DanC.Licks
AKA Daniel Bradley
So does the BH zoom focus to infinity on the PF 65 EDAII as is or not? It seems not.
-
Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.
Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
Baader Hyperion zoom. (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter medinabrit
- Start date
I ordered the Burgess 1.9 corrector, when it arrives I will try on some eyepieces. I do not have the BH zoom at this time but I do have a clone look alike the Plano. The Plano as is does not work correctly because the eyepiece falls short about a 1/4" reach into the Pentax ...I think ? I am not sure if I am going to keep the Plano zoom but if I do I am going to try to remove the locking collar (even if I have to cut it off) that has the female threads that keeps the Plano zoom from reaching further into the Pentax. If I do & that solves the problem , you still can not get this zoom unless you get the Promaster Elite with the zoom on it. I will be sure to post if I do. Even if I destroy the Plano zoom I can still use the Promaster scope with other eyepieces or just re-sell it .... gwen
eitanaltman
Well-known member
NOT. Unfortunately. It would be an amazing combo if it worked. The views were glorious when I tried it.... but it could only focus out to ~100yds or so.
I’ve been using a Baader Hyperion 8-24 mm Clickstop Zoom eyepiece in Pentax PF65, 80, and 100 spotting scopes for several years now. As furnished, the eyepiece won’t reach infinity focus in any of the Pentax scopes because of the thick attachment parts at the bottom of the eyepiece. These include a milled edge piece into which the 1.248” barrel (that seems to be standard size for “1 ¼ inch” eyepieces – two thousandths undersize) attaches, a thick threaded ring that is normally not removed, and a plastic spacer ring at the bottom of the main eyepiece body. The thicknesses of these three together hold the eyepiece bottom .278 inches above the bottom of the scope’s focuser collet. (See photo) A homemade adapter turned from 2.5” diameter aluminum stock about 1 ¾” long holds the eyepiece bottom only .068” from the focuser collet bottom, so the eyepiece is closer by .21 inches (5.3 mm). That may not sound like much, but it allows infinity focus with all three PF models and even permits folks with slight myopia to focus “in” a little bit so they can use the eyepiece without their glasses.
(NOTE: I have done this modification to the one Baader Hyperion 8-24mm zoom eyepiece I own. It was purchased used and is one of the older models, not the Mk-III version now available. These techniques may or may not work on other versions of this eyepiece.)
To modify your eyepiece to work with the Pentax scopes, you first need to remove the original parts mentioned above. Keep them in a safe place, as this modification is reversible, if you so choose. The milled-edge ring that holds the 1.248” lower barrel simply unscrews, but the thicker ring above it is threaded on the outside and inside and screws into the thin fluted ring around the upper barrel. The double threaded ring has two small holes that allow it to be unscrewed from the fluted ring using a pin spanner, but a small jewelers screwdriver in one of the holes will also serve for this task with only a little extra difficulty. Hold the fluted ring with your hand as you unscrew the double threaded ring from it. (See photo)
You can likely just machine the adapter to fit the measurements of your eyepiece now, allowing a 1.248” OD lower barrel (.95” long, though that is not critical) to go into the scope. For reference, though, I’ll include the dimensions I used. The adapter has a bottom ID of 1.148” to allow clearance for the zoom extension at the bottom of the eyepiece. The upper part of the barrel was left 2.5” OD with the inside being 2.188” to allow the lower part of the big Baader Zoom cylinder to slide into it. I left the original outside fluted ring loose on the barrel, as it just slides up above the adapter, out of the way. The upper part of my adapter is about .8” long, though again, that is not critical. What IS critical is to get the bottom of the adapter’s upper cylinder that connects to the 1.248” OD part thin enough to allow the eyepiece to sit much closer to the bottom of the collet ring. As mentioned before, mine is just .068”, though a few thousandths less would be even better if you are slightly myopic. The adapter is attached to the eyepiece bottom with three small set screws in holes tapped through the upper wall of the adapter. If these are kept sufficiently low on the adapter, the now loose fluted ring will cover the set screw divots in the eyepiece body if you choose to take off the adapter and reassemble the Baader Zoom back to its original configuration. (See photos of adapter and adapter attached to eyepiece)
Since making the adapter is not a very difficult lathe project, perhaps those who do not have access to a lathe can find a local machine shop to turn the adapter for you at reasonable cost. - Bill
(NOTE: I have done this modification to the one Baader Hyperion 8-24mm zoom eyepiece I own. It was purchased used and is one of the older models, not the Mk-III version now available. These techniques may or may not work on other versions of this eyepiece.)
To modify your eyepiece to work with the Pentax scopes, you first need to remove the original parts mentioned above. Keep them in a safe place, as this modification is reversible, if you so choose. The milled-edge ring that holds the 1.248” lower barrel simply unscrews, but the thicker ring above it is threaded on the outside and inside and screws into the thin fluted ring around the upper barrel. The double threaded ring has two small holes that allow it to be unscrewed from the fluted ring using a pin spanner, but a small jewelers screwdriver in one of the holes will also serve for this task with only a little extra difficulty. Hold the fluted ring with your hand as you unscrew the double threaded ring from it. (See photo)
You can likely just machine the adapter to fit the measurements of your eyepiece now, allowing a 1.248” OD lower barrel (.95” long, though that is not critical) to go into the scope. For reference, though, I’ll include the dimensions I used. The adapter has a bottom ID of 1.148” to allow clearance for the zoom extension at the bottom of the eyepiece. The upper part of the barrel was left 2.5” OD with the inside being 2.188” to allow the lower part of the big Baader Zoom cylinder to slide into it. I left the original outside fluted ring loose on the barrel, as it just slides up above the adapter, out of the way. The upper part of my adapter is about .8” long, though again, that is not critical. What IS critical is to get the bottom of the adapter’s upper cylinder that connects to the 1.248” OD part thin enough to allow the eyepiece to sit much closer to the bottom of the collet ring. As mentioned before, mine is just .068”, though a few thousandths less would be even better if you are slightly myopic. The adapter is attached to the eyepiece bottom with three small set screws in holes tapped through the upper wall of the adapter. If these are kept sufficiently low on the adapter, the now loose fluted ring will cover the set screw divots in the eyepiece body if you choose to take off the adapter and reassemble the Baader Zoom back to its original configuration. (See photos of adapter and adapter attached to eyepiece)
Since making the adapter is not a very difficult lathe project, perhaps those who do not have access to a lathe can find a local machine shop to turn the adapter for you at reasonable cost. - Bill
Attachments
DRodrigues
Well-known member
Well done Bill:t:
You showed Baader that is possible and they are loosing market without a solution to Pentax scopes. Maybe in a next version they will consider a solution like you showed or develop a similar adapter as yours.
This would be even better if a new version of Baader zoom would be a 60-80º as the Leica, Swaro, Kowa and Nikon...o
I never went to a Baader zoom since never managed to test the III version and meanwhile will go for a new Nikon, if the 1,25" format will be confirmed...
You showed Baader that is possible and they are loosing market without a solution to Pentax scopes. Maybe in a next version they will consider a solution like you showed or develop a similar adapter as yours.
This would be even better if a new version of Baader zoom would be a 60-80º as the Leica, Swaro, Kowa and Nikon...o
I never went to a Baader zoom since never managed to test the III version and meanwhile will go for a new Nikon, if the 1,25" format will be confirmed...
