Baader zoom eyepiece and dedicated barlow ..help req.

[Fish]

Im going to get the Baader zoom eyepiece but is it worth getting the dedicated barlow ?

I understand the barlow only fits on the zoom eyepiece.

I have other eyepieces and need a better barlow to use with them.

Will I be better getting a quality barlow that I can use with all eyepices?

If so what barlow will be the equivalent of the baader?

[Pig]

I do not see the point in having a dedicated Barlow as it rather defeats the object of having one in the first place, I didn't even know such a thing existed

A 2x Barlow seems a bit pointless with a zoom as you will only be repeating what the zoom does anyway.

 For EG  with an 8-24 mm zoom:-

24mm with a Barlow = 12mm - your zoom already has 12mm

There may be some benefit at the higher magnifications but you will need to consider what worthwhile magnification your scope can actually achieve

[CodnorPaul]

That is a good point from Pig - the zoom will do a lot of the work BUT if you do want one for other EPs, and for higher mag than the 8mm, then if I were to get one it would be the TV Powermate - never heard a bad thing about them

[Fish]

Thanks for that I think I will just get the eyepiece and look at getting a TV powermate if I need it  .

[wxsatuser]

The Baader Zoom Barlow makes the Zoom into a 3.5mm to 10.5mm EP.

[Space Beagle]

The Baader barlow adapterthat you can get for the zoom is a 2.25x one, which gives the zoom a range of about 10.5mm to 3.5mm.

It will also fit standard 1.25" eyepieces.

I have one, but, I must admit, I have not used it enough to comment on its abilities as yet!

[Space Beagle]

Beaten too it..

[wxsatuser]

At least you confirmed what I thought it was.

It's a very versatile piece of kit, not just a simple Barlow.

[Fish]

Many thanks fitting standard eyepieces makes it worth getting 

[avtaram]

I have the Baader 8-24 zoom and the Baader 2.25 Barlow .

With the Barlow you get 10.6mm, 8.9mm, 7mm, 5.3mm, 3.5mm.

These are my most used eyepieces that give good sharp images in my 120ed.

Excellent on doubles, planets and star clusters.

High power views of the moon are breathtaking.

Avtar

[stevepeverall]

+1 For what Avtar says.

For use with a small to medium refactor its great for planetary viewing with an apparent FOV of 59^o - 68^o in the 7mm to 3.5mm range.

Might not get much use with your Dob though.

[Pig]

That is a good point from Pig - the zoom will do a lot of the work BUT if you do want one for other EPs, and for higher mag than the 8mm, then if I were to get one it would be the TV Powermate - never heard a bad thing about them

I understand from historical posts that the Powermate's are quite long so this is worth considering if you use a large eyepiece with it