Mars provided us with a very good opposition in June 2001, which I observed with my new Orion XT10 telescope.  It attained a diameter of greater than 20" and showed well in southern Ophiuchus.  Here we see Mars almost at the end of its retrograde loop, about ready to resume prograde (eastward) motion.  The film I used recorded the reddish nebulas very nicely.

On this date, Mars was magnitude -1.91 with a diameter of 19.3" and as can be seen from the chart, it was well south of the ecliptic, by 4°14'14" to be exact.