RE: [APML] Thank you to John Mirtle for advising me about Lumicon's6Xcritical focus scope

["John C. Mirtle" <spampit@shaw.ca>]

	You're most welcome Alan! Glad to hear it worked for you! The focus
scope doesn't work well for everyone, as I recall there were some negative
comments posted when I suggested it to you. I have used mine successfully
since the 80's and I haven't yet grown a third eye or flippers. :-) Of all
the focus aids out there, it is certainly one of the cheapest to try. Next
time you are in a camera store, keep a look out for one of those rubber
eyeguards for viewfinders. Some of them have a metal frame that clips onto
the viewfinder of an OM1. If you glue the frame to the 6x magnifier and
re-focus it, it makes it *much* easier to use. Please post your results when
you start putting your rig through it's paces!

	My apologies to the list for not posting for a while. New
responsibilities at work have left me with almost zero spare time, day or
night. Hopefully I will one day soon be able to contribute again on a
regular basis.

John Mirtle
Calgary Ab. Canada
http://members.shaw.ca/jmirtle 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: astro-photo-bounces@seds.org [mailto:astro-photo-bounces@seds.org] On
Behalf Of Alan Voetsch
Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2004 10:40 PM
To: APML
Subject: [APML] Thank you to John Mirtle for advising me about Lumicon's
6Xcritical focus scope

Hey John,

Last Summer (or so) you had replied to one of my many posts, in this case it
was about tightening up the focus a little bit on my OM-1. You suggested
trying the Lumicon critical focus scope. Well, I was able to find one on
astromart a couple months ago and have had it sitting in my closet since
then.

I'm in the process of fine tuning the new G-11/Gemini and Tak FS-102. I have
been noticing slightly elongated, bloated stars. To some extent, this was
not at the top of my priority list as I was more concerned with making sure
the ST-4 was working well with the mount, and learning jow to navigate
through the Gemini menues while setting up shots.

Anyway, since the Moon was taking over the sky, I decided to pull out the
little focus scope, and run through the Polar Axis correction routine in the
Gemini menu. Did those a couple nights ago, even though lining up the focus
scpe was a HUGE pain in the ###. Took a couple shots of M3 Monday night to
test the results and picked them up today from the camera store. Nice tight
little pinpoints with little or no field rotation anywhere. I am extremely
pleased and feel it's time to really put the new equipment through it's
paces. Of course that's several days away, and by then the weather will
probably turn lousy again. 8-)

Possibly the best thing about it is that because I'm using a Taurus and
guiding oxx axis, I was able to refine the focus on the helical viewport so
that I may never have to use the focus scope again. I'll simply focus with
the 10mm EP and all should be a 'go'.

Just wanted to send you a 'thanks".

Alan


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