Comparison Testing - Focal Reducer FOV

I have received a number of questions regarding the focal reducer (F-0.6FR). Ranging from "What can it be used for?" to "Will it work in this ... configuration?" So I decided to do take some images so you could see what it does. The images are of a RADAR site approximately 7 mile from my back door. (1 Mile above). I wouldn't draw any conclusions from apparent image quality. It was a partly cloudy day so some images had sun and others didn't. Clouds where behind the tower so the background was changing throughout. Even at 7 miles you get a lot of atmospheric turbulence. I only captured one image so focus/seeing varied between shots and does not indicate the potential image quality of the focal reducers used. I equalized all the images to be similar brightness. See Dr Wainwrights images to check image quality. I included the exposure that the image was taken at to give you an idea of how image intensity changes with different configurations. All other settings where held constant.

The scope: Meade LX90 (8" SCT @ f/10)
The Camera: VESTA 675 (Standard)

Picture	Description
	*2 BARLOW** Image of the RADAR tower at prime focus of the LX-90. Barlow seems to be working at about 2.5 *. The close up image. Exposure: 1/100
	PRIME FOCUS Image of the RADAR tower at prime focus of the LX-90. Standard f/10 SCT field. Exposure: 1/500
	F-0.6FR - Focal Reducer Image of the RADAR tower at prime focus of the LX-90. Exposure: 1/1000
	Meade 0.66 Focal Reducer Image of the RADAR tower at prime focus of the LX-90. Poor image quality due to seeing/focus. Image is slightly smaller field than the F-0.6FR image above. Exposure: 1/1000
	F-0.6FR & F-0.3EXT Image of the RADAR tower at prime focus of the LX-90. Now we are getting some FOV. Exposure: 1/1500
	Meade 0.66 FR & F-0.6FR in Tandem Image of the RADAR tower at prime focus of the LX-90. Similar to F-0.3EXT image FOV. So yes if you have a 0.66 focal reducer you can get to f/0.3 by using the F-0.6FR in tandem with it. No I don't think their is any vignetting in the background. It was just cloudy. Exposure: 1/1500
	Meade 0.66 FR & F-0.6FR & F-0.3EXT in Tandem Image of secondary mirror. It was to good to be true. I could not get this configuration to focus. Way to much in focus travel on this one. You could use this to check collimation though. :)