Need suggestions for a smartphone adapter that will work with a 55mm wide eyepiece

[erseavetir]

Hello all! 

I've got the "Sky-Watcher Skymax-127 Maksutov" telescope and the "TS-Optics Altazimuth Mount GSAZ" mount for my moon fanatic father, thanks to the help I've got from the people of this forum on this post that I've created:

With the 25mm eyepiece which came with the OTA and the help of the "Gosky Universal Cell Phone Adapter Mount" that he has, my father is able to take pictures and videos of the moon, such as this one (and he does this basically every day):
https://youtu.be/8Px3uugWnRk

For the eyepiece, I've recently ordered the Baader Hyperion Zoom Eyepiece 8mm-24mm.  The problem with this eyepiece is that it's really wide. Apparently, 55mm wide according to First Light Optics Specs which will be too big for the Gosky Universal Phone Adapter. My father has an Android smartphone and he is only interested in recording the moon and I was wondering if you guys have any good phone adapter suggestions for me?

I was thinking of ordering the:

Celestron NexYZ 3-Axis Universal Smartphone Adapter:
https://www.amazon.com/Celestron-3-Axis-Universal-Smartphone-Adapter/dp/B07D7V3B8M

or the 

Snapzoom Universal Digiscoping Adapter:
https://www.amazon.com/Snapzoom-Digiscoping-Smartphones-Microscopes-Telescopes/dp/B0169DL1F4

I am not sure which one of these would be a better fit or if there are even better options out there that are around the same price range. I've also read very bad reviews about these two adapters on multiple different sites and I don't want my father to suffer dealing with a bad phone adapter so I am trying to find the best fit for him. I guess I should also consider the 12-15mm eye-relief of the zoom eyepiece in which case I am not sure which adapter would be the best fit. What do you guys think?

[RT65CB-SWL]

The Celestron model looks a better design, (...and more robust in my opinion), though I have not read or seen any reviews on either brand. Sorry!

[Stu]

I think @Ben the Ignorant Reviewed the Celestron NexYZ and found it to be good. On here somewhere.

This is also worth considering although the max spec is 55mm, should be ok I guess? I have the Televue version but the way the phone mounts is the same and it works well. Is the end of the eyepiece tapered? If so this one may not work.

https://www.astroshop.eu/smartphone-digicam-clamps/orion-steadypix-ez-smartphone-telescope-photo-adapter/p,51924?utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=51924&utm_campaign=1809&utm_source=froogle&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIzcXlyvvS3QIVxrDtCh3RNwBSEAQYASABEgKoXfD_BwE&utm_content=

[Ricochet]

Have you considered a dedicated astronomy camera instead of the eyepiece/phone adaptor combination?

[Louis D]

The Baader Hyperion Zoom has an M43 thread on top (revealed by unscrewing the eyecup, I think).  I wonder if there are any cellphone adapters that could mate to that thread?  It would be a nice, robust connection.

[erseavetir]

16 hours ago, Ricochet said:

Have you considered a dedicated astronomy camera instead of the eyepiece/phone adaptor combination?

I have bought him the "ZWO ASI120 MC Camera" (as that one was the only decent budget option) but he couldn't make it work with his eyepieces as I mentioned in the post that I linked in my original comment but I guess it's not supposed to work with an eyepiece and that he'd just need to use it without an eyepiece which I told him about but I am not sure if he tried that yet. Though I am not sure how good that would look without zooming to the moon's craters which my father really loves to do. He wants to be deep inside in those craters. 

Btw, if by astronomy camera you mean like regular cameras then I wouldn't want to consider that option since I'd assume that would be really expensive.

[SIDO]

My Meade SPA screws right on my Celestron 8x24 zoom and on my Gso eyepiece projection eyepieces with an additional adapter, it also has the set screw adapter for 1.25 eyepieces. The Meade is a very nice SPA and the most quality constructed of the seven or so that I have tried...my monthly full moon pics are all taken with the Meade...good stuff ? 

[Ricochet]

8 hours ago, erseavetir said:

I have bought him the "ZWO ASI120 MC Camera" 

Yes, this is exactly what I meant. Now normally people would use barlows instead of eyepieces to achieve the required image scale but I think this probably still works with eyepiece projection. Looking at the manual for the camera,

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/user/manuals/ZWO_ASI_Camera_User_Guide.pdf

we can see that it has an M42x0.75 (=T) thread. As @Louis D points out, the Hyperion zoom you have just bought has an M43 thread under the eyecup. Baader also make an M43-T adaptor which will allow your father to screw the camera directly onto the eyepiece. What I don't know is whether you would need any M42 spacers/extension tubes to adjust the distance between the eyepiece and the camera.

 

[erseavetir]

8 hours ago, Ricochet said:

Yes, this is exactly what I meant. Now normally people would use barlows instead of eyepieces to achieve the required image scale but I think this probably still works with eyepiece projection. Looking at the manual for the camera,

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/user/manuals/ZWO_ASI_Camera_User_Guide.pdf

we can see that it has an M42x0.75 (=T) thread. As @Louis D points out, the Hyperion zoom you have just bought has an M43 thread under the eyecup. Baader also make an M43-T adaptor which will allow your father to screw the camera directly onto the eyepiece. What I don't know is whether you would need any M42 spacers/extension tubes to adjust the distance between the eyepiece and the camera.

 

2

It would be cool to know more about this if anybody else knows, I can buy the M43-T easily since it's cheap but if it's not going to work without the "M42 spacers/extension tubes" then I'd need to know about that. Also can you please send me a link of this "M42 spacers/extension tubes" you talk about please,  and if that's cheap too, then I may as well buy that one as well, that is if both of these things will actually work with the Baader Hyperion Zoom Eyepiece and the ZWO ASI120 Camera. I am sure my father would have an amazing time going back and forth with recording with the ZWO camera and then recording with his phone via the Celestron NexYZ as well. I mean I spent a lot on that Camera and it would be cool to get some sort of use out of it. 

 

Btw, my father will receive this 1.5x/2x Barlow next month and also he has the "Baader Morpheus 17.5mm Eyepiece" as well, which I assumed he would love but he said what he really wants is a zoom eyepiece, like the Celestron 93230 8 to 24mm 1.25 Zoom Eyepiece that I bought him before but that one apparently after a few months of use has some sort of fog inside which my father says it makes the views bad so I did some research on a quality zoom eyepiece and ordered the Baader Hyperion Zoom eyepiece recently which I am hoping he'll love.

[erseavetir]

Btw, I've asked the same question to the First Light Optics customer representative SteveG and he unfortunately told me this:

Quote

"I cannot recommend using the ZWO camera with a Baader Hyperion Zoom eyepiece. The camera is intended for direct connection to the telescope. Please encourage your father to use it this way."

:(((

[Ruud]

I suppose you could combine a Barlow with the camera. Many planetary photographers use Barlows. Imagers will know what the best strength barlow should be. My guess is that 2x would be a good start.

About looking deep inside craters: Has anyone mentioned Quickmap yet? Click the link and try it. You can zoom in really deep and at places you can see individual boulders lying the surface. Great for a cloudy night.

 

[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi @Ruud. That's is awesome. 

[Ruud]

Nice, isn't it?

The above link is to the Earth facing side. There is also a 3D map which you can turn around and magnify, although not as much. But it's niceice for exploring the back side of the Moon.

The 3D map allows you to fly in circles above selected features. Like Aristarchus region.

There's more. check it out.

[Ruud]

This is also a great website for lunar observers: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4604

Choose a date and time, click 'update' and then click on the first image. A Moon map will be downloaded to your download folder showing the terminator with the names of the best illuminated craters. It's a nice tool for planning an observation.You'll find a 4-digit number in the fie name of the image that you downloaded.

Here a detail of one such image:

If you want a higher scaled map without names on top of it, scroll down go to the fourth image with the caption "The phase and libration of the Moon for 2018, at hourly intervals. The higher resolution frames include an alpha channel."  Click the download button next to this caption, and use the 4-digit number to find the right image.

Here's an example of a non-annotated terminator:

These images don't go nearly as deep as Quickmap, but they give you a very realistic light-and-shadow view of the Moon at any time. Any Dad who's mind is on the Moon should bookmark this site.

[PaulM]

I recently bought a Celestron NexYZ 3-Axis Universal Smartphone Adapter and also use a ZWO AS camera.

The smartphone adaptor fits my wide eyepieces well but would say using the ZWO would be easier and gives me great images of the moon

[erseavetir]

13 hours ago, Ruud said:

I suppose you could combine a Barlow with the camera. Many planetary photographers use Barlows. Imagers will know what the best strength barlow should be. My guess is that 2x would be a good start.

About looking deep inside craters: Has anyone mentioned Quickmap yet? Click the link and try it. You can zoom in really deep and at places you can see individual boulders lying the surface. Great for a cloudy night.

 

2

Wow that Quickmap thing is awesome, I'll definitely share that with my father and I am sure he'll love that. I'll first blow his mind with this one then I'll share the 3D one, omg I can't wait to see his reaction  Thanks a lot Ruud!

[erseavetir]

Thank you guys, come to think of it, my father would probably prefer to use his phone over ZWO camera anyway and I am sure he'll be amazed by the NexYZ since it will be very superior to the cheap eBay adapter that he was using. He even tells me that it sometimes takes him two hours (or more) to get the moon in the view properly and get some good videos out of that. I don't know how he has that amount of patience but he is an absolute fanatic and the craters of the moons look like flying pigs to him I guess Hopefully, this NexYZ will make everything way easier for him and that he'll love the zoom eyepiece as well which I am sure he'll love since he loved the cheap Celestron zoom eyepiece a lot. Thanks again guys! 

[RT65CB-SWL]

Even a digital compact camera can produce some worthwhile images...

<--- enhanced<--- original

The photo above of Montes Apenninus was taken several years ago using my Meade ETX105 and a Meade 20mm Plossl in an eyepiece projection unit (EPU) as shown in the photo below and attached to an Olympus C2040.