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I am thinking of upgrading my 10mm EP that came with my scope and have been looking around at what to get.

I have seen zoom EP's advertised and wondered what they are like and is it better to stick with separate EP's

Thanks

Les

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In general people who use them are very happy with them (zooms). I like many have the Hyperion 8-24mm. Its pricey but not when you compare it to owning the same range of individual eyepieces. I believe Celestron do a cheaper 8-24mm and also Seben (usually to be avoided), do a 8-24mm for about 50 quid which gets good reviews.

Most experienced members on SGL will say its best to buy individual fixed eyepieces. I think its too close to call and if you can get a good zoom for the right price........its worth a punt.

The main advantage of them is less to carry outside and no need to keep changing eyepieces and filters.   

Any link to the ones you are thinking of?

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Thanks Paul. I have not looked at any specific zoom yet as I have just come across them when looking at possible replacements for my 10mm.

I have only had my scope a short time and didn't even realise that zooms were avalable.

Les

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I am thinking of upgrading my 10mm EP that came with my scope and have been looking around at what to get.

I have seen zoom EP's advertised and wondered what they are like and is it better to stick with separate EP's

Thanks

Les

Les I think a Badder MK3 zoom/barlow and a nice low power widefield would be a great set for you- the 24mm/30mm ES 82 would suit you well. The 30mm ES is a monster size wise though.

Zooms allow you to catch the seeing very easy and good ones provide excellent views.

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Thanks Paul. I have not looked at any specific zoom yet as I have just come across them when looking at possible replacements for my 10mm.

I have only had my scope a short time and didn't even realise that zooms were avalable.

Les

I wouldnt be in any rush to buy one. You have a great scope and there are many options available. I'd say get used to your scope first and get the most out of it with the gear you have. Plenty of time to upgrade eyepieces at a later date.

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Hi Les S.......welcome to SGL.

The 10mm supplied with your telescope is the weakest link? it still works and  the 25mm is not too bad! But on reading this site you will want more sooner than later. 

I have never used a zoom on my telescope for astronomy. I can see their benefits, less to carry about, and the ability  frame the target  smoothly without having to  constantly change lenses, but I do prefer standard eyepieces, and having the same scope as yourself, the  BST  Starguiders  I use  will work very well on your telescope. They don't zoom, and  their cheapness belies their quality. Give them some thought!

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Hi Les S.......welcome to SGL.

The 10mm supplied with your telescope is the weakest link? it still works and  the 25mm is not too bad! But on reading this site you will want more sooner than later. 

I have never used a zoom on my telescope for astronomy. I can see their benefits, less to carry about, and able to frame the target image smoothly without having to  constantly change lenses, but I do prefer standard eyepieces, and having the same scope as yourself, the  BST  Starguiders  I use  will work very well on your telescope. They don't zoom, but their cheapness belies their quality. Give them some thought!

I can only agree. Ive never used them, but the BST starguiders get great reviews on SGL.  

The 10mm supplied with your telescope is the weakest link? 

Why is that?. Most scopes come with a 10mm and maybe a 20mm or 25mm. Its ALWAYS the 10mm that is a bit rubbish. Is it because it the higher powered ne and most expensive to produce but they cut costs and it ends up naff.

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Hi Les,

I too use a Baader 8/24mm zoom, and have allways found it to give excelent views, and  the field of view is very good at 50 to 68 degrees. It is my most used eyepeice, and at £185 is good value for money. In the end you need to decide if a zoom is the way you want to go, but if you do go for one, then the Baader will see you good for the next few years.

Dave.

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I've owned a couple of the Baader 8-24 zoom lenses. Their optical quality is very good and they can replace a number of eyepieces. The apparent field of view varies from 42 degrees at 24mm to 70 degrees at 8mm. These are the independantly measured fields of view, despite what the specification says !

I found the view too narrow at the 24mm setting and the edges of the field of view rather ill-defined so I preferred to use the lens as a 20mm - 8mm with a fixed focal length eyepiece of around 30mm to cover the wider / low power views and a fixed focal length 6mm to give me a high power option. Such a combination would work well with your Skylinder 200P giving a very versatile set of magnifications from 40x to 200x with just 3 eyepieces.

The optical quality of the Baader zoom is equal to the BST Starguider / Explorer eyepieces and good quality plossl eyepieces as well I'd say.

There are lower cost zooms around but, in my opinion, the Baader is a cut above these in many respects. There are higher priced ones too of course !

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Hi Les,

I too use a Baader 8/24mm zoom, and have allways found it to give excelent views, and  the field of view is very good at 50 to 68 degrees. It is my most used eyepeice, and at £185 is good value for money. In the end you need to decide if a zoom is the way you want to go, but if you do go for one, then the Baader will see you good for the next few years.

Dave.

Completely agree. If you need one...........they are brilliant. If you dont, not really worth the investment. The Hyperion zoom 8-24 works great for me being in a wheelchair because its basically the only EP i have to bring outside (apart from a couple of Vixen NPL's).

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My comparison of Baader zoom to BST 8mm and 12mm is that Baader zoom has hair cut of better scatter control around bright objects (Jupiter, Saturn) and transmission. With the dedicated barlow, it effectively replaces 5mm, 8mm, 12mm, 15mm, 18mm BSTs, with the cost of 4 BSTs, and the added benifits of that all the intermediate focal length 3.5mm to 20mm covered, especially in the shorter focal lengths, where the seeing variatuibs cab make a fix focal eyepiece an excellent one to mediocre one, the flexibility of a zoom is king here. It saves you a lot of money.

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+1 for Baader. It's very good. At that price (70% of the price of your scope including its supplied eyepieces) it ought to be. But your issue is that you're not happy with the 10mm EP that came with your scope. A TeleVue 8mm plossl is about £100 less than the Baader zoom and would not disappoint you. With the change you could get a TeleVue 32mm plossl. Those were the first two EPs I bought for my 8 inch dob and I didn't regret it.

Don't approach the zoom idea on the basis of saving money on eyepieces. Otherwise you'll end up buying a cheap (poor) zoom, then find yourself buying decent eyepieces to replace it. You're better off gradually acquiring 3 or 4 high quality eyepieces, then a high quality zoom to fill in the gaps.

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+1 with the Baader MKIII zoom plus 2.25x barlow, with one caveat:

Mine isn't completely parfocal, so when I zoom in from 20mm to 8mm I always have to readjust focus. After a while it's natural, and my fingers know precisely how much to move the focal point without looking.

I agree that the 24mm setting isn't that good, so when I want low power I use a dedicated Baader 24mm EP.

/ulf

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Thanks for all the advice. I need to think this through before I buy anything. I was wondering as I have an inexpensive scope compared to some would an expensive EP be restricted by the limitations of the scope. I know the 200p has a great reputation but would I be wasting money by getting a top of the range EP or Zoom EP. Hope this makes sense.

Thanks

Les

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You would not be wasting money if you bought something like a TeleVue that is confirmed to work down to an F/4 focal ratio, but do you need to spend that much money to get great results, on a scope that is an f/6 (f/5.91). Even a Televue will let you down on an expensive scope if that scope is not collimated properly. Its the telescope that produces the image, the EP allows you to see the image. If the image is poor from the start, a great EP wont improve. Plus if you do find a TeleVue EP that suits your requirements, its unlikely you will need to replace it, such is their renowned quality. Only you can decide.

IMHO would I see vast improvement on axis using a premium EP over my present lineup of EPs on my telescope........................still not sure?

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Thanks for all the advice. I need to think this through before I buy anything. I was wondering as I have an inexpensive scope compared to some would an expensive EP be restricted by the limitations of the scope. I know the 200p has a great reputation but would I be wasting money by getting a top of the range EP or Zoom EP. Hope this makes sense.

Thanks

Les

The SW200 dob will be a good scope and can benefit from good eyepieces whichever you choose and there are a lot of choices. Baaders Classic orthos are hard to beat optically, they have a narrow FOV though. Let us know what you get!

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Thanks for all the advice. I need to think this through before I buy anything. I was wondering as I have an inexpensive scope compared to some would an expensive EP be restricted by the limitations of the scope. I know the 200p has a great reputation but would I be wasting money by getting a top of the range EP or Zoom EP. Hope this makes sense.

Thanks

Les

While the 200P dobsonian might not be very expensive it's an excellent scope by any standards and capable of excellent performance :smiley:

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You would not be wasting money if you bought something like a TeleVue that is confirmed to work down to an F/4 focal ratio, but do you need to spend that much money to get great results, on a scope that is an f/6 (f/5.91)

I was thinking of getting a BST Starguider 8mm before I got sidetracked by the zoom question.

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No one here is going to recommend anything unsuitable for your needs. The problem is that you dont have the means to test these EPs as we are giving advice on face values.

I read several folk changing their EPs for what they percieve as ' better' EPs. Only after having tested can they come to this decision?

If your eyes are reasonably well and healthy you wont go far wrong with the Starguiders. I even own a 9mm Revelation Astro Plossl, I swear to me its more comfortable than the TV I tested, thats just personal choice, and you could possibly buy three of these Plossls for the same price as a BST ?

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I read several folk changing their EPs for what they percieve as ' better' EPs. Only after having tested can they come to this decision?

I had 8mm and 12mm BST, tested against Baader zoom's 8mm and 12mm setting, the zoom is better in light transmision(meaning faint fussies easier seen),  and has better scatter control around bright planets like Jupiter and Saturn(meaning the sky around the planets are dark which makes features on planets easier seen). The 8mm I had might be a defect(I bought it new!), ithad a blue flare (near edge) even when I was just crusing the sky, maybe many others don't have this issue.

More than often, when someone comments on an eyepiece, it's only astigmatism(mixed with coma) in the edge he makes notice. But there're many more aspects to exam an eyepiece's performance, latteral color, transmission, scatter/stray light controll, field curvature, distortions etc got seldom mentioned.

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YKSE......I have no doubts or issues. If there's any doubt,  I was simply implying that in order to have 'better'  you need to have had something in the first place to compare with.  For me the Sky-watchers, then the BSTs, and now some Plossl EPs.

I've  also considered  that If I were a club member, I might had bought different EPs altogether, unless someone here was already using the BSTs?  Pity about your 8mm.  You should have exchanged it.

Lastly, there is, in all probability , issues with my own set-up at the field edge, but so far it  doesn't bother me, as I keep everything central in my Dob.  When my scope comes out of hibernation, I`ll try and remember to take a better look, to see if there are any issues?

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