| This Celestron spotting scope has:
• bright 102mm (4") f/4.9 achromatic refractor optics
• 45° image-erecting eyepiece holder
• built-in camera adapter
• 8 x 20mm erect image finderscope
• 10mm (50x) and 25mm (20x) Plössl eyepieces
The Celestron Wide View 102 is just what its name implies – a large aperture spotting scope with a wide field of view. Its standard equipment low power 25mm 1.25" Plössl eyepiece has a big 2.5° field of view at 20x. That’s a field 131’ wide at 1000 yards. In comparison, one of the premium 80mm $1500+ conventional spotting scopes has a field only 94’ wide with its zoom set at the same power. Add to that the 15’ close focus of the Wide View 102, compared with 20’ for the $1500+ scope, the 62% greater light gathering of the Wide View 102, and a Wide View 102 price that’s about a sixth that of the $1500+ scope, and you have an exceptional value for the naturalist on a budget who wants to study nature close up. For such a large aperture, the scope is surprisingly lightweight and compact, making it easy to transport to distant observing sites. For the birder on a budget, the Wide View 102 provides a low cost alternative to costly spotting scopes whose performance is not markedly better than this no-frills performer. Its only real drawback is a lack of waterproofing, calling for a little extra care if used when the weather is threatening. The Wide View 102 body is also used as the optical tube on Celestron’s C102AZ 4" altazimuth mount astronomical telescope. Accordingly, it can be used by terrestrial observers as an astro scope to increase your appreciation of the cycles of the moon, eclipses, our solar system, comet watching and more. The large aperture allows you to enjoy viewing astronomical subjects such as the Moon, planets, brighter nebulas, and star clusters. The built-in tripod adapter allows the scope to be mounted on a large astronomical telescope. When joined with a telescope, the Wide View 102 becomes an astronomical piggyback camera lens, imaging lens, or guidescope. Features of this spotting scope . . . - Achromatic refractor optics: 4" (102mm) aperture, 500mm focal length, fast f/4.9 crown and flint glass doublet optical system. The 21" long optical tube weighs 5 lbs with finderscope and eyepiece attached. The 102mm aperture of this scope gathers 62% more light than the more common 80mm aperture refractor spotting scopes, with over 27% higher resolution. This provides better performance in low light conditions and sharper images in all light conditions. The twilight factor is a very high 45.17!
- Multicoated optics: The system’s doublet objective lens is fully coated on all air-to-glass surfaces with multiple layers of antireflection materials for high light transmission and good contrast.
- Lens shade: The built-in lens shade provides improved contrast in bright sunlight situations, both visually and photographically.
- Rack and pinion focuser: The Wide View 102 has a fast, smooth 2" rack and pinion focuser that makes it easy to achieve a fast pinpoint photographic focus. A 1.25" eyepiece adapter is standard equipment. The focuser has built-in photographic T-threads that turn the scope into a very fast (f/4.9) 500mm telephoto lens for nature photography at 10x by simply adding an inexpensive optional T-ring to connect to your camera body.
- Close focusing: The scope close focuses down to a mere 15’ with only a few turns of the dual large ribbed focusing knobs. The fast focusing makes the Wide View 102 excellent for following fast-moving subjects.
- 45° erect image eyepiece holder: The removable 45° viewing angle erect image eyepiece holder (also known as a diagonal) can quickly be removed and replaced by a T-ring and camera for terrestrial and astronomical photography. The correctly-oriented images in the 45° viewing eyepiece holder are identical to what you see with your unaided eye, to make it easier to follow moving subjects.
- Two eyepieces: Two fully multicoated 1.25" Plössl eyepieces come with the scope. One is a low power 25mm (20x) with a wide 2.5° field of view (131’ at 1000 yards). The 25mm eyepiece has a very bright 5.1mm exit pupil, with good usable eye relief of 14mm that works well for those who wear eyeglasses (although there may be some slight vignetting of the field). The second eyepiece is a 10mm (50x) with a 1° field (52.5’ at 1000 yards), a 2mm exit pupil, and 6mm of eye relief. The eyepieces slide in and out of the eyepiece holder and change in seconds. A thumbscrew holds the eyepieces firmly in place. Any of nearly 200 different 1.25" astronomical eyepieces (including zooms) can be used with the Wide View 102, giving exceptional flexibility in choosing observing magnifications.
- Finderscope: 8 x 20mm straight-through crosshair design with erect right-reading images that give you the same image orientation you see with your unaided eye. Three collimating screws let you line up the finder crosshairs precisely with the center of the eyepiece field. If a larger and brighter finderscope is preferred, an optional low cost erect-image right-reading 6x30mm finder and bracket (#3926) is available that mounts in seconds to the finder bracket built into the rear cell of the scope.
- Tripod adapter: The scope mounts on any photo tripod by means of a standard 1/4"-20 thread photo tripod adapter block.
- Lifetime warranty: This Celestron spotting scope is protected by a limited lifetime warranty.
|
Printer friendly version
Email page link to a friend
Do you have a question about this product?
