So what are your thoughts on the concept? Details on the new ASKAR V! www.sharpstar-optics.com/Products_1/75.html Preorder here: bit.ly/3GLuyR8 or bit.ly/3Imoq2M Support me on Patreon!: www.patreon.com/cuivlazygeek My EQUIPMENT ZWO AM5 Mount: bit.ly/3BAS8x5 or bit.ly/3JeVUkn iOptron CEM70:bit.ly/431Ii2U (successor of my mount) MiniGuideScope: bit.ly/3MyUJhn Celestron C6: bit.ly/3ocePVs Hyperstar C6: starizona.com/products/hyperstar-6 Mini Computer (newer version): amzn.to/3LQTgTJ and amzn.to/3K6x2vy Cable management: www.etsy.com/shop/SmartComponents Camera: aliexpress.com/item/4001359313736.html IDAS GNB filter: idas.uno/space/en/IDAS/gnb.htm Flocking paper/Felt paper: amzn.to/3zASgvu or amzn.to/3m94zwa
I love the concept. It gives far more options for framing and exposure. I plan on buying one for both my astrophotography and my astronomy outreach program. It also looks like it might be a good match for the ZWO AM3, whenever ZWO decides to release that new mount.
That's a great concept and implementation. Gets you quite a few wide field focal lengths. Even at it's longest f/7.5 isn't too bad. No, it's not terribly fast, and sure, there are options with more aperture, but I definitely think it's a good compromise. I might have to sell my GT81 and pick this up!
Looks very promising and very cool to have so many options in one telescope. I wonder though, can the dew shield come off the 80mm lense and be installed on the 60 ?
I believe the concept is sound especially when the added extender, flattener, reducers are all useful(definitely you'll need to do a battery of tests on the same target with each at each aperture). The overlap is minimal and while you could use the 60mm with the extender and see it as duplicating the 80mm that's really the only 'odd-man-out' scenario really. As long as each of these performs at the same high quality when swapped it's a win x 6. Here you're looking at an F/6 vs F/6.5 native so each of the 3 accessories should have enough tolerance to do well. Since you won't be shooting at full-frame we won't know if there are any issues outside of the APS-C frame. As I wouldn't expect constant swapping of aperture sets, the screw in concept is solid. Recall the old Pentax lenses were all screw on and they had far more often lens swapping than I'd expec the Askar would be 'asked' to undergo! Haha!. Perhaps the only thing I'd like to see engineered better is the Vixen dovetail holding system, making it attach from the top which would allow easy no-removal adjustment of the position on the dovetail.
The concept is extremely appealing, for a whole slew of obvious reasons. I'm very curious to see how well it performs and especially what it's like to live with for a while. Hopefully we get more reviews of it's use over the next few months.
If the quality of the optics across the focal range holds up this could be the bargain of the century for we astro geeks. I could sell my Redcat and my RVO Horizon 72ED and have all their capabilities and more in just one smart case. Another advantage would be only requiring one EAF permanently attached to the focuser. No more tearing down/rebuilding or dual purchase of EAF, Power box etc. 'Hello Santa is that you?
Haha I was thinking the same the Redcat I said I would never sell could be going up for sale after all! Can’t wait for the follow up video showing the results!
Great overview Cuiv! I first heard about this new concept scope by Askar Monday, so it's cool to see an overview already! Askar are fast becoming my favourite brand of imaging refractors; they think of everything and their fit and finish should make companies like Takahashi sweat.
Really interesting to see this scope Cuiv!! Looks like you've got a lot of work ahead testing out effectively 6 scopes now though, oh man!! Wishing you the clearest of skies!
As a professional photographer I love this scope. Having multiple focal lengths are a great advantage to seeing and photographing different size nebulas. Can't wait for additional videos. Great job Cuiv!
Great review… scopes and mount I’m currently using are all second hand.. I’ve watched a few reviews of the Askar V but I keep coming back to yours…I’m sold and ordered mine yesterday….first light coming soon 👍👍
Very interesting concept! Next week I‘ll go for the ASKAR 103 with all 3 Flatteners/Reducers… So I will get at least 3 scopes. Not exactly as flexible as the V but I will keep my RedCat51 for 250mm…
Thank you for yet another great presentation! I have an Askar V in my shopping cart, ready to buy but I've been hesitating because I cannot find a use case for the 60mm objective. But I do love the modular design! I am building a travel scope kit and I am looking for portability AND as much objective as possible. *IF* Askar offered a 110, 120mm objective option, then I think this scope would suddenly be extremely appealing because 80mm is useful for travel and 120 (or even more) would be useful for home viewing. The Askar V is beautiful... thank you for showing me, but I may actually purchase the SharpStar 94EDPH Premium APO S Triplet Refractor.
Looks super premium! The FL overlap between some of the options makes me think that the use case is for people that want to take it for trips as you said, I'm not seeing other use case for it. I own an Askar FRA400 and the build quality is really nice, so glad we have these not too expensive options! Thanks for the review!
I think we can call this the Swiss army knife of telescopes!! It looks a nice piece of kit & look forward to seeing the first 6 first lights!! Clear skies & good luck.
I can’t wait to see how it performs I was hoping for the “magic of RU-vid” and to be transported to PI with some results. Guess we will just have to wait! Keep the videos coming Cuiv!
I'm super excited about this scope! I'm ready to graduate from my budget 80mm ED doublet and this seems to give options similar to a super zoom for my D500 DSLR 🙂
It would be very handy for trips away to a dark site. Just throw in the whole case. If the optics are reasonable it's a versatile option at a decent price to give you essentially several scopes in one.
Man, I am geeking out super hard on this refractor! I love modular designs in tech and this is just a really cool idea. I do hope the final version has different colors. I'm not a big fan of white tubes, but I love the silver accent color. It would be nice if they included a built-in Bahtinov mask as well, but that's not a super big deal.
I have to hand it to Sharpstar/Askar - they are very innovative and creative, and their products are extremely well thought out!! That is such a cool scope. Let's see if they extend the concept and make larger, modular scopes. Yes, the machining of their scopes is really excellent. I was totally impressed with the quality and fit and finish of my 107PHQ, and the optics are excellent as well. Are the clouds and wind that come with the scope modular as well? 😋 You know, I thought the cover for my fine focuser knob on the 107PHQ was just for shipping and protection. Never thought to use it so cables don't get snagged! Duh!! Thanks for that, Cuiv. Great review!!! Love the design of that little scope. Dying to see how it performs when you test it out.
@@CuivTheLazyGeek See, I learned something else today! I've never heard of Borg (in my VERY limited experience) until you mentioned it and I looked them up! You're just a font of infogeekness. 😅 Thanks, Cuiv!
I think it's great having options, will I ever use all of them, maybe not but it is certainly nice knowing you can if you want. You provided fantastic info mate, thanks heaps. I am really looking forward to more videos with this scope.
Could be a game changer, this setup Cuiv, and the price, I think the price is amazing considering all the extras that come with the 'scope! Definitely good for the hobby, because us amateur Astro-nuts have been paying extortionate amounts of money for our gear for years! One example, last month I bought a simple metal adaptor for my guiding camera to fit directly to my SW 50mm finder scope, and it cost me £33 UK money ( almost $42 USA money ) with postage!? That's just for a simple piece of metal with a thread inside it!? Ridiculous!!?? So anything that helps us save some hard earned cash is definitely welcome! Awesome review Cuiv! Love the channel! Wes, Liverpool UK.( Bortle 9 )
What a great concept! Thanks for bringing it to our attention and doing a great job of giving us the overview. This scope looks like just what I was looking for in a small, high quality refractor. Can't wait to see the results of your images with this 'scope!
That's a sweet looking scope, I love the Askar scopes. I have the FRA 400 & 600... I avoid ZWO EAF, I use the Primaluce focuser and it goes on the fine tune side. It's about time someone puts a gauge for rotation. Not even my High end ota's done have that. You mentioned that the adapters are 48mm thread. I would prefer 54mm for use with full frame cameras
I love it..I was not sure about Askar but I took the plunge and according to advice from the Post Office my my new Askar 130 should be in my hands by lunch time...I already want one that you review in this video....just so many decent features...and I love the fact it has baffles of course.
Fascinating concept and a great review, thankyou, Cuiv. One thing concerns me maybe - the 60/80 internal adjusting tube changes length by screwing a thread but I can’t see that this had any form of lock to prevent inadvertent rotation and possibly a bit of a ‘wobbly’ joint? I probably worry too much but seems that in astrophotography making everything as rigid as possible is beneficial. Looking forward to the sky testing!
Great video Cuiv! I think no matter if it will be a success or not - I like the innovation! Especially with telescopes we do not see a lot of innovation and ZWO offering now rebranded Askar scopes as their big thing kind of proves my point.... So great Sharpstar for showing what real innovation looks like. On the downside as a photographer my experience is that the more complex a lens is, the lower the overall quality e.g. Zoom vs. fixed focal lengths.... So quite curious what your experience will be when shooting with them....
Congrats offered review by Asker!! So interesting design, but honestly with two diameter option, I assume most used backend is reducer for many people I would be appreciated extender is integrated similar to takahashi FOA-60Q so it can be used for both imaging and visual observation
I own two Askar ota's and as of right now I won't buy any other brand, they think of just about every option and part. The quality and function is exceptional!
Looks like a really good option, as a travelling scope it's a really great idea with dual lens option and the adaptors. I only recently bought the WO GT81 Mk IV, starting to wish I held off a bit longer! The GT 71/81 come with a focuser cap which threads on plus the 81 as of the Mk IV also comes with the indexed rotator as standard and optional accessory for the 71. I guess the only trade off is the ED glass against WO's FPL-53 but for around USD$120 more that really is good value considering what's in the box. Would love to see if that extender fits the GT.... 🤔
Being a geek myself...just the idea of this is exciting. As you said, I am not sure how many times you would change it, but it would be nice to have choices, and the ability to easily change to visual as well. I hope the clouds clear soon there (and here in FL as well). I look forward to seeing the 6 different results.
I almost dismissed the video saying "not another $3000 scope that I won't buy, but that price they are selling and including both flattener and reducer- I won't even mention the interchangeable main objective lens - this is very appealing! In comparison, people should look at the prices of various other scopes when you buy one and then realize that the flattener for it is not available or available at some ridiculous prices like $700. Or what if I don't want a reducer, but only flattener, and the telescope just don't have a simple flattener for it? I've seen that too. I don't think you can go wrong here. I also have a small Askar scope. I keep mixing it up with Sharpstar, but these 2 brands - Sharpstar and Askar are becoming my favorite ones lately, with high quality gear and well corrected lens.
60 with reducer, 80 with reducer, 80 with extender... I think those would be the 3 most common setups. Interesting scope. I can see this working for some.
@@CuivTheLazyGeek i can't leave a link but I pre-ordered from all-startelescope in Canada. My 2600mc pro will pair well with the higher focal lengths. What would be a good camera for the 270mm and up to the low 400mm FL? I just pray for round stars around the edges. I've struggled with the William Optics z73 reducer for too long.
Very cool idea. Can't wait to see some star field images and your judgement of it's performance. Doing many things just OK it's not as good as doing one or two things really well. That said... with a good modular design and high quality components it certainly could be the Swiss Army Knife of modern scopes!
Really interesting scope. Might be a great travel scope with that modularity. You can pack it in pieces in your carry on luggage and in your family's carry on luggage 😊 Who needs anything else, when they can just carry on some optical equipment...
Askar is doing a great job undercutting premium refractor brands in my opinion. All I'd love for them to do is make a copy of the vxd 100 f3.8 but for less money (maybe as much as their 600 model)
It looks like a very big challenge for you to thoroughly test each configuration to prove its value. Not a lazy behavior at all… Options are cool and I can see the geek out opportunity here. Would you Please address the back faucet issue. I’m trying to wrap my head around what’s necessary to have the full field Infocus in that regard. Thank you
Nice video Cuiv. Looking forward to your detailed review. Hopefully, you can explain some of the star shape graphs Askar provided on its website. Not sure I am reading them right.
Telling my wife - "Honey, it's like having a shoulder purse that can convert to a satchel and a tote in one! Isn't it cute?" May I get one for father's day?
That looks great! Always wondered why manufacturers do not make both flattener and flattener/reducer both for their OTAs. Seems a no brainer to me to give more options for FOV and being both a 60mm and 80mm makes it great and very flexible providing the correction by flattener and reducer provide pin point stars to the corners . Will be watching for actual use review especially field correction performance. Thanks for the video preview!
Another great video from the not so lazy geek LOL I quite like the idea of having one case with one OTA with 6 different lengths, ok you can do the same if you got all the right parts but, then you would end up with more parts sitting around taking up space that you may or may not use again. As other people have said could be a nice grab and go case, I could see it at a few star parties. I will admit when you test it out I would like to see you do the same target for the same amount of time, with the same camera. There are a lot of people just starting out that may only have one OTA and camera, and this one setup would give them more to choose from, plus I think it could show more of the problems with the system if you do less matching of the OTA/target/camera.
Cool. When Dwarflab was sending question form about what they will do next maybe I did sugested them more modular design too. Im not sure how much is possible but I have feeling this approach to astronomy telescope was not yet full explored and I would love to see what they can do with bigger budget :) .. for now Im upgrading my old wagly Celestron Powerseeker 80EQ but one day I would love to get something still transportable but more modular and automatic so its spared from human movement inflicting the view on larger magnification so much :) ... and also something more approchable ... optics is so hard subject ... too much math and physics :D
Really interesting, thank you for sharing Cuiv. Using Stelarium or similar software one can overlay all the FOV combinations of focal length and camera(s)
I use to have a Takahashi FS-60C which was also modular. With a reducer or extender it went between 270mm to 600mm. I found it a little pointless as although the 270mm was great and fast, the 600mm was not enough for galaxies.
ZWO/Sharpstar (ASKAR) Merger....? With ZWO bringing out scopes that look very similar to the ASKAR, the new 2600MC dual camera, and AM3 mount - perhaps this partnership is a possibility...
I had the idea of Dual Camera long time ago and it is nice to see that somebody thought the same, or somehow the idea got to the right person.😊 However, it is questionable if it can find star with the narrowband filter...
Askar sees they're going to have to compete with the new line of ZWO refractors, which are very similar. Notice that there's not a single bit of anodized red aluminum anywhere on it. I love how everyone is adding handles/finder brackets. That was a long time coming. Easy ergonomic thing that makes handling much more pleasant.
People always talk about the perfect "grab and go" scope and I think this is it. If the optics are even half-way decent, the versatility and light weight of this scope would be on the top of my list for a "grab and go" for both simple visual and some astrophotography. In a way, I hope it isn't any good because I will buy it otherwise.
80mm for dim deep sky 60mm for solar viewing You don't need a uv-ir reducing filter with apertures smaller than 70mm If you are using a quark or rear solar filter on a refractor greater than 70mm, the suns rays will be extremely hot and concentrated on the rear primary filter, hense why you'd want that uv/ir protection so you don't burn your solar filter.
This looks like a super nice scope! Thanks for telling us about it because I’d not heard about it before. The rotational angle scale is a nice feature (even my Esprit 150 doesn’t have this). I only have long FL scopes (1050 and 2350) but I’m now seriously tempted to buy this for larger targets as the price point is amazingly good! Very much looking forward to your optical tests. Not entirely sure why you would need a reducer without a flattener, but maybe visual astronomers would use that? I don’t know because I only do astrophotography
I could imagine if you have some other scopes already you might very well just set the Askar up in its mist useful combo to you, but if you only want one scope this could well be a winner.
This is very cool. But for me it would be 4 scopes in one. Not 6. It would only make sense to use the 60mm with the reducer. I would never use a 360mm f6 when I could build a 384mm f4.8. Or a 446mm f7.43 instead of the 495mm f6.18.
I initially came to the same conclusion, but because the 60mm configuration is smaller, it has some niche use in portability for hiking to dark sites. Only reason I can see using the 60mm w/flattener or extender
that focuser looks *veeeeerrrrryyyyy* similar to what the Svbony SV550 uses. Down to the use of a cap LOL. And that blower? That's for all the felt fuzz that the lining will shed over time loljk I'm not really a fan of that thick single telescope ring ie single point of failure. That swooping foot is probably an acquired taste (I like my scopes to look traditional) but eh, at least you won't need risers anymore. Given how similar the FL/f-ratio values are when you mix and match reducers/extenders and objectives, I think they could've gotten away with selling one or the other objective lens in the kit (and a smaller case, consequently), then the other objective as an add-on. But eh, what do I know - Askar most likely crunched the numbers and figured this approach is the best for them. Let's see. Love the small quality-of-life things like the built-in rotator, really long plate, and dew shield lock though. Wish it had a bit more red; y'all know red paint makes your rig go faster LOL Clear skies, clean, fuzz-free glass!
Sight for sore eyes 😍 The Swiss army knife of telescopes, wonder if the can keep up with the demand - it’s gping to be a super seller if the optics are top notch (why shouldn’t they)
Looking forward to it @@CuivTheLazyGeek. I’ve started planning how to tell my wife I need to increase my 2023 astro budget considerably - any good ideas how to get an easy acceptance? 😂
This is so cool! I’m in the market for both a ~60 and 80mm refractors, so maybe this will kill two birds with one stone! Askar is doing great in bringing fresh competition to the hobby and I’m all for it!
Looks like a beautiful scope. Seems like too many variations maybe? So if there is a field flattener provided and you can only use the other reducer or extender without the flattener , does that mean those two options don’t have a flat fields? The proof is in the imaging so i will be really interested to see your follow up video(s) of what the image quality is like. I’m liking what Askar are producing and love my Askar 65PHQ. Clear skies.
I should have been clearer, both reducer and extender also include flattening elements (as you'd expect for such a scope!). Optical results coming soon!
I think this might be more of a gimmick since people almost always choose the fastest speed unless they live under very good skies. Imaging time is a premium and the native focal ratio of this feels a bit slow. It would be much better if it's at least F/5.5 native so you get F/4.2 reduced and F/6.6 extended but I guess that would push price up at least 50%. For similar price I would rather get a 90mm with reducer. Yes I lose out on the very wide end but I would just use the 135mm in that case. I do like the case design with that cutout for permanently attached EAF. More manufacturers should do that.
Very interesting modukar design, and by the looks of it, very good mechanically. But - What kind of glass? Strehl ratio? How is the optical performance? Any info on that? /Daniel, Exo Photography
It is a cool concept but I would say that's too many options, do you really need 6 different configurations when most people will only use maybe 2-4? What would be nice is to see them sell it in a modular way, so you could buy the scope and one objective lens and then whatever accessories you think you need now with the option of expanding later, that is a much more appealing prospect than shelling out for more combinations than you'll probably ever have need for. Look forward to it's first light either way.
I agree that 6 is probably too many. I'm not so sure about the fully modular approach - Borg does that, and it ends up being super intimidating and niche! I never bought a Borg because I couldn't bother to find out how everything would fit together!
Hmm perhaps their marketing department will cook up a compromise like a couple different package deals or just make a clearer way to determine compatibility in a modular ecosystem.
Interesting scope. My only concerns would be about how well the threads hold up with use and how sensitive the optics are to exact positioning. If the reducer, for instance, isn't precisely set at 80 (or 60) or the objective isn't on as tight as possible does that throw the image off?
Quite a nice combination, like a Swiss army knife of optics. I wonder how well it performs optically and in astrophotography compared with conventional designs.
I did a quick check of their web site. I don't see any mention of exactly what glass types they use. I know I'm being fussy, but I'd like to know. The versatility and included accessories for this scope make it extremely attractive.
@@CuivTheLazyGeek my understanding is that synthetic fluorite (FPL glass???) and some LD glass can supposedly produce clearer more contrastier images. Such glass should also limit blue/violet fringing or out of focus blobs. If the glass can pass some near UV, it would open up the opportunity for using (probably just the 60mm) lens for UV flower photography... at a distance, of course. Versatility is good!
