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Zoom eyepiece comparisons.


Chaz2b

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Is there an article out there that has compared a range of zoom eyepieces? I have three Celestron spotting scopes, the 80ed zoom is not one I am comfortable with, so I have swapped it out for a Baader Hyperion mk3 zoom and it’s much better, hardly any kidney beaning which in the Celestron was always present unless you pushed your eyes well into it!

I can use these zooms on my other telescopes as well, obviously, but there’s also the new range from SvBONY to which I have not had a look through, also they look very similar to the Hyperion zoom! Has anyone been able to make a comparison?

I once had the Tele-Vue nagler zoom and sold it! are we allowed to make at least one mistake?!

chaz

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It seems the big 3 8 to 24 zooms belong to Celestron, Baader, and in the US, the Orion.  I forget who makes that one but it has many other names.  The Orion slots in between the Celestron and Baader in price and image.  It is closer to the Baader then the Celestron.  I have used all three and am glad i have the Orion branded model.  I used to use it all the time as it was handy, but now days it tends to sit in the case more and more often 

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I have the Svbony 8-24, 7.2-21.6 with the 42°-65° FOV and the 10-30 zooms, they are all excellent priced and put out great views and the build quality is as good as it gets. The 10-30 is my main ep for my WL and Ha scopes. Don't shy away from any of their eps. They were good enough that I sold my Baader Mark IV, my Orion 7-21 and my 2 older version Meade as well as my Celestron zooms. So as you can see I have owned / tried many, lol !

Edited by LDW1
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37 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

I've got the 8-24 svbony.  It's pretty good but heavy.  I didn't get on with it ultimately though as its FOV is a bit too small for my liking.

The 8-24 Svbony is the same size / weight as the Baader Mark IV.

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28 minutes ago, LDW1 said:

The 8-24 Svbony is the same size / weight as the Baader Mark IV.

Was not aware of that.  It's a cracking eyepiece regardless, just didn't get on with the narrow FOV. 

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2 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

Was not aware of that.  It's a cracking eyepiece regardless, just didn't get on with the narrow FOV. 

When it comes to FOV in a zoom ep its like the old saying goes, a zoom, is a zoom, is a zoom ! They are not meant to compete, they should be just a change of pace, an alternative to the 70°+ individual eyepieces. If you are looking for wide TFOV's a zoom is not the one but in my various f5.4-f8.4 refractors (4) they are a lot of fun / enjoyment

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Perhaps I should look up a review of the SvBONY zoom, if it’s better than my Celestron Ultima zoom then I may purchase one.

The Baader will take pride of place in the Ultima 80ed, so I will need another for my general viewing.

Or…another Baader mk3 if one goes up for sale.

chaz

Edited by Chaz2b
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On the subject of FOV, the Baader is 50°-68° and the two OVLs (which I believe are the same as the Svbonys) are 40°-60°, so there is a difference.

I have the OVL 7.2-21.5mm and it's optically very good but the FOV is a touch claustrophobic and mine has a very stiff action, needing two hands to change f/l. I'm getting a second-hand Baader shortly and I'm hoping that will be better.

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5 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

On the subject of FOV, the Baader is 50°-68° and the two OVLs (which I believe are the same as the Svbonys) are 40°-60°, so there is a difference.

I have the OVL 7.2-21.5mm and it's optically very good but the FOV is a touch claustrophobic and mine has a very stiff action, needing two hands to change f/l. I'm getting a second-hand Baader shortly and I'm hoping that will be better.

I use the 7.2-21.5  quite often and it is a very sharp eyepiece. The AFoV at the long end is rather off putting though - sub-40 degrees I reckon. The action on mine is quite loose really - I guess they vary.

The Baader 8-24 AFoV has been measured at 44 - 68 degrees by owners. 

The Nagler zooms are something else - I'm not surprised that the OP regrets disposing of one !

 

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1 hour ago, cajen2 said:

On the subject of FOV, the Baader is 50°-68° and the two OVLs (which I believe are the same as the Svbonys) are 40°-60°, so there is a difference.

I have the OVL 7.2-21.5mm and it's optically very good but the FOV is a touch claustrophobic and mine has a very stiff action, needing two hands to change f/l. I'm getting a second-hand Baader shortly and I'm hoping that will be better.

The OV's and the Sv's are not the same, my Sv 7.2-21.6 measured out almost exactly what they specified. My Baader Mark IV measured a little less than specified.

Edited by LDW1
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1 hour ago, cajen2 said:

On the subject of FOV, the Baader is 50°-68° and the two OVLs (which I believe are the same as the Svbonys) are 40°-60°, so there is a difference.

I have the OVL 7.2-21.5mm and it's optically very good but the FOV is a touch claustrophobic and mine has a very stiff action, needing two hands to change f/l. I'm getting a second-hand Baader shortly and I'm hoping that will be better.

Read carefully the 40°-60° FOV is the Svbony's 9-27 model not the 7.2-21.6 model.

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Not in the same range as the other zooms (and since op mentioned the nagler zoom), but it would be remiss of me to not mention the svbony sv215 3-8mm zoom which is absolutely fantastic (provided you don't wear eye glasses).  Completely blew my 8mm BST out of the water at 8mm and with an ed X2 barlow at 4mm.  Generous +/-60° FOV, needs only minor focus adjustments across the entire range better colour contrast than the BST.  Absolute gem of an eyepiece.  So good it made me enjoy planetary and regret selling my Mak.

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3 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

Not in the same range as the other zooms (and since op mentioned the nagler zoom), but it would be remiss of me to not mention the svbony sv215 3-8mm zoom which is absolutely fantastic (provided you don't wear eye glasses).  Completely blew my 8mm BST out of the water at 8mm and with an ed X2 barlow at 4mm.  Generous +/-60° FOV, needs only minor focus adjustments across the entire range better colour contrast than the BST.  Absolute gem of an eyepiece.  So good it made me enjoy planetary and regret selling my Mak.

Its a nice zoom but its pretty high power not as versatile as their others in many applications, I didn't buy one because I am not a solar system looker. Just quick looks for me but for those that do the reviews are pretty consistent and the price is very right compared to their new super competetor.

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I have owned both the SVbony zooms in the 9-27 & 7.2-21.6mm as well as the Baader Mk IV. The newer 7.2-21.6x is superior to the 9-27mm. I am now considering buying the newish APM zoom for finding the best focal length for the planets on any particular nights seeing. I do prefer the better optical quality of a standard eyepiece though.

Edited by bosun21
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3 hours ago, LDW1 said:

When it comes to FOV in a zoom ep its like the old saying goes, a zoom, is a zoom, is a zoom ! They are not meant to compete, they should be just a change of pace, an alternative to the 70°+ individual eyepieces. If you are looking for wide TFOV's a zoom is not the one but in my various f5.4-f8.4 refractors (4) they are a lot of fun / enjoyment

Whilst not widefield, there are wider afov options out there, albeit at some cost.

The APM zoom is between 66 and 67 degrees afov throughout its range from 7.7 to 15.4mm

https://astrograph.net/epages/www_astrograph_net.mobile/en_GB/?ObjectID=18789787

The Leica ASPH zoom is 8.9 to 17.8mm and is approx 60 degrees at the low power and 80 degrees at the high power. It needs an adaptor for either 1.25” or 2” as it is designed for spotting scopes. Superb eyepiece.

https://www.wexphotovideo.com/leica-zoom-eyepiece-25x-50x-ww-asph--1768793/

 

 

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The big advantage of the zoom for me is the ability to dial in the right power for an object immediately. And the point is I often don’t know what the best magnification is until I have tried it. I also don’t have any issues with fov and if I want low power and wide angles, I pop in my 2” low power. 90% of my observing is done with the zoom though. 

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6 minutes ago, Stu said:

Whilst not widefield, there are wider afov options out there, albeit at some cost.

The APM zoom is between 66 and 67 degrees afov throughout its range from 7.7 to 15.4mm

https://astrograph.net/epages/www_astrograph_net.mobile/en_GB/?ObjectID=18789787

The Leica ASPH zoom is 8.9 to 17.8mm and is approx 60 degrees at the low power and 80 degrees at the high power. It needs an adaptor for either 1.25” or 2” as it is designed for spotting scopes. Superb eyepiece.

https://www.wexphotovideo.com/leica-zoom-eyepiece-25x-50x-ww-asph--1768793/

Speaking of high end spotting scope eyepieces popular with amateur astronomers, there is also the discontinued ZEISS DiaScope Vario 15-56x/20-75x (6.9mm to 25.1mm) which is popular for its extended zoom range.

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21 minutes ago, Stu said:

Whilst not widefield, there are wider afov options out there, albeit at some cost.

The APM zoom is between 66 and 67 degrees afov throughout its range from 7.7 to 15.4mm

https://astrograph.net/epages/www_astrograph_net.mobile/en_GB/?ObjectID=18789787

The Leica ASPH zoom is 8.9 to 17.8mm and is approx 60 degrees at the low power and 80 degrees at the high power. It needs an adaptor for either 1.25” or 2” as it is designed for spotting scopes. Superb eyepiece.

https://www.wexphotovideo.com/leica-zoom-eyepiece-25x-50x-ww-asph--1768793/

 

 

Absolutely no doubt but at what price for a zoom eyepiece ? Especially on an average nite sky !

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43 minutes ago, LDW1 said:

We started out with reasonable priced zooms and now the rarer, much, much higher priced ones are showing up as is usual, lol.

The OP didn't specify a budget and had already owned a Nagler zoom, which is hardly a low cost item (it is more expensive than the APM zoom for example).

 

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7 hours ago, Mike Q said:

It seems the big 3 8 to 24 zooms belong to Celestron, Baader, and in the US, the Orion.  I forget who makes that one but it has many other names.  The Orion slots in between the Celestron and Baader in price and image.  It is closer to the Baader then the Celestron.  I have used all three and am glad i have the Orion branded model.  I used to use it all the time as it was handy, but now days it tends to sit in the case more and more often 

I would say that the most common big three at the moment are 3:- Leica 8.9-17.8mm. 2:- APM 7.8-15.4mm and 1:- the Baader MkIV 8-24mm.

Edited by bosun21
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34 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

I would say that the most common big three at the moment are 3:- Leica 8.9-17.8x 2:- APM 7.8-15.4x and 1:- the Baader MkIV 8-24xm

Maybe on that side of the pond, on this side its Celestron, Orion and Baader.  Well at least around here anyway.   I would say the Celestron is probably the most popular, probably due to price. 

Edited by Mike Q
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3 minutes ago, Mike Q said:

Maybe on that side of the pond, on this side its Celestron, Orion and Baader.  Well at least around here anyway.   I would say the Celestron is probably the most popular, probably due to price. 

I was going on the quality of the optics not on how many were sold. I should have been clearer with my post.

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