On Sun, Feb 12, 2012 at 6:25 PM, Hutchings, Mat (H USA) < mat.hutchings@siemens.com> wrote:
The Rigel Quickfinder is on all my scopes. I also use a 70mm f4 refractor I made from a lens out of a copy machine on my 16" dob. However, that finder is very heavy and I, just yesterday, finished a 50mm finder I made from a cruddy pair of 10X50 binos. That will replace my 70mm as soon as next week (weather permitting).
Mat, you've discovered that "copy lens" scopes, while working perfectly, tend to be heavy. Blame the triplet design, and massive hounsings.
I have some 70mm bino objectives available, if you would like one. Nice, lightweight doublets. No heavy housing. Typically plastic. I have a 70mm home-made finder of 320mm focal lenghth. It's a weird doublet lens, unknown provenance, not a bino objective. I got it from Apogee (not the camera/mount company) some ten or fifteen years ago. But the imagery is excellent for such a short lens. I use it with a 32mm 2" illuminated x-hair eyepiece, yielding about 10X, with a 2" diagonal.