Baader Hyperion/Morpheus or Televue Delite eyepieces ?

[Lunuar Mike]

 I bought a new Celestron 6SE and I bought a few semi cheap eyepieces .  A 32 mm Televue plossl which I love, a 25 mm plossl it is fair at best, and a Celestron 24-8 zoom eyepiece which I hate . I am not at all interested in going into the 2 inch eyepieces. I am considering Baader Hyperion 24mm, 17mm and 9mm, 68 Degree as a solid set of eyepieces to start out with and they are priced just right at 550.00 for the set. Other eyepiece considerations are the  double the price Televue Delite's for my mid to high powers I owned a few of the Televue Radians and loved them back in the day, or the Baader Morpheus 17.5 and the 9 mm for my mid to high power eyepieces are being considered as well. Of all specs on eyepieces no mater what the eyepieces have to have at a minimum of 18-25 mm eye  relief I wear glasses and hate to take them off when observing.  

I guess my question is should I buy the 68 Degree Hyperions 24mm, 17mm, and the 9mm first at $550.00 for the set then upgrade later into eyepieces that are more expensive eyepieces like Televue delite's. 

 I really want to put a solid base set of eyepieces together I will love and then add an eyepiece or two  here and there as I feel it is needed for specific use like a set of planetary eyepieces, or an eyepiece that is better for galaxies and or nebula. Will the Hyperions be really good?  I just want to make a good a good purchase one time on a set of eyepieces and then add on as my interests in this crazy fun yet extremely expensive hobby.

 Note*** I am only using these eyepieces with an 6 Inch SCT at F10 and or a Mak Cass at f/15  probably will not be using them on anything faster than the use of the reducer corrector at F6.3 ocasionally . I usually use the scope at F/10 typically or faster.  So I do not need eyepieces that perform well at f/5.5 or faster . 

What I usually use the scope for is viewing the moon, planets, and I seem to really love tight star clusters, and brighter planetary nebulas. So I am not at all looking for how well an eyepiece will do at F/4 at 3-5 degree true field of view .  I really want a set that will be good at f/10 or slower . 

My range of cost is 450-700.00 so If you have suggestions that fall between that price range I will be happy to hear your thoughts on semi premium to high end eyepieces .

Clear Sky's Michael .  

Edited May 4, 2023 by Lunuar Mike
to long need ot shrink it down

[Louis D]

The Hyperions are basically a Chinese made knock off of the Japanese made Vixen LVW line.  They are not as well corrected as the LVWs (or XWs, Delos, Morpheus, etc.), but might suffice at f/10.  The exception might be the 24mm which is basically an improved Erfle design and is considered to be the worst of the line.

I'd really like to know what it is about the 25mm Plossl and 8-24mm Celestron zoom that rub you the wrong way to be able to judge if you would like the Hyperion line.

I have no doubt you'd love the Morpheus line, and they're on sale both in the US and the UK right now.  You might be able to squeeze in 3 Morpheus on your budget if you order from FLO (this site's sponsor) because you'd save on a cheaper sale price and on lack of sales tax.  It would be $600 shipped for 3 at today's exchange rate versus $747+shipping+tax from a US retailer.  There's no import duty into the US as long as your order is below $800 dollars.

I have the 9mm Morpheus (bought from a UK store during a sale), and it is nearly as aberration free as my 10mm Delos at f/6.

[Neil_104]

Second that about the Morph, I have the 12.5mm and it works very nicely in my C6. Gives 120x (probably more since the C6 is closer to f/11) and so can be used most nights for planetary viewing. I used it a lot for Jupiter last year. If I had one tiny criticism it would be that the eye relief is almost a bit too long for my liking. I also have a 7mm DeLite and the eye relief on that is just perfect. In fact, everything about it is perfect. Gives a very good view of Saturn with the C6. In fact, it gives a brighter image than my 8mm BST - which is due to be sold soon, I know they get a lot of praise but I really don't like it, it just feels cheap to me (yep, I know, that's because it is!). It also show massive ghosting, which I find v distracting.

Have you considered buying one of each? A Hyperion, a Morpheus and a DeLite covering your preferred focal lengths? That's what I'd do in your situation (and what I tend to do) and that way you can see what design you get on with best. Plus it would eliminate the "Maybe the DeLite/Morph/x/y/z might have been better" type thoughts.

Edited May 4, 2023 by Neil_104

[bosun21]

I second what @Louis D has suggested you do and take advantage of the sale on the Baader Morpheus eyepieces at the moment. I own all six of them and find them to be an excellent eyepiece. They all perform fantastic though there’s a couple that are my favorites.

[Don Pensack]

Yes, Morpheus all the way.

[Highburymark]

Yes, Morpheus are very nice, modern widefields. In my view not quite as sharp as Delites, but almost.

But in an F/10 SCT, I found the Hyperions to perform surprisingly well. I thought the 10mm was particularly good. In a slow telescope (F10 and higher), the Hyperions are real contenders.

[RobertI]

I used a 10mm and 21mm Hyperion in my C8 for many years and was very happy, and I think you’d be happy with them in your setup. I recently acquired a 17.5mm Morpheus and have been extremely impressed with the wider field and sharpness to the edge, and thinking of getting another - a definite step up from the Hyperions. The Morpheus are more expensive but currently on sale and looking great value -  get them quick!

Edited May 4, 2023 by RobertI

[Louis D]

2 hours ago, RobertI said:

I used a 10mm and 21mm Hyperion in my C8 for many years and was very happy, and I think you’d be happy with them in your setup. I recently acquired a 17.5mm Morpheus and have been extremely impressed with the wider field and sharpness to the edge, and thinking of getting another - a definite step up from the Hyperions. The Morpheus are more expensive but currently on sale and looking great value -  get them quick!

Are you saying that even at f/10 those two Hyperions are not sharp to the edge?  If so, are they pretty close to that goal?  By way of comparison, my 13mm and 17mm Redlines (Astro Tech AF70 version) massively improve going from f/6 to f/12, but not quite perfect.  They are very similar to the Hyperions in design parameters, so I would expect similar improvement.

[RobertI]

4 hours ago, Louis D said:

Are you saying that even at f/10 those two Hyperions are not sharp to the edge?  If so, are they pretty close to that goal?  By way of comparison, my 13mm and 17mm Redlines (Astro Tech AF70 version) massively improve going from f/6 to f/12, but not quite perfect.  They are very similar to the Hyperions in design parameters, so I would expect similar improvement.

You’re right Louis, they are fine at F10 and I’m sure they would suit if the OP if they stayed at that focal length or longer. My feeling is the Morpheus is more future proof, SCT owners often get the 0.63 reducer and other faster wide field scopes, but I could be wrong……

[Don Pensack]

11 hours ago, Louis D said:

Are you saying that even at f/10 those two Hyperions are not sharp to the edge?  If so, are they pretty close to that goal?  By way of comparison, my 13mm and 17mm Redlines (Astro Tech AF70 version) massively improve going from f/6 to f/12, but not quite perfect.  They are very similar to the Hyperions in design parameters, so I would expect similar improvement.

My problem with the Barsta 70° series (AF70/Redline/Olivon/et.al) 13mm is that it has the worst Edge of Field Brightening (EOFB) of any eyepiece I've ever seen, extending inward from the field edge 50% of the field radius and making the entire field look like you are looking into the center of a planetary nebula as large as the field.  It's even been photographed:

 

[Don Pensack]

P.S. the 13mm Hyperion shares this issue, just to a somewhat lesser degree.

[Louis D]

I'll have to look for EOFB sometime in it.  I once noticed my 12mm NT4 had brightening all the way to the center.  Only a small point appeared to be relatively dark in the center.  I swapped it with my 12mm ES-92, and the brightening went away.  Swapped them again, and the brightening was back.  I'm not sure what was going on that night, but it was highly disappointing to see in a TV product.  I even checked for fogging, but there was none.  I'll have to do a test sometime with those two plus the 13mm Redline, 12.5mm APM Hi-FW, and 14mm Morpheus.  It might even be scope specific.  I can't remember which scope I saw the EOFB in the NT4, but it was probably my Dob.

[Highburymark]

17 hours ago, Highburymark said:

Yes, Morpheus are very nice, modern widefields. In my view not quite as sharp as Delites, but almost.

But in an F/10 SCT, I found the Hyperions to perform surprisingly well. I thought the 10mm was particularly good. In a slow telescope (F10 and higher), the Hyperions are real contenders.

I should qualify that second line.
A few months ago I picked up a couple of Morpheus 12.5mm from the classifieds to see how they performed, and have only used them a couple of times at night - and they gave lovely views of the Moon, very close to Delites. In a solar Ha telescope, however, the Delite 11s are definitely sharper (though not nearly as impressive with a 16 degree narrower AFOV). At current prices the Morpheus are a bargain.

[Don Pensack]

4 hours ago, Louis D said:

I'll have to look for EOFB sometime in it.  I once noticed my 12mm NT4 had brightening all the way to the center.  Only a small point appeared to be relatively dark in the center.  I swapped it with my 12mm ES-92, and the brightening went away.  Swapped them again, and the brightening was back.  I'm not sure what was going on that night, but it was highly disappointing to see in a TV product.  I even checked for fogging, but there was none.  I'll have to do a test sometime with those two plus the 13mm Redline, 12.5mm APM Hi-FW, and 14mm Morpheus.  It might even be scope specific.  I can't remember which scope I saw the EOFB in the NT4, but it was probably my Dob.

I noticed a slight bit of EOFB in the 17mm T4, but not in the 12mm.

It has been reported that the longer the f/ratio, the narrower the EOFB, but the brighter it is as well.

That points to it being related to inadequate internal suppression of scattered light from spacers, or lack of baffling, lens edges, or possibly angular magnification distortion in combination with those.

Many new 1.25" eyepieces come with a threaded-on 2" adapter, and that adapter has an additional baffle in the bottom of the adapter.  A brief look in several of them with and without that additional baffle showed me

that contrast in the outer field improved when the 2" adapters were added.

Accordingly, if you have one of those eyepieces (Ethos 3.7mm and 4.7mm, Apollo 11, APM/Astrotech/Stellarvue XWA), I recommend using the eyepiece as a 2" for maximum contrast unless you experiment and find that, in your scope,

there is no visible difference (some scopes have pretty aggressive baffling).