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When were the first zoom astro eyepieces introduced?


F15Rules

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Not a life changing question, I know, but I'd be interested to know when others can recall astro zoom eyepieces first becoming available, and what they were?

I think some of the first I can recall were the Vixen LV 8-24mm and the Tele Vue branded version of that came soon afterwards, but I'm not sure when that would have been..maybe the late '90s or early 2000's? And what about others?

I think the Baader zooms first came along around 2009-2010?

Dave

Edited by F15Rules
Typo
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They go back to the 1970's as Steve says. I have a 1970's Tasco catalogue that has one listed in it. I don't think I'd want to try that though !. The old H.W English catalogue has something similar listed as well, probably of the same vintage.

I think the Vixen LV / Tele Vue 8-24 were the first ones that folks rated good performers for astronomy purposes followed by the Baader 8-24 Mk1 which raised the bar a little more I think.

 

 

Edited by John
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3 hours ago, Saganite said:

Hi Dave,

 

My Fullerscopes catalogue from 1975 or 1976, has one.

 

IMG_2383.JPG

IMG_2384.JPG

Thanks Steve, that's interesting..I do wonder how good that would have been, and what the fov would have been🤔??

But it does show how far back these things were being thought about..

Dave

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3 hours ago, John said:

They go back to the 1970's as Steve says. I have a 1970's Tasco catalogue that has one listed in it. I don't think I'd want to try that though !. The old H.W English catalogue has something similar listed as well, probably of the same vintage.

I think the Vixen LV / Tele Vue 8-24 were the first ones that folks rated good performers for astronomy purposes followed by the Baader 8-24 Mk1 which raised the bar a little more I think.

 

 

I'd tend to agree John..so it sounds as if the Vixen)TVs may have been the first "serious" entries to the astro zoom market..

..and now they are a much valued tool for many visual observers, myself included😊

Dave

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3 hours ago, Second Time Around said:

IIRC, there was a (Japanese?) zoom available late 60s with a focal length of 8.4-21mm. I almost bought one around that time.

 

Wow, that sounds like the earliest one yet?

Dave

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In terms of high quality zooms which rate alongside fixed eyepieces, I remember a Meade 4000 zoom from the late 1990s which cost around £240 at the time - over twice the price of a case of 8 Meade Plossls. I couldn’t work out why it was so expensive - only later found out it was made by Swarovski.

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On 16/01/2022 at 09:26, F15Rules said:

2099-2010?

2099? Have you got a time machine Dave?

The earliest decent zoom I can remember is the Vixen LV 8-24 from the 2000s? I still have one and although there is some internal dust it is still a very good, useable zoom.

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I certainly remember the zoom shown on the Fullerscopes catalogue and H W English offered a Japanese made zoom terrestrial eyepiece around the same time as I bought a few of them.  Although not strictly a zoom eyepiece, it is quite easy to make a variable power eyepiece.  You just need an eyepiece fitted to a 1.25" od tube and another tube fitted with  Barlow lens that will slide inside that tube.  You slide the barlowed tube, with the Barlow lens closest to the eyepiece, this provides the lowest magnification of the system.  The more you slide the Barlow away from the eyepiece, the greater the resultant magnification.  You have to refocus each time and this can extend quite a way eventually but you retain the apparent field of the eyepiece.  The Speers-Waler variable power eyepieces work on a similar principle.    🙂

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On 16/01/2022 at 02:22, Saganite said:

Hi Dave,

 

My Fullerscopes catalogue from 1975 or 1976, has one.

 

IMG_2383.JPG

IMG_2384.JPG

I had one of those zooms around 1970-1974 (can't remember exactly when) and used it in a Unitron 4" f/15 refractor with wooden tripod, hex eyepiece turret, and weight-driven clock drive.

I think mine was from Edmund Scientific, but my memory is foggy.

By the way, the "Erfle" eyepiece in the picture is not an Erfle design.

It's described as a "Wide Angle" here:

http://www.quadibloc.com/science/opt04.htm

No other design comes close, so who designed it is unknown.

I owned one of those, too, but it wasn't all that sharp and had very short eye relief.

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18 hours ago, Highburymark said:

In terms of high quality zooms which rate alongside fixed eyepieces, I remember a Meade 4000 zoom from the late 1990s which cost around £240 at the time - over twice the price of a case of 8 Meade Plossls. I couldn’t work out why it was so expensive - only later found out it was made by Swarovski.

Wow, Mark😱!

You do realise that you've just probably bumped up the used prices of Meade zooms by a factor of 5 or 6 times?!😂

Dave

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17 hours ago, Franklin said:

2099? Have you got a time machine Dave?

The earliest decent zoom I can remember is the Vixen LV 8-24 from the 2000s? I still have one and although there is some internal dust it is still a very good, useable zoom.

Well spotted, Tim...I've corrected my typo, thanks. 

Actually, a time machine for Astro related stuff would be very welcome. I could:

- revert my eyes to their optical efficiency when I was 20..

- undo the selling of a lot of scopes and eyepieces etc in the quest for astro Nirvana..:rolleyes2:

- undo the buying of a lot of scopes and eyepieces in the quest for astro Nirvana..:crybaby2:

Dave

 

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On 18/01/2022 at 07:33, Highburymark said:

In terms of high quality zooms which rate alongside fixed eyepieces, I remember a Meade 4000 zoom from the late 1990s which cost around £240 at the time - over twice the price of a case of 8 Meade Plossls. I couldn’t work out why it was so expensive - only later found out it was made by Swarovski.

Did it look like the Japanese made Meade 4000 zoom on the right in the picture below?  If not, you've really piqued my curiosity.

spacer.png

The one on the left is the newer, Chinese made version.

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On 19/01/2022 at 22:28, Louis D said:

Did it look like the Japanese made Meade 4000 zoom on the right in the picture below?  If not, you've really piqued my curiosity.

spacer.png

The one on the left is the newer, Chinese made version.

I think it was 7.7-23.1mm and looked similar to the above Louis but I never actually saw one in the flesh.

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