Celestron – C5 Angled Spotting Scope – Schmidt-Cassegrain Spotting Scope – Great for Long Range Viewing – 50x Magnification with 25mm Eyepiece – Multi-Coated Optics – Rubber Armored

6 reviews for Celestron – C5 Angled Spotting Scope – Schmidt-Cassegrain Spotting Scope – Great for Long Range Viewing – 50x Magnification with 25mm Eyepiece – Multi-Coated Optics – Rubber Armored

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Héctor Yáñez – October 15, 2012

   
   Thanks to the weather so far I have only tried the scope for terrestrial use and I am astonished by the image quality. Its sharpness and clarity are well beyond what I expected for such a small and inexpensive telescope. The build quality is very solid and the included eyepiece is very good with no distortion or chromatic aberration. I also used the telescope as a lens for my EOS 20D and the resulting images were very good as well (it requires an inexpensive T ring adapter to hook the camera body to te rear of the telescope).The included backpack is quite simple but gets the job done and it is the perfect size to carry the telescope tube, the viewfinder (unmounted), the 45 degree prism (unmounted) and several eyepieces.The only minor complaint is that the included eyepiece included no covers so that when it is not mounted both ends are exposed and if it is mounted still one end is unprotected.The viewfinder alignment is very simple and it takes just a few minutes to get it done and from then it does not move.Complement this with a Celestron 8-24 mm 1.25″ zoom eyepiece and you get a wide range of power to suit your needs.UPDATEThere was a short break on the clouds some nights ago and I could watch Jupiter. Of course the image is nowhere near like illustrations from astronomy books but is quite a distinctive feeling to know that you are gazing at the real thing. I am sure that the atmospheric conditions were not great and because of that Jupiter came out as a small whitish circle but I could still see some color bands and 3 moons nearby. No luck with the moon yet.Please get a decent solid tripod. I tried with a standard photography and video one and the result is quite bad. The whole thing shakes with the slightest touch on the focus knob. Fortunately I also have a Manfrotto tripod with a ballhead and this setting is much more usable but I still would ask you to get another head, a ballhead is far from ideal for this use but on the other hand is very solid.

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   CI – March 22, 2012

   
   Purchased this to help my sons see holes in targets 300 yards away, this is perfect and a lot less expensive than many shooting scopes. (The holes are 1/4 inch.) Other shooting scopes may be smaller and thus more portable for seeing game but can cost 10x this price. The accessory smaller finder scope is necessary for aiming this onto most any target as the field of view is tight – this is not a zooming optic. It is easy to set up alignment of finder and main scope – a bit of trial and error with some finger screws. The finder scope in my case had a pushed in objective lens and Celestron is sending a replacement. Their phone support is excellent, APPLE class or like calling Mercedes or Rolls Royce. (A Mak is a ‘Rolls Royce’ level of optical pleasure.) The person who answers solves the problem. The main optics were excellent out of the box – don’t attempt to adjust this. The supplied Plossel eyepiece is ideal with a comfortably wide apparent field of view, even though the telescope is looking at a restricted bit of the world. There was no apparently color fringing or distortion. The eyepiece has enough relief (distance from the eyepiece to me) to allow my eye and glasses to see the full field of view. You need a strong, non-shaking tripod to use this scope – nothing flimsy will give a stable view. Use a solid tripod – even an old wooden one, point this at the stars, planets and moon and have a treat! This is the best view you can get for under $200. First time this shows 4 moons of Jupiter, easily focused along with the planet. It does not show Jupiters’s red spot – that would require a lot more magnification, but resolving the moons should give you some sense of the sharpness of the optics. Looking at birds allows a view of colorful feathers and how they are aligned. You can easily count shingles on a house 3000 ft away. It travels easily in a checked bag at Southwest Airlines. If you like the sky views and your tripod cooperates, you will be tempted to buy a larger Celestron for astronomy. For crude aiming, I’d draw a thin white line along the top of the scope or use a thin white tape or targets. If you do decide to buy a bigger telescope for the night sky, the eyepieces work on both!

3. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Z. Smith – June 24, 2022

   
   This is very small and easy to use. The eyepiece is a mid-grade optic. It comes with an adaptor for 1.25″ eyepieces. I use an Omni 40mm and 35 most of the time. Its size makes it easy to use for sightseeing and some astronomy. The rubber shell of this scope doesn’t allow for a finder scope to be mounted so I wouldn’t recommend this for astronomy. The mount that comes with this scope is rather good. It requires a table or solid platform to work so I bought a separate tripod because those items aren’t always available to stabilize the scope. This is very well made and worth the price. At this price point you will not find a better scope.

4. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Héctor Yáñez – October 15, 2012

   
   Thanks to the weather so far I have only tried the scope for terrestrial use and I am astonished by the image quality. Its sharpness and clarity are well beyond what I expected for such a small and inexpensive telescope. The build quality is very solid and the included eyepiece is very good with no distortion or chromatic aberration. I also used the telescope as a lens for my EOS 20D and the resulting images were very good as well (it requires an inexpensive T ring adapter to hook the camera body to te rear of the telescope).The included backpack is quite simple but gets the job done and it is the perfect size to carry the telescope tube, the viewfinder (unmounted), the 45 degree prism (unmounted) and several eyepieces.The only minor complaint is that the included eyepiece included no covers so that when it is not mounted both ends are exposed and if it is mounted still one end is unprotected.The viewfinder alignment is very simple and it takes just a few minutes to get it done and from then it does not move.Complement this with a Celestron 8-24 mm 1.25″ zoom eyepiece and you get a wide range of power to suit your needs.UPDATEThere was a short break on the clouds some nights ago and I could watch Jupiter. Of course the image is nowhere near like illustrations from astronomy books but is quite a distinctive feeling to know that you are gazing at the real thing. I am sure that the atmospheric conditions were not great and because of that Jupiter came out as a small whitish circle but I could still see some color bands and 3 moons nearby. No luck with the moon yet.Please get a decent solid tripod. I tried with a standard photography and video one and the result is quite bad. The whole thing shakes with the slightest touch on the focus knob. Fortunately I also have a Manfrotto tripod with a ballhead and this setting is much more usable but I still would ask you to get another head, a ballhead is far from ideal for this use but on the other hand is very solid.

5. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   CI – March 22, 2012

   
   Purchased this to help my sons see holes in targets 300 yards away, this is perfect and a lot less expensive than many shooting scopes. (The holes are 1/4 inch.) Other shooting scopes may be smaller and thus more portable for seeing game but can cost 10x this price. The accessory smaller finder scope is necessary for aiming this onto most any target as the field of view is tight – this is not a zooming optic. It is easy to set up alignment of finder and main scope – a bit of trial and error with some finger screws. The finder scope in my case had a pushed in objective lens and Celestron is sending a replacement. Their phone support is excellent, APPLE class or like calling Mercedes or Rolls Royce. (A Mak is a ‘Rolls Royce’ level of optical pleasure.) The person who answers solves the problem. The main optics were excellent out of the box – don’t attempt to adjust this. The supplied Plossel eyepiece is ideal with a comfortably wide apparent field of view, even though the telescope is looking at a restricted bit of the world. There was no apparently color fringing or distortion. The eyepiece has enough relief (distance from the eyepiece to me) to allow my eye and glasses to see the full field of view. You need a strong, non-shaking tripod to use this scope – nothing flimsy will give a stable view. Use a solid tripod – even an old wooden one, point this at the stars, planets and moon and have a treat! This is the best view you can get for under $200. First time this shows 4 moons of Jupiter, easily focused along with the planet. It does not show Jupiters’s red spot – that would require a lot more magnification, but resolving the moons should give you some sense of the sharpness of the optics. Looking at birds allows a view of colorful feathers and how they are aligned. You can easily count shingles on a house 3000 ft away. It travels easily in a checked bag at Southwest Airlines. If you like the sky views and your tripod cooperates, you will be tempted to buy a larger Celestron for astronomy. For crude aiming, I’d draw a thin white line along the top of the scope or use a thin white tape or targets. If you do decide to buy a bigger telescope for the night sky, the eyepieces work on both!

6. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Z. Smith – June 24, 2022

   
   This is very small and easy to use. The eyepiece is a mid-grade optic. It comes with an adaptor for 1.25″ eyepieces. I use an Omni 40mm and 35 most of the time. Its size makes it easy to use for sightseeing and some astronomy. The rubber shell of this scope doesn’t allow for a finder scope to be mounted so I wouldn’t recommend this for astronomy. The mount that comes with this scope is rather good. It requires a table or solid platform to work so I bought a separate tripod because those items aren’t always available to stabilize the scope. This is very well made and worth the price. At this price point you will not find a better scope.