Barlow Quality Question

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Hey guys

I just started out in this awesome hobby I am planning in getting a willian optics 28 mm UWAN eyepiece in the not to distant future. My current pieces besides the 10mm and 25mm plossl that come with the xt8i 200mm 1200 f/5.9  are a WO 6mm SPL, WO7mmUWAN, and a Celestron Ultima LX 17mm. I've also got a Orion Shorty Plus 2x Barlow. My question is if I get the WO 28mm UWAN, and barlow it to 14, will the quality of the viewing image be good, or will it greaty diminish or something? I have no idea so hence the question. I would prefer to invest in this 28mm UWAN and have a 14mm with it barlowed, rather than have to buy a 13mm piece as well... Just wanting to know how the quality will be affected...

Thanks a lot!

Daniel

[rwilkey]

Hi Daniel, the first important bit is that the UWAN 28mm eyepiece is a 2" fitting, whereas the Orion Shorty Plus Barlow is a 1.25" fitting, I believe.  Personally, I have never had success with Barlowing a widefield eyepiece, I tried The PanaView 32mm with the SW ED 2" Barlow and found the results were not satisfying, added to it the clumsy nature of the large pieces hanging off the focuser, especially when you have to do a 'meridian flip' as is common with polar aligned reflector.  I have recently sold my 2" SW ED Barlow for this reason.   No, what I did in the end was buy a Vixen 13mm LVW, a superb ep which I got discounted to £99 at an astronomy fair.  I have also recently bought the Explore Scientific 82 Series 14mm, which I have yet to put through its paces, but initial views in my f/7 ED refractor look promising.

[brantuk]

Personally I wouldn't barlow a wide field low power eyepiece - it kinda defeats the object of having one really. Much better to get a good eyepiece at the required strength. Plus the 28mm Uwan is a superb eyepiece and if you absolutely had to double it then you'd need a similar quality magnifier to stand half a chance. That for me would mean a TV 2" Powermate. Hth

[alanjgreen]

+1

a 2" TV powermate is best bet to double the power of a 2 inch widefield eyepiece with no loss of image quality.

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Thanks for all the replies guys, answered my questions perfectly

I'll consider the 28mm in the distant future, I think while I'm starting out I should take it easy, already bought a few ep's.

I'll look into that Vixen if I can get ahold of it Any experience with a Orion Stratus 13mm or Baader Hyperion 13mm compared to the Vixen?

[davefrance]

I use a 2X TV Powermate all the time with high and lower power eyepieces, much better than Barlow for retaining image quality. Also when using camera direct with telescope you can place your Powermate between your camera and telescope to double F/L. You will need the TV Powermate T-Ring and appropriate T Ring for your camera.

[John]

Thanks for all the replies guys, answered my questions perfectly

I'll consider the 28mm in the distant future, I think while I'm starting out I should take it easy, already bought a few ep's.

I'll look into that Vixen if I can get ahold of it Any experience with a Orion Stratus 13mm or Baader Hyperion 13mm compared to the Vixen?

The Stratus and the Hyperions are the same eyepieces under different branding. They are nice eyepieces but will show some astigmatism in the outer 15% or so of the field of view in your F/5.9 scope. I've compared the Hyperions to the Vixen LVW's in this review:

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/blog/vixen-lvw-vs-baader-hyperion-review.html

The Vixen's are better eyepieces but you pay nearly twice as much for them, unless you get lucky as rwilkey / Robin did above