Review on Upgrade Your Astrophotography Game With Astromania'S 50Mm Compact Deluxe Finder & Guidescope Kit by Darryl Jennings

The equipment is built with excellent fits, finishes and assemblies. The interior is painted with an excellent matte black paint that is neither visually nor IR reflective. The optics are of good quality even for visual use with small magnifications between 15X (26mm eyepiece) to 42X (9.7mm eyepiece). At 42X, moderate chromatic aberration is observed, but it is normal for any short-focal achromatic doublet. Although it is a guidescope it can also be used as a small refractor for casual use at low magnification. The helical focuser is very smooth and precise and has no axial backslash. The guide camera may have slight rotational play if the block screw is not tightened. By slightly tightening the locking knob, this rotational play can be eliminated and the helical focuser can continue to be used while searching for focus. Remember to fully adjust the adjustment knob when you have already achieved focus. I tried with a ZWO ASI462MC and with a Canon EOS 50D and the focus does not lose even though the lock knob is loose. I used a ZWO ASI462MC camera with L2 ASTRONOMIK UV-IR cut filter and PHD2 to check the guidescope response and it easily detected mag. 12 stars with exposures of 1/2s and only 30% of the Gain range (ASI 462MC is very sensitive) . The only problem I found was that the helical focuser range was 5mm instead of 10mm. For me it was a minor problem that I solved in a minute since I have experience with optical and photographic equipment, but it can be a serious problem for people who do not have mechanical skills. The problem occurred during factory assembly. Helical focusers, including camera lenses, are multi-threaded and must be threaded through the correct input thread to achieve range of motion. Astromania must implement post-assembly quality control and verify that the helical focuser travels the proper design distance. The person who assembles the equipment must be trained to properly assemble this important part. I also give it 5 stars for this magnificent guidescope. The screenshot is PHD2 with the guidescope pointing at the Jewel Box cluster (NGC 4755). My place is at 10.4º N latitude