jpb30
Full Member
Posts: 84
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Post by jpb30 on Jan 12, 2015 4:51:36 GMT -5
Hello I am sad to hear such criticisms on your company , and I do not really understand the purpose of this post on CN!!! The lens has certainly a problem of in the transport as regards the tests of mister Rohr, here in France we take this with many précautions!!!, M. Rohr tests are not a reference, but rather the Airylab company in France which makes a reference With the certified professional equipment!!!! For your company and to silence all the rumors, them would need you to invest in Zygo interderometer or Haso, it is a big investment, but me think really essential for you JP
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Post by francescot on Jan 13, 2015 4:13:20 GMT -5
This Is the FIRST time Mr.Rohr posted a test result himself, he tested a lot of bad lenses in the past but he never posted the results on Cloudy Nights, this Is a blatant attempt to discredit ISTAR, period. People can't face the reality that somebody Is making good long focus achromatic lenses at a good price, that's what I call "achromatic revolution" : a well figured long focus achromat Is capable of excellent performances, and if you stop down the aperture you can reach the "apo" level, that's it... Anyway: I ordered 3 months ago a special custom lens: a 220 f 15 achromat CeF corrected 1/6 Pv : the lens Is now finished, ready to ship ,precisely on schedule, no delay, no bad communication, on the contrary: Mike answered to ALL my answers and doubts, the communication with him has been EXCELLENT and I am very happy, he Is very patient and professional, period: This Is my experience on the field , I will write to CN too.
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Post by jimcurry on Jan 16, 2015 7:24:51 GMT -5
Hello I am sad to hear such criticisms on your company , and I do not really understand the purpose of this post on CN!!! The lens has certainly a problem of in the transport as regards the tests of mister Rohr, here in France we take this with many précautions!!!, M. Rohr tests are not a reference, but rather the Airylab company in France which makes a reference With the certified professional equipment!!!! For your company and to silence all the rumors, them would need you to invest in Zygo interderometer or Haso, it is a big investment, but me think really essential for you JP That would be a whopping investment for a small company. Ales is better finding a trustworthy subcontractor for that service and plow his earnings back into R&D (which he seems to be doing) and taking a week cruise with his wife. Jim
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Post by stevethestater on Mar 13, 2015 11:11:09 GMT -5
Hello Mr. Ales, I was a person who received a "bad" IStar 150 R35 f/8 lens one year ago. Actually, I bought an entire tube assembly. Anyway, when I star tested the lens I found that the out of focus image had a hexagonal shape with one of the sides "blown-out." When you focused this down to a point, it had astigmatism. Instead of writing a scathing article to Cloudy Nights I contacted Mike and told him the situation. Mike told me: "No problem. Send us the lens and we'll give another one. We want satisfied customers." Yep. That's just what I did. I got the new lens and star-tested it. It was excellent. Mike and I figured that somehow the original lens got "pinched" in shipping (maybe it was dropped or who knows what). Anyway the original lens exhibited all the signs of pinched optics. I tried to loosen up the retaining rings on the cell but it didn't help.
Bottom line: I had a problem with the product and Mike made it good. The support was outstanding. The scope I ended up with is outstanding.
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Post by Ales - iStar Optical on Mar 16, 2015 18:40:35 GMT -5
Hello Steve,
thank you very much for your post. Both Mike and me are really doing our best to provide the best customer support we possibly can. iStar is a very small company and sometimes we get completely overwhelmed with work. Nevertheless, we do work with each customer on personal basis when ever a problem arises. This is why I was so shocked and absolutely baffled to see Mr. Rohr posting his findings on CN without giving us any benefit of doubt. It was never done this way before and I simply don't believe that Mr. Rohr was acting out of his own free will. I see someone else's interest behind all this. Because only weeks before this happened our Phoenix WXT 204-6LT test results were printed in the biggest UK astro-magazine Astronomy Now. Performance of our telescope was compared to the best APM 8" only at fraction of cost. Maybe some of you are going to reach same conclusion I have. Nevertheless I will not further comment on this issue. Im glad that vast majority of our customers are a very happy customers, treasuring their high quality iStar optics and complete OTAs. So thank you Steve for posting this right here in ISC. Im happy to see Istar Scope Club becoming a good, informative, non-bios site for amateur astronomers to share their plans and experiences. Best regards,
Ales
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Post by stellarone on Mar 28, 2015 14:34:36 GMT -5
Hi,
I dropped by the site today because I continue to be attracted to the open tube 204mm f/12. I would really be interested in owning one if it could serve as a good planetary scope. Thought that I should check things at the forum first and this happened to be the very first thread that I opened. I am concerned that several months since the reported issues with the lens/review in this thread I don't see follow-up as to what the real issue turned out to be. A lot of criticisms of the tester ("shoot the messenger"?, as we say in the states). I would feel more confident in being able to enter an order if I understood what happened here with a smaller lens. This is not intended as a criticism, but as a sincere attempt to remove a barrier to my ordering.
Thanks.
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rgm
Full Member
Posts: 65
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Post by rgm on Mar 29, 2015 6:23:10 GMT -5
Stellarone, it could have been something as simple as shipping damage which is quite possible with the number of "trips" the lens had to make. You could post your question in the Ask Istar part of this forum to ensure it is seen. Better yet, email or call Ales or Mike directly.
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Post by Ales - iStar Optical on Mar 31, 2015 15:25:09 GMT -5
Hi, I dropped by the site today because I continue to be attracted to the open tube 204mm f/12. I would really be interested in owning one if it could serve as a good planetary scope. Thought that I should check things at the forum first and this happened to be the very first thread that I opened. I am concerned that several months since the reported issues with the lens/review in this thread I don't see follow-up as to what the real issue turned out to be. A lot of criticisms of the tester ("shoot the messenger"?, as we say in the states). I would feel more confident in being able to enter an order if I understood what happened here with a smaller lens. This is not intended as a criticism, but as a sincere attempt to remove a barrier to my ordering. Thanks. Hello Stellarone, if you read the entire post you noticed that a replacement or refund was offered to this German customer. If he informed us BEFORE this whole thing went viral, everything would be just fine. We do take care of our customers well. Read hundreds of positive reviews about iStar scopes or lenses on web or istar-optical.com web site. This whole thing was a political move. Anyhow, if there is a problem, we resolve it. Someone wrote that if you want for 6 months for a lens, you can not wait another 6 months for replacement. Well, let me explain how things work. Most large lenses (above 150mm of clear aperture) are custom made. One at the time. iStar is not big enough to be able to afford big lenses just to sit around waiting for possible customer. Telescope making business is very small and there is not much money in it. For sure Im not doing this to get rich. I love astronomy and I love designing new telescopes and lenses. This is the real driving force behind iStar. Normally even big lenses we produce are manufactured much faster than 6 months. Most lenses can be done in 30 to 45 work days, only 250mm and 300mm lenses take 5 to 8 months. So if we must replace a damaged lens, it takes same amount of time as production of any new lens. We do keep some lenses in stock, mostly 150mm achromatic doublets. Regarding 204 F12 TCR, we have one last unit in EU stock (now on hold for one British customer). If this TCR does not sell to England, you can buy it. We stopped production of 150mm TCRs but we can still make the 204mm models. Nevertheless Im thinking about phasing out the F12 model for the following reasons. We are working on new R70 Semi APO ED Doublets. If all goes well, I will put together 210 F9 Semi APO OTA together in about 6 months from now. If everything tests out well, we will produce these Semi APOs in other aperture sizes. When ever this happens, we will stop production of R35 SLIM doublets. These F9 semi APOs would be a great all-in-one instruments, excellent for planetary observing as well as deep space observing and imaging. These new OTAs would be produced in new fully enclosed tube design similar to our latest Phoenix WXT 204-6LT. Nevertheless, we could design TCR version for anyone interested if we get more than 5 people ready to buy this new scope. Best regards, Ales
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Post by mikey cee on Mar 31, 2015 17:38:15 GMT -5
Ales just stated "only 250mm and 300mm lenses take 5 to 8 months." Ales ain't bull shittin' anyone when he states something. It really did take 8 months to get my 10" R30+ F/11 anastigmat!! See? He tells the truth and doesn't hide from telling you what you don't want to hear. Sure we'd all like custom lenses made to order in 1-2 months....who wouldn't. Mike
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Post by boomboom on Apr 1, 2015 3:26:20 GMT -5
Who cares about Herr Rohr…I don't as far as I'm concerned…a total waste of space…OK…
Now did my eyes deceive me or did Ales mention an R70 204 lens…..excuse me I'll just pick my jaw up off the ground…that is F A N T A S T I C…..it'll take me a few years to make my next project…. a 2" Pillow Block mount and now I know what lens and scope is going on it….of yeah….Istar rules OK….
Sorry, a bit excited about this….
Matt
PS I waited all of 3 weeks for my 150 f12 to arrive…in perfect condition I might add, and its the jewel in the crown of my telescope.
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Post by Viktor Z. on Apr 1, 2015 16:53:28 GMT -5
Who cares about Herr Rohr…I don't as far as I'm concerned…a total waste of space…OK… Now did my eyes deceive me or did Ales mention an R70 204 lens…..excuse me I'll just pick my jaw up off the ground…that is F A N T A S T I C…..it'll take me a few years to make my next project…. a 2" Pillow Block mount and now I know what lens and scope is going on it….of yeah….Istar rules OK…. Sorry, a bit excited about this…. Matt PS I waited all of 3 weeks for my 150 f12 to arrive…in perfect condition I might add, and its the jewel in the crown of my telescope. My 228 mm f7.7 achromatic doublet lens was ready within 3 months, AND the lens is awesome
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Post by Ales - iStar Optical on Apr 3, 2015 22:16:17 GMT -5
Ales just stated "only 250mm and 300mm lenses take 5 to 8 months." Ales ain't bull shittin' anyone when he states something. It really did take 8 months to get my 10" R30+ F/11 anastigmat!! See? He tells the truth and doesn't hide from telling you what you don't want to hear. Sure we'd all like custom lenses made to order in 1-2 months....who wouldn't. Mike Hello Mike, you are absolutely right. But many people simply do not understand and they think that a huge custom made lens can be done quickly or we simply have them in stock. We sell only about 5 lenses in 250mm and above aperture range annually. This fact speaks for itself. I do hope to see increased sales of 204 F6 lenses and Phoenix WXT 204-6LT OTAs because all of these received a raving reviews so far. We put a new heavy flint into this fast achromat and it worked out beautifully. Im also hoping that we will manage to offer these new 210 F9 R70 Semi APOs in reasonable amount of time, we are working on introducing first prototype still this year. I sourced the glass already so I don't see any other major obstacle which could possibly throw us off course with this project. "On paper" (actually in Zemax program), this new design seem to look very promising. For sure Im getting one of these for my own Souther Arizona backyard.... best regards, Ales
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Post by Ales - iStar Optical on Apr 3, 2015 22:21:35 GMT -5
Who cares about Herr Rohr…I don't as far as I'm concerned…a total waste of space…OK… Now did my eyes deceive me or did Ales mention an R70 204 lens…..excuse me I'll just pick my jaw up off the ground…that is F A N T A S T I C…..it'll take me a few years to make my next project…. a 2" Pillow Block mount and now I know what lens and scope is going on it….of yeah….Istar rules OK…. Sorry, a bit excited about this…. Matt PS I waited all of 3 weeks for my 150 f12 to arrive…in perfect condition I might add, and its the jewel in the crown of my telescope. Matt, I absolutely share your excitement. For now, let us work on this further. I will post prototype test results right here in ISC. Im planning to produce one in about 6 months from now. Keeping my fingers crossed. Best regards, Ales
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Post by boomboom on Apr 4, 2015 17:00:35 GMT -5
I'll have my fingers crossed too. If it works out then I for one would change my f12 achro for an R70 f12 152, should such a lens be made. Turn my f12 into an f18-20 with the turn of three bolts ...I wouldn't be the only one either I would think....anyway got a long way into the future. One of the great things about Istar! You'll have to start a new thread....this one has a truly awful title! Matt
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Post by mikey cee on Apr 4, 2015 18:22:41 GMT -5
Sounds like the Raycor isn't even on the back burner. Crap it probably isn't even near a stove anymore. Mike
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