I Leica my new zoom ;-)

[Stu]

Stu,I forgot to tell you congratulations!My apologies and congrats ! .The solar view was excellent today with the Leica and I am amazed at the view of Saturn and the moon with this EP.M82,M57,M13 etc are fantastic with this thing and the stark contrast it provides.M82 in the 10"/LZ shows great structure for this aperture,from dark skies.

I am eagerly waiting some reports!

That's more like the Gerry I know :-), you seemed to have got all serious on me ;-)

That sounds very promising. I am hoping for great performance on planets and smaller DSOs, plus solar. I'll use Orthos for doubles so no problem there.

Forecast not great so it may be a little while for a first light :-(

[jetstream]

Stu,I'm very excited for you with this purchase!Not all serious here its just that this eyepiece puzzles me big time.The LZ is a planetary eyepiece on par with the very best-Zeiss,AP etc according to owners/users that have tried them.My own experience on Saturn has been amazing giving me the best views of it with 3 scopes and it out competes my other EP on the sun,the LZ stays in the focuser a lot.The zoom feature allows for more viewing time across varying conditions-no switching out- and this alone allows for much better viewing being able to "catch the sky" conditions.This is also the best performing solar eyepiece that I own.

This thread was not the place for this discussion though,and again I apologize for that.I do look forward to your reports and findings with the LZ and hope to discuss it down the road with you and other users.

[John]

The Leica ASPH zoom has a similar back story to the Pentax XW's in many ways, both having been developed for terrestrial spotting scope use and both proving extremely competent astro performers. I don't think for one minute that Leica are interested in the astronomy market any more than Pentax is and yet both have products which take on the very best specifically designed astro products and match or beat them 

[Stu]

Stu,I'm very excited for you with this purchase!Not all serious here its just that this eyepiece puzzles me big time.The LZ is a planetary eyepiece on par with the very best-Zeiss,AP etc according to owners/users that have tried them.My own experience on Saturn has been amazing giving me the best views of it with 3 scopes and it out competes my other EP on the sun,the LZ stays in the focuser a lot.The zoom feature allows for more viewing time across varying conditions-no switching out- and this alone allows for much better viewing being able to "catch the sky" conditions.This is also the best performing solar eyepiece that I own.

This thread was not the place for this discussion though,and again I apologize for that.I do look forward to your reports and findings with the LZ and hope to discuss it down the road with you and other users.

Absolutely no apologies needed Gerry. All opinions welcomed and quite happy for you to bring your experiences to the thread. It's as well that people go into this sort of purchase with their eyes open.

From my personal position, I made a decision to liberate a lot of cash which was tied up in some rather delicious eyepieces in order to fund a scope of dreams ie the Vixen 150ED. I always planned to replace them with the Leica, reasonably confident that it would perform well enough under my skies and in my scopes to keep me happy.

I know there are several potential issues, mainly the Edge of Field Brightness but I believe these are largely a problem in fast newts. I am sure that Gerry will see things under his skies which will just never be any issue for me.

The other point is that my main use for it will be higher magnifications using the VIP Barlow which seems to get rid of the main issues, and for solar which it seems to excel at.

I have some lovely wide field longer focal length ethos and a range of Plossls and orthos to cover other requirements. That's not to say I won't re invest in some Delos or XW's in future, but for the moment I hope to be happy with the Leica.

Stu

[Stu]

Just managed a quick first light with the Leica on the sun. Every bit as good as I remember.

The ability to zoom from x34 to x67 covers all the bases for me on solar with the TV85. The quality is wonderful, despite the low elevation of the sun, granulation was clear across the disk and the numerous active regions were showing lovely detail. Very nice AR right on the limb too embedded in faculae.

My only issue was reflections off the exit lens when at low power. Seemed to go away with higher power but I needed to shield more than the 12.5mm BGO obviously because it has a much smaller exit lens.

Very happy with this so far, am hoping the cloud stays away for a little observing tonight. Will report back later

Stu

[Pig]

My wallet has started to cry  I think it knows what is coming.

[jetstream]

Stu,great report and I hope more news from tonight.I could be dreaming,but M57 gives a hint of turquoise with the LZ cranked up,no filter,I hope you give this one a try-so I know if I'm dreaming -LOL!

[Stu]

Ok, so just back in from a fairly quick session....

Lunar looked very nice indeed, despite the low elevation over houses there was lovely crisp detail and very clear showing of the different shades of grey (and brown?). This was both with and without the Barlow.

I had a heads up from elsewhere that the moon was positioned between Saturn and Mars, making them easier to find while it was still light. Sure enough, I managed them both. Mars was not really up to much, but Saturn looked nice and crisp, although the contrast was not high as it was still daylight.

I tried some doubles, and this is where Gerry's points become clear. It is not as crisp as an Ortho, except perhaps bang on axis, and towards the outer edges it definitely loses out.

I was trying to get the double cluster to see how it looked, but it was behind a hedge, will try again in a few weeks.

My original plan for the Leica was for solar and for high mag planetary and dso observing, specifically in the Vixen. I think I've seen enough to say that it will fulfill these needs very well. The 85 is f6.3, so the f9 Vixen should be much better still.

I can see the limitations and weaknesses, but also the advantages. I have no idea why it performs so well on the sun, but where I would expect it to go soft at 8.9mm setting, the image was still lovely and crisp, and full of fine detail.

Plenty more experimenting to come. Will report back soon, in a couple of weeks I'm heading to Dorset so should get some time with decent dark skies.

Stu

[John]

Excellent report Stu 

All eyepieces have their quirks and it's great to see them mentioned along with the (many) strengths.

[alan potts]

Stu,

I have read what you have to say and I think you have been around scopes and eyepieces long enough to know what you are talking about. If as you say it is not as crisp as an ortho except bang on axis it makes me wonder what these reports of comparable to Zeiss, in that I assume they mean ZO's, are really all about. I am sure it is a very good eyepiece nontheless.

I am also making the assuption that you do not have a set of ZO's to compare with.

I think if I buy one of these it will be on the back of what the likes of yourself, John and a few others on site have to say and not some of the other stuff I have read about sweeping claims.

Alan. 

[Stu]

A brief update to this. I've been out looking at the sun this morning, and the Leica really is cracking. Beautiful detail all the way up to 8.9mm zoom.

I did some experimenting with the Baader VIP Barlow, and did find it was introducing what I assume is astigmatism from quite a long way in from the edge, that is at x1.5. At x2 it is less pronounced. On axis it is still very sharp.

I need to check this at night, but it would seem that the Barlow is having an impact when positioned closer to the eyepiece.

I would hope that this is less of a problem at f9 in the Vixen but will check.

Summary to date. Very happy with the Zeiss on the sun in the TV85, works beautifully and without the Barlow gives me up to x67 which is generally all I use.

I need to try plenty of other configurations to see which ones work.

Stu

[jetstream]

Great report Stu,I look forward to more of your thoughts on the LZ.Last night it gave some amazing lunar views here,the best in the case.

[F15Rules]

Hi Stu, congratulations on your new Leica Zoom . As Dude with the Tube and YKSE rightly said, I have the "poor man's" version, the Leica Vario 7.3-22mm which predated the Aspheric. I read a lot of stuff online before buying mine and although tempted sorely by the aspheric, I just couldn't afford that level of outlay at this time. That said, my 10 year old (but mint) Vario wasn't cheap either, and, once I'd bought a 2" custom adapter from APM, it cost about as much as a new Pentax 8-24mm zoom (not the XF version, the more expensive one). It actually has the same natty little zipper type case yours does .

I too was surprised to read that the German guy "Andreas" sold his ZAOII's having used the Leica Aspheric. Having never had the pleasure of seeing a ZAO, never mind looking through one, I don't know if he was astute or plain dumb to let them go: frankly, I was more interested in his earlier reports on the Vario 7.3-22 version that I have. The main difference between the two seems to be the field of view. The Aspheric has, I believe, from 60-80 degrees AFOV, which is widefield in anyone's book! My version ranges from a published 38 deg at 22mm to about 68 deg at 7.3mm. At the lower end it doesn't feel claustrophobic, more like a good ortho's field, but to be honest I rarely use it at the very lowest setting. At high powers, it really is an immersive view.

I find that by dialling it in a little, probably to around 18mm, the field rapidly opens out, and from there up to 7.3mm it is superb. I should say, though, that I'm using it in an excellent 5" D&G F15 refractor which would give good images using the bottom of a coke bottle   , it's very forgiving on eyepieces. It also means that my Leica is effectively a high power zoom in my scope: with a focal length of 1905mm, at the 22mm setting it gives x86, and at 7.3mm it gives x260! Of course, in much faster scopes the magnification range will be much lower: I don't need to use a barlow with my scope so don't see any of the issues mentioned above by others. I'd expect your Aspheric to be superb in your big Atlux refractor, Stu. Do please let us have a first light with the two together, soon!

It's true that I did get rid of most of my other eyepieces. I did this mainly because I wanted to spend more time viewing, rather than switching umpteen eps in and out and never really feeling very satisfied. I still have a 6mm BGO for those all to rare nights of really good seeing (x317, the scope would happily take more on such nights), and I recently acquired a Moonfish 30mm 2" Clone with an 80 deg field for lower power (still x63, but giving a 1.25 degree field of view, not bad for such a long FL scope - I can frame the double cluster beautifully with this ep). In fact, as an aside, I can't speak too highly of this budget superwide eyepiece - again, I have the benefit of a slow scope, but I've also read that they perform very nicely right down to about F6, and for a fraction of a TV or ES..

The Leica offers for me the following benefits:

-wide range of powers with one high quality lens system

-smooth, parfocal focusing - virtually no focus adjustment needed between power levels

-both 2" and 1.25" adapters, so can be used in most scopes

-nice and chunky without being a hand grenade size

-superb optics with (in my scope) flat field, sharp virtually to the edge (reminds me of my Nagler 13mm T6 in this respect, much missed!)

-really comes into it's own (in my scope) on planets, lunar (don't do solar so far), double stars and compact deep sky - M13 is superb at high  powers, with an inky background and lots of stars resolving at higher powers)

Negatives

- none for me in my scope, might be different in fast apos or newts

I can imagine that the Aspheric version, with that 60-80 deg fov range, will be stunning this winter on M42 et al, and I'll be really interested to hear what you think Stu, once our old winter friends return...

Dave

[John]

Excellent post Dave

A zoom in a long refractor makes a lot of sense for a whole lot of reasons.

[Stu]

Thanks Dave :-). As John says, fab post!

It does sound like an excellent match for your lovely D&G. I do think from everything I've read that they excel in longer focal length refractors so I'm hopeful that it should be very nice in the Vixen.

I promise you a first light soon! At the moment I just don't seem to have the energy to get it all set up for such short nights, but as soon as we get into September I'm sure I'll be out there. I'm also thinking of getting a Losmandy clamp for the Ercole mount so I can use it in manual Alt-Az mode more frequently.

With your focal length, the Vario gives you everything you need doesn't it :-). I think I've said already that I will get x75 to x150 which will be ideal for many objects, plus up to x300 for planetary and lunar with the Barlow, all bases covered too.

The zoom for me was a 'money releasing' exercise. I had too many ep's and wanted other things. It's funny but I keep coming back to my good old Orthos time and again, although last night I popped the 21e into the Genesis for the first time for a while. Very nice :-)

I'm down in Dorset soon with the Gen and the 85 most likely, hoping for some decent weather to catch those lovely dark skies.

Stu