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Baader Classics - the story so far ....


John

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Got a quick try with the barlow, i find the glass element does not screw into the filter thread on my ep`s too well, it only engages about 1 turn and thats on BGO and circle T, seems good optically

Hi Jules,

I've just tried threading the baader barlow element into the 7mm and 18mm BGO's I have here at the moment and it goes in for several turns and seems secure.

I've got to pop out for a bit but I'll try it in some other eyepieces when I get back.

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Thats very odd Jules.

I've tried the optical element from the Baader 2.25x barlow that I have in all the suitable eyepieces I have now. It fully screws into all the BGO's and Circle-T's. The only ones I could only get a single turn on were the Vixen NPL 30mm and an older Circle-T which does not have an undercut in it's barrel.

I can only conclude that there are small variations in the machining of the threads on some eyepiece barrels. Possibly even the blackening paint used inside the barrels can make a difference ?.

Personally I don't think I'd using the barlow element in this fashion though. The optics feel to vulnerable to me removed from the barlow body and it's going to be too easy to mark the lenses in the dark I fear !

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Thats very odd Jules.

I've tried the optical element from the Baader 2.25x barlow that I have in all the suitable eyepieces I have now. It fully screws into all the BGO's and Circle-T's. The only ones I could only get a single turn on were the Vixen NPL 30mm and an older Circle-T which does not have an undercut in it's barrel.

I can only conclude that there are small variations in the machining of the threads on some eyepiece barrels. Possibly even the blackening paint used inside the barrels can make a difference ?.

Personally I don't think I'd using the barlow element in this fashion though. The optics feel to vulnerable to me removed from the barlow body and it's going to be too easy to mark the lenses in the dark I fear !

I bet you think im a right moaning so an so, but im not moaning, just making observations on a new product :shocked:

You might be right about the black paint in the barrel

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I bet you think im a right moaning so an so, but im not moaning, just making observations on a new product :shocked:

You might be right about the black paint in the barrel

I don't think that at all Jules - as you say it's an observation based on your experience with the product as is the loose fit of eyepieces in the drawtube (which I also found).

The more info that is put out there on these things, the better folks can make their buying decisions :smiley:

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Thanks Matthew :smiley:

FLO have just sent me a Vixen 30mm NPL to compare with the Baader Classic 32mm Plossl. They are priced very similarly - £45 for the Vixen and £49 for the Baader. Should make an interesting comparison, should the clouds ever clear again :smiley:

John

did you manage to compare the Baader 32mm with Vixen 30mm?

Yelsac

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John

did you manage to compare the Baader 32mm with Vixen 30mm?

Yelsac

I had a short session with them a couple of nights back and I'm sort of doing it now as it happens. I'll try and find some time to write up the results in due course.

Not much at all between them is the short story !

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Hi nightfisher and John.

Just a quick question concerning the q barlow. Does the thread on the lens housing go all the way from the bottom to the top or does it only go about a quarter way from the bottom with the rest being smooth? The reason for asking is that I have seen pictures on various sites showing the barlow with threads running all the way up and some with the thread running only part way. The photo an FLO shows full thread and Astronomia showing part thread.

If I had the choice I would choose the one with part thread as this would need less threading (obviously) which would be handy when out observing.

I don't really want to be faffing about to much when out.

Thanks.

Paul. (Sorry for all the threads :))

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Hi Paul,

Here is a pic of the example I have. It's not too clear but the optical element just has a short threaded section - 4 threads, about that same as a filter. Do remember that this won't work with eyepieces that have a lower lens set in the barrel because you won't be able to insert the barlow lens section into the eyepiece barrel.

I've been using the Barlow this evening with the 10mm Baader Classic Ortho for a 4.4mm eyepiece. In my 12" Orion Optics dob this gives an impressive 361x. The views of the lunar surface have been outstanding with 6 craterlets in Plato being fully defined, complete with ramparts and even the elusive central rille in the Alpine Valley popping into view during the bursts of exceptional seeing. Outstanding optical performance in my book :smiley:

post-118-0-71038200-1361306890_thumb.jpg

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In my earlier post I ought to have said that I've been using the Q-Turret Barlow in conventional 2.25x mode. You would work that out from the magnification I mentioned I guess but I thought I'd better make it clear how I've been using the barlow just to avoid any confusion :smiley:

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Brilliant thanks for that John and nightfisher. I already have the 6 and 18mm bco so I intend using the threaded part just with them.

I had another look at the pic on the FLO site and noticed that the tread does widen at the bottom.

Just been out doing some luna with them and have to say that as much as I like my 10mm npl both the 6 and 18mm do seem to give better contrast the 18mm more so.

Thanks.

Paul

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Got a quick try with the barlow, i find the glass element does not screw into the filter thread on my ep`s too well, it only engages about 1 turn and thats on BGO and circle T, seems good optically

I had another go with the element from this barlow, it screws into my 25mm and 7mm circleT , but not the 9mm or 12.5, and not the 18mm bgo.........how strange, looks like the circleT barrels vary slightly.

I will find some thing to shim the eyepiece fit into the holder, and see how i get on with it in my Tal

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  • 1 month later...

While we await the arrival of the Hutech / Kasai orthos, this review of the Baader Classics range has recently been posted elsewhere on the web:

http://hyperionzoomlover.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/baader-classic-ortho-6-10-1832-plosslq.html

Some nice pics of the eyepieces in there - I'd better brush up my close up photography !.

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  • 2 months later...

After a couple of months hiatus I thought I'd give the Baader Classic orthos and the Q-Turret 2.25x barlow some more time under the stars this evening as I'd rather neglected them with the arrival of the Astro Hutech orthos.

With the sky never really getting dark at the moment plus a bright moon rising later, the targets tonight were i) Saturn and ii) binary stars.

I spent the first couple of hours on Saturn with my ED120 refractor the scope of choice. The conditions were good and allowed 200x or more to be used pretty effectively. I found the 10mm Classic ortho used with the 2.25x Q-Turret barlow provided really crisp and contrasty views of Saturn with the 4.4mm effective focal length giving 205x. I compared this combination with a 4mm Tele Vue Radian and found little to choose between them although I felt the Classic combo had slightly more "snap" to reaching sharp focus wheras I had to hunt around a little more with the 4mm Radian. This might have been due, at least in part, to the higher magnification (225x) that the Radian delivered of course. All the features that the ED120 can show on Saturn were clearly displayed and I felt I was getting as much as the scope / conditions could deliver, which is all you can ask of an eyepiece :smiley:

As Saturn disappeared behind the trees I turned to some binary stars in the Hercules / Summer Triangle region. I "warmed up" with Delta Cygni and Epsilon Lyra and found these well split and cleanly defined at 205x. I boosted the power by replacing the 10mm Classic ortho with the 6mm for a whopping 338x and tackled some of the closer pairings. Mu Cygni has a current separation of around 1.8 arc seconds I think and that was nicely split at the higher power as was Pi Aquilae with an even tighter separation of around 1.5 arc seconds. Zeta Hercules was doable again looking identical to the sketch I made in an earlier post on this binary here: http://stargazerslou...40#entry1958580

The toughest pair I tried was Lambada Cygni which I could not clearly split even at 338x. I was able to clearly see that it was a binary with the fainter component appearing as a distinct paler bump on the side of the primary. Maybe under even better seeing conditions this one would "go" ?.

During this session I was really impressed again just how well the Baader Classics and their Q-Turret barlow work. Optically they seem to be really well sorted and can deliver high magnification views to rival the best I've used, within the constraints of their 50 degree fields of view. Adding the Q-Turret barlow only seems to increase the magnification without adding any noticeable defects and actually removes that slight softness that is apparent in the outer few degrees of the apparent field of the un-barlowed Classic orthos.

While these eyepieces lack the glossy finish of others they really have it where it counts - in the optics department :smiley:

I'm glad I took the time to give them another chance to shine - they deserve it :smiley:

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Thanks John for a long serie of reviews of the BCOs.

I've been following the BCO reviews for some time, and bought the 18mm and Q-Turret barlow after reading yours and Bill Paulini's positive reviews. I was able to see faint galaxies like M58, M90 with my untrained eyes in my backyard with my explorer 130P. I wear glassses and have astigmatism,didn't expect to get any shorter focal orthos or plossls, then I happened to read some comments (fromJohn Isaac?) that astigmatism is not an issue under high magnification, I bought the 6mm BCO afterwards, and have had great time with it in splitting doubles.With your review on 10mm, I'm going to complete my collection of BCO :)-

Yong

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  • 3 years later...

Not sure how the 18mm performs but if it's anything like the 10 & 6mm you'll be happy. They are not quite as good as the conventional ortho available but they are not priced to be and besides the extra FOV more than makes up for any negligible short comings.

Although saying that most binos require GPC or barlows to aid focus which tend to a degree clean up aberrations in eyepieces. Had you not considered cheaper plossl taking this in to account ? The BCO do have the advantage of slightly better eye relief over plossl though.

How have you found the binos ? I was shocked to see how much more contrast they offer. Not sure how they do this? Or if it is simply a case of two eye are better than one ? But the views I had of M42 and WL solar were definitely enhanced if not ever so slightly duller.

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I felt the 18mm Baader Classic Ortho was just a touch better than the Baader Genuine ortho and the Astro Hutech ortho of the same focal length when I compared the two, mostly on the deep sky. By better I mean that the light transmission seemed slightly more and the contrast shown on deep sky objects was just a little more pronounced. The light scatter control seemed around the same at this focal length.

IMHO the 10mm and 18mm are the best of the BCO range.

 

 

 

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