New Baader Classic 18mm Orthos first light

[F15Rules]

Just received my new pair of 18mm BCOs from FLO and amazingly it went really clear tonight after a dull and damp day..

I viewed Comet Lovejoy, M42 and Jupiter over a one hour session from 7.30 to 8.30pm, before the clouds rolled in.

The Moon was rising in the east but quite low and not as yet too bright.

All objects were viewed with the BCO's in my Maxbright bv's and 5" D&G F15 refractor aka "Andromeda".

Comet Lovejoy. I found this first with my Nikon Aculon 8x42 binoculars close to Almach in Andromeda (quite apt!:-).. ,it looked rather like M13,through a 4" scope at low power, ie a small round fuzzy blob of light.

In the D&G a bright but fairly fuzzy ball with slight hints of a diffuse tail to the "left" of the image. The comet definitely showed a greenish tinge.

I then replaced the bv's with my 2" Zeiss 30mm Erfle with 85deg field. Although the sky background was much brighter, the ultra wide field placed the comet very pleasingly against a field of many stars. Overall I was just chuffed to have found it!

Back to the Maxbrights and BCOs and M42. Here the view was jaw dropping with superb contrast and the "wings" of the great nebula stretching like a ghostly pair of eagle wings from one side of the field to the other.

Studded with newborn stars, the showpiece of the nebula, the Trapezium, was ultra sharp with each of the 4 components beautifully defined. I couldn't see either the E or F stars tonight, but the Moon was getting brighter now and I also believe the binoviewers, by splitting the single light beam into two, loses around a half a magnitude or more of brightness.

Nevertheless, the view was superb, awash with nebulosity, dark lanes and sparkling stars: a real 3d feel to the view that is hard to describe if you have never looked through a binoviewer before.

Lastly, Jupiter. It was still poorly placed from my drive, and central heating plumes from neighbouring houses were wafting all over the place.

For all that, in moments of steadier seeing the view was excellent: I could see 4 bands clearly,and the Great Red spot to the top right of the disk had a genuinely pinkish-red colour. 3 moons to the right of the planet, all presenting tiny, creamy white disks, a lovely sight.

I recently sold a pair of Takahashi MC 18mm LE eyepieces. They were superb eyepieces, whose standout feature was their amazing contrast and sharpness right to the edge of the 52deg field..

I bought the BCOs on the strength of many positive reviews (including our own John Huntley's early review of new FLO stock) of what is a relatively low cost eyepiece, hoping that they would deliver performance not too far from the Taks: the best compliment I can pay the BCOs on the basis of this first session under the stars is that optically they appear to match the Tak LE's on contrast, sharpness and light transmission. Only at the very edge of the FOV do they soften a little whereas the Taks are sharp right to the edge. The Taks are definitely slightly more substantial in build, with brass chromed barrels for example, but the BCOs are nicely built, lightweight and of a good standard of construction for the asking price of £49 each (FLO) versus the nearly £200 each for the Taks (if you can find them) at Wide screen Centre etc

Highly recommended!

Dave

[John]

I'm so pleased that you like the 18mm BCO's Dave

I felt their light transmission was a touch better even than the Baader GO 18mm's, which is praise indeed.

[estwing]

Great result!

[Bart]

I agree. I got one of the 18mm BCOs used recently and have to say it's very nice. Good luck to you with them

Barry

[nightfisher]

Nice first light, sounds like a good set up

[Dude_with_the_tube]

Lovely first light Dave.Very enjoyable reading.

[bingevader]

Congratulations!

Sounds like rather a good night out.

[F15Rules]

Thanks guys, it was just so good to get a really clear sky for once. I really am delighted with these Baader's .

 I didn't talk about the mechanics of the BCOs as these were covered in some detail in John's original review. I didn't mention that I also had a quick peek at the Pleiades too..couldn't fit them all in of course at 18 mm (or 25mm plossls) but the contrast of the pin sharp stars against a dark sky (and remember the Moon was still brighr) was very impressive..and the Zeiss 85deg got most of the cluster in .

 I've managed to find a pair of the 10mm BCOs as well, in mint, like new, condition with a good saving from the new price. These should arrive early next week and will give me x190 vs the x105 of the 18's (I should have mentioned that I'm able to use eyepieces at their native magnification in the D&G, without a barlow, since I had the scope tube shortened by 130mm...to cyclops view with 1.25" or 2" EPs I just use x2 high quality WO 50mm extension tubes back to back, works perfectly as they both have compression rings and twin retaining screws:-)

Mods, it just occurred to me this thread should be in the eyepiece forum, sorry. Please just move it across? Thanks!)

Dave

[John]

It's aleady been moved Dave - some kind soul beat me to it

Not being a binoviewer myself I'd overlooked in my report that the BCO's would be ideal for that purpose being slim, light, having those winged eyecups and beling reasonably priced too !

[F15Rules]

It's aleady been moved Dave - some kind soul beat me to it

Not being a binoviewer myself I'd overlooked in my report that the BCO's would be ideal for that purpose being slim, light, having those winged eyecups and beling reasonably priced too !

 Hi John,

Thanks for that. Yes, the BCOs are a fair bit less weighty than the Tak LE's in the same focal length. It's actually the weight of the binoviewer combined with a 2" diagonal that really puts a focuser under load though.

You should consider trying it some time  ..binoviewing might not suit everyone, and it is better, IMO, for certain types of viewing: I would say that Planets, Lunar, bright globulars and brighter Nebulae such as M42 are well suited to bv's, but that double star observing, most clusters, fainter and/or wide field nebulae, galaxies etc are best suited to cyclops viewing. Would be interested to hear what others think.

I don't think there is any doubt that, assuming your eyes can adapt ok (I understand not everyone can) to binoviewing, it is much more relaxing, less tiring and more comfortable than one eyed observing.

But when the very finest details or faintest discerning of objects is needed, then cyclops views with a high quality single lens on very good nights will be best. That's my 2 penn'orth, anyway

Dave

[Chris]

Great report Dave, I'm glad the BCO's are doing the business for you

[jetstream]

Dave, great report! These things are excellent EP's and compete with much more expensive ones as you have found. The 18mm & 10mm BCO's are only limited by seeing and sky conditions IME and most likely will never be the weak link. Last night my 10mm barlowed 2x showed Jupiter very well, it's amazing the quality of view they can provide.

I'm sure glad John did the review of these a while back!

[YKSE]

Great first light, Dave. Looking forward to more reviews from you.

It's really good work that you can get a pair of used 10mm BCOs, I've only seen one on sale at ABS during more than two years time.

[F15Rules]

Thanks guys, am very chuffed with them.

Jetstream, yes, we're very fortunate to have guys like John and suppliers like FLO who are willing to enable these products to be field tested in real world conditions, so we can buy with comfidence.

YKSE, regarding the 10mm's I was just lucky..I saw one for sale on UKABS and sent an enquiry, I agreed to buy the eyepiece (as I was watching another one on ebay so thought I could make ip a pair). Anyway, we then started an email conversation about Tak 18mms which the seller also has, and I said I was looking to make up a pair of 10mm bco's...he then told me he had a pair, used twice and so as new. He offered me them for £70 posted for the pair so that was it!

So, when they arrive my bv eyepiece pairs will be bco 10mm and 18mm and a pair of 25mm TAL plossls (very underrated EPs IMO).

Cheers, Dave

[YKSE]

That's really a nice lucky one

Let's hear how you get along with 10mm, I've read that shorter focal length might be more challenging for merging images, therefore I took the chicky approach by getting the 2.6x GPC.