x3 Televue Barlow or x2.5 Televue Powermate?

[Justi]

Hi again.

I have managed to make a choice and narrow my search for a Barlow down to these two.

I am really struggling to choose between them, I am after that slightly more bit of reach needed for getting better views on planets. I am using a x2 Barlow at the moment and feel its just slightly too little and seem to loose quality, maybe due to it being part of a kit and not high quality?

Is anyone able to somehow tell me the difference between these? are they both good for imaging? Also what makes the x2.5 175 euros compared to the x3 at only 110 euros? Is there a big jump in quality that I will notice?

Most of my imaging will be done using a DSLR in video mode doing 30fps. until I move onto webcam imaging which I will get a ZWO camera so would like the Barlow / powermate to be able to work well with this. 

My telescope is a celestron 4se, f 13 Mak. 

Thank you.

[Laurie61]

Hi, the std x3 barlow is a conventional design, if you fit an eyepiece, especially a longer focal length ep, it will add to the eye relief. If the eye relief is already good this might make eye placement difficult. The powermate is designed to stop this and eyepieces retain there original eye relief. For imaging, as far as I am aware, there is no difference with both increasing the ota effective focal length by the amount shown. If you are using short focal length plossl's and ortho's the increased eye relief generated by the std barlow may be useful.      

[Justi]

I only ever use a Barlow when doing imaging as I think I have enough magnification with the eyepieces I have to view things, and I have a issue when I do use the Barlow I seem to struggle to see the item feel I chase the item around and keep loosing its place not all eyepieces do this but some and not all the time.

Would the x3 produce fine images? was feeling a little worried at how cheap it is compared to the x2.5 which I have heard produces very nice images.

[Laurie61]

I have not tried a powermate but do have a x3 TV barlow, have used it with a dmk 618 and it was fine with an f 6 scope. If you intend to buy a ZWO camera my understanding is they have small pixels which increase the sampling rate/mag so with your f13 mak a 2x might be enough ? If you want to use the barlow for imaging it might pay to wait and get the camera first and try with your 2x barlow ?

[Justi]

Oh I did not know that, the main reason I wanted a little more than x2 Barlow was because with the DSLR Jupiter is coming out a bit to bright still and thought that could help dull it down. I do also have a f5 refracor that I use for solar imaging so a x2.5 or x3 would be of use for that sometimes. But still maybe the webcam should come first could end up saving me money in the long run if I dont really need another one quite yet.

This was the camera I was considering so hope its good enough.

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p6817_ZW-Optical-ASI-034-MC-Color-USB-2-0-Camera-for-Solar-System-Imaging.html

Thanks for the help here

[HumptyMoo]

I have a powermate 2.5x TV, I cannot comment on imaging (apart from one shot of the moon with my xperia z moby ) but, from a visual point of view, apart from the increase in magnification, I really cannot tell it is there. I will also point out that I am only a few months into this hobby with an actual scope so my experience is limited.

I used it in my 200p in conjunction with a 13mm nag the other night to see mars and got crisp clear views at 240x, I could make out some darker patches opposite the small white cherry style polar cap and what looked like a larger but less vivid polar region opposite the polar cap all with a slight twist of pink, took a little viewing for the colour to start registering. I am not really familiar with mars yet so I know it's all a bit vague, I am merely trying to back up my reasoning for the above statement with a real world observation.

Anyway, more info is better than less, right? Consider 2 pennies spent

[Justi]

More info is always needed apart from it pushes me back in the other direction, which isnt a bad thing