Re: MEMO to Meade: How to write an honest news release

From: Chuck Taylor (not_at_thisaddress)
Date: 02/01/05 

Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2005 19:46:27 -0800

Chris L Peterson wrote:
> On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 16:53:48 -0800, Chuck Taylor <not@thisaddress>
> wrote:
>
>
>>Come on Rod, calling that thing an R-C is as honest as StupendousVue
>>claiming they weren't using an MV filter when they had applied it to the
>>objective.
>>
>>Yes, it will probably turn out to be a good photographic scope. But that
>>was a dishonest announcement. (and it will never be a good visual scope
>>compared to others in that price bracket)
>
>
> I don't see it that way. I don't have a serious problem with calling a
> design that uses two hyperboloidal (or approximately hyperboloidal)
> surfaces a R-C even if there is a corrector plate.

If the primary were close to a hyperboloid, I would agree with you. But
at this point the smart money is betting spheroid, which is as far from
hyperboloid as you can get (other than making it perfectly flat)

> Most of the R-Cs in
> the world are operated with field flatteners or other types of
> correction, and we still call them R-Cs. Sure, this one is modified,
> but that doesn't represent dishonest advertising.

It isn't a modified R-C. It's an SCT optimized for photography. That's a
totally different animal from an R-C.

> There is absolutely no way
> that anyone can read the Meade literature and not understand that this
> new scope uses two mirrors and one corrector.

So as long as I make it clear it has two mirrors and one corrector I can
say it's an apo? That's not that much farther off.

;-)

Chuck Taylor
Do you observe the moon?
Try http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lunar-observing/

Are you interested in optics?
Try http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ATM_Optics_Software/

************************************

>
> I'll reserve judgment until someone rips one apart and provides a
> prescription. Ultimately, what the scope is called isn't very important.
> How it performs is, and it remains to be seen if Meade has been honest
> about that in their advertising.
>
> _________________________________________________
>
> Chris L Peterson
> Cloudbait Observatory
> http://www.cloudbait.com 

--

Relevant Pages

  • Re: MEMO to Meade: How to write an honest news release
    ... >corrector plate and primary mirror that together perform as a hyperbolic ... >is not hyperboloid primary. ... This is simply an SCT going for photo ... overlooked is that no real RC scope has a glued in place non collimatable ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: MEMO to Meade: How to write an honest news release
    ... can get more money if they claim it is an R-C derivative. ... If you simply tell the truth, that it is an SCT, you can't get ... people to pay as much money. ... claiming a scope has ED glass when it doesn't. ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: Aberrations of lines (scratches) in mirror
    ... scope for comparison?), ... primaries at the factory for best performance, in which case your chance of ... When you mention this matching up the primary and corrector at the ... from the primary mirror which is fixed at the rear of the scope. ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: Meade RCX400 is NOT Ritchey-Chretien.
    ... > spherical and coma. ... Any corrector that would significantly change ... > mirrors with the rest of the package would definitely require higher ... "true" Ritchey-Chretien (making the combo behave as hyperboloid), ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: Aberrations of lines (scratches) in mirror
    ... corrector doing ALL the aberrations corrections? ... If the secondary mirror doesn't do any aberrations ... scope yourself. ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)