Need a x3 Barlow

[dweller25]

Hello,

I have a Celestron Ultima x2 Barlow which is a really nice piece of kit.

I am now looking for a x3 Barlow of the same quality and design ie short / low profile.

Any suggestions ???

Thanks

[Sam]

I don't know much about the Celestron Ultima barlow but the Tal X 3 is good and pretty cost effective.

Sam

[John]

I tried an Antares 3x barlow once. It looked very similar to the Celestron Ultima although it's a doublet rather than a triplet lens. It worked very well indeed for what it cost. Otherwise the TAL 3x is pretty good as Sam says.

John

[The Warthog]

I have used about four different shorty 2x Barlows, and now have the Antares APO 2x. For all the extra expense, I don't see a lot of difference between this one and the achro Barlows I've used. I could have spent $70 and got an achro Barlow that is parfocal with most eps, but I decided to buy the APO, against the advice of the vendor. It wasn't a bad purchase, but I don't know that the result justified the extra 40 bucks.

Antares makes a 3x shorty barlow that sells here for about $70, so it is a higher quality achro. If you want to save some money, you could buy the cheapest shorty 2x branded Barlow (for about $30 in Canada) and remove the lens element from the bottom, and put it away carefully. Now put the resulting tube between your ep and your Barlow, magically transforming your 2x Barlow into a 3X Barlow. This will work whatever the quality of your present Barlow. The resulting combination will still have a short barrel that will not interfere with your diagonal.

Just a little pointer I picked up along the way recently. If you add an extension tube to a Barlow, between the Barlow and the ep, you add 1 to the power of the Barlow for each time you add the distance between the ep and the original position of the Barlow lens. So, if your Barlow is 2x, and the extension tube equal to the original Barlow, the result is a 3x Barlow, if the tube is twice as long, a 4x Barlow, and so on.

[dweller25]

Thanks for the replies.

WH - I did not know that and I have the kit you mentioned - will give it a try - cheers.

[Brinders]

Thanks for the replies.

WH - I did not know that and I have the kit you mentioned - will give it a try - cheers.

Neither did I, Dave. Let me know how you get on because I have two 2x TAL barlows and was thinking of purchasing a 3x. Seems I might not have to!

Brinders

[Milamber]

another way is to put the barlow between the scope and the diagonal.

arthur

[Ant]

Also remember when the seeing isn't quite good enough even for a 2x barlow.

Unscrew the lens part and screw it directly into the EP for a (rough) 1.5x Barlow

I do that ALL the time.

Ant

[The Warthog]

Also remember when the seeing isn't quite good enough even for a 2x barlow.

Unscrew the lens part and screw it directly into the EP for a (rough) 1.5x Barlow

I do that ALL the time.

Ant

I've done that pretty often, too, but it's someting I can't do with the APO Barlow, as the lens elements are held in by a retaining ring, and would all fall out if I tried. Sometimes 1.5x is just the extra you need.

[Merlin66]

The UO Klee Barlows are pretty good. I have the x2.2 and the x2.8.