Best little scope available - LOMO Little Mak Maksutov 10x30 Telescope Monocular Blue Star Map A1010

This is a great little scope. It has the sharpest, clearest, brightest picture I've seen from a scope or binoculars under $100 (and it's only $30)! I've found that it does have a slight amount of chromatic aberration (purple fringing), but that can be eliminated by holding it one or two mm further from your eye, and getting it aimed perfectly at your eye. Other than that avoidable issue, the image is perfect.

I've used it a bit as a super-telephoto lens to do photography with my Canon S80, and it works tolerably well. It really needs a tripod mount for this (see below) and it projects a round image if the camera is zoomed out because it has a small focal point. If the camera is zoomed in some, the image fills the screen. Images are sharp & bright once everything is lined up and in focus.

I made a tripod mount for this by soldering a 1/4x20 nut onto the housing of a hose clamp and lightly tightening the hose clamp around the body of the scope. It works well, but adds some bulk to the tripod. Because of its relatively small FOV, the tripod makes a big difference for regular viewing, and makes telephotography possible.
Pros: Small, lightweight, very sharp & bright image, very close minimum focusing distance
Cons: No tripod connector, small FOV, lens cap comes off easily

This review was written in the old system and had content requirements that are different than reviews written today.