4 Telescopes Tested: Doublet vs. Triplet vs. Quadruplet vs Quintuplet

Telescope Purchase Links
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Meade 70 APO: discontinued - check used markets

Data Downloads
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Contents
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0:00 Intro
0:53 Disclosures
1:41 History / Background
4:30 Cost
5:33 William Optics ZS61ii overview
9:18 Sharpstar 61EDPHii overview
13:04 Meade 70 APO overview
15:40 Askar 65PHQ overview
19:18 Brilliant (sponsor)
20:07 Image Comparisons (OSC)
27:02 Image Comparisons (Mono)

Patreon
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Channel Disclosures
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Video Disclosures
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This video was sponsored by Brilliant. I received a free loan of the William Optics 61 Zenithstar 61 and Flat 61A from All-star Telescope. I was sent the Askar 65PHQ for free from Askar, but will either return it or purchase it from them after the video is published.

[Andros_Gaming]

The fact Nico took the rare clear nights to do this long comparison really shows how much he cares about creating good content. Clear skies are a rare thing precious thing.

[andrewwellum]

One of the few channels you can trust for an unbiased review, well done Nico!

[meianoitee]

This type of video is so important. Nowadays the social medias and forums are full of people who spread so much misinformation and make beginners much more confused. I have a WO Z61 and I'm so happy with that. But when I asked on Facebook groups about this scope. Many people said stupid things like doublett are terrible for astrophotography and I should not buy it etc.

[mfaison]

The worst thing about Galileo's telescope wasn't the chromatic aberration, but the tiny, tiny exit pupil, due to using a concave (diverging) eyepiece. This made it look like you were viewing through a straw. We have a replica of Galileo's 30x telescope, and it's crazy to compare the view of Jupiter or the moon through the replica and through a cheap 90mm refractor. It's amazing that Galileo could discover anything with that thing!

[alexiscolin]

And that's why we follow you : you do the job no one does. Plus the fact that your tutorials are incredibly useful, yeah 😅 Thank you very much

[CuivTheLazyGeek]

Excellent overview Nico! My first real astrophoto scope was a doublet, and it was great!

[spunbearing]

I got my Sky Watcher APO 120 ED from All Star Telescopes years ago. They were very hands on in getting me everything I needed. It was an excellent experience. Great video to.

[LogansAstro]

I have recently received my Askar 65PHQ and started to image with it so I was very encouraged by the results you got from that telescope.

[Astrolavista]

Oh man that was super interesting in a number of ways! Well worth the huge amount of work this must have taken to put together, it's going to be a very popular video. Congratulations on being full time on Youtube Nico, a feat not easily achieved but well deserved.

[AGCipher]

The intro, explaining the differences between the doublet-quintlet, was very clear and informative, thank you! :)

[BennyColyn]

The loss of star color in the last scope is at least in part due to the stretch PixInsight uses in its ScreenTransferFunction (it's basicly a HistogramTransformation) - a color-preserving stretch with ArcSinh or Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch will show that the stars very much still have color (until you burn out the core)

[briankotak]

Really useful comparison Nico. Thanks for taking the time to do this. My first telescope was an Orion EON 110mm doublet, bought 2 years ago. At the time I really hemmed and hawed over doublet vs triplet. Triplets were so much more expensive. Still happy with my decision as the optics are very good. Now I’ve added the WO ZenithStar 61. Nice little wide field scope. Dr B from Manitoba, Canada 🇨🇦

[Wolfie]

Thank you for this video. Incredibly helpful when considering a new scope.

[Jaymz]

Excellent video Nico!
I know I had a discussion with you about the Askar 80 but ended up going with the Askar 65PHQ with the reducer. It worked out to be a bit better for the focal length needs. I am so happy with the scope. My only beef is the focuser is just a bit stiff on it. Not terrible both other than that, it really does a great job at color correction and has a super flat field. The reducer does a great job and doesn't detract from image quality.
Best bang for the buck in my opinion!
Cheers

[markmayer]

Great comparison as always. I'm very happy with my WO triplets plus flatteners. There's a much better option for dealing with inserting filters, which as you show is quite difficult for some of these scopes: a filter drawer (e.g. from ZWO). Fits right into the standard 55 mm back focus requirement, and swapping filters is super easy, without disturbing your imaging train.

[MrTimeuMorin]

after buying a eq35pro and a asiair mini the biggest astrograph i was able to fit in my budget was the askar fma 135. a gigantic 30mm f4.5 triplet with a field flat. results a very similar to the 65phq. i love it. and i can put a 1.25 filter in front of the scope.very economic :-) thank you for this great info.

[Wheeljack]

I really wish more people would do honest reviews like these. They are really helpful and feels trustworthy. As someone who also has the Sharpstar EDPHII, my experiences are pretty much the same as yours (elongation in the corners, even with the reducer/flattner). The telescope is probably decent enough for its price, but I think the design of the reducer and the image quality is a bit meh compared to other, similar telescopes.

[microreniassance]

The Askar over all performance seems to be exceptional. The final image seems to pop and appear more visually interesting as opposed to the others. I'm impressed. Thanks for these great comparison videos. They are much appreciated and fascinating. I am surprised the doublet held it's own and excelled in some instances compared to the scopes with more glass. Great vido, Nico. Thanks much for your time.

[jster]

Another great video! Interesting to see how well an inexpensive doublet can do. I'm looking forward to using new AT80EDT triplet soon. Getting it set up... Just got my WO50mm guide scope from Agena Astro today and the ASI220mm mini. Waiting a day yet for the WO saddle handle. They were hard to find.

[Neanderthal]

Ahh, this is so excellent! where was this video 3 years ago, when I was browsing for a scope! Nico just made it easy!
Just the fact that there are so little to none real reviews out there, and everyone is literally playing Russian roulette with thousands of dollars, Nico saves us with this video and I'm just gonna steer everyone here with the same question, that keep popping up on social media about what scope to get.