Steve K, Australia - TAL Eyepieces

A few years back I was looking for eyepieces for both my refractor and reflector but I had been dismayed by the prices and reviews of such items which in fact didn’t inspire me to spend too much. I was looking for affordable and good equipment that I hoped would last me and be good optical performers for the money I could spend.

Luckily for me I chanced on an unusually looking 12.5mm “Super Plossl” 1.25 inch that I was told was the last of a batch ordered by a small optics shop in Melbourne Australia – It seemed good value and the glass looked great and supposedly an excellent performer. It was a TAL eyepiece, Russian made by the optical manufacturer Novosibirsk of Siberia in Russia, and honestly, it looked rugged and not as pretty as some of the other higher priced items, but I was assured that its performance was up to that of those twice the price. – Fully coated and clear with an excellent exit pupil diameter, I decided to pay the reasonable price and take a chance.

I tried it that night and to my elated surprise the eyepiece performed beautifully – sharp to the edges with no distortion and crisp, clear images. As a result of my excellent find, I had decided to seek out a set of these of different focal lengths. No one in Australia had them and those European suppliers who did, were charging ‘an arm and a leg’ compared to what I had paid.

After years of searching, a supplier from the USA, TALteleoptics, advertised his wares on a popular astronomy forum. On contacting the supplier, I found the owner, a good and honest ambassador for these finely engineered pieces. His communication and his service was excellent and as a result I ended up purchasing 7 of these fine eyepieces over a period of six months, as the budget would allow, ranging from the 6.5mm Super Plossl to the 40mm

All the eyepieces are crisp and sharp right up to the edges with only the 32mm showing only slight distortion and vigneting on the edge of the field of view in an F6 Newtonian but no discernible issue in a long focus refractor- The images nevertheless are beautiful. Each eyepiece has its function and I have found that the 6.5 and 7.5 and 10mm are every bit as good as a Japanese made and popular Orthoscopics of similar focal lengths that I own, revealing lunar and planetary detail that in my opinion is unsurpassed (double stars are superb viewing, Saturn is amazing and the detail on Jupiter is exceptional) The 12.5 and 17mm are again excellent lunar performers with the 25mm and 32mm being magnificent rich field eyepieces, whilst my favorite 40mm reveals detail in nebulas and clusters through my Newtonian that I have never seen with the cheaper previous plossls I have owned.

Images in all are bright and with good to excellent eye relief due the wide field of view and the optical design, and all are exceptionally sharp and clear. With the exception of the 17mm all are double coated magnesium showing a bluish tint. Unusually the 17mm has a yellowish coating to it however still offering the viewer a 3 dimensional feel to rendered images

While I am sure there may be better eyepieces on the market, I am not so sure I want to mortgage the house to buy them. These TAL eyepieces represent excellent Value for money which I rate as A++, construction whilst not as pretty as others, is extremely rugged and durable ( The 32mm survived the jaws of my runaway puppy one night with the barrel coming out unscathed but the puppy losing a tooth as he chewed. Optical performance in my opinion A+ and all for a reasonable and honest price from a reputable dealer who knows his wares and who offers his customers exceptional customer service and communication that would embarrass other retailers who have been in the game longer.

Thank you TALteleoptics, and thank you TAL.

The TAL Super Plössls provided strong performance, keeping pace with other well respected Plössls and even Orthos for critical planetary observing.  Their build quality is satisfyingly robust and sturdy, with fit and finish being generally good.  Eye guards were functional, easy to remove to increase usable eye relief, and made of sturdy rubber.....Download full review (pdf)

The TAL SWAs and UWAs were tested in a fast focal ratio telescope (Orion 10" f/4.7 Dob) and a more conventional medium focal ratio telescope (Takahashi 4" f/8 APO) to guage their performance at different focal ratios.  For tests in the fast Orion XT10 Dob, a Tele Vue Paracorr was used to mitigate the effects of the mirror's coma.....Download full review (pdf)

Marc J, USA - TAL100RS

Having decided a month ago to reignite my passion for astronomy after a 30-year hiatus, I began intensive research into telescope optics and their manufacturing worldwide with the goal of obtaining a high-quality, mid-sized, moderately priced refractor. I finally settled on Russian optics from the Novosibirsk Instruments Plant, historically a defense optics enterprise. This factory produces complete telescopes under the name of 'TAL'. I found that they have a distributor in the United States, Talteleoptics (www.talteleoptics.com). TALteleoptics and I engaged in a very thorough question and answer dialogue, guiding my selection based on multiple constraints and aspirations. By their outstanding service and advice, I was able to precisely determine the telescope model - this time the TAL-100RS - and accompanying eyepieces with mount and tripod. TALteleoptics performed a focuser alignment correction on the scope before sending to me, in order to ensure maximum optical performance once it reached my hands. The total package remained within budget, and was shipped with efficiency.

After the optical tube assembly and mount arrived, clear instructions for building and use were provided, which I put to use with ease. After mounting the scope I tested the main optics on Mars that very evening - due to poor viewing conditions, it was the only option. Mars appeared unexpectedly bright and sharp, despite the abundance of light pollution and haze in my neighborhood. The different TAL eyepieces, finder scope, focuser and diagonal mirror interoperated with each other flawlessly, providing very smooth and stable use. Clear orange-red colors were viewable from Mars, and with extremely little chromatic aberration. The 100mm optics and tube was clearly a superior instrument, especially in combination with the eyepieces. Couldn't be happier, and the finder scope 6x30 was also breathtaking to look through!

The second day I tested the scope on Venus, again, under very poor viewing conditions - thin cloud veil, haze and light pollution. She was super bright and clear, and could have easily been viewed with a filter to produce more detail. I was very impressed given the unfavorable conditions. Can't wait to get clearer skies for more observation! My children are equally excited about the new TAL as I am, and will assuredly provide years and years of great observing.

An update review for February 23, 2012:

Viewing conditions:
Significant light pollution
Intermittent cloud cover, thin veil and thick obscuring
Warm temperature
Light breeze (5-10km/h)
Minimal haze
Viewing hours: 1815 - 2015

The setting moon was superb - thin crescent with easily viewable dark side. The TAL 25mm Plossl captured her perfectly, very sharp, high contrast, very 3D effect, and placed her comfortably in the middle 40% of FOV. There was just the right amount of room around the moon for the eye to wander and place her in celestial context. I could distinctly observe the changing light condition of the sky from bottom-left to top-right of FOV, as an accurate effect of the nearby sun. The total effect was that you could view the moon and palpably "feel" that there was a nearby light source illuminating her. Stunning effect - the children, myself, and a couple of friends were awe-struck. The Barlow 2x allowed for beautiful zooms on the craters. Our unanimous favorite Plossl was definitely the 25mm!

The color of the moon was entirely accurate, no shifting, and absolutely no chromatic aberration. I looked very hard for this, and even used the 6.3mm Plossl to detect this - nothing. The edges and interior were completely free from chromatic aberration. Our TAL-100RS achromatic was performing better than expected.

On to Venus - she was super-bright, in gibbous phase approaching quarter phase. In all Plossls, she exhibited minor chromatic aberration – nothing detracting, though. This effect could have been compounded from her light rays being refracted from passing by the sun, as she was located on the far side. I'm willing to bet that once she is seen on the near side from the sun, that she will display less chromatic aberration. The 10mm Plossl was the best performer on Venus last night.

Jupiter and the Galilean moons were superb at 25mm, 17mm and 10mm, and displayed less CA than on Venus. Finally we viewed the Pleiades Cluster using the 25mm, and were again awe-struck by how much the TAL-100RS revealed that couldn't be seen with the naked eye - amazing! The sense of depth in the star field was, again, palpable.

The CG-4 mount is working perfectly for our needs. Polar alignment is simple, manual tracking is simple, mount is very sturdy without being excessively heavy. Carrying all of the equipment (mount, tripod, scope, accessories, radio) together is a minor effort. I really like the portability of the TAL-100RS. I think for the price, the CG-4 is outstanding - perfect way to teach astronomy to the children and have a "grab and go" option. This mount we will keep for many years! I'm looking forward to getting more TAL eyepieces and another, larger TAL scope later this summer/fall.

I purchased the TAL 125 achromat in the early fall of 2013 and after some long debate over similar size achromats took the plunge and placed my order through TALteleoptics which, provided great service answering all my questions, assurances dissatisfaction, expectations on the 125R all met over the phone and e-mail during the time of shipping and after.

Okay, so is the Tal 125 achromat as good as it’s been made out to be. Lets just say I have looked through many similar size achromats and the TAL 125 is as good or better than some of the familiar name brands out there, matching optical performance that is expected of a well made achromat, no regrets.

I immediately fell in love with the telescope; it’s so light it feels more like a 4”scope but with the punch of a 6” refractor. I can’t see how anyone could part with a telescope bearing a weight/aperture ratio that’s hard to come by let alone one of optical quality. The optics are superb, color correction is well controlled with great contrast. Upon star testing under good seeing conditions the diffraction rings are clean on both sides of focus with a snap at high powers. Truly a wonderful optic the OTA is well baffled and the crayford focuser is slick making it a breeze on a CG5 mount at stupid powers with effective dampening. My only gripe is the finders bracket being low and slightly cutting into the optical path main OTA or dew shield other than that the finder itself looks, functions, and performs as it should giving an expansive view and guiding with a well tweaked helical style focuser.

The 1-1/4” diagonal is very good, all eyepieces come to focus with the exception of a 2” diagonal there is not enough in travel for shorter focal length eyepieces though, a stepped down 1 ¼” plate solves the problem. The 25mm plossl equipped with 6mm plossl combined with diagonal is an added bonus given their performance and lightweight.

(Note: 6mm has very small eye relief)

The lens cell has three setscrews for centration, a threaded ring for locking the lenses in place and an adjustable focuser for additional collimation., it works well. Upon first receiving and removing from the box and setting up for the first night I was confronted with a slight miscollimation where, the diffraction ring was not complete around the airy disc. A slight tweak in the lens cell setscrews took a few moments solving the problem. To be expected I suppose with shipping, they were cinched down perhaps prior to transport but remedied easily, via brass fasteners ever so slightly adjusting bringing out a perfect airy disc. A faint diffraction ring seen on the outside it was perfect!

I must say I knew the TAL could perform but never imagined the surprises it would bring me on different nights ahead. Jupiter continues to provide fantastic detail through the TAL.  On one evening the great red spot appeared etched in surrounding swirls of gas with subtle color tones, a remarkable image though did not last due to seeing conditions. Mars this spring has given splendid views of it’s mystery surface detailed from powers ranging between 225x – 350x. Even now its North polar cap appears as a tiny nipple on the martian limb. Of the times to enjoy a night out with the TAL under dark skies using 35mm, 24mm panoptic on M81 M82, the Persius double cluster, M13, swan nebula, M27… the views are exquisite as they are sharp a dark background with a flat field giving the impression one is peering through a larger instrument.

 I suppose it is, a 5” after all. However, you would never think that picking up the telescope and given the price of this little beauty, if the factory that manufactures these telescopes decides to refine these small issues, I’m certain that what they are purchased for today will be a thing of the past.  

2015 Update:

Since purchasing the TAL 125R more than a year ago since late summer of 2013
I am truly impressed with the optical performance of this refractor.
This telescope in my humble opinion stands above the many achromatic refractors
on the market sold today and not to mention APO class refractors. I would know, I have looked through many over the years and can say with confidence, the Tal 125R is in a class of it's own.
An astounding piece of glass.

Doug H USA- TAL200K f8.5

I've had a few short sessions so far and am certainly impressed by the optics. Easily works right up there with other scopes that are minimum 1/6th wave. Excellent flatness and sharpness across the field. Viewing Jupiter has been interesting in the lack of false color at the edge of view....not sure of the technical term for this, perhaps "lateral color"? In other scopes Jupiter at the edge of view displays a blue cast on one side, reddish on the other. I don't see this at all with the TAL....that is a level of correction I did not expect, but I hoped might not show up in an all-spherical system, the biggest draw the scope had for me.

Love the brightness of the views, and the snap the focus has. SCT's always have a certain mushiness....the TAL really behaves more like a very well corrected refractor with the ease arriving at a point of distinct and definite focus.

This is really a fun scope to use, so short! I have an older C8, and it's a good one, yet is easily bested by the TAL. The focuser is excellent, very smooth and solid. The finder is easily as good as a LOMO 40mm I have, excellent construction and beautiful optics!

Absolutely happy with this scope.

Both TAL EP's are just as sharp and contrasty as my University Optic orthos and are a real pleasure to use. The 2X Barlow is a surprisingly good performer and reminds me of a Televue Powermate I used to have, just the way it gets out of the way in use....no degradation in eyepiece performance, and what seems to be some added improvement. I don't usually use Barlows, but I keep this one on hand, it's so nice to use!