The Askar FRA400C is a 72 mm refractor that blurs the line between telescope and camera lens. In a new review posted by Cuiv, The Lazy Geek, he shows this quintuplet astrograph isn’t just for deep-sky imaging – it’s designed to handle wide-field astrophotography, daytime telephoto photography, and even a bit of casual visual stargazing. Cuiv explores whether this all-purpose approach makes the FRA400C a master of versatility or a jack-of-all-trades with compromises.
From my vantage point here in the Ozarks, I’ve wielded some big glass in my day (a TEC 180 FL and a Takahashi FSQ-106EDX4, to name a couple). Those high-end instruments set a mighty high bar for performance. So when I hear about a budget-friendly 72 mm scope promising to “do it all,” I approach with equal parts curiosity and healthy skepticism. Cuiv’s detailed hands-on report gives us a clear picture of where the FRA400C shines and where it shows its $900 price tag.
One look at the FRA400C and you can tell it’s not a typical small refractor. Askar (Sharpstar) gave this scope an integrated 17-blade iris diaphragm, much like a classic camera lens. That means you can adjust the focal ratio from a fast f/5.6 (wide open) all the way to f/22. For astrophotographers, you’ll likely keep it wide open at f/5.6 to collect maximum light. And indeed, Cuiv confirmed he left the scope “wide open” throughout his imaging tests. But if you want to use the FRA400C for daytime photography – say, capturing wildlife or landscapes – being able to stop down the aperture for greater depth of field is a welcome trick. It’s a rare feature in telescopes; most astrographs don’t have a stop-down ring at all. The addition shows Askar’s intent: this isn’t just an astrograph, it’s also a 400 mm telephoto lensin disguise.
Crucially, the FRA400C uses a Petzval quintuplet design with two ED (extra-low dispersion) elements. In plain English, that means it has a five-element lens system that includes a built-in field flattener. Petzval scopes are prized because they deliver a flat field (sharp stars to the edge) without the fuss of adding an external flattener or spacing the camera at a precise backfocus distance. As Cuiv points out, achieving focus is simple – just attach your camera and focus like a lens; no need to measure out 55 mm of backspacing as with many refractors. The Petzval design corrects the field for up to a 44 mm image circle, enough to cover a full-frame sensor.
That built-in correction and flat field make the FRA400C attractive for astrophotographers who value convenience. It’s essentially plug-and-play: once your camera (or eyepiece) is in focus, stars across the frame should be in focus too. Cuiv appreciated this ease of use, noting that he kept a standard 55 mm connection length in his setup out of habit, but the exact spacing isn’t critical – “as long as you achieve focus, you’re good.” For visual use, the FRA400C comes with 1.25″ and 2″ adapters in the box. That means you can pop in your favorite eyepiece for a rich-field scan of the Milky Way. A small scope like this won’t replace a big light bucket for serious observing, but at 72 mm it’s enough aperture to show you star clusters, the lunar surface, and bright nebulae under dark skies. I can easily imagine throwing this little refractor on a tripod during a camping trip, enjoying wide swaths of the summer Milky Way with a low-power eyepiece.
In terms of build, the FRA400C reminds me of a solidly built camera lens. The optical tube assembly is compact (about 37 cm long retracted) and weighs in around 3.2 kg with rings and dovetail attached. That’s a heft that signals good build quality, but it’s still light enough to be portable. The tube has a retractable dew shield up front to combat dew and glare. Cuiv did note one quirk with this sliding lens hood: out of the box it was a bit loose. When he placed a relatively heavy item on the objective end (like a flat-field calibration panel or even a Bahtinov focusing mask), the dew shield could slide back down on its own. It’s the kind of minor annoyance you wouldn’t discover until you’re in the middle of a long imaging session and notice your flat frames aren’t evenly illuminated. Fortunately, Askar anticipated this – there’s a small threaded hole in the dew shield where you can insert a tiny M3 set screw to add tension. Cuiv happened to have the right screw on hand and once he installed it and adjusted the tension, the hood stayed put. He half-jokingly wished Askar had just included that little grub screw in the box (or pre-installed it) to save users the trouble.
Moving down the tube, you’ll find a single-speed helical focuser instead of a traditional rack-and-pinion. This is essentially a large focusing ring that you rotate to move the internal optics and change focus, just like focusing a camera lens. The focuser has a lock knob to secure focus and also acts as a tension adjuster for how stiff or loose the focus ring feels. Cuiv reported that the focusing action was buttery smooth, with no perceptible wobble or shift – a testament to good machining. When he locked the focuser, it held focus securely with no detectable shift (a critical detail for astrophotography, where any slip can ruin your carefully tuned focus).
However, not all is perfect in the focusing department. Because the focuser is single-speed (no fine/coarse dual-speed knobs) and has a fairly short throw for critical adjustments, Cuiv found manual focusing to be extremely sensitive. At f/5.6, the depth of focus is shallow, and tiny movements of the ring can overshoot the perfect focus point. In the video, he joked that you’d move it a hair and not see anything happen, then move just a tad more and suddenly you’ve gone past optimal focus – the familiar back-and-forth dance many astrophotographers know all too well. On a lens, you might call this focus “breathing” or being touchy; on a telescope we often prefer a dual-speed micro focuser to fine-tune. The FRA400C lacks that fine-focus knob, so achieving razor-sharp focus by hand can be a bit finicky.
The good news is that the scope is designed with autofocus in mind. There are multiple threaded holes and even two small dovetail mounting bases on the tube (useful for attaching a guide scope, mini-computer, or in this case a focusing motor). In between those, Askar included mounting points that allow a user to fit an electronic focuser (EAF) using a belt-and-pulley system. Cuiv described how you can DIY this: get an MXL timing belt and a matching pulley for your focus motor, loop it around the FRA400C’s focus ring, and you’ve motorized your focusing. It turns out Askar has published instructions and specs for this, and indeed they now offer an autofocus kit for the FRA400C separately (for around $30) that includes the proper belt and pulley hardware. In Cuiv’s case, he already had a ZWO EAF motor, and with a little tinkering he could have set it up on this scope fairly easily. With an electronic focuser handling the fine adjustments, the lack of a manual fine-focus knob becomes a non-issue. In fact, Cuiv strongly recommends using an EAF if you plan to do serious astrophotography with the FRA400C – it will save you time and frustration and give you pinpoint stars without the manual trial-and-error.
Another aspect of the build is the rotation mechanism for framing your camera. Many astrographs include a rotating focuser or a dedicated camera angle adjuster (rotator) at the back. The FRA400C does not have a separate rear rotator. Instead, you adjust the camera angle by loosening the tube ring and rotating the entire optical tube within the ring. There is a knob on the ring to clamp or release the OTA. In practice, this works but has a couple of caveats. If you don’t have an autofocus motor attached, it’s straightforward – you can spin the tube to the desired orientation and lock it down. Cuiv noted that if you do have a belt-driven focuser attached to the ring, that belt will tend to prevent the tube from rotating freely (since the belt is fixed in position relative to the tube ring). Essentially, once you strap on an EAF, you lose the ability to easily rotate the camera unless you loosen or remove the belt each time. This isn’t a deal-breaker (plenty of people set their camera orientation once and leave it), but it’s something to be aware of. By contrast, the original FRA400 (the earlier model) and some competing scopes have a built-in rotator at the back for convenient framing adjustment independent of the tube rings. Askar’s choice to omit a rear rotator on the FRA400C is likely one of the cost-saving measures, and it keeps the design simpler, though at the expense of some convenience.
Beyond that, the FRA400C’s hardware is refreshingly standard and solid. The telescope comes with a long Vixen-style dovetail plate (around 11 inches/290 mm) which gives plenty of room to balance the scope on your mount. Cuiv was pleased to see the dovetail is attached by four bolts to the tube rings, providing a rigid connection. The tube ring system itself is a conventional two-ring setup that can be fully opened to remove the OTA if needed. Everything is metal, nicely finished in a two-tone silver and black (a departure from Askar’s typical red-and-white schemes). A multi-function carry handle is provided on top of the rings – this handle doubles as a mount for accessories (it has threaded holes for tripod screws, etc.) and also makes carrying or aiming the scope easy. The handle even has threads to attach directly to a photo tripod, turning it into a giant lens mount. There are two finder/guidescope bases included (useful for mounting a finder scope, guide scope, or an ASIAir mini-computer). Little touches like these show Askar was aiming for versatility and user convenience. As someone who’s used to the rock-solid (and heavy) hardware of premium scopes, I find the FRA400C’s construction very respectable for its class – no flimsy bits here, and no over-engineered gimmicks either. It’s a straightforward, well-built small telescope with just a few compromises in the focuser department.
Mechanics and features aside, a telescope lives or dies by its optics. Cuiv put the FRA400C through its paces under the stars, using both an APS-C format astronomy camera and a full-frame camera to test the image quality across the field. The results were generally positive, especially given the scope’s modest aperture and price point.
On an APS-C sensor (approximately 28 mm diagonal), Cuiv found that stars remained sharp and tightly focusedfrom the center of the image out to the corners. In a test image of the globular cluster M13, tiny stars at the center appeared crisp, and even in the corners of the APS-C frame there was minimal distortion. Only by zooming in at the pixel level could he detect a slight elongation in some extreme corner stars, and even that varied corner to corner (he suspected a touch of sensor tilt might have contributed). For all practical viewing, the APS-C images looked clean and free of aberrations – no obvious coma, astigmatism, or field curvature causing stars to flare or smear. This confirms that the Petzval design is doing its job for mid-size sensors.
Pushing the scope to a full-frame sensor (44 mm diagonal) is a tougher test. Full-frame is what the FRA400C is advertised to handle, but many small refractors struggle to illuminate and keep sharp an area that large. In Cuiv’s full-frame test shots (one example focused on the bright star Deneb in a dense starfield), the center of the field remained sharp, and overall illumination was quite even. He measured the vignetting: the corners received about 82% as much light as the center, meaning roughly an 18% drop-off at the extreme edges. This modest vignetting is actually better than expected – many telescopes, even larger ones, have more noticeable light fall-off on full frame. A flat-field calibration or a mild crop can easily compensate for that slight dimming if necessary. More importantly, how were the star shapes at the edges?
Examining the corners of the full-frame images, Cuiv did observe some star elongation and a hint of softness. Stars at the very corner became small ellipses instead of perfect pinpoints. This is often due to residual astigmatism or field curvature that the Petzval corrector isn’t perfectly cancelling at the extremes of a 44 mm circle. The effect was subtle – in fact, Cuiv commented that the corner stars looked better than he expected based on the spot diagrams provided by Askar. In other words, the scope might technically be near its correction limits at full frame, but in real use it still performs admirably. If you were to print or display the entire full-frame image, you likely wouldn’t notice the slight elongation without zooming in. However, pixel-peepers and perfectionists might note that the FRA400C’s stars at the absolute edge are not as immaculate as those from more expensive high-end astrographs (which is unsurprising). For many users, this is an acceptable trade-off. Given that I often shoot with a 106 mm Takahashi designed to cover full-frame, I know how challenging it is to get those corners perfect – seeing a $900 scope come this close is actually impressive.
Color correction is another key area for refractors. With two ED glass elements in its design, the FRA400C aims to suppress chromatic aberration (the tendency for different colors to focus at different points, causing purple or green halos around stars). Cuiv’s test images did not reveal any obvious chromatic aberration. Bright stars appeared white, without the telltale blue bloating or red fringes you might get on an achromat or lesser-quality refractor. Only by scrutinizing did he note a very slight hint of blue on one side of the star and red on the other in some cases, but it was extremely minor. For all intents and purposes, the scope is Apochromatic enough for astrophotography – stars and details in nebulae will have accurate color with no significant halos. This matches Askar’s claims that the FRA series delivers “incredible color accuracy and high contrast.”
One thing Cuiv’s review didn’t specifically mention (because he kept the scope wide open at f/5.6) is how stopping down might affect star images. If one were to use the adjustable iris to close the aperture a bit (say to f/8 or f/11) for astrophotography, two effects would occur: stars at the edge would likely become tighter and better corrected (since you’re using more of the central sweet spot of the optics), but the iris blades could introduce diffraction spikes on very bright stars. Just like a camera lens at night, the polygon shape of a partially closed iris will make bright stars take on a spiky appearance. Wide open at f/5.6, the blades are retracted and you essentially have a circular aperture, so no diffraction spikes are seen. This is a consideration for those thinking of using the aperture stop – most astro imagers will simply shoot wide open anyway for maximum light, unless they have a specific reason to stop down.
In summary, Cuiv’s verdict on the optical front was that the FRA400C is solid and reliable, if not revolutionary. It produces beautiful stars on APS-C and very respectable results on full-frame, only falling short at the extreme corners. It doesn’t set a new gold standard for small refractors – he wasn’t “blown away” as he had been with some specialty astrographs – but it also didn’t show any concerning flaws. In my own experience, that’s about as much as one can ask from a versatile, moderately priced 72 mm scope. The fact that Cuiv had to really look hard to find any optical issues speaks well for the design.
Throughout his review, Cuiv drew comparisons between the FRA400C and another telescope he’s very fond of: a smaller 55 mm aperture astrograph in the same price ballpark (around $800). That 55 mm scope (which he references as the “SQA 55”) is a more specialized imaging telescope – it’s purely for astrophotography, with a shorter focal length around 275 mm and a fixed focal ratio of f/4.9. Cuiv loves that little scope for its pinpoint stars and flawless field on full-frame; it’s a niche product that does one job exceedingly well. However, it has no provision for visual use, no adjustable focal length, and requires additional parts to motorize the focuser. In contrast, the FRA400C is a multi-role tool. It has a longer focal length (400 mm) giving a narrower field of view, but it can be transformed to a similar wide-field setup with an optional reducer. Askar sells a 0.7× reducer for the FRA400C that brings it down to 280 mm focal length at f/3.9. That’s an even faster light cone, great for capturing wide nebula swaths quickly. With the reducer, the FRA400C nearly matches the field of that 55 mm scope, albeit at slightly lower optical perfection (Cuiv didn’t have the reducer to test, but spot charts indicate the reducer maintains a flat field on APS-C and introduces a bit more softness at full-frame corners). The point is, the FRA400C can wear multiple hats: 400 mm f/5.6 native, 280 mm f/3.9 with reducer, plus it doubles as a casual visual scope and a daytime telephoto.
This versatility led Cuiv to an interesting reflection: initially he thought he’d personally stick with the singularly excellent 55 mm astrograph for his imaging needs, but after using the FRA400C he “understands why it exists” and sees that it can fulfill the needs of a lot of people. Not everyone wants to own separate high-end instruments for every purpose. Many hobbyists might prefer one scope that can do a bit of everything reasonably well. The FRA400C is aimed at that crowd. It’s the Swiss Army knife approach, whereas the smaller premium astrograph is a scalpel.
From my perspective – as someone who owns large, specialized telescopes that cost many times the FRA400C – I find this trade-off fascinating. There are nights when I don’t want to haul out the heavy TEC 180 or fuss over the exquisite (but demanding) Takahashi; I just want to quickly enjoy the sky or test a new camera or even take the scope on a trip. A nimble 72 mm that I can use to photograph birds in the daytime and galaxies at night, and then show my friends Jupiter through an eyepiece, all with minimal reconfiguration, is hugely appealing. No, it won’t outclass the big guns in raw image quality or aperture, but it doesn’t need to. It’s a different tool for a different job – or rather, for many jobs. In the spirit of common-sense wisdom: if you only have room (or budget) for one telescope, it might as well be one that gives you the most options.
It’s also worth noting the value proposition here. The FRA400C is roughly priced at $899 USD. The older FRA400 (the original version with a traditional dual-speed focuser and without the iris) was retailing around $1,149 before it became scarce. So the “C” model saves a few hundred dollars, presumably by simplifying the focuser mechanism and other minor changes, while actually adding the costly iris feature. That’s unusual in the telescope market – often newer versions with more features cost more, not less. Askar clearly set out to make a more affordable variant to broaden the appeal. If you add the $249 reducer to get the complete dual focal length package, you’re looking at about $1,150 total investment. That still compares favorably to buying two separate telescopes (one wide-field, one longer focal length) or a premium astrograph of similar size. For example, my 106 mm Takahashi with reducer easily runs 8–10 times that cost; even an 80 mm triplet from high-end brands can be 2–3× the price by the time you add a flattener. So, while $900 is not pocket change, the FRA400C hits a sweet spot for enthusiasts who want full-frame imaging capability and multi-use flexibility on a mid-range budget.
For those who love the technical details, here’s a rundown of the key specifications and features of the Askar FRA400C:
The review concludes that the Askar FRA400C successfully carves out a niche as a multi-purpose astrograph. It may not dethrone specialized instruments in each category – a dedicated high-end astrograph will still deliver somewhat tighter stars, and a large visual scope will show fainter objects – but it brings a lot of capability in one small package. The few drawbacks he highlighted (sensitive manual focusing, a rotating method that can clash with belt focusers, and a loose dew shield fixable with a screw) are relatively minor or easily mitigated. In exchange, owners get a flexible 3-in-1 device: a telescope for the stars, a telephoto for the birds, and an occasional big binocular (with one eye) for scanning the Milky Way.
From my porch here in the hills, that sounds like a pretty compelling combination. Not every night is a mission for perfect astrophotography or a dedicated observing session. Sometimes you just want to have fun with a scope, try different things, and see where the journey takes you – be it under the stars or out on a hike. The FRA400C invites that spirit of experimentation without making a mess of the basics. As Cuiv found, it holds its own in astrophotography, delivering images that will make most enthusiasts happy. And when a scope can do that while also being a reliable travel companion and teaching tool, it stands out as a sensible choice in a sea of highly specialized (and often more expensive) gear.
In the end, choosing between a specialist and a generalist comes down to your needs. If you’re laser-focused on astro imaging and demand perfection, you might lean toward a more optimized astrograph or larger aperture. But if you’re the kind of hobbyist (or photo hobbyist) who dabbles in a bit of everything – or you just want a hassle-free small telescope to grab and go – the Askar FRA400C makes a strong case. It’s bringing a dose of practical innovation to the 72 mm refractor class. As someone who’s seen a lot of telescope gear come and go, I appreciate this trend: tools that give more people a chance to enjoy the night sky (and the world around them) without needing a truckload of equipment.
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