Hyperion Zoom MK3

[surfindogg]

Just received from FLO

Will try to post a short review ASAP.

My first hand grenade:D

[surfindogg]

Still have not managed a first light yet - after dark that is !!??

Daylight tests are very encouraging. It is a close thing whether I keep my TV plossls - only stars will tell : )

[Jamie]

This thread has been moved to this section till you actually post a review.

Saves clogging up the reviews section....

[sumerian]

Baader Hyperion Zoom Mark III ? Well, I got one of these. I bought it special for astro holidays. My other eyepieces (Ethos 13 & 21mm) are a bit heavy for the travel dobsons. Balance problems. So maybe the solution is a zoom eyepiece. One eyepiece, not so heavy and a lot of magnifications. Sounds perfect.

I have bought the zoom eyepiece at a local store, Ganymedes. First I tested it by daylight. Nice image, sharp and FOV was o.k. for me even at 22mm. If you are going up to 24mm the FOV gets very fast really small. When I was going to the other side, higher magnifications, the FOV gets bigger. The image at 8mm was good. So I decided to buy the Mark III. At home I tested this eyepiece again in my own 80mm ED. Still at daylight but perfect images.

The first real test at the nightsky in my 12'' dobson there were some things that irritated me. FOV at 22mm was too small and the first acceptable magnification started at 20mm. But,.... there was something else. At 8mm you are looking in a black spot. I know, the higher the magnification the darker the background, but from 10mm to 8mm it gets really fast darker. Only the sides of the image remain lighter and that is strange. At daylight you don't see this but when it is dark you can see this in any telescope I have tried.

This is my first experience with a zoom eyepiece and I had my doubts before. Conclusion, for me the Mark III is only acceptable 10 to 20mm and that is a very small range. I didn't like zoom eyepieces and now I still don't like them.

So I am going to buy a new Ethos (8mm or something ) and making bigger altitude bearings for my travel dobson.

[Takahashi]

Has anyone else tested this new MKIII with a dSLR body attached? I bought it for this reason among others, but there's a noticeable sag in the eyepiece body with just a 500D body attached. Add the 80mm extension tube (needed to attain focus) to the equation, and the need to extend the focuser draw tube almost completely, and you've got a recipe for an expensive lever, with an optical path that has tangent points.