Telescope and Spotters Scope Expert Needed

[billaaa777]

I live on a high floor with a great ocean view so I thought it would be a good idea to get a telescope to check out all the boats and ships on the water. There was just one small problem with my plan. Which was I don’t know how to use or focus the devices I bought. 

 

You don’t have to be an expert, but if you have used either a telescope or a spotter’s scope in the past and can at the very least focus them, I need your help. 

 

Of course, I will be more than glad to pay you for your services. Please PM me if you believe you can be of assistance. If you have never done this before and think you can bluff it, think again, there is a lot more to it than you can imagine, so please only people with experience.

[impulse]

Sometimes the women fog up their windows on purpose.  You just think you're out of focus.

 

I'd watch a YouTube or 3 before I'd admit a stranger into my place and pay for something that I was able to do in 3 minutes when I got my first telescope out of the box at age 9.  Maybe it was my 10th birthday. 

 

The toughest part when looking at stars or the moon is to get them into frame.  Practice on ships in the harbor or buildings down the road.

 

 

 

[tifino]

I'd never discount ones own eyes from maybe being checked out...

I couldn't focus, and it turned out I had a Cataract exactly in centre of vision...   

 

 

beyond that, it's out of my 'scope' ? 

[billaaa777]

29 minutes ago, impulse said:

Sometimes the women fog up their windows on purpose.  You just think you're out of focus.

 That's not funny. I am disappointing you could of done better.

 

I serious, I want to check out the boats and ships on the water, if anybody can help me with this I would appreciate it.

[Henryford]

Just turn the focus wheel

[billaaa777]

3 hours ago, Henryford said:

Just turn the focus wheel

 WOW, I never thought of that. Each one to them has about 10 wheels that need to be calibrated perfectly to zoom in on a ship offshore and be able to get a good look at it. It's not easy, and I am tired of messing with it and getting nowhere. I rather just pay somebody to relieve my frustration and teach me how to use them.

[sometime]

Show a picture of the item you bought

Edited May 1, 2021 by sometime

[aboctok]

40 minutes ago, sometime said:

Show a picture of the item you bought

I don't see the ten focus wheels. Your photo's obviously out of focus.

[tifino]

might be a messy Equatorial? 

[impulse]

8 hours ago, billaaa777 said:

 WOW, I never thought of that. Each one to them has about 10 wheels that need to be calibrated perfectly to zoom in on a ship offshore and be able to get a good look at it. It's not easy, and I am tired of messing with it and getting nowhere. I rather just pay somebody to relieve my frustration and teach me how to use them.

 

If you've got 10 knobs, you probably have an equatorial mount telescope.  Definitely not a "spotting scope" as you mentioned in the title (shown in sometime's post).

 

I still contend your best bet is to look for YouTubes and not rely on someone scheduling the time to come to your home.

 

If you do find someone, make sure they know it's an equatorial mount or you may get someone like me who's owned many telescopes and spotting scopes, but never an equatorial mount.

[billaaa777]

7 hours ago, impulse said:

If you've got 10 knobs, you probably have an equatorial mount telescope.  Definitely not a "spotting scope" as you mentioned in the title (shown in sometime's post).

 

I have two of them. First, I bought the telescope and couldn't do anything with it and following your advice, I watched the YouTube videos that suggested spotters scopes are easier to use, so I got one of them. I can see the island offshore with the spotters scope, but I can't go the extra mile and get it focused in so I can see the detail I was hoping to see. It's the same with boats and ships, I can pick them out, but just very little to no detail.

 

[billaaa777]

11 hours ago, aboctok said:

I don't see the ten focus wheels. Your photo's obviously out of focus.

  The large end has 5 preset positions and can be opened about 1/2" or so. The eye piece can be adjusted, or open and closed about an 1", next it has 5 preset positions, and two different wheels that you can turn after you have all your other options selected. If you do the math, there are 10,000's if not more ways the scope can be setup. Which is why I was hoping to find somebody that has experience using one of these to help me.

[sucher]

Without knowing what you actually own Advice is difficult. It's possible that the Instrument was dropped once and the interior Mirrors / Lenses need a Re-alinment. Also called Collimation. Depending on the Device it can be really challenging. I once did that with my Celestron Skymaster Binoculars. I had to find a Way to manage myself because I did not know where to go here with that Problem. What kind of Instrument exactly are we talking about here ? 

[bobbin]

Try an astrological society?

 

Sounds like you over-bought...

[thaibeachlovers]

On 5/2/2021 at 11:00 AM, billaaa777 said:

 

I have two of them. First, I bought the telescope and couldn't do anything with it and following your advice, I watched the YouTube videos that suggested spotters scopes are easier to use, so I got one of them. I can see the island offshore with the spotters scope, but I can't go the extra mile and get it focused in so I can see the detail I was hoping to see. It's the same with boats and ships, I can pick them out, but just very little to no detail.

 

If you bought them locally surely the people to ask would be those that sold you the devices. The internet may have an instruction book on line ( was there no instruction book with the scopes? ).

[thaibeachlovers]

PS. Is it possible that spotting scopes are not designed for very long distances? I used one on the 800 yard range, but no idea if they work on longer distances.

 

Could also buy an ordinary telescope without 10 wheels, like most do.

 

 

Edit. A check on Google brought this. If your ships are over 1000 yards you may be out of range

https://airsoftoptics.com/spotting-scope-distance/

 

1. Magnification: The magnifying lens is the heart of the spotting scope. It’s the only way to know how far you can see through magnifying. Suppose you’re using a spotting scope which has 50X magnifying power. That means you can see something 50 times bigger than your naked eye’s vision. So, the power of magnification glass can help you to decide how far you can see with it. For example, with a high-powerful spotting scope, you can look up to 1000 yards far away.

Edited May 6, 2021 by thaibeachlovers

[Kerryd]

On 5/2/2021 at 8:30 PM, bobbin said:

Sounds like you over-bought...

I was thinking the same thing. Those high end telescopes are usually for people who want to look at the moon (or even Mars, maybe Saturn ?). They pretty much are useless for trying to see anything on Earth. That's why they have so many position and focus adjustments, because they are trying to see things that are hundreds of thousands of miles (or 10s of million of miles) away.

Spotter scopes (like the ones pictured above) are usually for much short distances, like shooting ranges. 

I'd suggest either a low-end telescope or decent binoculars if you are just wanting to look at ships offshore (i.e. probably within 5 kms).

Did a quick search for "telescope 5 km range" and browsed some of the hits. Most are for - binoculars. However I see some other options.

As the OP is in a highrise - this is a great article on how far out to see you can see depending on your height above sea level. (There is a formula for that in the article.)
https://oberwerk.com/viewing-up-to-50-miles-away/

They have a link to the binos they suggest would be decent (for viewing up to 50 miles away). I don't recommend them as they are pricey, but you can see the specs and shop for something cheaper with similar capabilities. ( 25/40×100 which I think refers to aperture size and magnification.)
https://oberwerk.com/product-category/binoculars-scopes/product-group/long-range-observation/

Like this monocular offered on Lazada: https://www.lazada.co.th/products/high-power-35x95-monocular-eyepiece-telescope-long-range-for-camping-hunting-lll-night-vision-zoom-binoculars-i2349480334.html

It shows specs of 35X95 and is only 323 baht (so it's a cheap P.o.S. but might be ideal for what you want).

This telescope is fairly "low end" as far as tech is concerned and has a 5km range, which, looking at the article I linked above, is probably less than you'd want.
https://www.zordik.com/brass-5-km-long-range-telescope-with-wooden-stand

However, like the pricey binos and cheap monocular, it is something you can use as a reference to find what best suits you.

I see a couple other cheap options on Lazada as well. Some can be connected to your phone so you can take photos/videos (you know, in case some windows aren't as foggy as others - on those ships at sea).  

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/luxun-25x50-powerful-monocular-telescope-hd-monocular-outdoor-camping-monocular-telescope-tourism-on-foot-i2173980602-s7218035000.html?spm=a2o4m.searchlist.list.52.511c7aaeQWKqyT&search=1

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/metal-monocular-telescope-10-300x40mm-super-zoom-monocular-portable-binoculars-outdoor-hunting-monocular-telescope-i2233280145-s7468797588.html?spm=a2o4m.searchlist.list.79.68a37aaeqdMM81&search=1

 

 

[Kerryd]

I didn't bother looking at more expensive options, of which there are many. I'd suggest trying a cheap one, see how that works for you, then if you feel the need, upgrade from there.

[aboctok]

On 5/2/2021 at 8:30 PM, bobbin said:

Try an astrological society?

 

Sounds like you over-bought...

Yes, they'll be able to see whether a functional, calibrated telescope is in his future. Perhaps he should have avoided making large financial decisions this month.

[bobbin]

6 hours ago, aboctok said:

Yes, they'll be able to see whether a functional, calibrated telescope is in his future. Perhaps he should have avoided making large financial decisions this month.

555

 

Got me..  After I typed astro.. I must have had brain fade.

[sungod]

On 5/1/2021 at 12:59 PM, billaaa777 said:

I rather just pay somebody to relieve my frustration

 

I'm with you there......