Baader Zoom or Fixed FL EP for Planets?

[Don Pensack]

1 hour ago, PeterC65 said:

I've gone for the Explore Scientific 68 degree 24mm. I picked up the last one they had at the Widescreen Centre (the last one anyone seemed to have). Since the recent Baader price hike, the Hyperion is now £133 which is almost as much as the better rated ES.

If you were comparing to the Hyperion 24mm, you got the better of the 2.

In the US, the Baader is now $169, while the ES is $269.99, so there is a much bigger difference in price.

[Louis D]

2 hours ago, Don Pensack said:

Louis,

I notice the right side of each image is in better focus than the left edge.  Is your scope's objective tilted relative to the target?

It's often related to how well I can center and level the camera relative to the eyepiece.  Remember, I'm doing this by hand, taking several shots, and selecting the best for release.

[PeterC65]

21 hours ago, Don Pensack said:

In the US, the Baader is now $169, while the ES is $269.99, so there is a much bigger difference in price.

The ES is £155 in the UK (£149 at FLO but they were out of stock), so not much more expensive that the Baader at its newly increased price of £133.

The ES arrived today and I've just tried it in daylight. It's a very nice EP! It significantly increases the FoV when compared with the Hyperion Zoom at 24mm and the image looks noticeably sharper. I'd say the ES at 68 degrees just about maxes out the FoV that my eyes can take in all at once, so on this evidence the ES 82 degree EPs would give a wider FoV than I could take in. I've not decided yet whether I prefer the ES with the rubber eye cup up or rolled down. The eye cup is slightly wider than the fixed eye cup on the Hyperion Zoom which is about as wide as I can cope with (I prefer the fixed eye cup on the Hyperion Zoom to the adjustable one as that's even wider). The ES is quite a lump! Heavier than I was expecting, and heavier than the Hyperion Zoom (339g vs 272g).

[PeterC65]

Tonight I've used the new ES EP to observe the Moon and can report that the image was noticeably crisper than with the Hyperion Zoom, the smaller craters jumping out at me when I got the focus just right whereas they stayed a bit fuzzy with the Hyperion Zoom (it was a full Moon so I was expecting surface detail to be washed out). The whole experience with the ES EP felt more immersive because of the wider FoV. I can see this EP taking over from the Celestron 40mm and even the Baader Zoom in some cases.

[John]

1 hour ago, PeterC65 said:

Tonight I've used the new ES EP to observe the Moon and can report that the image was noticeably crisper than with the Hyperion Zoom, the smaller craters jumping out at me when I got the focus just right whereas they stayed a bit fuzzy with the Hyperion Zoom (it was a full Moon so I was expecting surface detail to be washed out). The whole experience with the ES EP felt more immersive because of the wider FoV. I can see this EP taking over from the Celestron 40mm and even the Baader Zoom in some cases.

Once you have tried an optic that seems a noticeably better performer than other alternatives you have, it's quite difficult to give the others much use I've found 

 

[Don Pensack]

20 hours ago, John said:

Once you have tried an optic that seems a noticeably better performer than other alternatives you have, it's quite difficult to give the others much use I've found 

 

True words.

Though I have found some eyepieces that are bargains in that department.  At f/5.75, my current coma-corrected dob scope is not exceptionally hard on eyepieces.

I have seen eyepieces that function better in that scope than in my f/7 apo refractor.

So if an eyepiece performs well in the dob, that doesn't mean it will perform well in all scopes, especially refractors, with their much more strongly curved focal planes.

I discovered, for instance, that the Baader Morpheus line works exceptionally well in the dob, and in a friend's f/5.18 (f/4.5, coma corrected) dob, and in another friend's f/4.8 (f/4.2 coma corrected) dob.

They performed quite poorly in a friend's f/3.45 dob (f/3 coma corrected).  

The point is that the scope will make a lot of difference in the performance of a lot of different eyepieces.

The good news is that if an eyepiece works well at f/4, it will work well in longer f/ratios.

The bad news is that if an eyepiece works well at f/6, it might not work well at faster f/ratios.

 

And if you are bothered by field curvature, it's best to keep the radius of curvature longer than 1000mm.  That's easy in a reflector, but hard in a refractor, where, unless the scope has a built-in field flattener,

the radius of curvature is only about 1/3 the focal length on average.  There aren't too many refractors out there with 3000mm focal lengths or longer.

The FC issue is one of the reason I keep the apparent fields to 60-63° in my short FL apo.  And one of the reasons I really regret selling my TeleVue NP101.

[Voyager 3]

Don , please do report us how your eyepieces work in your new fast 16" (Congrats!) . 

[Don Pensack]

15 hours ago, Voyager 3 said:

Don , please do report us how your eyepieces work in your new fast 16" (Congrats!) . 

I'll be a year older before it sees first light, LOL.

[bosun21]

On 13/11/2021 at 17:22, PeterC65 said:

Yes I fitted the Baader 2" Clicklock which requires an SCT thread on the visual back of the scope. I'm told that some Skymax 127 have the SCT thread as standard but mine did not and so I needed to use the adaptor that @Louis D mentioned. You can tell which thread you have by measuring its outside diameter. If it's 50mm then you have an SCT thread already, if it's 45mm then you need the adapter. It took me ages to get this sorted out, including a wait while FLO had their adapter stock re-made as they were the wrong size (what they have in stock now is the correct size).

I also swapped the standard Sky-Watcher diagonal for a Baader 32mm Prism and screwed a Baader 2" / T2 Nosepiece into the scope side of this diagonal. This has given me a rock solid diagonal mount which I can easily and safely cant over and lock to put the EP in just the right position for comfortable seated observing. You need to use the Baader nosepiece with safety kerfs rather than a standard one with an undercut or it will flop about in the Clicklock clamp when it is loosened (that mistake cost me a tenner!). I can't say if the Baader diagonal has given me any optical improvement as I only used the original Sky-Watcher diagonal briefly and didn't do a side by side comparison, but in theory the Baader prism should be better.

Just to continue the tale, on the EP side of the prism I have a ZWO Manual Filter Wheel, then another adaptor (T-2 to T-2), and finally (and most recently) a Baader 1.25" Clicklock to hold the EP.

It's taken a lot of faffing around and a lot of waiting for kit to put all this in place but I'm glad I did it. The Clicklocks are great and make setup and positional adjustment of the EP easy. I also love the filter wheel as it makes it so easy to switch in and out different filters to check whether they improve the view. So far the Astronomik UHC filter has been the most impressive (used on M42).

I just measured the back of my 127 and it’s 45mm, so an adapter is required. I do like the way you have organized the fittings with the Baader diagonal and manual filter wheel. I was going to get a filter tray, but thinking about it the wheel is a much better idea. I also am constantly changing the EP position so I may very well adopt the approach you have taken.

[Voyager 3]

6 hours ago, Don Pensack said:

I'll be a year older before it sees first light, LOL.

Ahh did I spoil the surprise then ...