Baader Classic Orthos

[Damo636]

I see the release date for the new line has been pushed back to September at the earliest....

http://www.baader-planetarium.de/sektion/s23/s23.htm

[4lefts]

hmmmm - i'm interested in seeing these reviewed. shame. anybody else think that turret thing looks kind of silly?

[Damo636]

I am also eagerly waiting to read a review of these. If they are as good as the now discontinued BGO it will be a major coup for Baader.

[faulksy]

very true cant see them being worse than the originals

[Stephen]

very true cant see them being worse than the originals

Not sure I concur, from what I recall (memory is a really bad thing to rely on!) they are not as good a design? (I'll have to search for the posts, sure something was posted on it ...)

[faulksy]

you would imagine with technology they would be equal to or even better than the bgo

[AndyH]

I'm hopeful but not overly optimistic.

The reason the BGO's were/are so good is the quality of the figuring or probably the polishing of the lenses, or so I reckon. That takes time, which = ££

It's the big difference in price that has me concerned.

Time will tell.

[John]

you would imagine with technology they would be equal to or even better than the bgo

You would also imagine if they were a little better, the price would be a little higher than the earlier model.

I wonder if Baader are using the indicative price to manage expectation on these

I'd have preferred to see a more extensive range as well - the current BGO range is 6 FL's - the new one is just 3 orthos and a plossl. Not really enough for a high power, high resolution eyepiece range in my view

[faulksy]

read on another post last week these are just starters more focal lengths to follow

[johninderby]

Baader claim that the eyepieces are a completely new design with a new generation of their phantom coatings. They're also now claiming that they have increased sharpness and contrast compared to the BGOs.

Looks like I'll have to get hold of one for some comparisons.

John

[Mr Moff]

Does anyone know much about the baader eudascopic ep's?

They look so similar to the orthos and are priced similar too.

Anyone tried one?

[AndyH]

From what I can remember they were supposedly a Masuyama design and were similar to the following lines.....

Antares Elite Plossl

Celestron Ultima

Orion(US) Ultrascopic

Parks Optical Gold Series Plossl

Takahashi LE (?)

Andy.

[John]

My understanding about the Eudiascopics is the same as Andy has posted above. These were excellent eyepieces and were at least as good as Tele Vue plossls.

You can still occasionally pick these up used for quite low prices.

[AndyH]

..............You can still occasionally pick these up used for quite low prices.

Yup . This went recently for a really low price. I'm sure new, it was over a ton.

Andy.

[John]

Wow !

The 30mm was one of the best rated of these - that was a good buy for someone.

A Parks Gold Series 20mm is currently on E.Bay at £85 BiN ! - far too much IMHO even though it's a good eyepiece.

[AndyH]

Hehe.

I saw the listing with half an hour to go. Now, whilst I am beyond poor, I was frantically trying to reach my dad so I could get him to put a bid on it. Could I get him? Could I -insert sweary word- !! I felt quite ill when I saw what it had gone for. Perhaps not as ill as the seller. Mind you putting less well known quality stuff on fleabay is mighty risky.

Sigh.

[JamesF]

I can't quite get my head around the idea that these new eyepieces are called "classic", yet have a "completely new design". That'll be marketing people for you...

James

[spaceboy]

I thought the BGO's were only in short supply and that it was all a misunderstanding that they are discontinued ???? Some thing to do with the factory in Japan being affected by the Tsunami so production has been slowed. I remember a similar thread having concerns about Pentax EP's for similar reasons.

[John]

... Mind you putting less well known quality stuff on fleabay is mighty risky......

True, but also a good way to get bargains if you know your astro equipment

Sorry you didn't get it - it wasn't me who did though !

[Mr Moff]

These are the eudascopic ones I was on about.

http://www.astronomycentre.co.uk/Eudiascopic_ED_10mm_p/p2404130.htm

They seem to have just become available recently.

I'm tempted to try one.

[AndyH]

Yeah, that's the range.

Come in(or at least used to) 3.8, 5, 7.5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35mm.

Been out for many years.

[Mr Moff]

Thanks for that.

I like the focal lengths they come in.

How do these compare with the orthos?

[E621Keith]

I can't quite get my head around the idea that these new eyepieces are called "classic", yet have a "completely new design". That'll be marketing people for you...

James

My thought exactly. If the BCO and BGO are both Abbe ortho, then they are both copies of the original 1880 Zeiss Abbe ortho. They may be improved copies, but copies nevertheless.

[Stephen]

My thought exactly. If the BCO and BGO are both Abbe ortho, then they are both copies of the original 1880 Zeiss Abbe ortho. They may be improved copies, but copies nevertheless.

Not sure that's the right choice of description, Baader purchased all rights, manufacturing and designs to the Zeiss range (I think) ... so it's not so much a copy as a continuation of that line?

[E621Keith]

I guess I wasn't very clear, I don't have anything against Baader using Abbe design. Zeiss's patent on the ortho ran out over a century ago, so anyone is free to reproduce it anyway they like.

What I didn't like was calling an Abbe ortho a 'completely new design', when they are in fact just improved / modified version of the original Abbe.