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To Barlow or not to Barlow, that is the question...


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Which of the following scenarios would be best, honest answers as always please

A: I buy a few (as in like 2 maybe 3) better eyepieces, better as in being £50 to £60 and a decent (same sort of price range) 2 X Barlow

OR

B: I buy more EP's but lower priced, say 4 or 5 around the £30 to £40 mark (such as TMBs or something)

I ask due to a limited budget and want to get the most I can from it. Does the Barlow reduce observational quality (due to more glass) to a significant degree?

Also, is there a decent enough Barlow at that sort of £50 or so price range? I find Barlows the hardest to look for when it comes to quality, I hear Tal do decent priced good Barlows but FLO don't have a price on for them.

Basically Im expecting to spend somewhere in the region of £150 on EPs and I want the best possible range of options I can get for that. In teh future I will of course buy more but this is probably going to be the limit I spend this year sadly.

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presumably you have only the standard eyepieces currently

most barlows work well and do not noticeably affect the image quality other than making it darker or blurry and this comes with more/too much magnification no matter how you achieve it. in other words there's a limit to the magnifications possible according to conditions.

with the school scope (same dob) I found that a used 15mm plossl and a generic 2x barlow (total cost used £30) work really well with the dob. if you don't wear glasses then plossl are a good way to improve quality at little cost, even if you buy the best quality used (e.g. Televue plossls are considered some of the best of that type and cost about £50-60 used).

you might also consider a 32mm plossl which would provide the widest view in 1.25" fitting.

all that said, I don't get on with barlows and find them a bit of a faff so have a decent range of fixed length eyepieces and one zoom at the short end (6mm-3mm).

plus if you don't have a decent red dot finder (I use telrads) then this and maybe a right angle correct image finder will in my opinion be a better initial spend. you'd then have £50 left for perhaps the above 15mm plossl, a cheap barlow and if lucky a cheape 2x barlow.

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Yeah I just have the standard 25 and 10 mm that come with a scope. I am seriously considering buying a maxvision 20mm http://www.explorescientific.de/maxvision-68deg-okular-20mm-p-25561.html , they are around £60 plus p&p that emadmoussa linked for me in another thread, then getting a 9mm BST for planetary stuff and a reasonable price 2X barlow.

This would give me a good wide angle lowish power for DSOs, barlowed to 10mm, filling that gap, then the 9mm for planetary which barlowed would give me the 4.5mm which I believe would take me to around the maximum practicable magnification for my scope. That, I imagine would be most of my money gone.

The other option would be to get a range of TMBs (around £39 each I think) so somethign like 32mm, 18mm, 9mm, 4.5mm, with my stock SW 25mm and 10mm if I stil choose to use them (the 25mm isnt too bad actually)

Personally I think the former option would be the better, giving me even more option in the future when I can afford more. I just like to get some advice before I dive in.

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I was in the same position a few months ago and decided to go for the Baader Hyperion Zoom with a Baader Barlow.

Whole package was about £200. FLO were doing a package deal. For that you get 10 eyepieces in one zoom package. (5 with Barlow, 5 without). You can also use the Barlow with other eyepieces.

Sent from my phone :-D

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I would most definitely go with the first one. You will always benefit from having good quality eyepieces as a starting point and selecting fewer well chosen (spaced) ones will serve you better in the long run rather than having more inferior ep's filling in the gaps. I would challenge anyone to be able to tell the difference in visual clarity/quaity of an object from using an eyepiece of low to midrange quality (the upper end stuff is a different thing altogether) that is a couple of sizes bigger/smaller than one on either side of it. And also the subject of barlowing is a very good way of getting more focal ranges from each eyepiece.

Personally I have a few well chosen Hyperions nicely spaced across the range the I also have the fine tuning rings which give me further flexibility as well. Add to that my Ultima 2x barlow and I have most bases covered.

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What do people think of the Baader Hyperion MKIII Zoom? TBH it looks like a good option and a package deal with a barlow (if possible)seems very good for around £200. I have read a few times that people dont like/recommend zoom lenses and a few that do, is it just a personal taste or actual quality issue? with a barlow the available mags would be 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16, 20 and 24mm so apart from wanting a 32mm for lowest power that would cover everything in just one purchase which seems to ideal to me and with field of view ranging from 50 to 68 degrees.

What are peoples views on the Baader Hyperion Zoom?

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What are peoples views on the Baader Hyperion Zoom?

There are quite a few pros to owning one of these. The step up from cheap plossls is very noticeable, they are convenient to use and go well with a small travel scope. The big disadvantage is the measley 50 degree FOV at 24mm which gets on your nerves after a while. With your dob that is a focal length you will use regularly so I would go with individual eps. The 24mm maxvision for example would be much more pleasing to look through.

http://www.optical-systems.com/maxvision-m-354.html?osCsid=emvnak0151p400807lkp9rppb7

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+1 for the Baader Zoom, I use it more than any other ep, and as you rightly identified a 32 mm is the only addition you need. I also use the Baader Barlow, a really nice Barlow. There probably is a slight loss of observational quality, but the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

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The only way to find out if the Baader zoom is going to be worthwhile for you is to try one.

There are many quite genuine opinions either way. I'd definitely say you need a low power wider field eyepiece to complement the zoom with the narrow field at the 24mm setting.

If you get on with one (many do) you have a very convenient set up.

Regards, Ed.

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Just thought I would ask.......Barlow, I own a mak 127 goto on an EQ3 mount

i want to add a Barlow to my telescope, preferably a threaded one so as I can attach my DSLR nikon camera to it, I'm looking at spending around the £ 50.00 mark but will spend a tad more if its a good one, any thoughts guys?????

thanks

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I have the Baader zoom and use it a lot, but will be going after some nice individual eps when funds allow. Avoid cheap ep sets as you'll only end up replacing them. Buy the best you can afford and a good Barlow IMHO.

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