Price reduced again - Lumicon SCT Giant Easy Guider

[Rigel003]

Bought from an IIS member but never used as I haven't pursued deepsky photography with my SCT. These are no longer available from the manufacturer. Works as an off-axis guider with large pick-off prism and focal reducer. The focal reducer is an 80mm lens which can be used in two different positions or can be removed entirely. This allows it to work between f/4 and f/11. It yields crisp stars and no vignetting, unlike the Celestron and Meade f6.3 reducers. Can be used as a high quality visual reducer too, with the pick-off assembly removed - a great rich-field viewer that makes use of the whole light cone from the secondary.

It screws onto the 82mm back thread of 10 - 14" SCTs. Threaded to fit Celestrons. Manufacturer's info here:
http://www.lumicon.com/telescope-accessories.php?iid=LG1035&cid=45&in=Giant+Easy+Guider+Celestron+11in +%2F+14in+SCT&hn=

now $240 postage included

[Merlin66]

The GEG also fits the larger Meades 12" and above.
I wish I had kept mine!
Great quality and performance.
Recommended.

[Rigel003]

After some web searching I've confirmed that in its present form it has a mating collar only for Celestron 11" and 14". The rear cells of the Meade 10 - 14" have the same 82mm diameter but a slightly different thread.There is a Meade adapter available.

[strongmanmike]

I used one of these both visually and for imaging with my 12" LX200GPS

Visually it was excellent and the F ratio variability made it versitile.

Here are a couple of images using it and the 12" LX200GPS at approx F6.7

NGC 1365 (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/55269925/original)

Dumbell Nebula (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/55285227/large)

Lagoon Nebula (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/55271855/original)

The diffraction spikes were added via crossed sticks over the objective - hey, I liked the look :P

These were all taken on the native fork mount too :thumbsup:

This the GEG on the Meade 12" (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/132021343/original) in visual mode

Hope this helps somebody make a decision :)

Mike

[jamiep]

Does anybody know if this is a reducer/flattener combined?

I may be interested, but plan on using this with a newer 12" LX-200 GPS with ACF ... if it's trying to flatten the field as well it may be undoing the work done by meade with the ACF design.

Jamie

[Merlin66]

Hmm, good question.
When I used it on a ol' OM1 SLR camera set up the full frame was usable... did it provide good/ excellent flatness?? - not sure...
The two element lens used in the GEG looks pretty much like a binocular objective and nothing too fancy.
( I was using it for spectroscopy - target star on axis, so flatness wasn't an issue)
If you look at some of the images submitted maybe you can assess the outcome.

[Rigel003]

Price reduced
Lumicon used to sell separate adapter collars for Meade but say they no longer have them. That means this unit will need to be purchased by someone with an 11" or 14" Celestron.

Price reduced to $240 and this will include postage.

[Gama]

Jamie, i used the reducer only version (Didnt have guider bits) with my 14" RCX and made my system from f8 to f5, and althought it over corrected the smallest tad on the extreme edges, i dont see it as an issue at f10 like yours. I really recommend this reducer for SCT scopes.
I have attached a unprocessed image of M42 (Except for color) to show you the stars at the corners using the reducer and the 14" RCX.
Hope it helps.

Theo

[Rigel003]

Price now reduced to $290 and postage is free. A reminder that the current mating collar is threaded for C11 and C14 rear cells only.

[Rigel003]

SOLD: Price reduced to $240 and includes postage.