Astromart Reviews - William Optics Megrez 80mm II SD Package

Astromart Reviews - William Optics Megrez 80mm II SD Packagethe focuserand attachedthe 2 inch WOdielectricdiagonal. Thediagonal is atop quality,very nicelymanufacturedmachined allmetal design. Ihave readreview on thisdiagonal,which said thatit was one ofthe best outthere. It sellsfor $200 on itsown, and I cansee why. It toocame with itsown 1 ?inchadapter, andnice fitting endShot with VR-1 filtercaps. The onlydecent quality eyepiece that I initially had was a 26mm Meade 3000 seriesplossl given to me as a gift by a very dear friend. Thanks again ?you knowwho you are. I was very pleased with the daytime views, and found thatthe focusing was so smooth, that even on this short focal length design,the focusing was a pleasure. It was very easy to glide into focus fromeither direction, and quite easy to tell when precise focus had beenachieved. So far, everything looked good. Now it was time to test theimage quality, so I looked at the chimney on the roof two houses away. Icould barely see some Chromatic Aberrations, including purple colorfringing just on the edges of the highest contrast areas. But I really had tolook hard to see it. It was there, but at this power, 19X, it was virtuallyimpossible for me to see much less find offensive or distracting. It wastime to see if the camera could see it. I hooked up the Canon 20D using aT-adapter, and T-ring, and found that I really had to go to the end of thefocuser travel (which is quite long) in order to reach focus. I suspected thiswould be the case, and it might be worth spending a couple of dollars for a2 inch tube extension, an inch would be plenty. I was able to focus, butonly after nudging out the 1 ?inch adapter, and T-adapter, rather thanseating them all the way in as I originally did. It made me a bit nervoushaving my expensive DSLR hanging there, but the copper tension ring inthe focuser held the T-adapter very securely. I set the camera to aperturepriority, automatic white balance, and shot a picture. Then I took out theWO VR-1 filter and attached it to the t-adapter and shot a picture. Theviews were of course much greener than before, as all the purplehighlights had been filtered out. The results of the picture is shown andlabelled accordingly. These images are cropped and sized to 100% pixelsize, and clearly show the extent to which you can expect to see (or notsee) the chromatic aberration.Next it was onto night timeviewing, andthe moon wasthe first target.Again, a seriesof views, andpictures, bothwith andwithout the VR-1 filter areshown below. Iam verypleased withthe quality ofthe optics sohttp://www.astromart.com/articles/article.asp?article_id=297 (3 of 5)2006/4/26 •• 04:31:49

Astromart Reviews - William Optics Megrez 80mm II SD Packagefar. Iexamined anumber ofstars andfoundcollimation tobe dead onfrom thefactory. Thecontrast, evenin my heavilylight pollutedskies of thewesternChicagosuburbs wasexcellent. I•eincludedWithout filter, cropped and zoomed to 100%several fullmoon shots, taken when skies were mediocre at best, but both thestandard views, and cropped 100% views show that chromatic aberrationis well under control.SUMMARYOverall fit and finish: Excellent, because every component is nicely craftedand manufactured.Optical Quality: Again, excellent, because it appears to have very goodoptics.Focuser: Outstanding, since the nicely machined smooth, fully rotatablecrayford style focuser is a joy to use.Diagonal: Again, outstanding, since its manufacturing and optical qualityare superb. I can see why these sell for $200.Finder scope and bracket: Very nice, although it would be nicer to have alarger finder scope, the 6x30 fits nicely with my travel needs, and thelighted crosshairs is just plain cool to use. Mounting it to the scope is quickand secure, but I wish it had a slot to position the same each time, whichwould prevent having to realign it each time.Backpack bag: Very nice, as it has custom cut foam for everythingincluded, and removable eyepiece pieces for enough 2 inch and 1 ?incheyepieces to satisfy most users. I• not sure how the foam will hold up overtime, but the bag is a very durable heavy gauge well sewn nylon design.Overall, Iwould highlyrecommendthis package toanyone whohas similarneeds to mine.It will truly bea Jack of Alltrades for myneeds,including beinga high qualitybut not overlyexpensivetravel scope, avery nicespotting scope,and a nice With VR-1 filter, cropped and zoomed to 100%500mm fixedfocal ratio camera lens. In the future, I will be set when I someday buy a 8inch or larger SCT scope, as this will serve to compliment it nicely as apiggybacked guide scope, widefield scope, or astrophotography scope.Click here for more about this subject. -Ed.http://www.astromart.com/articles/article.asp?article_id=297 (4 of 5)2006/4/26 •• 04:31:49