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Sky-Watcher Esprit 120mm f/7 ED apochromatic triplet refractor with field flattener

Regular Price: $4,165.00

Special Price $3,299.00

Availability: In stock

The big Sky-Watcher Esprit 120mm ED apochromatic triplet refractor with thread-on field flattener combines premium high contrast/high resolution imaging performance with the flat field you need for critical deep space imaging. It's a superb scope that can be the heart of an observing and wide field imaging system for you for years to come.
Our Product #: S11420
Sky-Watcher Product #: S11420
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Product Description

This premium quality Sky-Watcher Esprit 120mm ED triplet apochromatic refractor has:
• 120mm f/7 apochromatic triplet optics using ED glass
• thread-on glass doublet field flattener
• rotatable dual-speed 3.4" rack and pinion focuser
• 2" star diagonal with 99% reflectivity dielectric mirror coatings
• Canon EOS DSLR camera adapter
• 8 x 50mm right-angle correct-image finderscope
• tube rings with a Losmandy-style "D-plate" dovetail for installing on a German equatorial mount
• aluminum clad foam-lined hard case
• two-year warranty

The substantial Sky-Watcher Esprit 120mm apochromatic triplet objective uses a center lens of extra-low dispersion (ED) glass, flanked by two carefully chosen mating lenses of premium optical glass. This lens trio delivers crisp, high-fidelity wide-field images of celestial objects. The views are unmarred by the faint but annoying halo of unfocused violet light (chromatic aberration) often seen around bright stars and solar system objects in other large aperture fast focal ratio doublet and triplet refractors. A separate thread-on Schott glass doublet field flattener provides pin-point star images across the entire 43mm image circle for superb astrophotography.

The 120mm Sky-Watcher Esprit triplet utilizes the most modern optical glasses and fabricating techniques to deliver the ultimate in small aperture high-fidelity astronomical observing and imaging. Each lens element is individually inspected for purity and absence of striations and other image-degrading imperfections. Each element is then pitch polished to exacting standards of optical fabrication and performance by highly skilled opticians and tested on an optical laser bench to rigidly controlled optical standards. The result is a high-quality, diffraction-limited optical system performing to the theoretical limits of its aperture - one that will give you years of imaging and visual observing satisfaction.

Features of this Sky-Watcher refractor . . .

Apochromatic ED triplet refractor optics: 120mm (4.72") aperture, 840mm focal length, f/7 focal ratio. The triplet objective lens uses two mating elements of premium optical glass. The center ED element is precision-polished from high grade ED (Extra-low Dispersion) glass.

Fully multicoated optics: Each air-to-glass surface in the Sky-Watcher Esprit 120mm triplet objective lens has high transmission antireflection multicoatings on all air-to-glass surfaces for high light transmission, minimal light scatter, and excellent contrast.

Retractable dew shield: The aluminum dew shield retracts to allow the scope to fit into its hard carrying case, and extends when the scope is in use. The dew shield slows the formation of dew on the lens in cold weather to extend your undisturbed observing time. It also improves the contrast, similar to the effect of the lens shade on a camera lens, when observing during the day or when there is excessive ambient light at night, such as a neighbor's backyard security light. The telescope measures 27.34" long with the dew shield retracted and 31.5" long when it is fully extended.

Thread-on doublet field flattener: For imaging, the Esprit 120mm includes a doublet field flattening lens that can be threaded onto the optical tube to transform your scope into an exceptional wide-field imaging Instrument. Using optical grade glass and multicoatings on all air-to-glass lens surfaces, the field flattener provides sharp, in-focus stars across a large fully-illuminated 43mm image circle. This is ideal for DSLR cameras (even those with 35mm equivalent sensors, although there will be some very minor vignetting at the extreme corners of a full-sized sensor). It is equally well-matched to virtually all CCD cameras. Back focus is 75mm. A Canon EOS camera adapter (the most popular DSLR camera brand for astronomical imaging) is standard equipment. Optional Celestron M48 camera adapters are available for Nikon and Sony/Minolta Maxxum cameras.

Dual speed 3.4" rack and pinion focuser: The precision-made and mechanically ultra-smooth, backlash-free, rack and pinion focuser has a giant 3.4" diameter drawtube with a 2" accessory adapter. This rotatable focuser offers dual-speed focusing and has an engraved focusing scale. There are two coarse focusing knobs. The right knob has a smaller concentric knob with 10:1 reduction gear microfine focusing over the full 87mm focuser travel. This provides exceptionally precise image control during high magnification visual observing and critical DSLR or CCD imaging. The large focus knobs have ribbed gripping surfaces so they are easy to operate, even while wearing gloves or mittens in cold weather. A lock knob lets you adjust the tension on the drawtube to accommodate varying eyepiece/photo accessory loads, as well as firmly lock in a photographic focus.

2" dielectric star diagonal: The supplied standard equipment 2" mirror star diagonal of the Esprit 120mm slips into the focuser drawtube's 2" eyepiece/accessory holder. The 2" compression ring diagonal has 99% reflectivity dielectric mirror coatings for high light transmission. A 1.25" compression ring accessory adapter is also included.

Finderscope: The Sky-Watcher Esprit 120mm comes with an 8 x 50mm right-angle correct-image finderscope that is fully multicoated to insure maximum brightness and contrast. The finder shows the star field in its correct upright and right-reading orientation, as it appears to the naked eye and on star charts.

Mounting rings and dovetail: The Sky-Watcher Esprit 120mm apo has dual hinged split-ring tube rings to fit the 6.875" diameter aluminum optical tube. They are bolted to a 3" wide Losmandy-style "D-plate" dovetail that fits directly into the dovetail slot on the head of many of the most popular medium to heavy capacity German equatorial mounts, such as the Celestron CGEM DX and CGE Pro and the Losmandy G11.

Shipping/storage case: The scope comes in foam-fitted aluminum-clad shipping/storage hard case.

Two-year warranty: The Sky-Watcher Esprit 120mm triplet apo is protected by a two-year limited warranty against flaws in materials and workmanship.

Tech Details

Aperture 120mm
Focal Length 840mm
Focal Ratio f/7
Heaviest Single Component 22 pounds
Highest Useful Magnification 210x
Weight 22 lbs
Optical Coatings Fully multicoated
Resolution 0.97 arc seconds
Supplied Eyepiece None
Telescope Type Refractor
View Finder 9x50mm RA erect-image
Visual Limiting Magnitude 12.3
Warranty 2 years
Back Focus 75mm

Reviews

Review by:
I've had this scope for a few months now and I love it.
It seems expensive but when you see the build and optical quality and the fact that it includes a field flattener it's awesome.
Pros
-Well built
-Superb Optics
-Comes with visual and imaging accessories
-Really good focuser

Cons
-Seems pricy at first
-Heavier than some comparable scopes
-Dew shield tends to loosen up a little during use
-I wish there was a reducer/flattener available for it (Posted on 10/4/2019)
Review by:
I purchased this scope from Astronomics in the fall of 2018 during a sale. Since then I have used the scope almost exclusively for astrophotography. The optics are excellent and the build quality is heavy-duty. The included field flattener is a plus as is the included case. One would hard-pressed to find a better triplet for the money. (Posted on 8/24/2019)
Review by:
What can I say except that I like at least as much if not more than my TV-85. It is very well put together, a first class fit and finish and the optics are excellent. It comes in a very nice wheeled travel case. The scope looks and functions well on my iOptron CEM60.

What don't I like so well? It comes with a field flattener, a very nice one, but SW does not offer a flattener-reducer to fit this scope. If it existed I would have ordered it. Instead I may have to order one from Germany.

SW seems to change the included accessories from time to time and it would have been nice if the extension tube mentioned on the web site was actually provided. It would be more use to me than the Canon T adapter that is included. The solid build of the OTA translates into weight, something to check before you order it.

But all in all this is a very high quality scope. (Posted on 10/31/2018)
Review by:
I've owned this and it's 80mm little brother for about a year. Very happy with it, good optics and construction and the results are very satisfying. I added NiteCrawler focusers to mine so I can do unattended imaging with both focusing and rotation varying through the night. The results I'm getting are extremely close to what I've seen with refractors costing twice as much. (Posted on 10/6/2018)
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