Skywatcher Evoguide ED50 & ZWO ASI 120MM Mini Guidescope Bundle

The popular Skywatcher Evoguide ED50 bundled with the ZWO ASI 120MM Mini camera making this the perfect guiding bundle for most set ups!

Sky-Watcher's EVOGUIDE-50ED is the ultimate new high quality 50 mm doublet ED Guidescope, utilising Ohara S-FPL53 glass for the ED element. With a focal length of 242 mm it has a very fast focal ratio of f/4.8. The telescope is equipped with a fine and precise helical focuser.

For connecting your autoguider, cameras or eyepieces it has a T2 thread and 1.25” socket. For exact adjustment to the main telescope, collimation rings are provided, each with 3 nylon-tipped screws. The guidescope bracket comes with a Sky-Watcher / Vixen style mini dovetail for standard finder shoes. The EVOGUIDE-50ED is a small, very high quality telescope which is perfect as a Guidescope, providing pinpoint sharp stars for easy and precise guiding.

It can also be used as a finderscope, small lens for your camera or just as a small richfield telescope for travelling!

Specification:
Highest practical power: x100 (Eyepieces not supplied)
Objective lens diameter: 50 mm
Telescope focal length: 242 mm (f/4.8)
Focuser: fine helical (1.25”)
Camera / Eyepiece connection: T2 thread / 1.25” socket
Optic: Doublet ED lens with 2 Ohara glass lenses (1 lens S-FPL53)
Collimation rings & Bracket

The NEW ZWO ASI120MM MINI or ASI120MINI is an excellent choice for an affordable planetary and deep sky camera for those who have just started in astro photography, but cannot spend a fortune on a specialist astro photography camera or want to replace a modified webcam or a cheaper planetary imager. It replaces the extremely popular ASI120MM, but offers wider compatibility with various guiding solutions, guidescopes and off axis guiders as it comes in a more compact, 1.25" format body.

It also comes with an AUTOGUIDER PORT so you may use it for planetary imaging or when you take images of deep sky with another camera (a dSLR or a cooled ZWO) you may use this camera for guiding!

With the ZWO ASI120MM MINI camera you can achieve better results than with those beginner cameras. We are not saying that anything is wrong with those cameras like the TSSI, Scopiumcam or some converted webcams, but this is just simply better for a still affordable price.

According to customer feedback, these cameras worth every penny invested.
Mostly used for planetary imaging, it can also be used for deep sky imaging up to a certain level. This monochrome version is recommended for L-RGB or narrow band deep sky photography if you want to get out the best data from your camera and achieve sharp, contrasty deep sky images or planetary images.

However if you don't want the hassle of using filters and stacking LRGB images into a colour image or cannot spend much time and happy to go for a compromise, simply choose the colour version, the ZWO ASI120MC-S.
With this monochrome version, you might also need a filter wheel and a set of L-RGB filters or H-alpha and OIII filters, and maybe even H-beta and SII filters as well for narrow band astro photography...) or you can use it just as it is as a very affordable guide camera.

Features of the ZWO ASI120MM Mini
Recommended for guiding and imaging the Sun, Moon and some deep sky objects.
(To image the Sun you'll have to use a proper front solar filter or Herschel wedge depending on your telescope. Please contact us if not sure! For imaging deep sky, you should also consider buying a filter wheel, LRGB and narrow band filters as well.)
Resolution: 1280X960 at up to 30fps
Long time exposure up to 1000s! (although depending on the focal ratio of your telescope and whether you use another camera for guiding or not, you might need to limit it to a much shorter time...please ask.)

Autoguider Port
Built-in RAW mode and Grey mode output support. Only about 30% storage space required compared to the Color data format!
Peak Quantum Efficiency: 75% (better than ICX618)
No fixed pattern noise (FPN)!
Full aluminum housing with standard 1.25" interface
M28.5 internal thread.

SOLAR IMAGING Please note, this camera features a Micron branded chip and thus it might produce Newton's rings (an interference pattern in imaging) when used with H-alpha solar telescopes. ZWO ASI CMOS cameras with a Sony chip or Celestron Skyris or Moravian Instruments G0 and G1 CCD cameras might be a better choice for solar imaging. From the ZWO range we'd recommend the ASI174MM or ASI174Mini for solar imaging. Never-the-less, there are quite a few customers who use an ASI120MM camera successfully for solar imaging.

Specification of ZWO ASI120MM

Sensor: 1/3″ CMOS AR0130CS(Mono)
Resolution: 1.2Mega Pixels 1280×960
Pixel Size: 3.75µm
Exposure Range: 64µs-1000s
ROI: Supported
ST4 Guider Port: Yes
Focus Distance to Sensor: 8.5mm
Shutter Type: Rolling Shutter
Protect window: AR coated window
Operating System Compatibility: Mac, Windows, Linux
Interface: USB2.0
Bit rate: 12bit output(12bit ADC)
Adaptor:1.25″ / M28.5X0.6
Dimension: φ36mm X 61mm
Weight: 60g or 3.1 ounces (without lens)
Working Temperature: -5°C—45°C
Storage Temperature: -20°C—60°C
Working Relative Humidity: 20%—80%
Storage Relative Humidity: 20%—95%
Supported resolution

Binning 1×1:

1280X960@35FPS
1280X720@46FPS
1024X768@54FPS
800X600@90FPS
640X480@118FPS
320X240@224FPS

Binning 2×2:
640X480@35FP

More resolutions can be user defined

WHAT'S IN THE BOX:

ASI120MM Mini monochrome camera
ST4 cable
USB cable
1.25" nosepiece with male T-thread
1.25" end cap for above nosepiece
CD (with instructions, drivers and software, although we recommend to download the latest versions online)

Some items that are showing as in stock are in stock at our holding warehouses, not at the shop. To double check the stock levels at the shop, please contact us on 01909774369 or sales@rothervalleyoptics.co.uk.

The delivery times for most items is 1 - 2 days but again, please double check stock levels on important orders before placing an order via the website.

The delivery costs for courier next day are for mainland UK only. If you live in the Scottish Highlands/Islands, Channel Islands or Northern Ireland, then a shipping surchage will apply. please contact us for prices. Smaller items can still go 1st class via Royal Mail.

Please note that if you are wanting to take advantage of our Saturday and Sunday timed services or next day pre 12 or pre 10:30 services, you MUST check that the stock is here at the shop before placing orders. Also, orders using the Saturday and Sunday services must be placed before 1pm the previous working day. Also, please remember to check that the stock is here at the shop before placing orders. If the stock is not at the shop, we won't be able to ship on any of the timed services. 

Please note International customers will need to contact us for a shipping price prior to ordering via the website. We don't ship all items internationally. It is at our discretion what we ship outside of the UK. This all depends on the size and weight of the items. Please get in touch with us for any postage costs. Please note we do NOT ship telescopes or heavy items outside of the UK. This is due to massive postage costs and problems regarding returns.

If you have any questions regarding stock levels or delivery, please get in touch.

Zygo Interferometer Testing For ED Refractor Telescopes!

We are extremely pleased to announce our Zygo Interferometer is now installed and ready for use! Our experienced staff can test refractor lenses up to 120mm aperture and provide a comprehensive 2 page report showing the optical quality and Strehl ratio, plus much more information. We are using the very latest Zygo MX software to provide a more detailed report compared to other standard reports.

The interferometer is essentially a measuring instrument. Within the interferometer is a calibrated laser that is pointed through the optical test surface, then onto a high quality reference sphere, then back through the test subject then to an internal camera which gives us the measurement on the screen. From this, we can adjust the position of the test optic and the reference sphere to obtain a perfectly calibrated system. The more central the laser to the test optic and then on return, the better and more accurate reading and measurement we can take. This takes a lot of adjustment to get the best results from the optical surface. Once the measurement has been taken, we are provided with a series of results that show the optical quality of the surface plus other information. Continue reading for an explanation of the individual values and you can also see a test report that was done on one of our RVO Horizon 60 OTAs. 

We are offering certain telescopes with a Zygo test at an extra cost. Mainly ED doublets and triplets. All available telescopes with a Zygo test report are listed here. Just select Zygo Test Report from the drop down box at the top of the listing and we will test the optics in house and provide a full 2 page report with your scope. This will show you the optical quality of your telescope optics. We can also offer this service on your refractor telescope. Please get in touch for more details about this. 

At Rother Valley Optics, one thing we pride ourselves on is customer service and quality of our equipment. When we test your telescope, we will ensure that it is of the highest quality otherwise, we will reject the scope under our strict quality control and test another model for your peace of mind. One of the main values to look at when testing a refractor is the Strehl ratio. The higher this number, the higher quality lens you have. At Rother Valley Optics, we will guarantee the highest possible Strehl ratio for your telescope.  We will aim to provide 0.95 Strehl or higher on Takahashi, RVO Horizon, William Optics and many more! Generally, the higher the Strehl ratio, the lower the Astigmatism and Coma meaning a better image quality from your instrument. 

Other measurements such as the PV and RMS are important too. With these measurements, the lower the number the better as it shows less curvature on the lens. The flatter an optical lens, the better it will perform. The PV rating (Peak To Valley) is a measurement from the highest point (Peak) to the lowest point (Valley). From this we get the RMS (Root, Mean, Square). This is a similar figure to the PV and measured exactly the same way. The RMS is basically an average height difference from the PV so again, the lower the better. As you can see form the example below, we measured an RMS of just 0.027 wave which is a very good value.

We also measure the Power with our systems which is essentially the error from the reference sphere to the test optic. The reference sphere we use on our system is a very high quality sphere so the closer to zero the Power, the less error between the 2 elements thus ensuring a higher quality optical surface. 

You will also see some more values such as Astigmatism and Coma. Again, these are measured by the interferometer when we take measurements of the optical surface after adjustment. These are values which ideally would be at 0 but as our test optics are all curved lenses, there will always be astigmatism and coma present. The lower the number, the less of these aberations you will effectively see but with most refractors, you can buy field flatteners which will compensate for the coma anyway. The astigmatisms value is explaining the error between the symmetrical curvature of the lens. Basically, no lens will be perfectly symmetrical, the lower the astigmatism, the more symmetrical the lens surface is. 

Once the Zygo test report has been completed, the optical alignment is thoroughly tested and tuned to ensure they are spot on before they leave us. 

All available telescopes are on the website at the link below and ones we've tested already that are available straight away are also listed.

https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/zygo-tested-refractors.html

Here is an example of the test what we provide. This was a test on one of our Horizon 60 ED OTA's.

For any questions about this amazing new service, please either call 01909774369 or email sales@rothervalleyoptics.co.uk.

Are you interested in this product but would like to speak to someone with some more information? Simply fill in the form below and we will get back to you as soon as we can!

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