Thanks Pat! I'm liking it a lot so far! I wish the moon wasn't so full while using it though hahaha. I'm excited to see what I capture in broadband later in the month.
Excellent review Joe. That scope looks like a real winner based on your image. I kind of like the monster mount with small scope look. You can probably image in a hurricane and it would not affect the guiding... Cheers Kurt
Vert nice review Joe. It's nice to see the quality of Askar, as I am thinking about getting their FMA 180 for very widefield views. Great resultant image too.
Very nice Joe, my favourite colour too. Looked lost on the mount. Great review, you sounded so exited to start using it. I have used my RedCat51 and Zenithstar61 on my Star Adventurer so I would imagin this would work fine on a star tracker like that. Looks like a really nice scope and a beautiful final image, one of the best Elephant trunk images I have seen. Take it easy mate and hope you get more clear skies to have some more fun with the scope !
Thanks so much Ben! If I get any clear skies, my plan is to use it on the EQ6 next as I'm wanting to work another project with my other scope on the CEM120. I don't have a star tracker, but I'm sure it would handle this scope with ease.
Oh no don't do that I'm as dull as dishwater ha ha, seriously I need to be more engaging I guess but don't know where to start, we are going away in a few weeks though so may do a video on that as there's a target I want to go for which is very difficult to get in the UK.
That’s awesome Joe! So glad you like that scope, I’ve got the Askar 400 still on order from the Astronomy show I went to back in March! Still not in stock yet! Russell has the 400 and he really likes his! It did look a bit overkill on that massive mount of yours🤣 Absolutely lovely image mate👍Clear skies Joe
Great looking purchase Joe I constantly hear great things about those Askar scopes, they look well out together. My 80mm refractor is still one of my favorite scopes this focal length is so great for certain DSOs. Clear skies and great image!
It's a great image there at the end. I thought the mount was kind of big. Like taking a semi truck and trailer to go grocery shopping, but I get why though.
That’s a great image. I’m getting the fra 300 but don’t understand how to set up . I’m assuming the camera attaches to the guide scope …and plugs to the mount to guide to where the nebula is located?
Thanks and congrats on scope! It’s really nice! You’re close on the setup. The main camera attaches to the scope for imagine. The software you use will talk to your mount and “go to” the target. From there you “plate solve” to get centered on the target. The guide scope is separate and you’ll need a separate camera for it as well. The guide scope is used to send corrections to your mount for better tracking and dithering. Hope that helps some, it’s a very high learning curve, but very doable by anyone.
Great job Joe. Looks a nice little scope that even if it looked lost on your beast of a mount. I’m waiting for Planewave to ask before I review any scopes 😳😂😂😂
That is a great little scope... mount may have been overkill :) haha. but I'm sure you coulda run that thing in 50 MPH winds. Hats off to OPT for giving you the opportunity to give a review on the scope. CS.
Excellent review of the scope and your setup. I use the extra small saddle to mount my ASIAir Plus. That helps contain all the cables except the power cable. Thanks for sharing the superb image of Elephant Trunk nebula. Very nice 👍.
Hey Joe....another great video. I almost bought one but due to budget constraints I had to go with a used WO Z61. I'm in the same boat with a small scope and big mount. I'm going to be testing it on my CGEM mount hopefully tomorrow night. Keep up with the awesome vids bro!
@@JoesAstrophoto Aaah thanks, I've been looking for a widefield scope, i've got the 1600mm (very close in pixel size to the 2600mm) and I saw it was slight undersampled on my 1600mm so I was wondering how you managed to get the detail in the image. Great work!
@@JoesAstrophoto WIll do, 1st thing I need to fix now is my mount. My NEQ6 is acting up and giving me poor guiding (last night the dec jumped to 40" RMS error, from an good 0.8" earlier in the night). When I know who i'm buying one from and figure our how much the shipping is going to kill me (living in a country with no astro shops sucks a bit, but we have great seeing and some easy to get to dark skies) then I'll look and see if they have this scope as well
Cool little Scope joe. I bet It would Be Nice To use This For Some Wild Life Photography and Nature As Well? I mean it looks Cool for Astro on Big Nebula and Widefield stuff. But I really Love Thinking These small Refractors as Good Lenses! Have Fun with it!
Just stumbled over your video which is very helpful. What do you think about the robustness of the mounting foot and mounting ring? How many screws are used to attach it to the dovetail and which size are the screws (M6, 1/4"?)? Are the used holes side by side or behind each other? Many thanks in advance.
Hi Mr. F, my apologies, but I really don't remember. IT was a while ago and I only had the scope about a month. I thought it was a great scope, but I usually remove vixen dovetails in favor of losmandy style dovetails on both my EQ6 and 120
I just got a 70mm nikon lens attached to qhy filter wheel with 178mm cooled to fit the whole elephant nebula too. The stars at the edges are not round off course but the center looks good. I hope my picture looks aa good as yours. What exposure times were you using for each frame? Good job and thanks.
Sounds like you will have a really wide FOV, which should be great this time of year. I was using 10 minute subs. That’s my go to exposure time for narrowband.
Great image Joe - looks like a great scope but I think you need a bigger mount lol. So my big question is how are the stars out at the corners? As you know, I have the Redcat51 and despite being sent back for "repair" due to the wonky stars, it's still not as good as I would like and I still have to crop away some of an image to get rid of those elongated stars.
Thanks Logan, the stars are in the upper right corner seem ever so slightly elongated, but I am being super picky. Also, not sure if there isn't some tilt in the train some place so I didn't mention it in the video. I plan on testing much more though and will report back anything wonky.
really tempted by the 400mm version of this. still torn between the askar 400, sharpstar 76edph and the William optics gt71. I really have to settle on one soon before astro darkness returns.
Thanks Anthony! After using this Askar and owning a WO Z81, I can tell you that you won't regret owning either of them. If you haven't already seen it, Russell from Russell's Astrophotography did a great video in the 400 as well.
@@anthonyexmouth I can't speak for the 400 as I've never tried that one before, but the 300 seems very flat from edge to edge with the APS-C size sensor I was using. Don't have a full frame sensor to test with unfortunately. Also, I'm using mono and only shot the 300 in narrowband so I can't say exactly on the color correction. I know when shooting on the Z81 (doublet), I do see a very small chromatic aberration when combining RGB data, but you mentioned the GT71 which would be a triplet. The only thing I can think that may sway your decision one way or the other is that Askar doesn't list what type of glass their ED element is, but WO lists theirs as FPL53. I don't know if that matters to you or even makes a huge difference in a practical world, but that's all I can think of that would make me look a little stronger at the WO offering. Don't forget though, with the WO GT81, you still need a good flattener as well to pair with it.
@@JoesAstrophoto I think what draws me to the askar is the fact you don't have to faff around getting back focus perfect. I'll be using a micro 4/3rds sensor so should be even better as I'll be using less of whole available image circle. Just gotta wait for them to come back into stock locally.
Thanks Neil! I've been thinking about going back to using some lenses again, but I don't have any step down aperture rings and I didn't like the star shapes without them.
Looks like an awesome scope. I love my Askar FRA 400, its a fantastic scope, so well made and delivers awesome images. Do you think you will end up purchasing this? Love the final image of the elephants trunk, such great framing and detail.
Good question, I’m not sure to be honest and I no longer have access to the scope. According to Askar, the internal OTA is blackened to avoid reflection, but doesn’t give additional details. Sorry I can’t be of more help on this one.
Hahahaha Jonny! It does actually look quite comical and it's even tiny looking on the EQ6, but so far I'm really liking the results I'm getting especially for such a bright moon. If I still have it with clear skies and no moon, I'll have it on the EQ6 to try and get some Rho O shots.
Thank you Joe. It seems to be really à dream scope !
Thanks radio! I enjoyed using it and liked the images I was getting from it. It's not a Tak or a Stellarvue, but I think it's amazing for the cost.
Hi Joe,
That appears to be a super fine scope ... crystal clear images. The SHO of the Elephant looks amazing
Thanks Pat! I'm liking it a lot so far! I wish the moon wasn't so full while using it though hahaha. I'm excited to see what I capture in broadband later in the month.
Looks a great little scope and a cracking capture Joe!
Thanks Dave, much appreciated!
Nice video, Joe. This is a neat little scope--it gave me a chuckle to think about mounting it on the CEM 120!
Thanks so much Matt! It's kind of funny to see in person. It looks like the mount is eating the telescope hahaha
@@JoesAstrophoto Ha! It really does!
Excellent review Joe. That scope looks like a real winner based on your image. I kind of like the monster mount with small scope look. You can probably image in a hurricane and it would not affect the guiding... Cheers Kurt
Thanks Kurt! The scope is performing pretty nice so far. It does look a bit comical in person to see the little scope on a huge mount lol
Great video Joe looks like a good small scope, thanks for sharing your thoughts
Thanks so much Anthony, seems great so far.
Vert nice review Joe. It's nice to see the quality of Askar, as I am thinking about getting their FMA 180 for very widefield views. Great resultant image too.
Thanks so much John! I think Cuiv had a review on that one if I remember correctly.
@@JoesAstrophoto ooh, I'll check that out, thanks 😊
Very nice Joe, my favourite colour too.
Looked lost on the mount. Great review, you sounded so exited to start using it. I have used my RedCat51 and Zenithstar61 on my Star Adventurer so I would imagin this would work fine on a star tracker like that.
Looks like a really nice scope and a beautiful final image, one of the best Elephant trunk images I have seen.
Take it easy mate and hope you get more clear skies to have some more fun with the scope !
Thanks so much Ben! If I get any clear skies, my plan is to use it on the EQ6 next as I'm wanting to work another project with my other scope on the CEM120. I don't have a star tracker, but I'm sure it would handle this scope with ease.
@@JoesAstrophoto Double the fun. Can't wait to see it all mate!
Nice final shot. The FRA 300 looks pretty good. :)
Thanks James! I'm really enjoying it so far.
Nice little scope that Joe certainly packs a punch & a great image at the end to.
Thanks so much DDO! I just found your channel as well. Going to watch a few of your vids.
Oh no don't do that I'm as dull as dishwater ha ha, seriously I need to be more engaging I guess but don't know where to start, we are going away in a few weeks though so may do a video on that as there's a target I want to go for which is very difficult to get in the UK.
@@dumpydalekobservatory Good luck!
Thanks Joe
That’s awesome Joe! So glad you like that scope, I’ve got the Askar 400 still on order from the Astronomy show I went to back in March! Still not in stock yet! Russell has the 400 and he really likes his! It did look a bit overkill on that massive mount of yours🤣 Absolutely lovely image mate👍Clear skies Joe
Thanks Simon! Looking forward to seeing what you get with your 400 as well!
Just got mine - now just waiting for the rain to stop!
Congrats Kevin! It's a great little scope. I hear ya about the weather, I still haven't had a chance to image since I recorded this video.
Thank you for such an amazing image and sharing your vast knowledge great video
Thanks for the kind comment SMO!
Great looking purchase Joe I constantly hear great things about those Askar scopes, they look well out together. My 80mm refractor is still one of my favorite scopes this focal length is so great for certain DSOs. Clear skies and great image!
Thanks Ollie, but I don’t really own the scope, at least not yet lol
@@JoesAstrophoto .... Yet ? I reckon could be in your future 😉
It's a great image there at the end. I thought the mount was kind of big. Like taking a semi truck and trailer to go grocery shopping, but I get why though.
Thanks Michael! I like that analogy lol
That’s a great image. I’m getting the fra 300 but don’t understand how to set up . I’m assuming the camera attaches to the guide scope …and plugs to the mount to guide to where the nebula is located?
Thanks and congrats on scope! It’s really nice! You’re close on the setup. The main camera attaches to the scope for imagine. The software you use will talk to your mount and “go to” the target. From there you “plate solve” to get centered on the target. The guide scope is separate and you’ll need a separate camera for it as well. The guide scope is used to send corrections to your mount for better tracking and dithering. Hope that helps some, it’s a very high learning curve, but very doable by anyone.
Great job Joe. Looks a nice little scope that even if it looked lost on your beast of a mount. I’m waiting for Planewave to ask before I review any scopes 😳😂😂😂
Hahaha thanks Glenn! I'd love to see your Planewave sponsored CDK scope video! I might even come visit you and "help" out.
Thanks so much for this great review! Which version of EAF ZWO did you use?? Does it match the FRA300 easily?
Thanks Aleix! I was using the 5v version. It literally took me less than 5 minutes to attach the ZWO EAF. Thanks for watching, it’s much appreciated!
Joe ,that is one of the best I have seen from you..... It looks like you may be buying a used scope ...
Thanks so much Steve! I'm seriously thinking about it lol
That is a great little scope... mount may have been overkill :) haha. but I'm sure you coulda run that thing in 50 MPH winds. Hats off to OPT for giving you the opportunity to give a review on the scope. CS.
Thanks Jason! It's kinda funny to see in person too, but it's working amazingly well. I'm very grateful for the opportunity for sure!
Excellent review of the scope and your setup. I use the extra small saddle to mount my ASIAir Plus. That helps contain all the cables except the power cable. Thanks for sharing the superb image of Elephant Trunk nebula. Very nice 👍.
Thanks so much AC! It was a nice touch to add that mini saddle.
Excellent capture
Thank you Mike!
Hey Joe....another great video. I almost bought one but due to budget constraints I had to go with a used WO Z61. I'm in the same boat with a small scope and big mount. I'm going to be testing it on my CGEM mount hopefully tomorrow night. Keep up with the awesome vids bro!
Thanks Everette! Grats on the new scope, as you know I also love WO scopes and I’m sure you’ll love that Z61.
Which camera did you use with this scope? The final image looks amazing
Thanks Wayne! I used the 2600MM Pro and drizzled the data when I stacked it due to the slight undersampling.
@@JoesAstrophoto Aaah thanks, I've been looking for a widefield scope, i've got the 1600mm (very close in pixel size to the 2600mm) and I saw it was slight undersampled on my 1600mm so I was wondering how you managed to get the detail in the image. Great work!
@@MethiasZa Thanks Wayne! Let me know if you pick one of these up.
@@JoesAstrophoto WIll do, 1st thing I need to fix now is my mount. My NEQ6 is acting up and giving me poor guiding (last night the dec jumped to 40" RMS error, from an good 0.8" earlier in the night). When I know who i'm buying one from and figure our how much the shipping is going to kill me (living in a country with no astro shops sucks a bit, but we have great seeing and some easy to get to dark skies) then I'll look and see if they have this scope as well
Cool little Scope joe. I bet It would Be Nice To use This For Some Wild Life Photography and Nature As Well? I mean it looks Cool for Astro on Big Nebula and Widefield stuff. But I really Love Thinking These small Refractors as Good Lenses! Have Fun with it!
Thanks Avanteesh! It does weigh less than my birding lens actually hahaha
Just stumbled over your video which is very helpful. What do you think about the robustness of the mounting foot and mounting ring? How many screws are used to attach it to the dovetail and which size are the screws (M6, 1/4"?)? Are the used holes side by side or behind each other? Many thanks in advance.
Hi Mr. F, my apologies, but I really don't remember. IT was a while ago and I only had the scope about a month. I thought it was a great scope, but I usually remove vixen dovetails in favor of losmandy style dovetails on both my EQ6 and 120
I see. Many thanks for your fast answer and clear skies.
I just got a 70mm nikon lens attached to qhy filter wheel with 178mm cooled to fit the whole elephant nebula too. The stars at the edges are not round off course but the center looks good. I hope my picture looks aa good as yours. What exposure times were you using for each frame? Good job and thanks.
Sounds like you will have a really wide FOV, which should be great this time of year. I was using 10 minute subs. That’s my go to exposure time for narrowband.
Great image Joe - looks like a great scope but I think you need a bigger mount lol. So my big question is how are the stars out at the corners? As you know, I have the Redcat51 and despite being sent back for "repair" due to the wonky stars, it's still not as good as I would like and I still have to crop away some of an image to get rid of those elongated stars.
Thanks Logan, the stars are in the upper right corner seem ever so slightly elongated, but I am being super picky. Also, not sure if there isn't some tilt in the train some place so I didn't mention it in the video. I plan on testing much more though and will report back anything wonky.
@@JoesAstrophoto Ok good to know. Will be interested in any update as i am thinking of replacing the Redcat with something that has a flatter field.
really tempted by the 400mm version of this. still torn between the askar 400, sharpstar 76edph and the William optics gt71. I really have to settle on one soon before astro darkness returns.
Thanks Anthony! After using this Askar and owning a WO Z81, I can tell you that you won't regret owning either of them. If you haven't already seen it, Russell from Russell's Astrophotography did a great video in the 400 as well.
@@JoesAstrophoto yeah, I chatted to him about it. Is the field as flat as the marketing says? What's the colour correction like?
@@anthonyexmouth I can't speak for the 400 as I've never tried that one before, but the 300 seems very flat from edge to edge with the APS-C size sensor I was using. Don't have a full frame sensor to test with unfortunately. Also, I'm using mono and only shot the 300 in narrowband so I can't say exactly on the color correction. I know when shooting on the Z81 (doublet), I do see a very small chromatic aberration when combining RGB data, but you mentioned the GT71 which would be a triplet. The only thing I can think that may sway your decision one way or the other is that Askar doesn't list what type of glass their ED element is, but WO lists theirs as FPL53. I don't know if that matters to you or even makes a huge difference in a practical world, but that's all I can think of that would make me look a little stronger at the WO offering. Don't forget though, with the WO GT81, you still need a good flattener as well to pair with it.
@@JoesAstrophoto I think what draws me to the askar is the fact you don't have to faff around getting back focus perfect. I'll be using a micro 4/3rds sensor so should be even better as I'll be using less of whole available image circle. Just gotta wait for them to come back into stock locally.
@@anthonyexmouth Good luck Anthony, hopefully they'll be back in stock soon and I agree, the back focus thing is super nice after just testing it out.
That looks really good Joe. I’ve been messing around with a 135mm lens on a 2600MC but quickly losing interest in it!
Thanks Neil! I've been thinking about going back to using some lenses again, but I don't have any step down aperture rings and I didn't like the star shapes without them.
@@JoesAstrophoto you can get a set those for $10 on Amazon
Thanks Neil, I'll have to order some before the Fall targets come around again.
Looks like an awesome scope. I love my Askar FRA 400, its a fantastic scope, so well made and delivers awesome images. Do you think you will end up purchasing this? Love the final image of the elephants trunk, such great framing and detail.
Thanks Russell, I’ll most likely end up buying one, but I’ll have to find something else to sell first lol
any baffels to avoid refleaction?
Good question, I’m not sure to be honest and I no longer have access to the scope. According to Askar, the internal OTA is blackened to avoid reflection, but doesn’t give additional details. Sorry I can’t be of more help on this one.
Nice telescope :)
Thanks! I’m liking it so far, will most likely buy one after the 30 days is up.
Wow
Holy fuckin shit look at the size of that mount! 😅
It’s totally wicked!!
Show 🔭🌞
Thanks Ana, I'm planning on trying out some solar soon actually.
@@JoesAstrophoto🤩🌞🔭
300mm scope on a CEM120. ROFL! I don't think I've ever said this, but I think you're a tad over-mounted.... HAHAHA
Hahahaha Jonny! It does actually look quite comical and it's even tiny looking on the EQ6, but so far I'm really liking the results I'm getting especially for such a bright moon. If I still have it with clear skies and no moon, I'll have it on the EQ6 to try and get some Rho O shots.