Askar ACL200: First Impressions on Star Adventurer

[@dougiesmart1623]

A great video there, and impressive scope. I have it's wee brother the Askar 135 and love it. I've had some grand results with both my ZWO585MC and Canon 1200D on both my HEQ5 mount and Star Adventurer 👍.

[@adityakinjawadekar562]

I got to use my ACL200 for last couple of weeks, and I am totally impressed by it. Not a single issue that I can point out! It's an absolute winner!

[@maxguerryastro3076]

Good to hear 👍 I look forward to many years with this bad boy!

[@astrogerard2022]

I use mine on a guided Skywatcher AZGTI EQ with a full frame Canon 6Da and it works a treat. I get 0.7RMS guiding and I throw out very few frames. It's pretty sharp out to the corners on bright and faint stars but medium stars have slight distortion for some reason, but that's being pretty picky. After stacking you can barely notice it.

[@davidpippin3460]

I appreciate your review, I am looking at this lens now

[@maxguerryastro3076]

Thanks! You won't be sorry from what I've seen so far.

[@alandyer910]

Excellent review, thank you! Many of the emission nebulas in the SMC and LMC are rich in oxygen III, much more than H-a and so appear very green, even with a modified camera I find. The haloes you see could be from less than optimum lens coatings causing some internal reflections. What’s it like when shooting the Moon with the Moon off centre. That would be a severe test of ghost images. Cheers!

[@maxguerryastro3076]

Thanks Alan. Haven't seen those halos since even on other bright stars. I'll try that off centre moon trick next time!

[@gregerianne3880]

Very nice review! Thanks. I've had my ACL200 since the end of October and have had a chance to use it only a handful of times because of weather. But the times I've used it with my Canon APSC-C DSLR and my SkyGuider Pro, it's been fantastic. It seems very well constructed and the features (as you covered in your review) are well thought-out to enhance its use as an astrophotography lens. I haven't found any issues with it -- other than when it initially had me stumped about where to put 2" mounted filters into it!

[@maxguerryastro3076]

Great stuff Greg and thanks for the support. Yep, when the budget allows I think there may need to be some more Askar purchases down the road. I find it hard to justify using my Evostar now that I've seen how much better life can be!

[@rachgee]

Great review!!

[@captaincook6666]

Hi Max. Thanks for this video. I am still deciding between this and the FMA230- any suggestions on how you see the two? I intend to use on AZGTi EQ mod so same 5kg payload as you. PS I have used (free) ImagePlus to get rid of halos on my cheap kit lenses. It has several good star reduction methods.

[@maxguerryastro3076]

Check out my reply on the other vid. FMA being lighter is a nice advantage for our lower payload capacity mounts. But the ACL puts those extra grams to good use. I'm very happy with the ACL but either would be an excellent choice I'm sure. Good luck and please let me know which way you go. I'll have a look into ImagePlus, thanks!

[@captaincook6666]

@@maxguerryastro3076 finally took the plunge..slightly on a tangent. Got samyang f/2 135mm and using my 120mcs for PA, plate solve and EAA. Captured a really great carina nebula this week in just 4 min (30 s subs) at f2.4.

[@tinblue]

Are you using the stock 1kg weight? I have a Canon EOS 6D on order and thinking of getting this lens to complement it but I'm hearing this lens is quite heavy? I have a Star Adventurer 2 and wondered if i'll be ok with the 1kg?

[@maxguerryastro3076]

Yes using the stock 1kg counterweight. I'm planning on a follow up video about this, but I would not recommend this lens for the SA. It's too heavy and you need to throw out more subs than I'd like. Would probably get the FMA 180 or 230 instead for SA specifically. Much lighter and should have similar optics from what I understand.

[@tinblue]

@@maxguerryastro3076 I got a Canon 200mm f/2.8 II USM instead.

[@maxguerryastro3076]

@@tinblue Even better!

[@arturo_trrs0231]

I use the canon 75-300 ahahah

[@davidpippin3460]

FIRST!