• Nikon backing a lame astronomical horse

    From RichA@21:1/5 to All on Wed Sep 15 01:09:14 2021
    No point in going into why this is a scope for beginners, it just is. But I really hoped Nikon, looking for new revenue streams would have built their own kind of scope, they used to.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mountain Magpie@21:1/5 to All on Wed Sep 15 08:40:21 2021
    On Wed, 15 Sep 2021 01:09:14 -0700 (PDT), RichA posted:-

    No point in going into why this is a scope for beginners, it just is.
    But I really hoped Nikon, looking for new revenue streams would have
    built their own kind of scope, they used to.

    Link?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From RichA@21:1/5 to Mountain Magpie on Wed Sep 15 22:10:19 2021
    On Wednesday, 15 September 2021 at 04:44:41 UTC-4, Mountain Magpie wrote:
    On Wed, 15 Sep 2021 01:09:14 -0700 (PDT), RichA posted:-
    No point in going into why this is a scope for beginners, it just is.
    But I really hoped Nikon, looking for new revenue streams would have
    built their own kind of scope, they used to.
    Link?

    https://petapixel.com/2021/09/14/unistellar-and-nikon-unveil-the-evscope-2-digital-telescope-camera/

    Normal cheap Chinese 80mm triplet lens worth in a normal scope form about $900. In their scope, it's $4000.
    They are releasing a 50mm aperture version for $1700.00. 50mm is about the same aperture as a regular telescope's FINDER scope, the little widefield scope on
    the side of normal telescopes used to initially locate the object.
    These are toys, basically. A grubby little sensor that produces "modest" output. This is really a toy. Or, good for astronomy "outreach" showing the public the sights, just no looking at them directly since
    this is just an imaging scope. The only thing you could use it for maybe is a remote supernova or comet search, but I wouldn't count
    on its drive-system being robust enough for that.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Eric Stevens@21:1/5 to All on Sat Sep 18 12:30:50 2021
    On Wed, 15 Sep 2021 22:10:19 -0700 (PDT), RichA <rander3128@gmail.com>
    wrote:

    On Wednesday, 15 September 2021 at 04:44:41 UTC-4, Mountain Magpie wrote:
    On Wed, 15 Sep 2021 01:09:14 -0700 (PDT), RichA posted:-
    No point in going into why this is a scope for beginners, it just is.
    But I really hoped Nikon, looking for new revenue streams would have
    built their own kind of scope, they used to.
    Link?

    https://petapixel.com/2021/09/14/unistellar-and-nikon-unveil-the-evscope-2-digital-telescope-camera/

    Normal cheap Chinese 80mm triplet lens worth in a normal scope form about $900. In their scope, it's $4000.
    They are releasing a 50mm aperture version for $1700.00. 50mm is about the same aperture as a regular telescope's FINDER scope, the little widefield scope on
    the side of normal telescopes used to initially locate the object.
    These are toys, basically. A grubby little sensor that produces "modest" output. This is really a toy. Or, good for astronomy "outreach" showing the public the sights, just no looking at them directly since
    this is just an imaging scope. The only thing you could use it for maybe is a remote supernova or comet search, but I wouldn't count
    on its drive-system being robust enough for that.

    Having read the Petapixel article comments I have concluded that the
    majority of the critics are judging the Unistellar by exactly the same
    criteria that they would use for the conventional gear. Only a few
    have recognized what it does differently and better than the other
    gear on the market. I suspect that the Unistellar and others like it
    will become a small but significant force to be reckoned with.
    --

    Regards,

    Eric Stevens

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From RichA@21:1/5 to Eric Stevens on Thu Sep 23 20:08:34 2021
    On Friday, 17 September 2021 at 20:30:56 UTC-4, Eric Stevens wrote:
    On Wed, 15 Sep 2021 22:10:19 -0700 (PDT), RichA <rande...@gmail.com>
    wrote:
    On Wednesday, 15 September 2021 at 04:44:41 UTC-4, Mountain Magpie wrote:
    On Wed, 15 Sep 2021 01:09:14 -0700 (PDT), RichA posted:-
    No point in going into why this is a scope for beginners, it just is.
    But I really hoped Nikon, looking for new revenue streams would have
    built their own kind of scope, they used to.
    Link?

    https://petapixel.com/2021/09/14/unistellar-and-nikon-unveil-the-evscope-2-digital-telescope-camera/

    Normal cheap Chinese 80mm triplet lens worth in a normal scope form about $900. In their scope, it's $4000.
    They are releasing a 50mm aperture version for $1700.00. 50mm is about the same aperture as a regular telescope's FINDER scope, the little widefield scope on
    the side of normal telescopes used to initially locate the object.
    These are toys, basically. A grubby little sensor that produces "modest" output. This is really a toy. Or, good for astronomy "outreach" showing the public the sights, just no looking at them directly since
    this is just an imaging scope. The only thing you could use it for maybe is a remote supernova or comet search, but I wouldn't count
    on its drive-system being robust enough for that.

    Having read the Petapixel article comments I have concluded that the
    majority of the critics are judging the Unistellar by exactly the same criteria that they would use for the conventional gear. Only a few
    have recognized what it does differently and better than the other
    gear on the market. I suspect that the Unistellar and others like it
    will become a small but significant force to be reckoned with.
    --

    Regards,

    Eric Stevens

    Only if lazy mouth-breathers with money become a part of the market.
    I can see a couple things that the $53,000 six inch version could do, like supernova searches, but only if the mechanism is very robust.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)