Takahashi
FC-60 Review
The FC-60 was the last of the original
‘FC’ line of Takahashi refractors, produced during the Nineties and
early Noughties to replace the FC-65. Takahashi have since rebooted the FC
line, but with the notable absence of the FC-60, replacing it (eventually) with
the optically innovative FOA-60.
Takahashi’s FC-60 has been a bit
of a holy grail among classic scopes for me. I first read Ed Ting’s
review twenty years ago and have wanted one ever since. Trouble is, the FC-60
has become so collectable in the U.S. that every time one appeared on Astromart someone beat me to it; meanwhile they almost
never come up in Europe. Eventually, I took the risk and imported this 1990
example from Japan.
Here I’m going to test the FC-60
as a classic, comparing it with its contemporary, the Tele Vue Ranger; but I
also compare it against the recent and optically sophisticated FOA-60 and
FOA-60Q.
At
A Glance
|
Telescope |
Takahashi FC-60 |
|
Aperture |
60mm |
|
Focal Length |
500mm |
|
Focal Ratio |
F8.3 |
|
Length |
420mm w/o visual back (490mm with) |
|
Weight |
1.2Kg bare, 1.8Kg incl. clamshell and finder |
Data from Tak/Me.
The FC-60 in
a 1991 brochure on the P2Z mount.
Design
and Build
The FC-60
replaced the FC-65 in Takahashi’s ‘FC’ range of fluorite
doublet refractors that went from 50mm to 125mm. All were
Steinheil fluorite-at-the-back doublets and have legendary performance,
particularly for contrast. Unlike the modern FC series, all were designed first
and foremost as uncompromising planetary and lunar scopes.
The FC-60
shared the earlier FC-65’s 500mm focal length, but little else (see
below). It was introduced later than the rest of the range, some eight years
after the generally similar FC-50.
When
researching this review I was unable to discover when the FC-60 was introduced,
but I was contacted by a helpful reader (Ken Tatematsu
– thanks!) who checked the back issues of ‘Tenmon
Guide’ magazine at his observatory and discovered that that the July
issue had an introduction to the FC-60 as a ‘new face’. So it
seems the FC-60 was introduced in mid 1990,
making mine an early example.
The later FS-series was introduced just
four years later and so the FC-60 was produced after the demise of the other
FCs, much as the FS-60 has remained in production after the rest of the
FS-series.
Compared to
the luxury FOA-60 which has finally replaced it, the FC-60 is a
‘budget’ Takahashi: it has a fixed dewshield, a plastic objective
cap and plastic imitations of the classic Tak’ silver focuser wheels (on
which more below). Otherwise, it’s a typical Takahashi of its generation,
which is to say I love it: lime green cast focuser and lens ring, a white tube
and ‘Fluorite’ emblazoned on the dewshield.
Below
I’ve included some photos of the FC-60 alongside some other small
Takahashis (and a Tele Vue Ranger), for comparison.
Colours
As far as I
know, all FC-60s have this colour scheme, i.e. lime green and white with blue
decals. A variety of other colours and combinations have graced other
Takahashis before and since. For more on this, I’ve written a separate
article here. The
smaller FC-50 was produced with both the lime green and the older blue-grey
enamel (see below), but I can’t find evidence that the FC-60 ever was,
because it was introduced later.
Three long-f
60mm Takahashis, top to bottom: FOA-60Q, FS-60Q, FC-60.
Takahashi
FC-60 and an FC-50 with the older blue-grey enamel.
Takahashi
FC-60 with its contemporary, the TV Ranger.
FC-60 with
its forerunner, the FC-65.
Optics
The FC-60
has a Canon/Optron foil-spaced doublet with the fluorite at the back in a
Steinheil configuration. To check that it really is fluorite, I did a laser
test (see below): fluorite doesn’t scatter light, so disappears, unlike
the glass (the bright spots are scatter from air-glass and air-fluorite
surfaces).
The
non-adjustable lens cell has the old Tak’ standard of green writing
around the edge telling you the aperture (60mm) and focal length (500mm), which
gives F8.3. By comparison, the FC-50 has an adjustable
cell, like the earlier FC-65.
Those green
letters also state ‘MC’ which means multi-coated. Shine a light in
and the lens does look very transparent in the way fluorite doublets do.
However, the coatings have a bluish hue compared with the tobacco-colour of the
latest on the FOA-60 and this does I think yield a slightly warmer tone to the
image that is apparent on the Moon.
The fluorite
element at the back is uncoated, as it was on all the original FCs. One of the
reasons for adopting a fluorite-at-the-back design was to protect the delicate
mineral crown. But interestingly, older Takahashis without the multi-coating seem to suffer from hazing of
the flint element.
The later FS
(for front surface) series of F8 fluorite doublets had their fluorite at the
front in a Fraunhofer configuration; but for whatever reason, the FS-60 was
(and still is) F5.9 – a much more imaging-centric format than the F8.3
FC-60.
The latest
FOA-60 also has a front-surface fluorite doublet, but a large air gap between
the elements to further control aberrations means a larger, heavier cell and
potential sensitivity to knocks that affect centring and/or collimation (I have
seen this on both an FOA-60 and the Sky-90 which has a similar cell).
Laser test
confirms the FC-60 is a Steinheil fluorite doublet.
Tube
Whereas the
FS-60 has an 80mm tube, the FC-60 shares its slimmer 68mm one with the its
modern replacement the FOA-60 and its forerunner the FC-65 and the FC-50 too.
The FC-60 and FC-50 share the same slim dew-shield; the older FC-65’s is
larger.
Compared to
the FOA-60, the FC-60 has one big advantage: weight. At just 1.8Kg including
its clamshell, the FC-60 is roughly the same weight as an FS-60C and almost
half a kilo’ lighter than the FOA. This weight advantage over the FOA-60
is surprisingly meaningful – on the Teegul it doesn’t need a
counter-weight, whereas the FOA-60 does. The FC-60 is more stable on a photo
tripod too.
For further
context, the FC-60 also the same weight as the contemporary Tele Vue Ranger,
despite being much longer.
The FC-60
has one knife-edge baffle in its tube, and two in the focuser drawtube, for
maximum contrast.
FC-60
focuser has lots of travel, standard 0.965” visual back.
The
0.965” visual back is protected with a plastic cap.
Focuser
I have
experienced a couple of pretty bad Takahashi focusers over the years –
one on a Sky-90, the other on an FS-60 (though another FS-60 I owned more
recently was fine) – but that’s far from typical and was probably
due to wear from use with heavy cameras, or perhaps just user fiddling.
However,
though the little focuser on this FC-60 is thirty
years old it is just perfect: oily
smooth and precise, completely free of image shift and with just the right feel
and weight. I thought this might have been chance, but the second I’ve
owned is the same and capable of
finding best focus even at 200x.
The FC-60
came as standard with a 0.965” visual back and a matching prism diagonal,
both terminated with twist-locks. The 0.965” VB is protected with a
screw-on cover typical of Tak’s from that era.
The standard
FC-60 focuser has a very short body, same as the FC-50 and similar to the
FOA-60. A later version, the FC-60NZ, has an imaging-friendly focuser derived
from the earlier FC-65 with a larger body and wider drawtube.
FC-60NZ:
image courtesy of Christian Cammoranesi.
Another
interesting point for Takophiles is the focuser knobs. On this FC-60
they’re plastic imitations of the heavy anodised knobs typical of
high-end Takahashis. I’ve seen these plastic knobs on various small Taks,
including an FS-78 and an FS-60. I think the current FC-100DC may have them
too. Strangely, the FC-50 has the solid anodised knobs, but in a smaller size
to complement its bijou look.
Another
minor point is that these FC-60 knobs are shinier than recent examples. I
thought they were re-sprayed, but not so. Again, studying online photos
suggests that they were produced like this for a while.
Takahashi
focuser knobs, L to R: FC-60 plastic, modern plastic, anodised metal.
The
miniature anodised knobs on an FC-50, compared with the standard size on an
FS-60Q.
Mounting
The
FC-60’s weight is as low as small refractors go this side of a few tiny
Borgs: the same as a TV-60 or Ranger. It is a perfect match for
mini-equatorials like Takahashi’s Teegul SP or more recent PM-SP, but is
fine on small alt-az mounts like Vixen’s Mini
or Mobile Portas too. A Vixen compatible dovetail with 35mm-spaced M8 threads
is available, intended for the Mewlon 210 but ideal
for all Tak’ clamshells.
The FC-60
will also mount successfully on a sturdy photo tripod with a fluid head. I used
a light Berlebach tripod and Manfrotto 701RC head for
this review.
I mounted
the FC-60 atop my big and very stable AP1200 mount when imaging.
FC-60
mounted on a PM-SP mount (note different colours). Shown with 0.965”
visual back and Tak’ diagonal.
FC-60 on a
fluid photo head and light Berlebach tripod. Shown with 1.25” visual
back.
OTA with
original accessories – 0.965” visual back, 5x25 finder, 68mm tube ring.
View through
the 5x25 finder.
Accessories
The 68mm
tube ring was standard on the FC-60, the FC-50 and the FC-65; it can also be
substituted with a modern one for the FOA-60 (compare photos above).
The smaller
FCs would have been fitted with Takahashi’s tiny 5x25 finder - an
outstanding little optic, with properly baffled and blackened internals, a
little helical focuser and a wide sharp field; like a smaller version of the
usual 6x30 (see above).
Please
note: the ring mount to use the 5x25 finder on an FS-60 doesn’t fit these
older scopes: the base is too wide, the mounting holes and bolt threads too
large.
The FC-60
came with a 0.965” visual back. There is no 2” eyepiece holder
option for the standard focuser, but it can be directly replaced with the
1.25” equivalent from an FS-60. The FC-60 was likely supplied with 18mm and 7mm Takahashi MC Orthoscopic eyepieces (and a matching 0.965”
prism diagonal).
For imaging,
Takahashi sell an FC-60/FC-65 ‘Multi CA Ring 65’ adapter ring to
attach their 1.04x multi-flattener. The Multi Flattener is a recent product
that can be used with various Tak’ scopes to cover a full-frame sensor.
The
flattener attaches to the end of the drawtube via a thin adapter ring, supplied
with the Multi CA Ring. The CA Ring 65 ends in an M52 male thread for fitment
to a Takahashi Wide-T camera ring or a standard T-ring via a 3rd
party M42-M52 adapter.
Supplied
Takahashi 0.965” prism diagonal, MC Orthoscopic 18mm and 7mm eyepieces.
Also shown, 1.25” eyepiece holder threads on in place of the 0.965”.
Multi
Flattener 1.04x with the FC-60/65 Multi CA Ring and the attachment ring on the
back of the focuser.
In
Use – Daytime
Waiting on a
fellside for the planets to pop out in the dusk sky, I enjoyed using the FC-60
as a spotter. I viewed the brightly-lit power station across the bay; followed
planes whizzing across the western sky; examined a farmhouse in the darkening
valley below lit weirdly blue by unseen Christmas lights. A bright satellite
slowly passed to the east and I followed that too. Wind turbines turned in
silhouette against the sunset horizon.
I discovered
that the FC-60 makes an outstanding spotter and birding scope –
lightweight and steady on a photo head, quick to focus, it has a wide
super-sharp field free of false colour even at 100x and beyond.
Most
telescopes I review are too heavy or likely too fragile for use in the field,
but the FC-60 would work well so long as you keep it dry and deliver sharper
high-power views than the Ranger, which was much more commonly seen in hides.
My usual
daytime shot of over-exposed branches is very revealing of false colour. The
FC-60 shows the merest traces of green and purple in unfocused parts of the
view. This level of performance is close to a triplet super-apo:
In
Use – Astrophotography
Allowing for
its small image scale, the FC-60 takes an excellent image of the Moon at prime
focus – sharp and detailed.
F8.3 sounds
bad for deep sky imaging, but with modern camera sensors it’s usable and
the 500mm focal length means a wide enough field for most things. You would at
least need the 1.25” visual back to allow any form of imaging, though.
At ISO 3200
my Fuji X-Trans APS-C camera isn’t noisy but allows decent 60s subs of
brighter subjects through the FC-60. Star images are tight and virtually free
from nasty bloat and violet fringing. On an APS-C sensor, off-axis aberrations
aren’t too bad without a flattener, but there’s not much point in
full frame with 1.25” visual back.
FC-60 Moon
(cropped) with Fuji X-Trans APS-C CSC.
Unprocessed
sub of the Pleiades through the FC-60: 120s at ISO 3200 with Fuji X-Trans APS-C
CSC.
In
Use – The Night Sky
General
Observing Notes
Sharp
optics, low weight, rapid cool-down and a superb focuser make the FC-60 a
pleasure to use.
Note that the
FC-60 balances right at the focuser end of the tube, which can look a bit
strange but is essential on the Teegul where otherwise the focus knobs would
hit the RA housing. The Teegul and FC-60 were very closely designed together
from this perspective with just a millimetre or two in it.
False colour
is generally absent. Focusing through the bright limb of a nearly full Moon
– centre field to avoid eyepiece effects – produces the merest tint
of gold and rose either side of focus through the FC-60.
For
comparison, a modern FOA-60Q – perhaps the most perfectly corrected
refractor ever made - yields no trace of false colour, but needs front-surface
fluorite, a large air-gap, four elements and an F15 focal ratio to achieve it.
My first
FC-60 had a perfect focuser and my second is the same: wonderfully smooth and precise with no image shift.
Cool
Down
Compared to
the Mewlon reflector I was testing at the time, cool
down is laughably rapid. Straight from a warm house into a freezing November
night, the FC-60 gives the Moon a halo of stray light, just the way a poor
optic does. After ten minutes, space is inky black again, cool-down complete.
Star
Test
The star
test is excellent. My first FC-60 had a trace of under-correction; the second
is sensibly perfect. In-focus diffraction pattern and Airy disk are text book
perfect.
The
Moon
I woke one
frosty November morning to excellent (8-9) seeing and a last quarter Moon high
in the sky just off the meridian, with Albategnius on the terminator. Skidding
out onto my icy balcony, the FC-60 quickly gave a stunning view for such a tiny
refractor.
A 3.5mm
Nagler giving 143x showed loads of sharp detail along the terminator: Mons
Piton, bathed in evening light; the craterlets like a string of beads along
Rima Hyginus and nearby Rima Ariadaeus, black with shadow and running off into
the darkness; Alphonsus with its offset central peak, dark patches and hummocky
ridge; the Straight Wall and its odd arrow-head at one end; the slumped walls
of Tycho in extraordinary detail. Clavius and its arc of craters.
On a
different occasion, I’d been examining Mare Imbrium through the FOA-60Q
at 180x with a 10mm Zeiss Abbe Ortho in the Zeiss 2x barlow.
Surely the old FC-60 couldn’t take that kind of magnification? I swapped
the Zeiss 10mm for a 6mm to give 167x in the FC-60 to see. The view was the
same, sharp and full of subtle shading contrast where the bright rays met dark
Mare lavas. I watched a star just off the limb in absolutely black space.
The shortest
focal length eyepiece I have is a 2.5mm Nagler giving 200x in the FC-60.
Amazingly, there is no softness or image breakdown at that mag, just a trace
more false colour focusing through the limb and a slightly dimmer view. This
was a real close-up encounter with the rugged craters of the Moon with none of
the lilac wash suffered by the Tele Vue Ranger I was testing at the same time.
The limb showed mountains silhouetted against black space as only the finest
scopes can.
The FC-60
gives an extraordinarily beautiful high-power view of the Moon for such an old
telescope, comparable with the state-of-the-art FOA-60Q alongside.
Planets
With the planets clustered low in the western dusk sky, I had to climb
the local fell to see them. It was the first day of Advent and a silvery
crescent Moon hung over a blood-orange dusk that reflected in cirrus above and
bay beneath. It was brutally cold and my fingers numbed as night slowly fell on
a crunchy fellside.
Venus
A brilliant, full-disk Venus boiled low to the horizon, with lots of
false colour from the atmosphere (not the FC-60!) – blue and orange
either side of the planet. Some six weeks later in its elongation cycle, a
magnitude -4 Venus, at a much higher altitude (~18°), showed a perfectly defined gibbous disk. It was absolutely pure
white at 100x, with not a trace of false colour, even out of focus.
Mars
Almost two months after the December 2022 Mars opposition, Mars was
just 11.2” in diameter, but at a favourable 60 degree altitude. I had recently received my second FC-60 (I foolishly sold
the first) and was anxious to try it. At 142x with a 3.5mm Nagler, Mars was a
perfectly sharp and distinctly gibbous disk, with no softness or false colour.
I was surprised to see albedo markings, so I upped the power with first
a 2.5mm Nagler and then a 2.5mm Pentax XO giving a very high (for a 60mm) 200x.
I was amazed to find the FC-60 took the high power to reveal bright
Hellas (probably covered with cloud) in the south, with the dark stripe of Sabaeus Sinus in the west and Mars’ most recognisable
telescopic feature - Syrtis Major - in the west.
Jupiter
At 100x with the 5mm setting of a Nagler Zoom, I noted a very sharp
planetary disk with excellent contrast. The equatorial belts revealed features,
darker spots and variations in thickness. Further fainter belts were visible to
north and south, along with dark polar hoods. At 125x with the 4mm, the image
was still perfect but didn’t yield much more detail.
The Galilean moons were shown as perfect tiny disks of slightly varying
hue and brightness, with Io close in and noticeably yellower than the others.
Saturn
At 100x with a 5mm Nagler, I could see all the usual details with
perfect sharpness – ring shadow, hints of a partial Cassini Division,
polar hood and the planet partially obscured by the rings.
Deep
Sky
The FC-60
works as well as most 60mm refractors for deep sky, perhaps giving away only a
little brightness to the FOA-60 with its latest multi-coatings on all elements.
The Pleiades are sparkly and brilliant, with pinpoint stars across the whole
field. The open clusters in Auriga show masses of stars, easier to pick out
with averted vision. The Great Nebula (M42) in Orion reveals its extended arms
and hints of structure in the central region.
But this is
an area where the 60mm Takahashi with its uncoated fluorite gives quite a lot
away to the 70mm (and fully coated) TV Ranger. The Tele Vue offers brighter DSO
views and is the better scope if you like low-power Milky Way surfing.
At 143x with
a T6 Nagler 3.5mm the Double Double (Epsilon Lyrae)
was a perfect split on both components.
Summary
The FC-60 was
once Takahashi’s entry-level budget scope, but has become something of a
collectors’ item. It’s not hard to see why: no one makes anything
quite like it today.
Today, small
apochromatic refractors are designed for imaging, with hefty focusers and wide
visual backs, short focal lengths and improved correction in the blue and
violet. In contrast, the FC-60 is optimised for visual use, especially on the
Moon and planets. Meanwhile, the doublet objective, slim tube, fixed dew-shield
and 1.25”-only focuser make it very light-weight, rugged and easy to
carry and mount.
Even with its
tube ring, the FC-60 is as light as a tiny TV-60 or FS-60, but takes
magnification better and gives even better Solar System views. Recent
long-focal-length Takahashi 60s - the FS-60Q and FOA-60 - are half a kilo heavier and so slightly
more awkward to carry and mount.
So, true to
legend, the FC-60 does make a wonderful super-light travel scope for the Solar
System – for eclipses, but also for Mercury or the early days of a
lunation. For someone with a big Dob’ or SCT it remains an ideal second
scope for quick looks too.
The FC-60 remains the perfect small
apochromat for visual use and travel, especially for the Solar System. I love
it. It’s a classic and it deserves to be.
