WO RedCat 51 II
The impressive William Optics RedCat 51 II astrograph
This little red telescope really packs a punch! In the near future I plan on doing a more in-depth review of this lens but for now I will just say that it’s definitely one of the lenses you’ll want in your wide field arsenal.
The RedCat 51 II sports a helical focuser around the tube and a clear Bahtinov mask, built into the lens cap. Not only will you never misplace your Bahtinov mask again, but focusing in and getting super sharp stars couldn’t be easier. As an additional feature, the removable lens hood functions as a focus lock after tightening.
The classic Petzval lens design was actually intended for photography and you won’t need a field flattener between the scope and your camera. Back-focus is also very easy to achieve with your dedicated astro camera (if using one), and is not necessary with your DSLR.
If you are using a DSLR, you’ll need the appropriate M48 T-adapter for your camera. I purchased one online for my Canon EOS, for its specific lens type and it works great.
Another super handy feature is that this telescope is compatible with many popular two-inch filters. As long as your filter is mounted and threaded, simply screw the filter in behind the included M48 threaded mount.
The William Optics RedCat 51 II, in my humble opinion, will not disappoint if you are looking to capture deep sky objects like the Orion nebula, Andromeda galaxy or any number of wide field targets!