Some deep-sky observations

horray!!! Clear skies at last and my first chance to properly test the 22x100mm binoculars (Strathspey).

first impressions? Wow! First light was with M42 and it was stunning. Lots of detail and structure to the threads of material spun off from the nebula. M43, north of the Great Nebula, was immediately obvious too -- these are the first binoculars I've honestly been able to say that I saw M43 so well.

M44 was beautiful with the couple of binocular doubles in the cluster nicely split.

I didn't really have any observing plan, just point at well know Messier objects so next up was a duo in Puppis, M46 and M47. The latter was very nicely resolved while M46, an object that appears as a general amorphorous glow in the 20x60mm, was also a nice smattering of faint stars in the bigger instruments.

swinging over to M31, the galaxy stretched right through the 2.7 degree field of view of these binoculars. The companion galaxies were also well seen.

all in all, a quick tour, but one that left me very pleased with the performance of the 22x100mm. The main issue now is to work on constructing a suitable mounting as even a heavy camera tripod is not capable of allowing smooth panning of these 9lb giants.

atb,

John

Now your talkin' John!

I'm considering buying these myself, they sound great, but agreed, a real sturdy mount is definitely needed.

Did these come with a tripod? I don't know?

Keith..

hi Keith,

Happy Christmas! Fog down here in Tipp since this morning so that looks like the end of the observing for the moment.

I bought a Slik 88 tripod separate to the binoculars and was given another even heavier tripod recently but I think a parallelogram set-up is the only way to go with binoculars this size. The Cloudy Nights Binocular forum has a number of links to sites with plans to build such a system so hopefully in the New Year I will tackle the project.

although a good camera tripod will be strong enough to hold the binoculars, the smooth motion in all axes is not possible. Also, the dampening time from a camera tripod is just too long -- touch the binoculars to refocus or move them and the image will dance around significantly.

I had a look at Saturn last night as well and the 22x nicely showed the rings separate from the planet. The image had a little chromatic abberation but not significantly so.

although the build of the Strathspey's are exactly the same as the Oberwerk 22x100mm, there is a difference in price because of the degree of polishing of the optical surfaces. Oberwerks would be more expensive over here than the US because of the higher tolerance required by the company for their optical components. That's something I learned on Cloudy Nights and the folks there have multiplied my knowledge of binoculars many-fold in the last 12 months. I'd recommend anyone interested in giant binoculars to have a look at their "Best of" links. One leads to a long article on comparing 22x100mm Oberwerks, 25x100mm Celestrons, and 15x70mm Fujinons. Very enlightening reading. Another contributor has written a nice guide to observing deep sky objects in big binoculars (free to download).

just editting this post to add that I will definitely be getting a red dot finder for these binoculars as well. With the quoted 2.7 degree field (but probably a little less than this), I personally think some sort of finder is a must when hunting lesser known Deep Sky Objects for binoculars -- especially if planning a Messier Marathon in Turkey!

atb,

John

although a good camera tripod will be strong enough to hold the binoculars, the smooth motion in all axes is not possible. Also, the dampening time from a camera tripod is just too long -- touch the binoculars to refocus or move them and the image will dance around significantly.

John

Hi John,

Congrats on your new baby! If you want a nice, easy-to-make, stable mount for your binocs, you could do a lot worse than knock up the bino-stabeliser that appeared in Sky&Tel a couple of months ago. I built one for my Zeiss 10x50s (heavy!) and they work very well. All you need are a couple of 2m lengths of 2"x1" and a few off-cuts and screws and you're in business.

Merry Christmas,

Phil.

Good luck with that project, the mount is as important as the binos themselves.

I had a look at Saturn last night as well and the 22x nicely showed the rings separate from the planet.

Me too! I got a shot also showing it beside M44, Lovely sight!

I learned on Cloudy Nights and the folks there have multiplied my knowledge of binoculars many-fold

Cloudy nights is indispensible for reviews! I'll have a good read myself....

Philip, is there a link to the bino stabiliser in S&T?
Keith..

Cloudy nights is indispensible for reviews! I'll have a good read myself....

Philip, is there a link to the bino stabiliser in S&T?
Keith..

I don't see a web-link, but the piece was entitled "Image-Stabilize Your Binoculars" by Alan M. MacRobert and was in the October 2005 Kiss&Tel. If you're desperate, I'll photocopy or scan it for you.

Phil.