Celestron C5, 5" (127mm) Schmidt-Cassegrain XLT Spotting Scope

Celestron C5, 5" (127mm) Schmidt-Cassegrain XLT Spotting Scope Review

Celestron C5, 5" (127mm) Schmidt-Cassegrain XLT Spotting Scope Feature

• Chosen by NASA for its Optical Excellence.
• Ideal Choice for the Serious Bird Watcher, Nature Lover or Anyone who Enjoys Beautiful Views.
• Just Six Pounds in Weight and 13 Inches in Length,
• Near Focus of 20 Feet.
• Fully Multicoated Optics.

Celestron’s C5 Spotting Scope features excellent optics and wonderful versatility in a compact portable size. Although the C5 is best known as a portable telescope for astronomy, Celestron has outfitted the C5 Spotter for daytime use by packaging the C5 with a soft-sided carrying case, an erect image 6x30 finder scope, a correct image 45 degree diagonal prism, and a good quality 25mm plossl eyepiece for a magnification of 50X.

The C5 Spotting Scope is a Schmidt-Cassegrain optical telescope or SCT, and is designed to use many of the hundreds of accessories available in the SCT market including optional eyepieces and camera adapters. A nice option for the C5 spotter is Celestron’s 8 to 24mm Zoom Eyepiece , which allows the user to dial in any magnification from 52X all the way up to 156X. The most important accessory for a high power scope is a sturdy tripod. Celestron’s Heavy Duty Alt-Azimuth Tripod is sturdy enough to handle the C5’s six pound weight and features extended slow motion knobs that make it easier to point the C5 precisely.

The C5 is my favorite dual purpose telescope, useful as both a high power spotting scope and as a portable telescope for astronomy. The same fine optics are available in Celestron’s NexStar 5 SE computerized telescope for astronomy. The big advantage of the C5 over traditional refractor style spotting scopes comes from its higher magnification and greater resolving power, at least 50% better resolving power than the best 80mm spotting scopes. The disadvantage, of course, is that a higher magnification gives a narrower field of view. An optional 32mm Plossl eyepiece for example would magnify the image by 39X with about 1.25 degrees true field of view.

The high power optical performance of Celestron’s C5 Spotting Scope is nothing short of outstanding. Even at 200X magnification there’s no trace of the “chromatic aberration” or blue fringing commonly seen in refractor style spotting scopes. With a close focus distance of only 20 feet, the C5 spotting scope excels at everything from photographing hummingbirds in the back yard to viewing the rings of Saturn nearly a billion miles away. --Jeff Phillips

Hummingbird shot at 30 yards with C5 and Powershot camera	Finches shot at 20 yards with C5 and Powershot camera
Shot at 200X with C5 and Neximage camera
Shot at 50X with C5 and Powershot camera	Shot at 400X with C5 and Neximage camera

Pros:

• Dual uses, spotting and astronomy
• Excellent high power optics
• No trace of “blue fringing”

Cons:

• Narrow field of view
• Less rugged than refractors

Celestron's C5 Spotting Scope is a 5" (127mm) aperture, 1250mm f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain optical system. Its optical excellence is the reason it was chosen by NASA for many space shuttle missions. The C5 spotting scope is an ideal choice for the serious bird watcher, nature lover or anyone who enjoys beautiful views -either from your home or in the field. At just six pounds in weight and 11 inches in length, this spotting scopeis a completely portable visual and photographic instrument that performs well in any viewing location. Further, Celestron offers a wide variety of optional accessories to expand the capabilities of this special instrument. The C5's aperture of 5" allows it to easily outperform smaller aperture spotting scopes. Offering 4½ times more light gathering ability than a 60mm spotting scope and 2½ times more than an 80mm scope, Celestron's C5 is the clear choice when a powerful instrument delivering brilliant, crisp views is what you require. The C5 spotting scope is a wonderfully versatile instrument, and its near focus of approximately 20 feet allows you to observe plantlife, wildlife, birds or insects with ease. At the same time, the C5 can also be used as an astronomical telescope. In addition, theC5 goes easily from working as a powerful spotting scope to being a high performance 1250mm f/10 telephoto lens. Photography couldn't be easier, because the C5 is designed to be fully camera adaptable. To take professional qualit