badhex

Cheers Louis. Very helpful that some of these EPs have various permutations and options to vary ER for those that need it - perhaps the M43 rings should be a standard for eyeguards.

That's the one Jeremy. There is also a rubber eyeguard with a metal M43. You get one of each supplied with the Morpheus, which were already in use on the 17.5mm and 4.5mm so I bought an additional three extensions and two rubber eyeguards so I could muck about with different options.

Oh wow, that's a lot of kit! Nice.

Upgraded my 2" GSO barlow to a Powermate!

Quick update, I realised that this thread and another thread I started are quite similar, whoops! Other thread is a bit broader in scope, so will continue the conversation there.

After a lot of faffing about trying different permutations, I believe I've fixed the ER issue for my APM Superzoom and Morpheus 4.5mm: I ended up with a Baader M43 extension plus Morpheus eyecup for the APM. The Morpheus 4.5mm needed a couple of extra mm on top of the extension + eyecup, so I found some silicon hair bands which work pretty well until I can find a more suitable o-ring. Last job is to fix the APM 24mm UFF but in waiting on the remaining extension and eyecup.

Delivery 2: The buy-it-while-I-can upgrade spree continues

Thanks!

Delivery one of two today. Extension rings and eyecup to sort out the enormous ER on my APM EPs

This is glorious! Would you mind letting me know the product code/name?

@AlentejoSkies in case you hadn't seen

Hello folks, If any of you are around in Berlin next weekend I will be visiting the Lange Nacht der Astronomie (LNDA) at Tempelhofer Feld, and taking a scope with me. Would love to say Hi to any SGL members who are also visiting. https://www.planetarium.berlin/en/lnda

Thanks for detailed reply Don. As mentioned I've had to use extenders on a number of EPs - the Morpheus I own plus I'm going to do the same to the APM 24mm UFF and now, since managing a quick first light last night, also the APM Superzoom. The Superzoom was the worst of those for in terms of eye positioning. I will need to play around with the extensions but I was able to fit a whole finger's width between my eye and the end of the eyecup! I swtiched to seated observing a while ago and it is a lot more enjoyable overall, beyond just eye positioning!

I also seem to manage okay with a 6mm BCO, although I wouldn't call it comfortable exactly. You'd have thought that if I do have "physiologically extended eye relief" (that's it, I'm coining it PEER. You heard it here first folks) then it would apply to all EPs. Or maybe it does, and some people have it even worse with their orthos!

I think either TS Optics or Astroshop.eu has a few tripod dollies, but they aren't cheap as I recall!

Well, I managed a brief first light yesterday and as I suspected in another post it turns out I need less eye relief rather than more! I've already ordered a bunch of Baader extension rings and eyecup, as I also need to adjust the height of the eyecup on my APM 24mm UFF. Will link here once I've written it up.

This is approximately the setup, although I've replaced the tripod with a Gitzo (still the same size). This has the AZ-GTi in the top right compartment, but it can just be swapped out for the mount zero.

Yeah it's a weird one. I do need to get my eyes tested as it's been a couple of years, but last time I had it done they said it was better than 20/20 or whatever system it is now. Maybe I've just got a weird face!

Hello all, This might be a stupid question but is there much variance in how much eye relief a person needs (not counting glasses wearers)? I tend to find with some EPs with decent ER (so far, Morpheus 4.5mm, APM 24mm, possibly the new APM superzoom although untested at night) that I have to hover a bit above the eyecup to get the full field vs blackouts. I get that there would be minor differences due to face shape but you'd think it would be tiny amounts, and I don't feel like I've seen many reports of this for these particular EPs for other people. I've had to put extension rings on all of my Baaders for example - it's not like my eyes are bulging out from my head or anything! 😂

Aha, so it does, thanks Don. I actually tried that already, but was only using the tips of my thumb and forefinger, and I couldn't seem to unscrew it and didn't want to use force. This time I used the whole of my thumb and forefinger as a sort of strap wrench and it unscrewed immediately. I was obviously not spreading the force evenly around the ring.

It certainly is. As I have at least three EPs with a field stop larger than the 41.5mm clear aperture provided by the Long Perng varieties I already had, so there were only two options I considered - the Baader and the GSO. The GSO is 2-3 times cheaper than the Baader and to all intents and purposes is great, aside from the thumbscrews and a minor niggle where the 1.25" adaptor sometimes gets a bit 'caught' on entry if it's not totally square, due to the very close fit of the parts. That said, there are zero issues with the Baader, and clicklock is just excellent.

I've still not had a chance to do anything other than a bit of daytime testing, but does anyone know how to remove the eyecup to get to the M43 thread? I tried pulling it up and over like the APM UFFs but it had more resistance than I would like, and I do not want to break it!

Well, I try not to be negative generally, but yes, that particular '10 of the best' article is, as Kryten would say, complete and utter shash. Everything in S@N seems to get 4 stars. I can relate to @Zeta Reticulan's current state, however as the result of my thumbscrew experience I too went nuclear with a Baader.

Lovely. You're going to have a lot of fun with this scope!

OMG, this is both outrageous and brilliant in equal measure 😂