Televue Visual Paracorr

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Brand and Model:Televue Visual Paracorr
Price ($USD):$295
Type:Coma Corrector
Description:Tunable top, no T-rings, one-piece design (except for 1.25" adapter).

made for 2" focusers
fits 1.25" or 2" eyepieces
Tunable Top to adjust eyepiece spacing

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Televue Visual Paracorr
Greetings all,

I will be posting a more extensive review on Cloudynights.com, but I wanted to give my brief impressions here.

First, the Paracorr works. I spent two extensive nights with the device and it does what it is designed to do, correct coma in fast newtonians. It does not necessarily eliminate it completely in all cases, but it does greatly reduce it.

As to the level of correction, it is most noticeable with low-power Naglers and decreases with Panoptics and shorter focal length eyepieces. Of course, this is what you would expect as higher mag and smaller fields have less coma to begin with.

The tunable top does indeed work. I am going to enjoy learning to fine tune eyepieces, especially the non-Televue stuff.

Light transmission is minimally effected, and I mean very very little. In fact, I preferred the view with the Paracorr on several nebulous objects, to my view without it. It seemed to provide better contrast.

High power views of double stars were uneffected as far as I could tell. Again, this is good in the sense that you wouldn't expect coma in high-powered views. What I was concerned with here was whether there would be any image degradation, and there wasn't any. I did notice some parafocal color with a 4mm U.O ortho, but it may be because I needed to adjust the top. No color in focus.

Telescopes used: 10" f4.5, and 18.5" f/5
Eyepieces: 31mm NT5, 22mm NT4, 12mm NT4, 8mm Radian, 5mm Tak LE, various U.O orthos; 35mm Panoptic, 16mm NT2.

Overall the Paracorr tightens up star images and improves image quality. I was actually surprised at the degree of improvement, but when scrutinizing the field during the tests, you really notice things you miss when casually viewing. If you buy one, take your time, be patient, be thorough in your observations, and I think you'll agree, it does work well.

Take care,
john

Overall Rating: 9
Performance:9 Value:8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=111389

Televue Visual Paracorr
ParaCorr
The paracorr is an interesting addition to by lens collection, before I had one I thought the image on my 10inch f5 reflector was ok, but after using it I find it difficult to use the telescope without it. The paracorr has the greatest effect on the 31mm Nagler, quite a noticeable improvement on the Panoptic 22mm and minor improvement to 13mm Nagler. It does decrease the diameter of stars right across the field with dramatics results on the edges. Using the 31mm Nagler and the paracorr to view Eta Carina, it brings out a series of fainter stars that I have never noticed before as very sharp pin pricks of light. To get the most out of the paracorr requires critical alignment of the mirrors. It shows up minor mirror and eye problems. I found that my right eye suffers from astigmatism, which prevented me from focusing stars to a sharp points, fortunately my left eye is ok. There are two disappointing aspects of the paracorr, they are that the slider grabs as it moves up and down, and it seems that one department in Televue is not in contact with another department as the eyepiece reducer of the paracor does not fit the Powermate 4X as the locking pin is too thick. This is a real nuisance in the dark. Overall the paracorr is a worth the price if you are using wide field eyepieces on fast reflectors, but it does make a 31mm Nagler cost above $1000, which makes it a rather expensive. I think Televue could have done a better design job on the slider and be consistent with the eyepiece reducer insert.

Overall Rating: 9
Performance:9 Value:9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=77549

Televue Visual Paracorr
Outer 1/3 is much brighter with 31 Nagler with Visual Paracorr. Stars seem sharper and tighter as well. If you use the 35 Panoptic or other eyepieces other than the 31 Nagler, it is not needed.

Well worth waiting for.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=44273

Televue Visual Paracorr
Just received my Televue Visual Paracorr. It is a touch lighter than the original Paracorr with the tuneable top. Much brighter images on the sky with the 31mm Nagler towards the outermost 1/3 to 1/4 of the field. Seems to be identical in its effective operation to the original piece otherwise. I don't know if it brightens the image with the 22mm T4 (I don't have) or 35mm Pan (I didn't have it with me at the time).

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=44272

Televue Visual Paracorr
This accessory does not say "Visual Paracorr", just "Paracorr". But it does not coma apart, no T-Rings, and the uppermost lens is unobstructed. It's made for the 31mm Nagler as the original Paracorr vignetted the 31. I bought it to use with my 30mm Widescan II and 18" f/4.5 (and ultimately with an f/4 22"). Gave me a true field of about 1 degree 5 arcminutes, with no coma apparent except at the edge. More importantly, faint fuzzies toward the edge now showed up clearly whereas before they were not bright enough to be visible except in the center of the field (due to coma). This is an excellent accessory for wide-field eyepieces in fast scopes. Keep in mind it still has a 1.15x Barlow effect. Used at "Nag 31" tunable top setting.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=44271

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