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Baader Zoom + Barlow for Moon dslr shots


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Hi,

With FLO announcing the Baader offer today, I'm really tempted to buy the zoom+barlow bundle.

As Im mainly into imaging, I am thinking this will cover any viewing needs i would like, at a pretty good quality.

What I'm a little unclear on is the barlow.

Can the barlow be used on its own, to basically give me a 2.5x focal length with prime focus, or is it used only for eye piece projection? 

Im not desperate to do planet shots, but would be happy to fill the frame more with my ed80 and dslr when shooting the moon.

Would l be better with a 'normal' barlow, like the 2inch Celestron Luminous, or a Televue 2x or 3x. and just get the zoom for viewing? Which i assume would work well in the one of those barrows too.

Cheers

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Ben I changed your thread as requested. I have the Baader barlow which I use on my Ethos EPs. However, I also use it with my 4" Astro Tech APO frac to take photos of the sun. I simply screw the barlow into a T mount and then onto my Canon 50D DSLR. The 2.25x increases the FL of my frac from 709mm to 1595mm and I get good images of the Sun.

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Thanks for the edit Mark.

It seems like it would be a sensible purchase, and with the extra discount on the bundle even more so.

I assume it's a massive increase in quality from the cheap skywatcher pair that come with the st80.

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Ben I use mainly quality eyepieces and I believe the Baader Hyperion barlow is a quality piece of kit. I screw the barlow into my 8mm and 13mm Ethos EPs to get a 3.5mm and 5.8mm EP and still retain the 100 degree FOV.

Certainly with prime focus the quality is very good and gives me the image that I want. You should get the same with imaging the Moon.

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I have the Baader 8-24mm zoom and Barlow. I bought it some time back and I also bought some of the Baader adapters so I can connect my DSLR to it.

I alaos own a fixed focal length Baader (24mm)., it was that lens that persuaded me to buy the zoom and overall I have no regrets on either.

It is a great lens, but beware it is a hefty thing too.

Yesterday evening as I got home from work the Moon was still up and in a nice position so I got out both my 80ED and ST120 and tried each on  an AZ4 with the Baader zoom.

It was better on the 80ED and I did not have to use a fringe killer, on the ST120 I did have to use a fringe killer and as it is a simple rack and pinion focuser focusung is not quite as sweet as on the ED80 with a 10:1 focuser.

On the ST120 it did not seem parfocal but on the ED80 it was. The views were good to the edge even at 8mm, which on an F5 scope is what you would expect. This was true for both the ST120 and ED80.

OK onto the AP bit. I have yet to process or look at the pics but on both scopes a zoom is not the easiest thing to use. I think fixed focal lengthe would be better or just stick at a particular focal length and adjust the camera accordingly.

I could get better focus afocally on the ED80 due to its 10:1 focuser but on both the act of zooming either means the camera has to turn. If the camera turns and you need a portrait type of exposure then after zooming you need to turn the camera and lens by loosening the grub screws on the 1.25 adapter. Hence my suggestion of finding the desired framing and then adjust the attitude of the camera.

Last night I had the camera and zoom on a diagonal, I now need to try it as a straight through with spacing rings. The camera and zoom on a diagonal makes for a hefty lump on the rear end of the OTA so even on an AZ mount balance and a tight friction clutch are needed. I think adding the barlow will make for a very large turning moment as well as adding more mass.

Luckily a few weeks back I adjusted the tension screws in the ED80 focuser as they were tending to slip but last night they were sufficiently stiff evben with all the added weight.

I will have a look at the pics and post later. The moon was getting low so some of the images were a bit yellow and over houses the thermals were adding wobble.

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My pics were not good. I am going to try the same set up when I have more time and double check the results.

My first impressions were a lack of focus at the edges when I imaged though the zoom on either OTA. But when viewed with the MK1 eyeball both were good. Not sure why.

I used tha smallest adapter ring which is T42/40mm and about 8mm thick. This threads directly onto the EP and into my Canon.

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I promise I will post some images over the weekend.

I was out again last night this time with my 9.25 SCT and I used the moon as a target as it shows any distortion pretty quickly.

Initially I mounted the camera and 8-24mm zoom onto the diagonal. BTW I have a 0.63 focal reducer on the OTA. This allows me to fit the moon in the frame, without it just become a bit bigger than the frame.

At the center everything is reasonably focused but shows distortion from bout 50% outwards. With the naked eye this is not apparent it is sharp out to the edges.

I have a Baader fixed 24mm lens and then tried that with the camera on the diagonal. Much better than the zoom, sharp for most of the picture.

I did notice some flex with the zoom, so I had to make sure everything was tight on the screws. This did not make any real difference.

I then used both lenses without the diagonal, this actualy made the image slightly bigger than the camera framing but the distortion on the zoom was still apparent.

As I said before visually the zoom is fine, it is only when trying to use in affocally does the distortion creep in. I guess this is because there has to be some compromise when packing all those optical components that make a zoom into a single package.

This does seem to point to the fact that fixed focal length ep's have the advantage over the zoom when doing afocal photography.

The Moon last night was appriaching 1st quarter and being low in the sky does not help so much. I had about an hours playtime before the Fen Clouds rolled back in.

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Thanks again for the detailed reply.

It does sound that for eyepiece projection the zoom is not great, but makes a good all In 1 solution for viewing.

So id probably only use the barlow on its own to make a longer prime focus method, or zoom & barlow for viewing.

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OK some pics. Not the greatest, all shot afocally on my 9.25SCT with a 0.63 reducer. All done

with a minimum of processing and no sharpening.

The first two images compare the 24 mm zoom with the 24 mm fixed on a Canon 650D.

The last images are the zoom at 8mm. As can be seen it is better afocally at 8mm than at 24mm.

24mm zoom

24 Mm fxed On east

24 Mm fixed On south

24 Mm fixed On north

8 Mm south On zoom

8 Mm On zoom

8mm middle On zoom

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Thanks for all the pics and details...

Interesting and can easily see the difference in those first 2, The results at 8mm are better than I expected, and definitely makes it an option.

It's defintely on my Xmas list as an eyepiece anyway, and I'm close to getting a little zwo 120, so it will interesting to see how they compare on the end of the ed80. Thank you again

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Sorry to jump in like that but is it possible to attach the barlow in the Baader package on a 1.25" nosepiece like the one I use for webcam imaging ?

Webcam adapter - Step3

the nosepiece as M12 threads to adapt filter to it...
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I have used the Zoom to image double stars via eyepiece projection.

Have had upto 60mm of extension between the Zoom and camera, very unwieldy.  :grin:

One thing to remember is, the more 'magnification' you put on the less light gets though.

Most of my double star images were done at 8mm with short 1 to 8sec exposures at 6400 ISO.

Polaris

polariseye.jpg

Castor

castor1.jpg

The Double Double.

episilonlyri2.jpg

The Trapezium

trapezium.jpg

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I have used it for widefield, prime focus and afocal.

Hi, I appreciate that the ep can have various uses. I'm wondering if there is any difference in the camera settings for each use?

I've tried to attach my DSLR with just the t ring to the ep and see if I can get anything to focus with the same settings I'd use for prime focus but can seem to see anything.

G

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In order to see through the lens with the camera you need to open up the exposure time this should brighten the image in the screen, once you have done that you can focus and then you have to alter the exposure time again to the correct setting. I have found that at ISO800  1/160th of a sec on a quarter Moon works well. You need to play around a bit.

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Hi, I appreciate that the ep can have various uses. I'm wondering if there is any difference in the camera settings for each use?

I've tried to attach my DSLR with just the t ring to the ep and see if I can get anything to focus with the same settings I'd use for prime focus but can seem to see anything.

G

I found that using a Canon 600D for eyepiece projection with the Baader Zoom required the use of some Baader extension tubes in order to get focus, but it does work :

post-20390-0-06004600-1390371712.jpg

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Thanks Gomtuu. Which extension tubes did you use? What settings did you use on your camera for focus, I so etc?

I used a couple of Baader Fine Tuning rings, they were the 14mm and 28mm ones that came with the Baader MPCC. Not sure if you can buy them separately - I don't think that they're really meant to be used as extension tubes!

The focus was done manually for that one. It was shot in manual video mode then stacked through registax.  Settings were roughly : HD video zoomed 3x at ISO 800.

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