscope 2" > 1.125" adapter



Here is what Vernonscope says about this optic ..

"80mm f/5.6 professional triplet lens design with state-of-the-art
multicoated lenses provides a bright image, even in low light.
Black rubber, moisture-resistant armor coating."

Hmmm ... no mention of APO , curious. Are they understating the
performance???

I'll nose around and see what others have to say about this puppy.

W.R.Sterling

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Lin Evans said:

William R. Sterling said:

The good folks over at Vernonscope have a product that looks very
interesting ...

An fully armored 80mm f5.6 ( 448mm focal length ) TRIPLET design
available as an OTA only ( no amici prism, no ocular, no case ) for
the paltry sum of $749

( the fully tricked out configuation with tube assembly with
focusing unit, 2" 15x - 50x zoom eyepiece, 2" 45º Amici Prism and
carrying case goes fo $1295 )



This unit does have a 2 inch focuser so a 2 inch to 1.25 adapter
will be needed to be able to use the Williams DCL-28 ocular.

Here is the $30 Vernonscope 2" > 1.125" adapter



Here is what Vernonscope says about this optic ..

"80mm f/5.6 professional triplet lens design with state-of-the-art
multicoated lenses provides a bright image, even in low light.
Black rubber, moisture-resistant armor coating."

Hmmm ... no mention of APO , curious. Are they understating the
performance???

I'll nose around and see what others have to say about this puppy.

W.R.Sterling

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That's an interesting possibility. The short focal length would
seem to be a savings over getting a C5 or G5 with reducer - and
it's definitely smaller in overall size. I called Pentax today and
spoke with their V.P. of Marketing for the U.S. The PF80-ED has a
native focal length of 1000 mm with an F-stop rating of F12.5 with
their "camera" adapter for SLR's (sans eyepiece). This Vernonscope
would be probably more useful as a telephoto adapter providing the
lens was comparable (APO). Hopefully the 1.25" adapter wouldn't
adversly affect the eyepiece proximity. The "moisture-resistant
armor coating" would seem to indicate it was designed for rugged
field use, but if the tube isn't nitrogen purged, there could be
fogging problems - would be nice to know.

I ordered the William Optics eyepiece today, and just now received
a confirmation that Anacortes was out of stock and expected them in
2 to 3 weeks. The rep I spoke with earlier told me that they were
"supposed" to be in-transit and that they were expected in one
week, so..... who realliy knows??? Well, it will give me time to do
more research on alternatives to my existing equipment.

Glad to hear about the Vernonscope - makes one wonder how many
other possibilities lurk out there just waiting discovery...

Best,

Lin

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William R. Sterling said:

I should have noted that with the 24mm DCL-28 ocular from Williams
( Anacortes ) this Brandon will deliver somewhere about 19 and 56
power for the 990 or 19 to 75 power for the 995. The low end would
be dependent on where vignetting comes under control. ( It is
supposed to be at a zoom setting of 1.3X for the Megrez 80SD )

W.R.Sterling

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chpang said:

I am just getting into digital photograhy and reading this thread
has got me very excited about using these scope.

Question: Do you guys think it will work for the new Nikon CP5000,
considering that it takes the same thread size.

Thank,
chp

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Lin Evans said:

I discovered that it's not APO, but maybe doesn't need to be for
its power range - here's a link to interesting information.....

Lin

http://www.optics4birding.com/

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Lin Evans said:

Member said:

I am not sure I understand this but what is wrong with setting up
your own finder. The company says 100% guarantee for high image
quality, so I guess it would be worth trying to find out the value
and explanation of this guarantee.

Michael

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Hi Michael,
I think that setting up a finder scope would not be too terribly
difficult, once you had everything you needed (6x monocular with a
crosshair - cheap rifle scope would probably work) and the
necessary mounting and adjusting hardware. It must be mounted
securely to the scope body and must have some means of adjusting
exactly where it's pointed so that it converges with the view from
the main telescope. On my celestial telescopes, there are set
screws which position the finder scope so you can set up a target
and center the view on the main scope then adjust the finder to
synchronize exactly. It might take a little time, but it's not an
impossible task.

As for the guarantee - it's only as good as the word of the
company. Not being familiar with the manufacturer, I would want
references from a number of people who have had dealings with them
in the past before I spent my money. If the instrument is shipped
to the U.S. from overseas, there will be duty charges. Though it
may only amount to $25 or $30, who pays this if you have to return
it? Who pays shipping and insurance? This could amount to a
sizeable amount should it turn out to not be satisfactory. On the
other hand, if it's distributed in your country by someone you
trust, it's much less of a risk.

It certainly sounds like a bargain. My Swarovski ST80-HD spotting
scope cost me over $1500 with one eyepiece. If this does equally
well, it would be a major savings. On the other hand, a very good
Meade ETX-90 (I have one of these too) can be purchased for about
$325. The Meade is an excellent product which has a fixed 1200mm
port for 35mm or digital SLR's (over 1900mm with my D30 with the 60
percent smaller than full frame sensor) at F13.8. With different
eyepieces and mounting attachments, it can also be used very
effectively with the CPxxx series of Nikon's. I sometimes use it
with my CP950 and CP990. It comes with a finder scope, but not with
an attachment to shoot through the eyepiece. The F-stop is a bit
higher in general than that advertised with the MEGREZ, but I'm
wondering if the advertised F-stop range is what you get using the
camera attached. If you are shooting through an accessory lens as I
think you must, then the advertised F-stop may be additive. For
example, if the advertised F-stop is 6.4 and the full or near full
zoom on the CPxxx is 4.0, the actual F-stop would be approximately
10.4 or so.

Lin

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