Sky-Watcher Skymax AZ Pronto Telescope Review
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 พ.ค. 2019
- Today we look at the Skywatcher Skymax102 AZ Pronto kindly loaned to me by First Light Optics:
Sky-watcher AZ Pronto Skymax 102 www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-...
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Please excuse the video compression artefact, I'm looking into why it's so bad? It's not pretty if you go full screen that's for sure lol
Thanks for sharing. Very easy to understand.
Cheers Fred, glad you liked it :)
Nice presentation, not a bad scope for a START. Thanks for sharing 👍
Thanks Tom, A beginner could do much worse I feel. I'm looking forward to seeing what else First Light Optics will kindly send me to play with :)
@@AstroLaVista
Looking forward cheers mate
No collimation screws with this model, which is odd.
That is so weird!
I use the exact same Tripod for my Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Pro, and I haven't got any of those problems with it. :o
I am very happy with it so far.
No scratches, not at all wobbly, ...
I have been using it for about 7 months now.
That's good to hear! QA can be really hit and miss at this level I think. From memory my example had metal shavings in the twist lock mechanisms which scraped along the paint work every time I extended the legs! Obviously not ideal but I know this won't be the case for all these tripods that come out of the Synta factory. The SA mount is a fab mount for the price, glad you're happy with it, I was with the one I reviewed :)
Love the lego tyre mod.
Haha thanks, it's one less piece of the kids Lego on the floor to tread on :D
Hi DIY - wanted to see if you had any further comments on the Skywatcher Mak 102? I was thinking of getting one. Also where do you get a due shield from?
Hi Yogi. I actually have a video on how to make a dew shield, just click on my thumbnail and have a browse through my video library to find it. Either that or you can buy one online from your regional astronomy retailer. I use First Light Optics in the UK and maybe Google Astrozap dew shields. All I can say about Maksutov telescopes is that they excel at planetary and Lunar observing and imaging, and are also pretty good at obsersing globular clusters and splitting double stars :)
Excellent and very comprehensive review of this Telescope. I was wondering if you would know what the back focus for this telescope is? I have tried asking several people including sky watcher, and nobody seems to have an answer. I am trying to mount a camera on the back of this telescope but can't seem to find the proper back focus. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again for sharing a great video.
Thanks :) Well Maksutov's and SCT's focus by moving the primary mirror up and down the tube so it has a large range of focus rather then a specific point out the back where it reaches focus. I've never not managed to reach focus with SCT's and Mak's so I honestly don't think you need to worry about this :) Unless I'm getting the wrong end of the stick and you mean something else?
Pretty nice telescope for beginners ☺👍:)
I was impressed, well apart from a couple of issues with the tripod.
Nice Review!
Thanks Ray. I was just about to click on your Drizzle video when you replied! lol
@@AstroLaVista Oops. Sorry go ahead. LOL
@@RaysAstrophotographyJust thought it was a coincidence :) p.s. Very nice M101 considering the Moon was out in full force.
Do you have any experience with 90mm Maks? I'm looking to buy my first scope, and since portability is really important for me, I'm conflicted about what to decide in portability vs. aperture, and also an AZ mount like this one vs a dob.
Great video!
Yes I owned a Meade ETX90 Maksutov for several years a number of years back. They are very portable, hold collimation well, and are ideal for the Moon, planets and splitting double star systems. I know it sounds obvious to say, but there is always a trade off between aperture and portability, and even the most seasoned amateur astronomers wrestle with this dilemma. Basically smaller lighter telescopes are often used more often because they are easy to move around and setup, plus the optics cool down quickly. Large telescopes will show you more deep sky objects in more detail, and will resolve more detail on the planets and the Moon, but they can be a chore to setup, they are not very portable, and to get the best views you need to wait a while for the optics to cool and for tube currents to stabilise. Large scopes can give the wow factor but not as often because as said they can be a pain to setup both physically and time wise. You'll need to decide where the cut off point is for yourself? For some it's a 90mm scope, for others it's an 8" or even a 12" Dob.
As for tripod verses Dob mount. If you're looking at a portable scope, it's likely to be a mini Dob so you'll need a table or chair to place it on. You can extend a tripod based AZ mount to suit your observing height more easily. Dob bases are cheaper, and generally more stable, and AZ's have slow motion controls. As you can see they both have pros and cons.
What objects in space are you most interesting in viewing? This might help me nudge you one way or the other :)
@@AstroLaVista thank you so much for this answer! It's so good to hear that even veterans have the same struggle haha!
As I am completely new, I will probably start out with observing the moon and planets, but would of course also love to look at DSOs! However, I haven't read into what "kind" of objects exist and what they are yet (nebulas, double stars, other galaxies, etc), how observable they are, and so on.
But I guess it's easiest to start with the planets?
@@alexanderandersen175 The Moon and planets are an excellent place to start as you can see rewarding detail even from the most light polluted skies. For the Moon and planets a Mak is an excellent choice because they have a lot of focal length (which translates into more magnification for a given eyepiece) and they don't show chromatic aberration on bright objects like budget refractors do. You can still see some of the brighter DSO's with a small Mak such as the Orion nebula, the ring and dumbbell nebulae M57 and M27, and globular clusters like M13 and M3, and galaxies such as Andromeda and M81 and M82. Visually galaxies and nebula can just look like grey smudges unless you have really dark skies and a large aperture telescope in which case you can see some exciting detail. This is why a lot of people get into imaging of DSO's because it brings out the colour and detail, plus you can put your own unique artistic slant on an image with how you process the data i.e. the colour balance, framing, and how much you push the sharpening. For DSO imaging you would need a 'faster' scope around f5 such as a Newtonian or a small ED refractor on an Equatorial mount that tracks with the rotation of the Earth. Planetary and lunar imaging is also exciting and you can do this with a Mak and basic tracking mount plus a modified webcam. I show how to modify a cheap webcam in one of my videos if you're interested. I would also recommend becoming a member of an Astronomy Forum such as Stargazers Lounge, here you have access to the knowledge of all the worlds amateur astronomers and you can ask any questions you like on there and get a good range of answers :)
Hi, I was wondering if this telescope uses a compression ring visual back to attach eyepieces/ equipment or is it the two regular thumb screws that hold items in place? Does the larger SW127 mak also have the same visual back thumb screws? What is the cooldown time needed so that you can get great planetary views for this or SW127? In this video the moon looks like it has a blue tinge, did you use a blue contrast filter here, or was it just the camera? Thanks!
Hi, both models have thumb screws and no brass compression rings for the visual back. it was a few years ago when I made this video so I can't remember about the cool down exactly but the smaller the Mak the faster it will cool. I had a 6" Mak briefly years ago that was hard work in terms of cooling, but you should be fine with the 127mm and below. I've re-watched the video to see the Moon footage and can't see any chromatic aberration/blue colour fringing, but you can set the colour balance to various setting on cameras e.g. daylight, Tungsten etc therefore the overall colour balance will depend on these settings. Viewing through an eyepiece would be more neutral and not quite the same as when filmed with a camera. No filter was used.
@@AstroLaVista Thanks for clearing that up. Guess it must have been a color balance camera setting maybe.
Great video! I have the same set up but there is a problem with the right ascension control on the mount. There is a signigicant amount of play when making adjustments on that axis. Is ther a way to fix this? I am about to take it apart and see what is going on with the worm gear. Cheers!
Thanks Dirk, I was only loaned the scope for a few weeks to test out and review and that was a few years ago now, however I would hope there is some adjustment on the gear meshing, there is with many mounts. I hope you manage to sort it out, I remember it being a very nice light weight yet powerful scope :)
Which one better celestron c90 or skywatcher skymax az 102?
102
Thank you.
Just use a heated strip.
Using trees to demonstrate the rigidity of a tripod isn't a great idea.....trees move in the wind 🙂