31 replies to this topic

[APM M.Ludes]

we completed this night our extensive testing of the new series of Carl zeiss West eyepieces, 25 mm , 16 mm and 10 mm.

we compared them against ABBE I, ABBE II and TMB Super Mono and the new Zeiss performs as good or better. 16 mm and 20 mm are designed for eye glas wearers, the 10 mm still offers a great eyerelief.

Matched with the Baader/Zeiss ABBE Barlow 2 power or NIKON 1.6 power barlow they offer a range from 25 mm down to 5 mm

we enter them now to our webside and start selling from stock.

No today available new eyepiece comes close in contrast, light transmission and sharpness

Catched your interest ? contact me now

new in a few days.

[Tarzanrock]

Hi Markus:
What are the prices of these eyepieces? Could you provide a link to where they are located on your website?
Thanks.
Bill

[ZielkeNightsky]

Markus - a link for the EP - can't find it on the website

[APM M.Ludes]

early next week we will upload them on the webside , its easier then to write everything now.

as soon we are ready I point out the link here

[Alvin Huey]

Hmmm...I'd like a 25 and 16mm. It depends on the asking price.

[skyward_eyes]

I am as well but also depends on the price of course.

[billyo]

I think West Germany existed between 1949 and Oct 3, 1990. In 1990 Germany was reunited. Carl Zeiss products are a slippery slope for me to understand. Anyway, these "new" eyepieces must be a minimum of 21 years old if made in West Germany. I'm just trying to get my bearings on what these eyepieces are. I would definitely be interested in buying one.

[billyo]

Any details about pricing and eyepiece construction? Do you think these eyepieces are better than the Nikon eyepieces you advertised awhile back?

[APM M.Ludes]

Hi all,

we still working on the webside , we have the pictures up on my new webside , but I doi not want to open that public until its ready for public, so I give a bit more info right now

here my englisch describtion:
Long time ago, APM-Telescopes and TMB-Optical ( Thomas M. Back ) discovered , that this Carl Zeiss West-Germany made microscope-eyepieces beeing manufactured in a quality which can more then compete with the world-famous astro-eyepieces from Zeiss and Pentax. This Carl Zeiss eyepieces , accept the W25x10 foc. ( f=10 mm ) , offering a high eye relief , which allows you to wear eye-glases during observing. All eyepieces are applied with the most modern and famous Zeiss T* MC-coating and all air-to-glas-surfaces with a transmission-grade such high, then not many astro-eyepieces can hold up. The view through the eyepieces offers you a pur-white image with a sharpenss and contrast of such high quality , that even the best astro-eyepieces cannot top that anymore.
In normal telescopes, Refractors, Schmidt Cassegrain, Maksutov Cassegrain the eyepieces show a almost to the edge sharp image. Only in fast refractors and newtonians with field coma , you have to accept compromises , but as we all know, many astro-eyepieces are comprised here as well.
All Carl Zeiss eyepieces sold by APM-Telescopes are delivered with a 1.25" alu-barrel, black anadized and applied with a 1.25" filter-thread. For each Carl Zeiss eyepieces we can sell you the optional high rubber-eye-guard.
Most modern Astro-Eyepieces have a multicoating which produce at the eyeside a reflection ging back to the eyes if straylight enter the eye-surface, this is hurting at day time and solar-observations and you loosing contrast and details. This Carl Zeiss eyepieces have such optimized optical design and combined with the modern Zeiss T* MC coating you are not able to discover such reflecting problem. Therefore this Carl Zeiss eyepieces are the best we have found on the world market for observing during the daylight natural objects and most important the sun in white light and h-alpha light.
The E-PL Series differs from the PL-Series mainly due the photografic flat-field correction.
This Carl Zeiss eyepieces can be upgrated ( also afterwards) with Carl Zeiss made cross-hair-inserts, reticle-micrometer, measuring-glas-plateand measuring and counting plate , which will be very useful for measurements of astronomical objects.


the 16 mm is at present exchange rate : US $ 420

the cheapest version of the 25 mm ( more expensive means larger FOV ) which is a updated glas of the famous TMB 25 mm aspheric ortho cost US $ 235

the 10 mm is US $ 495

this picture show the 10 mm

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[APM M.Ludes]

and this picture show the 16 mm

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[APM M.Ludes]

and this picture show the least expensive triplet aspherical ortho 25 mm

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[thrawn]

I see, very nice. Are these 100% made in Germany? These pictures are just of the microscope eyepieces. Rodger reported that some 20mm was made in China, and the optical characteristics were very negative.

Here are Zeiss micro-shop USD prices for those:

10mm $443
16mm $286
25mm $156

https://www.micro-sh...&i=400000001900

[SandyHouTex]

Just for the record the Zeiss microscope eyepiece I purchased from Zeiss online was number 444232-9904, Eyepiece EPL 10x/20 Br. Foc.. It has field curvature, low light throughput, and when using it the entire field of view is very bright. I'm not even sure if the lenses are coated. It is an extremely poor astro eyepiece. At $400 I didn't expect an eyepiece made in China for Zeiss.

And just for the record it's NOT the Zeiss Diascope eyepiece in my signature line. That is an excellent eyepiece.

[billyo]

RodgerHouTex,

I have also tried some microscope eyepieces in telescopes and it doesn't seem to work. Diffraction limited views in microscopes are not the same as in telescopes. The Zeiss eyepiece I used seemed to have a change in the original field stop diameter.

The eyepieces Markus has might be something different and could be excellent. I'm not trying to judge his product.

[thrawn]

Duly noted! I'm still interested in these, hoping to hear more

The eyepieces Markus has might be something different

Yeah they might be, but Markus has posted pictures of the microscope eyepiece models.

[APM M.Ludes]

mhhhh. from the seriies on the webside I have tried the W25x/10 and thats fantastic. I self have older versions of the 16 x/16 and diffrent 10 x eyepieces

here the 10 x I have tried and blowing away your mind:

PL10x/20 http://www.apm-teles...id=1213&picnr=1

same PL 10x/20 but focusable http://www.apm-teles...id=1214&picnr=1

W10x/25 http://www.apm-teles...id=1224&picnr=1

W-PL10x/23

I will place next week a order for 1 pc which is reported here poorly and check it out.

[Scott99]

I would love to see the AFOV for each and the number of elements. Have they been posted on the web yet??

I already have the outstanding 25mm, I have an older version of the 16mm but I'd love to get it with the new coatings. Is this current 16mm the same 5-element, 54-degree design?

Based on the 25mm I have here, I would agree that these match the ZAO orthos, at 3 elements I suspect the 25mm may do even better. The 25mm I have has the OEM 44-45 degree FOV and it works very well out to the edge, almost perfect at f/8. Coatings appear to be equal to the best ep's I've used, ZAO, AP SPL, etc.

I bought this 25mm in early 2010 (***edit, it actually 2008). It is marked 44 42 31 on the back and E-Pl 10x/20 on the front. The case was marked "Made in Germany". I'm sorry to hear it's now "44 42 32" and made in China. The German-made one only cost a little over $200 when I ordered it.

My 16mm says W-Pl 16x/16 (45 50 48) on it and is much older. It's a great ep but the coatings aren't as good as my 25mm. The new 16mm pictured above doesn't have the "W", maybe it's not the same wide field (54 deg)?

Would definitely be good to settle where the current offerings are made & what the specs are.

[SandyHouTex]

I agree. When you click on the eyepieces on the Zeiss microscope website all that you get is a picture of the eyepiece. The amazing thing to me is that some of the eyepieces are over $1000. Maybe if you're a company you don't care?

[Scott99]

I agree. When you click on the eyepieces on the Zeiss microscope website all that you get is a picture of the eyepiece. The amazing thing to me is that some of the eyepieces are over $1000. Maybe if you're a company you don't care?

Rodger - I thought that was a typo? the website is definitely not much help. I don't mind paying the extra cash to buy these from APM, their adapters are well-executed, it would definitely be valuable if they sorted out the specs for us as well.

note I just edited my post above, it looks like I actually bought my 25mm in July 2008, not 2010.

[thrawn]

The website has prices - you just need to log in to see the prices for your country and place orders.

$300 - $400 is a-lot for one narrow-FOV eyepiece. It really needs to be made in Germany and as good as a ZAO I or Supermono to justify such a high price. I think it can't be as good as a ZAO II... those are supposedly the best Zeiss could so, made as their last astro product to cement their superiority for all time

I'm impresed that Markus thinks highly of the 10mm, and I would buy it if I needed that focal length. It is also a great value because it appears that the 30mm-1.25" adapter is not expensive. But I actually need 16mm.

Markus, have you tried the very newest model 16mm yet (the one in the picture)? Where is that made?

Thanks so much,

[Scott99]

The body of the ZAO's is definitely much better quality than the microscope ep's, that's for sure. Would love to compare the 25mm micro with the ZAO 25mm, I have not owned that one.

The 16mm and 10mm micro ep's probably have 5-6 elements so they're in a different league.

[APM M.Ludes]

I have had the 16x16 about 2 years ago and the body looked the same as on the webside today. Is it the same ? I will know when I get one in my hands.
I have at moment a set of used diffrent looking 16x16 under testing and it matches easily the best 16 mm orthos

I have asked zeiss for many details, they will report to me what they can release for public and what not

I am updating any time I get news.

[APM M.Ludes]

Scott

you say the body of the ZAO is much better. What do you mean with much better ?

if you mean more heavy, yes, but more weight does not mean better quality

the Microscope version has in any case 1 big advantage : the eyetop is a rubber which can be exchanged against a soft high rubber eyeguard. The ZAO has metal, which is bad for glases.

The old PL10x/18 Optics has been used in the famous TMB 25 mm aspherical ortho and matching in terms of sharpness, contrast and coating easy the ZAO old and new

Maybe not all of that lines will be the very best, but at least a few and so we have a not toooo expensive source , today, for superb eyepieces 25 mm, 16 mm and 10 mm for less money you pay for a used ZAO

[billyo]

Does the TMB 25mm ortho have 3 elements? Thanks.

[Mark9473]

Markus, how would the W10x/25 do in my f/6.5 scope? Is it more an eyepiece for slower f/ ratios?