Back to forums

William Optics Redcat Spacecat Image Quality :( picture attached

William Optics SpaceCat 51 Equipment First Telescope
8 replies•345 views
Stephan Linhart avatar
Stephan Linhart avatar
Just got my first light of my newly purchased Spacecat 51.
With my 6 D the image quality seems non acceptable.
Anyone has advise if this can be fixed or should it be return to vendor?
Dominic avatar
Dominic avatar
It's probably worth checking with them. I wasn't happy with mine so contacted the seller. Couple of emails with example pics later and they confirmed it needed work. Currently waiting for a replacement now.
Jeffrey Stirman avatar
Jeffrey Stirman avatar
Definitely contact them. They might ask you to do some other tests to rule out camera tilt, etc. but it looks like there are some issues. I had a Z61 from them that had issues and got a replacement objective. That one also had issues and I gave up. In general I think they will try to make it right, but if you ordered directly from them, shipping costs start to add up. When you get a good one, they seem nice, but I think there are still some duds that get out.
Helpful
schmaks avatar
schmaks avatar
Just curious for when I purchase more WO equipment… what exactly is the issue with the quality?
Joel Quimpo avatar
Joel Quimpo avatar
I got an attachment and once I made that adjustment the stars are absolutely sharp. The SpaceCat 51 is my travel scope.
Stephan Linhart avatar
Stephan Linhart avatar
The seller is trying to push the issue aside…. saying sensor tilt. But the Camera works fine on other scopes with similar focal ratio…
most likely I will send it back while still in the return period.
dkamen avatar
dkamen avatar
Hi,

The Redcat is a quadruplet, these scopes are very strict about distance of the sensor which must be exactly 59.7mm from its back if I am reading this diagram correctly?
Stephan Linhart avatar
Stephan Linhart avatar
All the lenses in the scope are moving when focusin. When the image is sharp, the distance is automatically correct. Like a normal DSLR lens. In this regard the scope is fool proof.

Best regards,

Stephan
Joel Quimpo avatar
Joel Quimpo avatar
Your SpaceCat should have come with an Image Tilt Adjuster. There is alway a bit of a tilt with the camera sensor that needs to be adjusted for in the optical train. If you purchased the older RedCat you may need to get this from WO.

https://williamoptics.com/products/accessories/image-plane-tilt-adjuster?fbclid=IwAR1iV-tWVkTxIvOjNAVxIxryNi93KwZm0v9El6ekipIDLVqXxbMuAdkzL6k
Helpful Concise