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Skywatcher ED80 & Nagler Zoom 3mm to 6mm or 2mm to 4mm


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Dan,

Yes I have to say I never saw better, I was luckt enough to see him live back in 84 in Bridlington of all places. Possiblely the finest techique of all time.

Good uck with your zoom eyepiece, Televue are very good.

Alan

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BGOs aren't available new any more but the Hutech's should be very similar and are due in stock 'soon'

I have never gone below a 7mm BGO because I feel the eye relief gets too tight, others find it ok though.

Last night was a classic example of the usefulness of the 3 to 6 nag zoom. I was trying out my newly acquired 3.5 t6 on Jupiter giving x197 in my 106mm. Early on it was ok, still too much power for the conditions but it was useable. Switching to the zoom, I was able to tune the power to my liking, and as ever it seemed very sharp. As the conditions worsened, as well as Jupiter getting lower, I could back of the power quite easily. Trying a 7mm BGO later on, I don't think the zoom is quite as sharp (difference mags allowed for) but still excellent. As already mentioned, great for travelling

Stu

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Definitely not the 2-4mm - too powerful. I would have thought that at least the bottom half of the 3-6mm Nagler's range would be off limits too on an f/7.5 ED doublet, though I have no actual experience of the ED80. I'm certainly surprised that people are getting acceptable views at 3mm although of course people's opinions on what constitutes an acceptable view will also vary. I think other ED80 owners need to chip in here with their experiences.

Personally, for a f/7.5 80mm scope I would opt for a wider field, fixed fl eyepiece such as a 5 or 7mm Nagler or a 6mm Delos.

The 3-6mm Nagler, by the way is a brilliant little eyepiece in the right scope and great fun - zooming in and out on the Moon's surface always makes me smile. I use it in an f/6.2 105mm triplet apo and under reasonable UK skies it works great down to about 4mm, but too fuzzy for my taste beyond that.

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I find my Pentax XW 3.5mm very usable with my Vixen ED102 quite frequently. It's an F/6.5 so thats 189x. With shorter focal length eyepieces than that, apart from too much magnification, the floaters in my eye become rather distracting.

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I agree that much of the time, I only use down to 4mm, but the flexibility of the zoom and quality make it worthwhile anyway. On occasions when seeing is very good, or on Mars for instance, I do use it down at 3mm

I used to have a 2.5t6 which I did find too high a magnification under virtually any conditions. I sold it and have picked up a 3.5t6 as a dedicated high power ep.

I agree on the floaters issue too, and have been experimenting with a Binoviewer to get around this at high power. When we get some decent skies I will have a more thorough go with them.

Stu

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8-24mm nagler isnt sold any more to my knowledge, certainly not new.

The Baader Mk3 zoom is quite well regarded and many have it. I'd personally find the AFOV restrictive.

Pentax do a zoom thats very high quality, I think it has cramped AFOV as well - im not sure. These are bascially a set of plossls in one object, thats how i see them.

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I think the Pentax zoom EP is a bit out of my budget ATM.

I've got a decision to make, go with the Nagler 3-6mm, or go for the Baader Hyperion Zoom coupled with the Barlow.

How do the optics compare? Are Televe and Baader as good as each other at producing EP's?

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Looking at your OP, if you have just the 28mm as your only eyepiece then the Baader Mk3 with or without a barlow makes much more practical sense as it gives you a far greater range of magnifications.

The nagler 3-6mm is for high(est) magnification work, so planets, double stars, lunar and possibly DSO if you really want to look at them in exceptionally high magnification. Not many manufacturers offer eyepieces much below 5mm and many people can't justify the cost of buying fixed focal length under 5mm. Many people here have 3.5, 4, 4.5 and stuff but that's to be expected given the range of experience and budgets on a forum as big as these. The nagler 3-6 zoom is a very accessible way to many high power eyepieces, using premium glass at an affordable (relative term) price.

I'd personally pick this over fixed focal lengths because I like the versatility if offers adapting it to suit the conditions. I can't imagine anything worse than spending a few hundred pounds on a 2.5, 3 or 3.5 eyepiece only to find the seeing precluded me from using it. This zoom offers you the flexibility to go down as low as 3mm but as far back as 6mm.

I find the practical limit for my scopes regardless of conditions (all F5) is a 1mm exit pupil, so 5mm. And I can, if I choose to barlow, go much lower than this, down to a 2.5mm if conditions permit. Being able to find the sweetspot based on the night is a real luxury and makes me want to own one of these very much. I believe the only con point so far is the eye relief and the potential for eyelash deposit on the eye glass.

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I think the Pentax zoom EP is a bit out of my budget ATM.

I've got a decision to make, go with the Nagler 3-6mm, or go for the Baader Hyperion Zoom coupled with the Barlow.

How do the optics compare? Are Televe and Baader as good as each other at producing EP's?

I've owned the Baader zoom as well as the TV 3-6 nagler zoom.

The Baader is a decent mid range zoom but not in the same league as the TV even un-barlowed, in my opinion.

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Baader and Televue are like chalk and cheese unless you are talking orthoscopic eyepieces where all their eggs seem to have been placed. The new Baader zoom while reports were good some site members had problems which in 2013 is not good enough.

Alan

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I second what 'dmahon' says, as I use one with a TeleVue Ranger. The objective is 70mm

3-6mm (and you will hardly ever use 3mm unless seeing is excellent).

You'll waste your money on a 2-4mm

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I once used a powermated 2-4mm zoom on the moon and Jupiter. Bearing in mind I have a manual mount it was hilarious how fast the object flew past :)

This topic just reminded me of it. I tend to use both zooms as much as each other by the way but can understand why people recommend the 3-6mm. Good thing that it makes the 2-4mm cheaper!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I managed to get the 3-6mm zoom EP.

I was using the stock 28mm EP first, then I put the 3-6mm EP on... Wow, I was amazed at how much more I could see. I managed to see Saturn the other night, and using the 28mm EP, it was just a bright dot in the sky.

But now I have got this EP I would like to take some pictures of the objects that I can see through it. Does anybody know if I can attach it to my SLR to caputre what I am seeing?

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I managed to get the 3-6mm zoom EP.

I was using the stock 28mm EP first, then I put the 3-6mm EP on... Wow, I was amazed at how much more I could see. I managed to see Saturn the other night, and using the 28mm EP, it was just a bright dot in the sky.

But now I have got this EP I would like to take some pictures of the objects that I can see through it. Does anybody know if I can attach it to my SLR to caputre what I am seeing?

I'mnot sure but these zooms have the eye glass almost flush with the top surface so be very careful with any form of afocal photography that you dont rub the camera lens against the eyeglass lens. That'd be a twofer from hell

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I am looking forward to reviewing mine against a 6mm BGO and maybe a 4.5mm Delos, I can't do the 6mm Delos any more it's not well. In fact it's dead. I think the BGO and the 6mm setting of the zoom will be a little bit easier to compair, one being 40 degrees and the other 50.

Alan

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It will be a while after before I get time to do it. I guess you can work out from the other review I posted that I like to do a few nights and scopes, this one will be a bit limited though because it will not be one of the LX or the new Maksutov, though I might just have a peep to see what sort of result it gives on the Moon . For me it's a pick up secondhand eyepiece so you have to be a bit lucky as they don't wait around for long. If I hate it for any reason then I will let you know.

Alan.

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Better to attach your DSLR to the scope directly to get the best pictures, but not of planets - that's best done with a high frame rate small chip, such as a webcam, and registax software.

There are some gizmos to hold a camera close to an EP, but I would chose the above route instead.

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