Category Archives: Comparative Test

Refractor Reducers: TeleVue TRF-2008 vs Altair Lightwave 0.8x on SW Evostar 80ED & Equinox 80 ED

January 11, 2017 // by ecuador

APO/ED refractors are great, however they do need a flattener to give you those pinpoint stars, or, even better, a reducer/flattener to also give you faster exposures and wider field at the same time. Some  refractors will have a matched reducers (especially the “slow” ones), but, for those that do not the expensive TeleVue TRF-2008 […]

Barlow shootout: Skywatcher, Celestron, High Point, TeleVue Powermate and more

December 2, 2016 // by ecuador

I have several barlows in my possession, some came part of larger purchases (a Celestron 2x and a Skywatcher 2x), some where bought when I wanted more than 2x at good quality (High Point Scientific 2.5x, TeleVue 3x, TeleVue Powermate 5x) and some because I was just curious what you could get for cheap (no-name […]

Amazon best seller binoculars, “30×60”, “ruby lens” and more…

October 14, 2016 // by ecuador

Update: The “SkyGenius” binoculars listed below were renamed to “BRIGENIUS” and Amazon has banned me from reviewing them, even though my review was a 3-star one full with details and pictures. They are fine with just good reviews from clueless people to be shown, makes for better sales I guess…   Until recently Amazon allowed […]

Baader Astrosolar Photo film ND 3.8

September 23, 2016 // by ecuador

In a previous Solar filter test I explored how various filters help with getting some better white-light Solar surface feature photos, and I had noted that while I was using the Baader Astrosolar Safety ND=5.0 film, some narrowband filters would benefit from the photo grade Astrosolar ND=3.8 film, as with allowing as much as 1/6310 of the […]

Baader Astrosolar vs Thousand Oaks Black Polymer solar filter

September 11, 2016 // by ecuador

There are two popular kinds of inexpensive solar filters which you can buy in unmounted sheets, cut them and mount them yourself. The older kind is the black polymer type, with the most famous kind (especially in the US) being the one that Thousand Oaks makes (their glass filters are also popular), while the currently […]

Imaging the sun in white light and Baader Solar Continuum or other color filters

May 7, 2016 // by ecuador

One of the most inexpensive accessories you can get for your telescope is the Baader AstroSolar safety film which you can use to safely observe and photograph the sun. Baader also has the 540nm-pass “Solar Continuum” filter to improve the definition of some solar features, so I thought I’d run a little experiment to see exactly […]

Planetary imaging comparison: Webcams vs DSLRs vs Planetary Cams

August 27, 2015 // by ecuador

The not so young amateur astronomers like myself who were aware of how difficult and demanding planetary photography was in the “old days” (i.e. 20th century) are pretty amazed at what you can achieve nowadays with equipment as simple as a webcam. Granted, most of the “magic” lies in the software processing that stacks hundreds […]

Planetary Shootout: Jupiter with Refractor, Maksutov, Newtonian, SCT

March 18, 2015 // by ecuador

Update 2016/04/27: As I get some questions, comments and even criticisms about a particular aspect of this article, I thought it was time to do an update to try and clarify some things, and also add images from my newest OTAs. So, some people tell me that images are not a good indication of the […]

Terrestrial Viewing with a Telescope: Comparison test

March 5, 2015 // by ecuador

I often read forum posts of people asking whether they can use a telescope for terrestrial viewing instead of a spotting-scope and also about a recommendation for such a telescope. The usual answer is “yes you can use most telescopes – with the addition of an image erecting diagonal” and also “go with a Maksutov […]