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Barlow's ?


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Well to be honest,I've never liked barlow lenses.The image viewd through them has always lost something to my mine.Either too dark compared to a single eyepiece or some degredation of the image.

Well I had a near miss recently ,nearly sold my Pentax 8.5 & 12mm XF's (withdrew then from sale).I then decided to buy a 2x Celestron Ultima barlow lens,don't know why.Just had a hunch to give them another chance.

When used with my pentax XF's they gave a surprisingly good view of Saturn & Mars. Well not just a surprising good view,but inview of the fact that I never got on with barlows the view was spectacular.Bright, good contrast & sharp.So good infact that I let my Williams Optics SPL 6mm go to a good home.

I would be interested to hear others views and experiences with barlow lenses.

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Hi Martin, as I said to you earlier, my next purchase may be a TeleVue 2x Barlow, but open to suggestions so will be also interested to see the replies here also.

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I use a Baader VIP modular barlow and no way do I feel like I'm losing out on quality.

Its funny but I really didn't like barlows for ages, always hated fumbling about in the dark with them but I think the better barlows are well worth having.

The pic is the Barlow VIP with the Leica zoom.

post-20821-0-46489800-1401652480_thumb.j

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I think a good barlow or telextender can be a valuable piece of kit. By good I mean the ones that, apart from the boosted magnification you would not really know they were in use. Of the ones I've used / owned, the following would fall into that category:

- Antares 2" 1.6x barlow

- Baader Q-Turret 2.25x barlow

- Tele Vue Powermate 2" 2x

- ES 2x Focal Extender

- Tele Vue 2x barlow

The Celestron Ultima 2x (actually 2.2x) is also pretty good but I found if vignetted the edges of the field of view of some wide angle eyepieces.

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I think a good barlow or telextender can be a valuable piece of kit. By good I mean the ones that, apart from the boosted magnification you would not really know they were in use. Of the ones I've used / owned, the following would fall into that category:

- Antares 2" 1.6x barlow

- Baader Q-Turret 2.25x barlow

- Tele Vue Powermate 2" 2x

- ES 2x Focal Extender

- Tele Vue 2x barlow

The Celestron Ultima 2x (actually 2.2x) is also pretty good but I found if vignetted the edges of the field of view of some wide angle eyepieces.

Dont forget the x2 TAL barlow, but now very hard to find

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Dont forget the x2 TAL barlow, but now very hard to find

I thought it was very decent for it's price Jules but you did know it was in the optical path to be honest, or at least I thought so.

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Dont forget the x2 TAL barlow, but now very hard to find

I had one of those very briefly, but to be honest I felt it to be decent for the price at best. A great £30 buy no doubt, but the hallowed status they have achieved is not deserving of the results they actually achieve.

Even if I ignore my ES 1.25" FE (which is a completely different league) I personally feel that my Revelation 2.5x (three element) Apo Barlow is a much better buy for a fiver less and surprisingly close to the ES FE. It's the only budget Barlow I've used that is notably free of extra colour and the TAL wasn't.

Russell

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Forgive my ignorance or lack of homework.But ,what is the difference between a Televue 2 x Barlow lens and a power mate?

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Two elements. The Powermates/Focal Extenders/etc have a second set of elements that turn the incoming light rays back to telecentric, rather than diverging. This means they are generally better corrected for colour and field illumination and they do not increase eye relief. Of course, being four element, they are more expensive and therefore tend to be more exacting optically, because someone bothered to make them.

The flip side is that if you have a really good Plossl/Ortho (etc) and a really good Barlow (TV, Revelation), then you may actually want the increased eye relief to make your viewing more comfortable at high mags, rather than go for an EP that needs to be glued to your eyeball.

Russell

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If you ever get a chance to pick up a powermate Robin grab it with both hands, they really are that good. I recently sold mine only because it was never used other than to perform a John inspired experiment of making a 4mm Ethos from the 8mm. Even though it was fun that was the only time it has been used in three years.

Going back 5-6 years when I did not have the same eyepiece collection the Meade/ExSc/Bresser telextenders work very well indeed at a much smaller price. The Bresser is exactly the same as the old Meade models just with a different name and a much smaller box. I always feel with Meades the price could have been 10% less just by cutting the box down to size a bit.

As far as I am aware the ExSc is optically identical as well but at least looks different.

Alan

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I might go for a 3x barlow at some stage as I would like to try planetary imaging.But the 2x Ultima is very good for visual observation.

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Hi Alan, to be honest I can't remember the last time I used my Barlow, so a new one is not currently high on my list.  I do a lot of low power viewing. esp. the middle ranges these days.

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Robin,

They are of course wonderful pieces of kit when you are starting out and only have a few eyepieces due to the out-lay the new scope and mount. Once we get a few years down the road and you sort of can't say no, like me, then you tend to end up with a focal length for almost every scope on every target.

I have to admit if I stuck a label on what I enjoy most it would have to be low power, with my sky and no Moon it is really dark. I would have loved to have seen the skies Matthew ( Dirksteele) was under down in Namibia, my friend goes every year and tells me it's not dark, it's black and night falls in about 15 minutes, which I know is true from my travels.

Alan

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I've been very impressed with my Baader VIP Barlow. It's a very flexible modular system which allows different multiplying factors depending upon the extensions used. To me, it is not visible in the light path, and makes my shorter Orthos much easier to use by extending the eye relief.

Stu

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I've been very impressed with my Baader VIP Barlow. It's a very flexible modular system which allows different multiplying factors depending upon the extensions used. To me, it is not visible in the light path, and makes my shorter Orthos much easier to use by extending the eye relief.

Stu

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm glad you like the VIP Stu,I have just ordered one for the new eyepiece.So far all the Baader equipment has been very good

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I might go for a 3x barlow at some stage as I would like to try planetary imaging.But the 2x Ultima is very good for visual observation.

My newer scope came with a 3x Barlow actually I loved how it made the moon look. I have been wondering what the moon looks through a 2x Barlow though

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My newer scope came with a 3x Barlow actually I loved how it made the moon look. I have been wondering what the moon looks through a 2x Barlow though

33% less magnified and a little sharper :smiley:

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If you ever get a chance to pick up a powermate Robin grab it with both hands, they really are that good. I recently sold mine only because it was never used other than to perform a John inspired experiment of making a 4mm Ethos from the 8mm. Even though it was fun that was the only time it has been used in three years.

Going back 5-6 years when I did not have the same eyepiece collection the Meade/ExSc/Bresser telextenders work very well indeed at a much smaller price. The Bresser is exactly the same as the old Meade models just with a different name and a much smaller box. I always feel with Meades the price could have been 10% less just by cutting the box down to size a bit.

As far as I am aware the ExSc is optically identical as well but at least looks different.

Alan

Hi Alan,

Based on Russ's comments above and yours I have bought the ES TE and have already tested it in daylight, it is a really mean bit of kit in my view and can't wait to try it with my ES82's (the 14 & 11mm).

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Hi Alan,

Based on Russ's comments above and yours I have bought the ES TE and have already tested it in daylight, it is a really mean bit of kit in my view and can't wait to try it with my ES82's (the 14 & 11mm).

Robin, There was one of those extenders on sky's the limit as the last unit to be sold, so lemme guess you grabbed it :grin: . If so at least you helped me out of my misery whether to grab It or not, the thought had crossed my mind in the last month or so, amazed it took that long to sell.  The ES for < 100 quid seems a good cost effective option from what I read. :smiley:   

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Robin, There was one of those extenders on sky's the limit as the last unit to be sold, so lemme guess you grabbed it :grin: . If so at least you helped me out of my misery whether to grab It or not, the thought had crossed my mind in the last month or so, amazed it took that long to sell.  The ES for < 100 quid seems a good cost effective option from what I read. :smiley:   

At one point they had a couple of them for around £50 each I think. Real bargains  :smiley:

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Robin, There was one of those extenders on sky's the limit as the last unit to be sold, so lemme guess you grabbed it :grin: . If so at least you helped me out of my misery whether to grab It or not, the thought had crossed my mind in the last month or so, amazed it took that long to sell.  The ES for < 100 quid seems a good cost effective option from what I read. :smiley:   

Hi Alex, yes, that was me, I had also been thinking about it for a month, it really is a lovely piece and goes well with my four ES82's, they are just so well made and solid.  Delivery was good, I ordered it yesterday and it came this morning, really good service from Alan.

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