106 replies to this topic

[Mak2007]

OK, sorry for all the questions about eyepieces but I am really on a plan to renew some of my old eyepieces now.  I have been considering hyperions, the hyperion Zoom and the ES82.  The ES82 are great from what I heard here, but the ER is a little bit short some people say.  Long story short, I am considering again the Baader Zoom Mk III.   Please could you tell me how good is this zoom, optically?  

I would appreciate your help.

Thanks!

[george tatsis]

In a word, excellent!

 

How Baader pulled this thing off, I have no idea .

 

Word has it that they have utilized an old Zeiss design to accomplish their goal. If this is what they did, then Kudos to both of them!

 

George

[RuneK]

Will it work in the cold? The really, really cold?

[Mak2007]

Thanks George

[Eddgie]

Will it work in the cold? The really, really cold?

 

The zoom mechanism can get stiff in very cold weather.   It will still turn, but it can be very stiff.  What this means is that if you have it very loose in the eyepiece holder, it can turn the entire eyepiece. 

 

Just tighten the screw and it will be fine.  If you are using a 2" diagonal, best to use the 2" barrel so the diagonal eyepiece holder can get a better grip.

 

They can indeed get stiff in cold weather though, but mine has never failed to function.

[Eddgie]

OK, sorry for all the questions about eyepieces but I am really on a plan to renew some of my old eyepieces now.  I have been considering hyperions, the hyperion Zoom and the ES82.  The ES82 are great from what I heard here, but the ER is a little bit short some people say.  Long story short, I am considering again the Baader Zoom Mk III.   Please could you tell me how good is this zoom, optically?  

I would appreciate your help.

Thanks!

 

I think they are excellent.   I have a pair that I use with my Mark V binoviewer for solar white light viewing, and for occasional lunar viewing in my Stellarvue 110ED.

 

These eyepieces give razor sharp views at the center of the field, and are very sharp across the field even at the 8mm focal length setting, where the apparent field is almost as big as a Delos would give.

 

I am sure there will be many that will tell you that zooms are inferior to some simple types, but my own results were so good that I sold  all of my 1.25" fixed focal length Orthos and Plossls because I could not see a meaningful difference in the amount of detail I could see between these and others, and I enjoy not having to change eyepeices when doing planetary observing and chasing seeing from moment to moment, where the zooms allow you to very quickly ramp up power for those moments of excellent seeing that often occur many times during a session.

 

I love my Baader Zooms.   Not for everybody of course, but excellent performers in my own opinion.

Edited by Eddgie, 09 November 2014 - 06:49 PM.

[Mak2007]

Thank you Eddie.  Your comments (and George's) are very helpful for me.  

[kt4hx]

Exactly what scope will you be using the zoom and/or hyperions in?

Edited by kt4hx, 09 November 2014 - 09:04 PM.

[astrodon]

The eye relief of the Baader zoom varies from 12-15mm depending on the zoom setting. The ES 82 with the shortest eye relief is the 18mm with 13mm ER, the 4.7, 6.7, and 8.8 are spec'd at 14mm ER and the 11mm and 14mm are spec'd at 15mm ER. So from the specs it looks like you will find comparable eye relief with the ES 82s. Specs from Astronomics.

[Mak2007]

Exactly what scope will you be using the zoom and/or hyperions in?

ETX125 (Mak-Cass 5 inch, F15), and a refractor made with the C63/840 lens (still without mount)

[kt4hx]

I think the zoom will work ok for you with that scope.  To be honest with you, I had one once for a bit, and wasn't overly happy with it in my scopes.  It was ok, but nothing great.  It may well be better than some of the cheaper ones, but I never compared to another zoom.  I also had some single f/l Hyperions as well, but when I tried my first ES 82, I sold them all to invest in that series.  The ES 82s have been excellent performers in my faster dobs and they do everything I've asked of them.  I just find I am not much of a fan of zooms, and much prefer single f/l EPs.  I don't find swapping them out is a big deal versus twisting the zoom, and I think what I have now is better than what I had.

Edited by kt4hx, 09 November 2014 - 11:34 PM.

[ibase]

OK, sorry for all the questions about eyepieces but I am really on a plan to renew some of my old eyepieces now.  I have been considering hyperions, the hyperion Zoom and the ES82.  The ES82 are great from what I heard here, but the ER is a little bit short some people say.  Long story short, I am considering again the Baader Zoom Mk III.   Please could you tell me how good is this zoom, optically?  

I would appreciate your help.

Thanks!

Short answer, yes - the Baader Zoom Mk III is optically good.

 

Some time back when the Baader Hyperion Zoom had just begun to make waves (I have both the II & Mark III versions)

 

L-R Baader Hyperion II & Mark III 8-24mm Zoom

 

brought my zoom to a local star party where several astro veteran buddies were in attendance and had them try the zoom - their reaction was identical, wow - and this is a zoom? They were very impressed by its optical performance, in the same way that I was wowed the first time I tried it and instantly became a convert.

 

With regards to ES82 eye relief, yes, the ER is a bit short on the ES82 and I've compared the ER of the ES82 vs Baader Zoom Mark III:

 

Mark III Zoom and ES82 14mm (mushroom version, same ER specs as the current ES82)

 

The Baader Zoom definitely has more ER and is more comfortable to use than the ES82, and will rate the zoom's ER as being not too long nor too short, just right and ergonomically pleasing to use for extended viewing sessions. In fact, have come across a post in SGL about the Baader Zoom's ER, to quote:

 

"... a big plus is the eye relief, I've seen 12-15mm ER mentioned, but I'm quite sure 16-19mm is more acurate."

 

And will agree/concur - the actual ER of the zoom seems longer than the spec sheet's 12-15mm ER. See the above quoted post here and also go to page 1 of the thread for a detailed review of the Mark III Zoom by the thread's OP.

 

Best,

[RuneK]

This zoom is also offered with a 2,25x barlow. But would it be possible to use it with a conventional 2x barlow? 

[Hesiod]

Will it work in the cold? The really, really cold?

 

Most of times, yes. But mine (well, "my first one") broke when I tried to change the focal: it was stiff, so I forced, the eyepiece zoomed in but after that it was no more possible to zoom out (the zoom was replaced thanks to my "usual" dealer; he told me that this kind of accident is however rather infrequent).

 

As for eye relief, it is large enough to be judged as "comfortable" by the majority of people to whom I showed something through the telescope, and at the same time not soo large to cause blackouts (never experienced blackouts with the eyecup extended).

Optically is a good eyepiece, and imho can meet on equal terms a lot of fixed-focal eyepieces.

I am not a big fan of it, but have to admit that is indeed very handy and if seeing is so-so, or there are other bystanders I prefer the zoom to other "better" eyepieces.

 

I do not know is actually is a Zeiss design; I think that it could be purportedly designed to work with the Zeiss "Diascope" (it has an adapter fitting to that spottingscopes).

[george tatsis]

This zoom is also offered with a 2,25x barlow. But would it be possible to use it with a conventional 2x barlow? 

 

Any conventional barlow will do the trick, and it barlows so well that peripheral aberrations are eliminated and edge correction is similar to the one found in premium eyepieces.

 

I have just the barlow element ( 1.5X) of the 1.25" GSO 2X barlow permanently attached to the nosepiece of the zoom, turning it into a 5.3mm -16mm zoom.

 

Should I need more power, the 2X comes into play with no degradation of the image whatsoever.

 

George

Edited by george tatsis, 10 November 2014 - 05:43 PM.

[Sarkikos]

"Is the Baader Hyperion Zoom that good optically?"

 

Yes, it's that good!

 

Mike

Edited by Sarkikos, 10 November 2014 - 07:52 PM.

[Sarkikos]

I have two Baader Mk III Zooms for binoviewing.  I only binoview planet/lunar, so when I go to my dark site, I have one Baader Zoom at native focal lengths, the other stacked with the Baader 2.25x Barlow. 

 

Mike

[astrodon]

Thanks for the clarification on the eye relief Hernando.

How does the Baader zoom compare to the Leica?

[ibase]

Thanks too Astrodon; sorry, I don't have a Leica so am not in a position to answer that question; hopefully others who have both zooms will take that up.

 

Best,

[Peter9]

I echo all the above regarding the Baader zoom. I have used one as my main eyepiece for over 4 years and have no plans to stop doing so.

 

 

 

Hi Hernando,

 

Good to see you are still, like me, doing the rounds.

 

Hope all is well with you.

 

Take care.  Peter.

[ibase]

I echo all the above regarding the Baader zoom. I have used one as my main eyepiece for over 4 years and have no plans to stop doing so.

 

 

 

Hi Hernando,

 

Good to see you are still, like me, doing the rounds.

 

Hope all is well with you.

 

Take care.  Peter.

Hi Peter,

 

So glad to hear from you! Yeah, still doin' the rounds, so to speak, hope you're doing fine as well.

Regards to the guys over at the Nexstar forum, learned a lot there and it's where I first got wind of the Baader Hyperion Zoom too!

 

Best,

[Dave Mitsky]

Browse http://hyperionzooml...-24mm-zoom.html and http://www.cloudynig...eyepieces-r2074 for reviews of the Baader Planetarium zoom eyepiece.

 

Dave Mitsky

[oo_void]

I had a Zoom for a while. It's a great, first eyepiece purchase is you're upgrading from the cheap plossl's that came with your scope, but as I started building out my collection with ES82's, ES100's, and Ortho's I found I was using it less an less. Personally, I prefer the wider views of the ES eyepieces over the 50 ~ 68 FOV the Hyperion offers. I thought about getting a second and making the Zoom my Bino pair, but had concerns over how large they were. 

[saemark30]

I have read some negative reviews regarding a ring of reflection outside the field stop and outer edge image problems in a dob around F/4.5.

And not sure what the difference is between the MkII and MkIII versions?

[Bill Cowles]

The only lens I use for Solar observing , very sharp and nice eye relief and if you need a little more power, I just add the Hyperion barlow. Among our Solar group, the most popular eyepiece, highly recommended .

 

Bill