Is Anyone out there Binoviewing with the Baader III Zooms?

[Northern Soul man]

Hi To All, not sure if this is in the correct place ?

Does anyone do this ( I have the WO Binoviewer) and what results are you getting regarding eye placement with or without taking the eye cups off or not needing to ? how well do they work at the higher powers ? How do they feel hanging off the back of the scope ? Does the image darken under higher powers due to the smaller apertures of the WO Binoviewer ?

I will be using them in the 1100 and have an home made rail underneath to cope with the extra weight.

Just wondering if anyone has any comments.  Thanks very much.

Paul.

[AstroJOE]

Hi NSM. I'll be following this thread with interest. Sound like we have some similar equipment and I've been desperate to borrow a 2nd Mk III to pair up in my WO Binos on the CPC1100 as we'll. I've done quite a bit of research and as far as I can tell they perform we'll as a pair but the crucial pint seems to be the width of ones nose!! If you unscrew the top section of each EP it gives a bit more room, otherwise it may be a problem!

James

[Northern Soul man]

Hi James, Nice 1 - I've been looking at this for a while - but only now I think I can move to a purchase but I need some advice, I think they will be ok at 24 all be it a little narrow - its been great with the WO 20mm and the 1.6 Barlow - really nice on Jupiter last apparition -I have a pair of Meade 4000 26mm which also work well but looking at a pair of Zooms - Thanks mate and keep an eye (or 2 !!!) on here.

Paul.

[Mark in Macc]

Don't underestimate the conk issue. Room for the bridge of the nose is critical.

[F15Rules]

Hi Paul,

I think you will be fine regarding the magnification range, (you would probably stay between the 24mm lowest power and up to around 12mm highest, which would be quite a high power of around 8mm with your 1.6x barlow. The issue if there is one is the nose bit, and I can't advise you on that sorry. I have a pair of Bresser 26mm plossls (very like the Meade 26s) and they work well in my Baader Maxbright as a lower power ep. I have heard that you can get away with up to 30mm fl eps with minimal vignetting but I think around 24mm with up to 60deg fov is the sweet spot - eg a pair of Panoptic 24s (I wish!).

If the Baader zooms fit width wise they should be great - no more fiddling around with putting ep pairs in, securing them (very important!) then doing that probably with 3 different pairs - a pain in cold weather..

Good luck and let us know how you get on if you do go for a pair.

regards,
Dave

[Northern Soul man]

Mark, Dave thanks very much i wish there was someone close to me so I could try before I buy, I've posted on Cloudy Nights as well, had a couple of good posts on there as well - really enjoying the 2 eye view, but was worried about the restrictive aperture of the WO Bino's creating problems at higher powers with the zooms darkening it overall, tried the 20mm WO Plossl's that came with the Bino's and really work well with the 1.6 Barlow, especially on Jupiter last appartition.

Thanks for all the replies.

Paul.

[Mark in Macc]

Where are you based? Could you go to an astro supplier to try some eps out? The sweet spot with the WO binos is with the supplied eyepieces. That is why they are supplied. A 25mm option at 60deg will vignette but probably not too badly. Some people use 19mm Panoptics.

[Northern Soul man]

Hi Mark, Thanks I'm based in the West Mids - there isn't a supplier close to me, Yes the WO 20mm work really well even with the 1.6 Barlow - just toying with the idea, I think the zooms will work, the range is probably just about correct - as you say anything larger will probably vignette.

I've been looking around and there are photo's even on the box that the zoom came in showing them in the Binoviewers, you can just remove the twist up eyecups and place a much smaller eye guard (even this comes in the zoom box) to give more conk room.

Going smaller down the Plossl route will give a much smaller eye relief, but then you get a much lighter package on the back of the Bino's  - so I think its going to be swings and roundabouts with these.

Paul.

[F15Rules]

Hi again Paul.

I have the baader maxbrights and the instruction manual does suggest that they can be used with Baader zooms as you say. The Maxbrights and WO's are very similar if not identical in size, so you should be ok.

I think you are using an SCT judging by your signature...if so, can you use your bvs without the barlow, to give you the lowest mag possible and thus the widest field? I've had my frac tube shortened and the maxbrights will now come to great focus with plenty of in focus room to spare, and no need for the barlow. Last night, using a pair of Celestron Ultima 12.5mm I had a wonderful view of M42, no barlow, just native magnification, which in my 1905mm focal length scope gives around x152 :-).

 I also don't think a little vignetting is the end of the world..you still get more of a field of view, just the edge is a little softer and darker - but still a fair bit wider than standard plossl types can give.

Dave

cheers,

Dave

[Northern Soul man]

Hi Dave, Thanks very much.  Yes I us the BV in my CPC 1100 and it works very well on the Planets, not had much deep sky with it, but looking at the range of mag - its more geared towards the planets when using the Zooms, I've on ly had the 20mm WO Plossl's which came with the WO BV, even with the 1.6 Barlow, the views were amazing on Jupiter last apparition at around x224, I think with the aperture, the view was nice and bright - just about ideal for this target, so will be doing a little more research before buying the other Zoom, It actually shows the zooms being used in the Maxbright on the box the zoom came in, I can take off the twist up eye cups and place a much smaller eye cup (which is also supplied in the zoom box) on the top so more nose room, thanks for the post and Regards.

Paul.

[F15Rules]

One other thing worth considering Paul. The diagonal you use is very important: the combined weight of twin zooms, the binoviewer etc is very considerable, and if I were you I would either:

- use a one piece bodied diagonal such as a Televue, ie with no screw-in nosepiece which can (and believe me, does!) start to unthread itself with the weight of the load on it

- alternatively if your bv will accept it, use a T2 adapter to screw in to the bv (it's possible to get better "torque" with this type of T2 connection than you can with a screw-in nosepiece diagonal). I know the Baader bv will accept a T2 connection (also gives more in-travel too), but not sure about the WO one.

My own vote would be to go for a Televue diagonal (or other brand if you can find one which is machined out of a single block of metal/aluminium). I don't have one at the moment but that's on my next thing to purchase list: I had a 2" enhanced TV diagonal which was made from a single block of aircraft grade aluminium and it physically could not unscrew and thus put your eps at risk of dropping out. Even a 1.25" one would work well with your bv and zoom set up I think.

HTH :-)

Dave

[Northern Soul man]

Thanks Dave - just another thing for me to think about - not sure I will just be better with adding a pair of 15mm Plossl's to the 20mm and 26mm I have - would anything shorter than the 15mm would work, only I have the 1.6 Barlow with a pair of 15mm giving me an effective pair of 9mm Ep's with the eye relief of the 15's.

Thanks again.

Paul.