Takahashi FC-65 Review

When I reviewed Takahashi’s classic small fluorite doublets, the FC-50 and FC-60, I was surprised to find they had differences beyond aperture. The reason is that the FC-50’s true contemporary was actually the FC-65, not the FC-60 which arrived later.

I love classic small Takahashis and I’ve already reviewed many of their scopes in the 50-80mm aperture range, so I wanted to try an FC-65. Problem is, the FC-65 is quite rare in Europe; it also suffers problems from hazing of the objective. So first I had to first import one and then get it fixed. Read on to find out how that turned out!

At A Glance

 Data from me.

Takahashi FC-65 and FC-50.

Takahashi FC-65 and FC-60.

Takahashi FC-65 and FC-60.

Design and Build

The FC-65 is a bridge between the TS-65 and the FC-60. Superficially it looks exactly like a 1970s TS-65, with similar tube and identical optical specs, but crucially the earlier scope was a triplet whilst the FC-65 is a fluorite doublet like the FC-60 (and FC-50 too).

It can be hard to track down exact production dates for Takahashi scopes, but the TS-65 was still listed in 1979, whilst the FC-60 was introduced in mid-1990, so the FC-65 was Takahashi’s general-purpose small scope for the 1980s and so the true larger sibling to the FC-50.

From its serial number, the FC-65 on review was likely made in 1984.

The FC-65 pre-dates the cost-cutting - plastic focuser wheels, cheapo dew cap and fixed cell - seen in later small Takahashis like the FC-60, so the FC-65 is built and finished like the FC-50, but with a larger focuser.

Optics

The main difference between the last TS-65 (earlier ones were quite different again) and this FC-65 is the objective. In both cases, aperture is 65mm and focal length 500mm giving a focal ratio of F7.7. However, the TS-65 was a triplet, whereas this FC-65 is an air-spaced doublet with a fluorite crown at the rear in the Steinheil configuration like other scopes in the FC series.

So the FC-65 objective is just like the later FC-60 then? Sadly, not quite. For one thing, that green writing around the lens does not include ‘MC’, in other words it wasn’t multi-coated.

More importantly, Takahashi probably used a flint of the KZFS group – a ‘Special Short Flint’ – some of which, such as KZFS4, are sensitive to hazing in contact with water vapour (poor ‘climatic resistance’ in Schott’s terminology – KZFS4 is 3.0 on a scale of 1 to 4, where 1 is good and 4 is bad).

Consequently, almost all FC-65s suffer from hazing of the flint, whereas FC-60s and FC-50s do not. Is this down to a different flint, or just the protection of multi-coating in the later scopes? I suspect both, but it seems possible Tak’ increased the focal ratio from F7.7 (for the FC-65) to F8.3 (FC-60) because they had to use a different flint - one with poorer optical performance, but better resistance to hazing.

So can you fix it? Some owners with very light hazing have successfully polished it off, but in this case deeper etching had occurred and attempts to polish it had damaged the spacers. it needed professional intervention. So I sent it off to Es Reid, renowned UK optician and telescope guru, who re-polished the flint with a lap and re-spaced it too. The lens is now in good shape, but is completely uncoated.

Tube

The OTA is  a different (earlier) style from the FC-50 and FC-60: much more like the TS-65 (see note above). Just about the only thing it shares with the other small FC scopes are the 68mm diameter of the main tube and the dew-shield graphics.

Compared with the FC-50 and FC-60, the dew-shield is much larger, the lens ring wider and different in profile to accommodate the collimation screws for the cell that the FC-60 lacks.

The focuser is heftier (see below) but lacks holes for a finder mount, so the finder mounts on a separate narrow ring.

These differences mean that the bare OTA at 1.5Kg is about 300g heavier than the FC-60, but that increases to ~1.725Kg with the finder and ring.

The enamel colour is different too: typical of 1980s Taks, including my own FC-50, it is a dark blue grey with a shinier finish than the later lime green. One way to distinguish the similar late TS-65 is the enamel colour, which was black (if you want to know more about Takahashi colours, I have written an article, here).

Another small difference is the dew cap. The FC-60 makes do with a basic polythene push-on cap, but the FC-65’s has a solar port and slides in on felt. It’s like the ‘manhole cover’ from an FS-102, but made from hard plastic that has a metallic grey finish to match the enamel.

Build quality and finish are very high. Both the lens ring and focuser thread on, secured with tiny grub screws. I have seen later small Takahashis with slightly rough castings, but not here. As always with Takahashi, a serial number plate graces the focuser.

Internal finish is high too, with flawless blacking and a knife-edge baffle.

Focuser

The focuser is different from the one on a standard FC-60, with a longer, wider, heftier body. The drawtube is wider too, with a diameter of 55mm (vs 45mm for the FC-60) and shorter travel of 73mm (vs 83mm).

These differences give greater stability and less vignetting (if more weight). So this focuser was re-used on the later FC-60NZ imaging variant (below), but with a finder bracket mount.

Another difference is that this focuser has the heavy cast and silver anodised knobs from larger Taks. By comparison, the FC-60 (and more recent budget Taks, including the FS-60C and FC-100DC) have hollow plastic wheels that look much the same but are much lighter and flimsier too.

In other ways it is a typical Takahashi focuser, smooth and precise with an effective lock mechanism via the silver wheel on top. This example originally had some shift, but the visit to Es Reid saw that tightened up alongside the optical work.

Internally, the drawtube has machined ridge baffles and several knife-edge ones too for maximum stray light protection.

FC-65 focuser detail with FC-60.

FC-65 focuser extended with period OEM 0.965” accessories.

Takahashi FC-60NZ imaging version uses the heftier FC-65 focuser.

Takahashi focuser wheels L to R: 1990s plastic, recent plastic, cast metal.

Mounting

The FC-65 has the same 68mm clamshell as both the FC-60 and FC-50 and even the one for the recent FOA-60 fits fine. All have the Tak standard pair of M6 bolt holes at 35mm separation and a central ¼-20.

It may be a little heavier than the FC-60, but the FC-65 goes fine on the PM-SP (below) and would work on any mini equatorial, or on a heavy-duty photo head. The period-correct mount would have been a P2Z (below) or an older EM1 or Sky Patrol.

For many of the shots here it’s mounted on a period-correct 1980s Takahashi table-top “Theodolite” mount usually sold with the FC-50.

For fitment to a Vixen dovetail (also found on Skywatcher and many other smaller mounts), Takahashi make a slim silver plate with the correct M6 threads, intended for the Mewlon 180. Alternatively, various 3^rd parties make similar plates.

FC-65 on PM-SP mount.

Old-Skool Takahashi P2Z mount.

Accessories

The FC-65 shipped with a clamshell, a ring mount for the 5x25 finder and a separate ring for mounting accessories like the 40mm guide scope.

It likely originally came with a 0.965” prism diagonal, 7mm and 18mm Takahashi MC Ortho eyepieces (see below) to fit the original 0.965” eyepiece holder, but It’s possible to thread-on a modern 1.25” eyepiece holder in place of the original 0.965” one to take the full range of 1.25” accessories.

For use with the modern multi flattener, Takahashi make an adapter ring that fits either the FC-65 or FC-60.

Takahashi MC Orthoscopic eyepieces.

In Use – Daytime

The FC-65 works perfectly fine as a daytime spotter – just about small enough to go on a photo tripod (though it’s not weather proof of course).

In Use – Astrophotography

The heftier focuser with a its wider drawtube and the slightly shorter focal length, mean the FC-65 has more imaging potential than the FC-60. But imaging back in the day would have meant a with a 35mm film SLR.

However, the uncoated objective and lack of a 2” eyepiece holder mean this particular FC-65 isn’t well suited to deep sky imaging, but takes a very decent snap of the Moon.

Unprocessed crop of the Moon with Fuji XM-1 APSC.

In Use – Observing the Night Sky

General Observing Notes

The focuser is smooth and precise and largely free from image shift, but so is (generally) the smaller FC-50 unit. The big difference is that you could fit a 2” visual back, but I don’t have one.

Cool Down

As you would expect of a small air-spaced doublet in a proper cell, cooldown is very fast, noticeably faster than a larger Takahashi doublet (an FS-102) on the same night.

Star Test

Post repair, the star test is ok, but likely not as good as it originally was. Interestingly, though, I couldn’t notice much degradation of the in-focus view (see below).

The Moon

The FC-65 gives an excellent lunar view. At 100x with a 5mm Nagler, the Moon fills the field with lots of sharp detail and just a little extra flare around the limb due to the lack of coatings and slight residual haze.

Highlights of a 12 day Moon included some rille detail and in Gassendi; that inky black shadow of Promontorium Laplace extending into bright Sinus Iridum; dawn over the Aristarchus plateau picking out the depths of Vallis Schröteri.

Jupiter

At 100x with a Nagler Zoom set at 5mm and a TMB Monocentric, views of Jupiter were excellent just minutes from a warm house. I noted a very sharp planetary disk with good contrast revealing some features (darker spots and differences in thickness) in the equatorial belts, further fainter belts to north and south and the dark polar hoods.

The Galilean moons are shown as perfect tiny disks of slightly varying colour and brightness.

The view was very similar to my (optically near perfect) FC-60 on the same night, the main difference was the faintest hint of out-of-focus false colour in the FC-65 that the FC-60 eliminates.

Deep Sky

The lack of coatings make this scope slightly dimmer than the FC-60, but still the Pleiades through a 32mm Plossl were sparklingly glittery pinpoints of dazzling blue white just as they should be in a fine small apochromat.

Other brighter DSOs, like the Orion Nebula and Andromeda Galaxy, were much as they look through a typical quality multi-coated 55-60mm refractor.

Summary

Takahashi’s 1980s FC-65 is an interesting piece of Tak’s history, with the excellent no-cost-cutting build of all Tak’s from that era.

A bigger focuser with a wider drawtube and a faster optic mean it could have been a better small imaging scope than the later FC-60.

Unfortunately, hazing of the flint on almost all existing examples means it’s not going to be as durable as an FC-60 and likely won’t perform quite as well even if you get it fixed.

Takahashi’s FC-65 is an interesting retro-scope with typical 1980s Tak’ quality, but a poor choice of flint glass is its Achilles’ heel.

Takahashi FC-65 on 1980s “Theodolite” table mount.

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