Barlowing Leica ASPH Zoom

[Piero]

Thanks for letting me know this. I already ordered the baader Tak adapter and will see how it goes. At those small exit pupils I might not need any filter. Thanks again.

[Piero]

Following ideas from this thread here is my current VIP barlow structured for my refractor (no risk to touch the ND3 filter in the baader Herschel wedge). 

 

and the missile when more mag is wanted with the docter

[John]

Also following on from this thread, my Leica ASPH Zoom and VIP Barlow have gone onto another home now.

It was nice to have the chance to try the system out after reading such a lot about them though and I'm very grateful for the advice and feedback that I received while trying them out

It's only by trying stuff like this out that you get a real idea if it is a keeper for you

[Piero]

Sorry to read this John . 

Of course, if you felt that this combo was not working out for you as expected, then I agree that the best thing was to let them go.

[jetstream]

27 minutes ago, John said:

Also following on from this thread, my Leica ASPH Zoom and VIP Barlow have gone onto another home now.

It was nice to have the chance to try the system out after reading such a lot about them though and I'm very grateful for the advice and feedback that I received while trying them out

It's only by trying stuff like this out that you get a real idea if it is a keeper for you

Well maybe its time to try the Zeiss 25.1mm-6.7mm then?

[John]

1 hour ago, Piero said:

Sorry to read this John . 

Of course, if you felt that this combo was not working out for you as expected, then I agree that the best thing was to let them go.

Nothing to be sorry about Piero - I was very glad to have the chance to actually use the combo and over several sessions with different scopes in my "fleet". It performed very well but I just didn't "warm" to it for some reason 

I found using the barlow a bit of a nuisance and the resulting stack was rather tall and unwieldy which is why I expressed an interest in the Leica 1.8x extender earlier in this thread.

After a while I found that I was picking other eyepieces out of my cases more often than the Leica zoom / VIP barlow and thats usually a sign that it's time to move something on

@Jetstream / Gerry: Thanks for the Zeiss suggestion but I suspect I'd feel the same about it after a couple of months.

 

 

[Piero]

28 minutes ago, John said:

I just didn't "warm" to it for some reason 

I know the feeling. Something similar happened to me with the 30mm Vixen NPL and somehow with the two Delos I had. Nothing wrong with them at all, optically speaking. Let's say that we just didn't bond well..   The ES30 82 was another example of fine ep, but for my tastes it was just too "obese".. So.. all gone..

[John]

Probably too much choice has made us over fussy !

"back in the day" stockies were hygenians or ramsdens, 1st step up were kellners or achro ramsdens then top of the pile was an ortho, a plossl or an erfle ...... if you were lucky !

 

 

[Stu]

1 hour ago, John said:

After a while I found that I was picking other eyepieces out of my cases more often than the Leica zoom / VIP barlow

Just shows how personal these choices are. I found the opposite, choosing the Zoom over other eyepieces; for use with a tracking mount for planetary and solar observing it was preferable given the excellent on axis performance.

I agree that if you are constantly adding or removing the barlow or changing configuration then it is fiddly, and if you want to observe off axis a lot with a manual dob then other eyepieces are probably better. Horses for courses as they say  

[John]

If the zoom had noticably outperformed my other eyepieces then I'd have put up with the slight hassle and it may well have changed my eyepiece case dramatically. But it didn't do that and occasionally my existing eyepieces were very slightly better on certain targets I felt.