Baader Classics have arrived !

[alan potts]

I wish for some good weather for you. we are all change today 20 degrees warmer and you guessed it wall to wall clouds.

Did I notice a Televue Powermate just try and muscle in on the act, nice one.

Alan.

[andrew63]

Looking forward to the full review

It's interesting that they've doen this to the AFOV, widened the ortho and constricted plossl from the previous standard. Unless the design of lenses has changed they must have sacrificed some perfomance for the ortho afov. The proof will be in the test though.

there are a few manufactures out there, in the quest of widening the view - i suspect with an eye to sales and marketing - have only succeeded in lowering the quality of that view. The real test for these in my opinion - will be the 'quality' of the extra 10 degree of field.

andrew

[dobbie]

Hi all, hi John well my 10mm arrived today and I managed to get 10min of viewing before the clouds came in, I was using my 80mm ed stellavue as its a quick set up , well I am impressed the views are tack sharp and the contrast is excellent and it also barlows well with my tal 2x giving me 5mm , and the view of Jupiter was stunning not only could I see the bands I could see the shape to them , in fact the view was on par with my 200pds , can't wait for a clear night so I can get the scopes cooled down and have a proper look , but so far I am very happy with the view from a refractor that was taken staight out into the cold , that's all I can say at the moment ,this isn't a tech review just my observations from a visual point of view .

[username]

there are a few manufactures out there, in the quest of widening the view - i suspect with an eye to sales and marketing - have only succeeded in lowering the quality of that view. The real test for these in my opinion - will be the 'quality' of the extra 10 degree of field.

andrew

Agreed. Especially as orthoscopic means all in focus or distortion free. I think

[crazyjedi]

If the quality deteriorates they won't be any better than the plossls that are in the same price bracket but with a little less fov than said plossls. There won't be much point to them. That would be a shame ,

[Spec-Chum]

Agreed. Especially as orthoscopic means all in focus or distortion free. I think

Kind of, ortho comes from the Greek word for correct. So yes, an ortho anything should be free from any distortion.

Technically any well corrected eyepiece can be an ortho one, but in astrononmy it's generally accepted to mean an Abbe design.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Orthoscopic has to do with being able to measure angles and angular distances accurately, so even the TMB Paragon 40 had this distinction (Orthoscopic SWA on the barrel). There are many designs (like the Pentax XO) which are radically different to the Abbe design which are orthoscopic.

[John]

Still no clear skies to test these things folks

[JamesF]

Looking more likely towards the end of the week though. Here's hoping...

James

[crazyjedi]

I drove home tonight with stars overhead but by the time I had eaten the fog had come in. Pity as I was hoping for first light on my newly arrived 6mm BGO with a hope of compare and contrast with my Meade 5.5mm super plossl. But..... Damn the British weather!

[John]

I've managed to get a couple of hours observing in with the Baader Classics this evening before getting dewed up. I've made lots of notes that I'll expand into a proper review following further sessions but these are looking promising eyepieces at the current time. They don't quite have the finesse of the Baader GO's and their finish is clinical and rather utilitarian but they do seem to perform well in the areas that you would hope an orthoscopic eyepiece would excel at. The only facet of them that I found I could not get on too well with was the winged rubber eye guard so I've been using them with it folded down.

More to come, I assure you, on these

PS: Oh, and the 2.25x barlow is a little gem optically. Simply made with no compression ring, just a set screw, but the money has clearly gone on the optics here

[Dunkster]

Look forward to it, John

Btw, I wonder if there is any relationship between the barlow and the Hyp Zoom barlow, both 2.25x ? I liked what saw with it last week, with the Zoom itself and the 24 Pan... a little extra ER (which I'm not a fan of particularly) but didn't seem to do much else besides magnify, and pretty compact with it.

[John]

...Btw, I wonder if there is any relationship between the barlow and the Hyp Zoom barlow, both 2.25x ? I liked what saw with it last week, with the Zoom itself and the 24 Pan... a little extra ER (which I'm not a fan of particularly) but didn't seem to do much else besides magnify, and pretty compact with it....

I wondered that too but, as far as I can see, the Baader Q-Turret Barlow 2.25x (as it's called) is a conventional doublet or maybe triplet barlow lens wheras the Zoom barlow seems to have a different optical design from the photos I've seen of it.

The Baader Q-Turret barlow is around half the price of the the Baader Hyperion Zoom barlow too.

A really good barlow at <£50 would be a very welcome addition to the market though

[nightfisher]

I like the look of the classic x2.25 barlow, so hopefully one is on its way from FLO

[John]

I like the look of the classic x2.25 barlow, so hopefully one is on its way from FLO

There are no frills about it Jules - what you are paying for are the optics. I'll be interested in what you think of it

[The Flinty Fox]

Hi.

I recieved the 6mm BCO from FLO yesterday, no idea when i'll get a chance to try it with the snow and everything.

Was a bit concerned about the eye relief but stuck it in my eye when i got it and seems quite comfortable. I also like the wing eye shield thing.

It's also quite light not as heavy as my 10mm npl.

Looking forward to a clear night.

[nightfisher]

After posting on here i got an pm from James at FLO to say item not in stock but should be in monday, and with me on tuesday, superb service

As i have the TAL x2 barlow i will try them both out, then see which i prefer to keep.

[Naemeth]

After posting on here i got an pm from James at FLO to say item not in stock but should be in monday, and with me on tuesday, superb service

As i have the TAL x2 barlow i will try them both out, then see which i prefer to keep.

Do post the review once you get it, I've got the same barlow .

[John]

It's also quite light not as heavy as my 10mm npl.

The BCO's are very light. This is mostly because the barrel is made of alloy rather than chromed brass. I have tried putting a BGO barrel on a BCO of the same focal length and their weight is quite close then although the BGO is still a bit heavier.

You can tell it's been cloudy in that I'm resorting to playing around with them like that

[JamesF]

I've always thought the BGOs, particularly in the shorter focal lengths, feel far heavier than they look.

James

[faulksy]

The BCO's are very light. This is mostly because the barrel is made of alloy rather than chromed brass. I have tried putting a BGO barrel on a BCO of the same focal length and their weight is quite close then although the BGO is still a bit heavier.

You can tell it's been cloudy in that I'm resorting to playing around with them like that

:grin:

[The Flinty Fox]

This is mostly because the barrel is made of alloy rather than chromed brass.

Thanks for that John

I seem to be going a bit Baader mad at the moment have just ordered some Baader cleaning products.

This could be the beginning of something.

[Spec-Chum]

Only thing bugging me about these is that the Barlow is meant to be part of a set, but at 18, 10 and 6mm they near enough overlap when barlowed which makes it pretty redundant if you buy all 3.

I can kind of understand the 5 vs 6 as this can give quite a change in mag, depeding on your focal length, but not 10 v 9.

[John]

It's a 2.25x barlow so I make it (barlowed FL in bold):

32mm, 18mm, 14.2mm, 10mm, 8mm, 6mm, 4.4mm and 2.7mm

Screwing the barlow lens element directly into the eyepiece barrel gives 1.3x so thats 24.6mm, 13.8mm, 7.7mm and 4.6mm as well.

[Naemeth]

It's a 2.25x barlow so I make it (barlowed FL in bold):

32mm, 18mm, 14.2mm, 10mm, 8mm, 6mm, 4.4mm and 2.7mm

Screwing the barlow lens element directly into the eyepiece barrel gives 1.3x so thats 24.6mm, 13.8mm, 7.7mm and 4.6mm as well.

Not sure anyone would use the 2.7mm in any scope, save for an F/5 or faster short FL scope, like my scope .