APM120 ED 90 Binoculars

Hi all, after some sound advice I had decided to bite the bullet and order the APM 120 ed 90 binoculars from telescope service in Germany, these arrived on Wednesday last after waiting a week for delivery. These areone of if not the best ED Apochromatic binos on the market at the moment. Each barrel is 120mm aperture operating at f5.5.On Thursday night I assembled my berlebach tripod and APM forkmount along with the binos which alone are 9.6kg, to get familiar with the set up. The tripod (berlebach 372) holds the APM 120's quite comfortably and movement in alt and az is very smooth. 
 
I got a short time with clear sky before the clouds rolled in and just had to try them out , using the supplied 18mm APM eyepieces I set my focus on the Orion nebula before it was overwhelmed by the clouds that were fast approaching. The view that greeted me was - well fantastic. The sense of depth of field was excellent, although my bortle 3 skies did help. These APM eyepieces give an Afov of 65degrees yielding a magnification of x36. Sharpness was precise with not even the smallest of reflections even on the brighter stars in the field.  The brightness of the nebulosity was very impressive especially to the west of the trapezium. What struck me was the sense of 3d while observing the various areas of dust clouds within the nebula itself, I could clearly see brighter areas entangled by wispy dust looking like they were locked in a close embrace. 
 
While building up my eyepiece collection is a work in progress, I did try both my televue 3-6mm zoom and 12mm type 4 nagler on M42 using just one part of the bino. The view with the zoom at 6mm was incredible, even as the hazy cirrus cloud was starting to approach Orion close by. The trapezium sparkled beautifully and the dust clouds were very dark set against the bright green like nebula shining from behind. I did not use any filters. 
 
I was disappointed with the 12mm type 4 nagler as it did not achieve focus, maybe someone can tell me why? Its all a learning curve for me. All in all, I had 20 minutes of observing joy before the clouds finally won out - I cannot wait to get them out again. Sorry for the short report but if you are pondering getting  these and your budget allows - then go for it ! I had been saving the pennies for some time !
 
I have attached some shots of my set up here, the 1st shot shows a Celestron C8 beside them for comparison, and one of them has a pair of 9x60mm binoculars on top just to show the sheer size of these babies
 
Keith..

WoW! :woohoo:

Best of luck with that set-up.....looks really interesting.

Telescope Service are always excellent.
Many congratulations, Keith, on your recent purchase.
I am glad you got a Berlebach tripod as I have one too at the base of my apo.

Rumour has it we have clear skies coming over our way next week.

Aubrey.

Fabulous looking Binoculars. You might explain the benefits of a set of these Binoculars say over using a Set of Bino Viewers on a Standard Telescope. I use a par of Nikon Hand Held Binoculars for a Quick widefield view of the Sky in addition to my Celestron CPC 800
thank you.

Thanks Kinch, Yes Aubrey I hear clear frosty nights are coming early next week they can't come which enough
The berlebach tripod is very steady and the dampening down time is very low, about a second which is very acceptable.

Scfahy, As for the binoviewers I didn't go for them on a standard scope as these binoculars are not standard, reasons why?
1. The type of glass used in the objectives is Ohara fpl53, can't really say much more
2. These give a right side up view, always my personal preference, no more me having my head done in finding variable stars or anything else either mirror viewed or upside down
3. Introducing another element to the optical path will reduce the light transmission - ok just a small bit
4. 90 degree viewing angle which is very comfortable
5. Life is too short

apm-telescopes-englisch.shopgate.com/item/333036353333

I am so happy I saved hard ! Now don't get me wrong this is really a top of the scale instrument, APM also offer a 120 semi apo and 100mm ed and semi apo also, depends on price and affordability of course

The view through these the other night was so good, I am seriously considering selling my William optics flt110 !!
My minister for finance will demand that I justify keeping both

Back to weather watching for now

Keith..

Sweet !!