Lumicon 80mm Deluxe Super Finder System with Helical Focuser # LS2020

4.0 Great finder scope or mini refractor for visual observation!

The 80mm f/3.8 Lumicon Superfinder is a great short-tube achromatic refractor either used as a finder scope or guide scope for larger instruments, or as a "grab-n-go" scope for visual observation. The fast 80mm cemented doublet objective is fully coated and produces a crisp, bright image of extended objects. The scope's 1.25" helical focuser is sturdy and precise, and carries a star diagonal and standard 1.25" oculars with ease. At f/3.8, the instrument is faster than the average f/5 to f/7 short tube 80mm scope on the market and provides a wider and significantly brighter visual field of view.

I did use the instrument for astrophotography, both with a DSLR and with a 1/2" TEC CCD camera. Here, I ran into a slight problem - the color correction on the fast objective is such that bright objects exhibited a magenta halo. This chromatic aberration was objectionable, and unfortunately unlike the classic refractor "purple fringe" error could not be easily dealt with using filters. About the only way to remove it would to have used red, green and blue filters, acquire separate olor channel images using a monochrome camera, and later combine then to form a composite image.

So, overall I have to give this instrument four out of five stars. Visually it's a fantastic righest field scope or high-end finder, and can be used with a wide variety of oculars for a variety of applications. However, it doesn't out-perform 80mm refractors of even lesser cost in terms of color correction when being used for astrophotography, and the color error is not the standard kind seen with most achromatic refractors, making it harder to attenuate with filters.

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

2.0 Lumicon 80mm Super Finder

Good quality construction; good quality objective; compact

Very poor contrast; focuser travel very lacking; screw focuser clumsy

This is a very basic 80mm refractor with a focal length of 300mm (f3.75). It comes with a coated doublet primary, and 1.25" focuser back. The focuser is a very simple threaded type; unscrew it to focus out, screw it in to focus in. The focuser has two 10-32 nylon screws for securing your eyepiece, and a third for locking the threads of the focuser. It is all machined black anodized aluminum, and it comes with a dew shield. You can purchase a ring style mount for it from various suppliers. The version I bought (used) has a mounting block bolted on the bottom at the focuser end with a standard 1/4-20 thread for attaching to a camera tripod.

As a finder scope it works very well. The large aperture allows you to see very dim stars and even some deep sky objects. It is especially helpful when polar aligning your main scope. It is compact due to its short focal length, and its 1.25" focuser allows you to use eyepieces you already have in your collection with it.

As a wide field astrophotography telescope (like boasted on the Lumicon website) or just as a grab-and-go refractor, I'd have to say it is very poor. For one, the interior of the optical tube is smooth machined aluminum with glossy black anodizing. There is no baffling. As a result the contrast of the scope is bad, like real bad. Second, the thread-style focuser is simple to use yes, but it is a pain in the butt when you want to use a diagonal, camera, or filter wheel because you have to loosen the eyepiece screws and hold your junk straight as you turn the focuser. Third, I found that the 1" of focuser travel available was extremely lacking. I could focus with all of my eyepieces (26mm Meade 4000 Super Plossl, 10mm Televue Radian, 6.7mm Meade 5000 UWA, 4mm Televue Radian) in a straight through configuration, but as soon as I added a diagonal forget it. It needs at least another 1/2 to 1" of focus-in capability. The diagonal that Lumicon sells with this finder as a package must be special somehow, because all the ones I tried (Meade standard 90deg SCT diagonal, Olivon 45deg correcting) were unusable.

In the end I can't do what I want with this finder, which was to use it as a wide-field refractor piggybacked with my 8" SCT. Since I've already invested in it, my plan is to use the sturdy aluminum optical tube to build my own custom scope. Cross your fingers!