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Baader Hyperion Zoom Mk.III

assasincz

By assasincz
in Member Equipment Reviews

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PaPa Doc

PaPa Doc

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DSCF0594.jpg

What needs to happen is; Take off the 2" rubber coated eye-ring as shown above, carefully thread on the adapter - Baader Hyperion T-Adapter M 43 / T-2; #2958080. Attach the adapter to the T-Ring. The adapter does allow a person to attach extension tubes between the zoom EP adapter & the T-Ring, thereby gaining more over-all magnification options. The 2" "visual back" is an Antares T-2 SCT to 2" adapter, which is made in Canada. All pieces shown in this picture were purchased at All-Star Telescope in Didsbury, Alberta Canada. If you cannot find it locally, Call Ken From, the Owner of All-Star Telescope, he can help you get what you need, or want. :hello:

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PaPa Doc

PaPa Doc

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I should have also noted that the Antares SCT-2" "visual back" will thread onto the Celestron f/6.3 Corrector/Reducers if someone is thinking of some photography work. The added weight of the reducer/corrector, the zoom EP & a DSLR WILL cause smaller scopes to droop. I fixed this with an adjustment of just a few inch pounds added to the ny-loc nut securing the vertical axis gear. The adjustment is easy to make, just completely take out the long "clamping" bolt that secures the tube to the go-to mount, the ny-loc nut is in plain sight, right behind the long bolt. Give it a 1/8 turn at a time, then check the adjustment. Do not over-tighten!! This will cause excessive wear on the nylon washers & may break the gears, so be very very careful.

Cheers!

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  • 3 months later...
Captain Tweaky

Captain Tweaky

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I've had my Hyperion Zoom MKIII for about 2 years now and rarely use any other EP, but it's not been without its problems. When trying to use different configurations - for example changing from 2" to 1.25" - the segments can absolutely refuse to budge/separate/unscrew. Unfortunately this has resulted in some quite robust methods to release the components. Some of the barrel is now quite well scratched and marked. I also found that as temperatures dropped it became so stiff to adjust as to become unusable as a zoom. Silly though it may sound, I cannot remember exactly what I did, but I have managed to fully resolve that. The click stops are now barely detectable, but at least the zoom works easily.

The FOV at the 24mm end of the range is certainly quite limited, but not a deal breaker. When I bought my Meade LX90-8" they were giving away their UWA 24mm 2" EP, so if the object demands it - the Double Cluster for example - I use that magnificent hand-grenade of an EP.

When I find the Hyperion really useful is during the set-up of the Go-To mount. Find the star using the 24mm setting and then centre it using the 8mm setting - very quick and easy!

Yours aye - Cap'n

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brantuk

brantuk

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"When I find the Hyperion really useful is during the set-up of the Go-To mount. Find the star using the 24mm setting and then centre it using the 8mm setting - very quick and easy!"

I find this is it's biggest strength because it makes accurate alignment an absolute doddle with no switching eyepieces. Same principle can be used for polar alignment on eq mounts too. I also find the zoom very useful for solar viewing with an ha scope - facilitating zooming in on surface or limb details.

Excellent review - all of which rings true with my use of the zoom. It's a superb general purpose good quality eyepiece. :)

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peroni

peroni

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Thats interesting to see that a dslr can be attached to the Hyperion. Does the spacer/T-ring come with the Hyperion or does it come seperately. If so, where can it be bought.

A bit late replying to this... but it might be useful info for others searching.

I bought the whole bundle from FLO. Hyperion zoom, 2.25 barlow, and T-ring for mounting camera to eyepiece.

It was my first EP purchase beyond the single standard EP that came with my scope. It seemed a no brainer as I got 10 magnifications in 2 simple EP's. i.e. 1 EP for Hyperion and a 2nd EP for Hyperion + barlow.

Working out very cost effective at about £25 per EP :grin:

Sure things get a bit dimmer at high magnifications (this is normal) but I've been really impressed at what I could see. I even managed a photo of saturn at 187x mag (at the extreme end of my set up but still doable)

Don't delay, buy today.

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F15Rules

F15Rules

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Again, a very late entry to this thread, sorry.

I had one of these and stupidly sold it. I bought it new from FLO with the x2.25 barlow bundle and have to say that the Barlow was one of the best I've ever used. And it worked well with other eps as well.

It is definitely best suited IMHO to 2" focusers due to it's sold heft, but is a superbly built piece of kit and I do plan to buy another one day when funds permit..

Great original review, so detailed, thanks!

Dave

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  • 7 months later...
YKSE

YKSE

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I've just had a first light with mine, a very short session in my f7.5 80ED. it performs better as least as good as some popular fix EPs, such as BST. The biggest drawback is, as many have mentioned, it shows minor astigmatism in large FOV between 20 to 24mm, a big plus is the eye relief, I've seen 12-15mm ER mentioned, but I'm quite sure 16-19mm is more acurate.

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Donkeiller

Donkeiller

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Bought one of these Baader Zooms at the recent Astrofest- got quite a good deal.

Weather has been pretty Rubbish since, but can make some comments;

1) Using my 6 and 8SE I did a quick "shoot off" with my BSTs and Xcel-LXs- couldn't spot any difference in clarity/colour/detail on Jupiter and various double stars.

2) Slightly smaller FOV at x24 than my 25mm BST, but no big deal.

3) Couldn't detect any "stiffening" of the zoom at 2 degrees C.

4) GREAT for doing initial alignments for goto- accuracy is much improved- I also bought an illuminated reticle EP at the Astrofest- the zoom has made it instantly redundant.

This is going to be the only EP I use with my 6 and 8SE, save for very rare occasions when I need a really wide FOV- I'll use my 32mm TV Plossl for this. 

the Baader 8-24 Mark III zoom is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. :smiley:

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

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I bought one a couple of yrs ago because for me personally it was a better option then having to carry an EP case outside with me (i'm in a wheelchair) and all the other gear i have to take outside.

It works brilliantly for me. It is a "one stop shop" as far as EP's go. I have to say though that it is more than a 5 piece EP collection. I use mine with an 8SE and if you practice enough you can focus it in between the click-stops.................making it an 8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24 EP collection.

The ONLY problem i have experienced with it is that at the 8mm end of the scale, the focus just doesnt quite get there. Its a tad soft. For observing planets, i mainly use 8mm, so when doing so, i have to swap the zoom for my 8mm Vixen NPL.

I also do like wide field views at times and the 24mm end of the zoom just doesnt get me there, so i swap it over for my 30mm NPL..

Other then that............................its a fantastic bit of kit (but its not for everyone). 

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  • 1 month later...
assasincz

assasincz

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Hi i was just wondering if it's worth me getting the Barlow lens package together? Together it'll be £240 which means the Barlow will be an extra £50 , does this Barlow make a difference to this eyepiece ?

Thanks x

It certainly makes a difference - not only to the Zoom eyepiece, but to many other uses. 

Let me put it this way: I have bought the Hyperion Barlow 2.25x separatly and now, after having it for a while, I regret that I did not buy the barlow with the eyepiece together in the first place!

From what I can tell, for the money, it is an excellent piece of glass.

Certainly, it is designed to work best with the Hyperion Zoom eyepiece, so I reckon it compensates for the Zoom eyepiece abberations best, but you can screw it onto any 1.25" eyepiece and it will work perfectly fine, as any other Barlow. With the Hyperion Zoom, you can use it with both the 1.25" barrel (you screw it onto the filter thread) and with the 2" barrel (you screw it directly to the variable focal legth shaft, see http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/7815/hzbarlow12.jpg), so it is VERY versatile.

Screwing the barlow on can be a bit of a handful (when compared to other barlow elements), but then, the Hyperion Barlow itself is VERY compact and VERY small, which I find quite nice, especially when imaging with a webcam.

Quality-wise, I recon it has decent coatings on all glass-to-air surfaces. I have not yet noticed that it would present any any amount of chromatic abberation, at all, even in high-powered large-diameter telescopes. Does it work as well as an apochromatic design? Hard to tell, because I have nothing to compare it to directly, but I have not yet certainly noticed any image quality deterioration.

However, when observing very bright objects, like the Jupiter (with the Hyperion Zoom eyepiece and Barlow on highest magnifications), I sometimes notice a streak of parasite light, a sort of "ghost" if you will, moving across the FOV as you move your eyeball around, but that could also be due to the high magnifications and corresponding size of the exit pupil - so your eyes might be the culprit playing tricks on you, not the optics.

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assasincz

assasincz

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hi thank you does the adapter come as standard ( in box) or does it need to be purchased seperatley ,

thanks 

Separately, there is no adapter in the box as far as I know.

You can read more about it here, directly from Baader Planetarium:

http://www.baader-planetarium.com/pdf/hyperion_brief_description_e.pdf

I think info you need is on the next-to-last page

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mitchelln

mitchelln

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The M43/T-2 adapter is an optional extra. Baader part number #2958080. Eyepiece projection works very well with a DLSR.

A couple of things to bear in mind though.

1. Weight. A Baader Zoom + DSLR puts a lot of weight on the focuser. The standard crayford on my 300P struggled and slipped. I also had to add counter weights to the primary end of my OTA otherwise the motors slipped.

2. The weight of the camera tends to twist round the zoom mechanism. You have to orientate the camera so to balance it's center of weight against the clickstop of the desired power. Then don't touch the camera!

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TwinkleTwinkle

TwinkleTwinkle

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Well, it arrived Saturday, not had chance to use it yet though,

I did notice something, how do I get the adapter on the lens?

When I take off the eye protector there's no where I'd be able to feed a T2 adapter, is this a different baader as I bought it from Amazon says German import

Thankyou any advice

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