@@mrtambourineman6107 I have only used the SVBony MK105 for visual observations so far. I have nothing to report on imaging. FYI, I use the ZWO AM5 mount for astrophotography. I have published several videos showing the AM5 on my RU-vid channel at Astrophotography Japan (@jpastroguy).
I am actually running 2 of these scopes with the reducer/flattener side by side on a Warpastron WD-17s. They are really really nice scopes for the price point.
I have the SV503ED/80 and field flattener. It just has to be one of the very best budget ED doublets out there. I love the buttery-smooth R&P focuser and sharp optics. It's a great grab & go scope. I've owned mine for about a year. I'm SO glad I bought it.
It's a great scope for the money. It could benefit from a field flattener. But all-in-all, you will love it. Now, just hope for clear skies. You know the rule ... New equipment ... nights of clouds arriving at the same time. Well, let's hope not.
Nice rundown on what appears to be a great beginner scope, especially for the price. I’m glad to see you survived the Hurricane and are back to clear skies.
Hi Logan, Yes, the hurricane passed far enough to the east of us where we didn't get any damage, just a little bit of rain (which my gardend loved). I do have all three rigs up and ready to go ... as soon as this moon gets out of the way.
Hi Mike, Thanks for watching my video. Yes, it's a nice little scope. A field flattener or an 0.8x reducer/fattener will greatly aid the value of the scope
Interesting video. One question- A 80 mm ED / APO costs more than a Bresser 127/1200 mm f9.4 achromat (400$). But which one is better for normal observations (not astrophotography)? I guess that because of the much bigger aperture the 127/1200 mm should be better. I don’t know which one to buy. I would really appreciate your opinion :). Unfortunately there are practically no comparison videos on RU-vid between an achromat and APO at similar prices. Thank you!
Well, if you are just going to use the scope for observation, the less expensive one should be fine. Higher-grade glass and multiple lens combinations are required for good astrophotography. The reason the 80mm cost more is because it incorporates 2 lenses, if it is a dual and 3 lenses if it is a triplet. There are even quadruplets and quintuplet lens combinations which correct for the color aberration of the light passing through the glass and to smooth out the edges of the optical view.
I need to start stargazing again. I miss it so much. But I should watch carefully. One time, I saw flashing white lights in the sky that fills the sky but for only a second. Or maybe I was stressed and was seeing things. Could be one of those 2. The photos are amazing and I want buy one myself if I have the dough.
Hi Tim, You might have seen an incoming large meteor or vaporizing space junk. They only last for a second or two in most cases. This is a good starter scope but you would need a mount for it. At the price quoted it only includes the telecope and the mounting rings/dovetail.
Great review Pat! Seems like a really nice scope and at a good price! Certainly a good Choice for someone wanting to get into astrophotography 👍 Clear skies!
Hi Simon, Yes,it is a nice scope and great for beginners and intermediate astrophotographers. Thank you for watching my video. I hope you are getting some good October clear nighttime skies.
Hi Jason, Yes, I was rather impressed with it ... definitely needs a field flattener unless you crop out the outher 1/4 of the image. Hopefully your skies will clear out soon. I see you've been getting quite a lot of clouds along with some amazing colorful sunsets.
Hey Pat, excellent review. I have the 80's little and big brothers, 70mm and the 102mm, both are excellent scopes indeed. Using them with Narrowband imaging and they work just great. Thanks for taking the time to do the review. By the way, my wife loves your backyard with all the plants and such. :o) Clear Skies my friend. Oh yeah, are you still enjoying the EON 130mm as I know you have had it for some time now. I just aquired one myself and had a night out with it after waiting what seems like forever to get clear skies. Now it's cloudy again, haha..
Hi David, Thank you for watching my video. Th SvBony is a good scope, all of them. And yes, I LOVE the EON 130. I just released a new video highlighting it on shooting galaxies. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2YukjsoZ3-U.html
@@HeavenlyBackyardAstronomy Thanks for the response, Pat and really glad to hear you are still enjoying your EON130. It's been almost 2 months since I have been able to get out with mine due to weather. Good old Texas weather and this time of year. I just watched your latest video and it to was great, full of excellent content and loved watching it. Thanks again my friend and clear skies to you and God Bless.
@@davidjennings2733 ... Yes, that EON 130mm is a great scope. The little Svbony is a good scope too, it just needs a field flattener to smooth out the distortion around the edges. Hopefully, your weather will clear up before the heat arrives.
@@HeavenlyBackyardAstronomy Hi Pat, I could not agree with you more on the heat, ugh.. By the way, are you still using the reducer/field flattener on your EON130? I am using one from my SVBONY 70mm, it works well and did not cost me an arm and a leg. 0.8 field flattener and reducer. I know you borrowed one from your 80mm.. Just wondering you are still using it or defaulted back to none. Thanks again Pat...
Excellent video review of this scope. Because of your review I decided to purchase this scope. I read more reviews on Cloudy Nights Forum and it has gotten some really good reviews also. BTW can you tell me what is the power supply you are using in this video, and how well does it work. Thanks for all of the great information. Much appreciated.
Hi Roger, For the price, it's great scope. A field flattener will come in handy. The power supply is 12 volts 10 amps. Strong enough to handle the electrical load
@@HeavenlyBackyardAstronomy I keep seeing those words: "for the price" or something like among various reviewers. It perpetually leaves me wondering whether to spend just a bit more and get something more premium.
Excellent review and photos. I'm an astrophotography newbie at age 69 years. I am debating on buying a "smart scope" like the Seestar S50, or building a system over time based on the SV503. Any suggestions?
Hi Dave, I would go for building a rig based on the SV503. It might be somewhat confusing and expensive at first, but in the long run, it will enable you to expand in numerous ways. If you go with the Seestar, you will be locked at that level of observation. For the rig, you will need an equatorial mount (with tripod) a suitable camera, a mini-computer, and software (NINA ... free). You can expand in the future to different types of filters, a monochrome camera and even a larger scope. With a monochrome camera, you open the world of narrowband imaging and creating images using the Hubble Palette of colour.
@@HeavenlyBackyardAstronomy Thanks for your advice Pat. Yeah, I've reached the conclusion that the Seestar, although a cool device, is not the way I want to go. I see that SVBony has the 503 80ED on sale for a really great price. Looks like a good option to be the basis for a nice rig.
The field flattener helps smooth out distored stars around the eadge of the view. It connects between the camera and the telescope. See this link: www.telescope.com/Orion/Orion-Field-Flattener-for-Short-Refractors/rc/2160/p/99608.uts?keyword=Field%20flattener
At the start he says the focal length is 530 mm but the video itself has a starred 560 mm (which I believe is correct). What are the exposures and orocessing for the nice images?
To see the beauty of the nebulae and galaxies, you really need a telescope. To amplify the colors and structure of the target, multiple images stacked together is beneficial.
O ordered an Svbony 102/714 mm but I do not know which diagonal I should buy for it, a 1.25 or 2 inch one with 1.25 adapter. I only have 1.25 inch eyepieces but I also plan to later buy a 2 inch wide field one. Does it make sense to buy a 2 inch diagonal and eyepiece for a wide filed view for the 102 mm Svbony 503 for nebulas and galaxies or will a 32 or 40 mm 1.25 inch eyepiece be more than enough for that ?
I would definitely go for the 2" diagonal. With that you can use either 1 1/4" and 2" eyepiece. Also, when you plan to attach a camera to the scope, the 2" would be necessary.
Hello Pat, Great Video, I am getting interested in the SV503 102 ed, this might be a silly question, but I have to ask since I do not know anything about Svbony, Can I, is the Svbony, Field Flattener, Reducer, are they able to be use seperate? With my equipment, I am not needing a reducer, but it sounds like a flattener is required, can i just use it as a Flattener? without reducer? Thanks
I use the Orion Field Flattener and the Orion 0.8x Reducer on my refractors. The flattener is prefect for the Svbony as it will clear up those stretched stars on the edge of the view. The reducer not only reduces the field of view but also is a flattener providing good round stars on the edge of view. Just keep in mind, you need to put the correcting optics on the focusing tube first, the the camera. The camera needs 55mm of spacing between the corrector and the camera sensor in order to correct properly
After watching yours and other reviews of this scope. I've placed an order incorrectly. I've ordered 503 102 bundle and don't think it includes the scope. I'm reaching out to reviewers as svbony aren't responding to my messages. Thanks if you can help with any means of contacting them.
Thank you for watching my video, Jon. Hmmm, I hope you are wrong about the ordering issue. Hopefully, upon delivery you will be pleasantly surprised with the whole unit. It's a great scope. It just needs a field flattener. Clear Skies
Hi i just orded my SV503 80ED F7 Telescope Refractor - SV193 0.8x Field Flattener & Focal Reducer. My question is were can i get just the field flattner without the reducer ?? i look everywere thx
Hi Jeff, Great scope for the price ... Here's the field flattener I have: www.telescope.com/Orion/Orion-Field-Flattener-for-Short-Refractors/rc/2160/p/99608.uts?keyword=field%20flattener Here are more: agenaastro.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=field%20flattener I hope the links passed through RU-vid's filters. If not, here is my email address: patofsavannah@gmail.com
Hi "deiXidium" They are both have the same field of view, (f/ratio) so if you can afford it, I would go with the 102mm. However, you will need a better mount for the 102 since it is a bit bigger and heavier. These are great beginner scopes, but if you are not familiar with using an equatorial mount, you might have some issues. A good equatorial mount for these two scopes would be the SkyWatcher AZ-Eq5, the Orion Sirius Pro AZ/EQ-G, or the Celestron AVX, Please note, the mounts will cost more than the telescope.
Well, it depends on what your desire field of view would be. The type of glass results in the purity of the light that is passed through and how well the different frequencies are all focused to the same point. Also, a dual lens is not as pure as a trio of lenses or in more expensive scopes, 4 or 5 lens combinations. The combination of lenses helps correct the chromatic aberration of the light so that the stars along the outer edges are not distorted. If you don’t care about the edges, then the less expensive scope will be fine. You could just crop off the distorted stars.
Pat , I have a Scientific Explorer ED-80 and looking for a cradle like you have but cant find it, I have rings but dont like them , where can I get one ?
Hi Steve, First of all, thank you for watching my video. I don't know where you can get those rings. You might want to contact Svbony. The rings that they supplied with the 80mm OTA are quite sturdy with a felt-like inner lining to help keep the OTA from slipping. Here is the link to Svbony: www.amazon.com/svbony
I did use the Orion field flattener for refractors with focal lengths less than 1000mm. That helped a lot. I did mention the scope would benefit with the use of a field flattener
so im just a bit confused…please respond if you see this, so if i were to buy the telescope what else would i need to buy for the telescope. because that looks like a lot of add ons to the telescope, unless it comes with all of that.
@@HeavenlyBackyardAstronomy Cheese & rice, I was lucky to use "flattener" correctly. ;-) Now that I know, I'll use the correct term. I had read some people said it need the field flattener. The photo you posted looked good without. TY.
