Baader Hyperion Zoom and 17 mm on..... (1 Viewer)

I put an order in last month for a Baader Hyperion zoom to use on my Zeiss Diascope 65. It arrived today along with the Baader Hyperion 17 mm.

Before going into any long diatribe I just want to say that I am exceptionally impressed by both. The Hyperion zoom is everything folks have been saying about it. The image quality is excellent. Edge sharpness and color representation are noticeably better than the Zeiss zoom plus the field of view appears even wider. I am not overly enthused by the 24-21 mm zoom range but starting at 20 mm I am very happy with everything about the image. Two big thumbs up.

I started using the Hyperion zoom on the Diascope but also briefly tried it on the Celestron Ultima ED 65. It works equally well on the 65 ED and provides a simply superb image on even this inexpensive little scope. Speaking of which, one could spend $300 on the Ultima ED 65 (which does come with its own respectable little zoom) purchase the $200 Baader Hyperion zoom and come up with an excellent spotting scope for easily half the outlay that one would need to spend on something of this optical performance. Truly the image quality is excellent...apparent sharpness, brightness, color representation, CA control, edge sharpness...you name it. All were impressive.

I was equally impressed by the 17 mm Hyperion on the 65 mm Diascope. I was always very satisfied with the Pentax 65/XW 20 combination. My initial experience with the Zeiss 65/Hyperion 17 mm I think I am going to be equally satisfied.

Now, if I can just find a way to utilize these 1.25 inch astro eyepieces on the Celestron as well then I will truly be happy.

Hi Frank,

I think if you look carefully you'll find that the Zeiss FOV is wider. The current high quality zooms can't make telescopes any better than they are, but the zooms don't limit the quality of scope optics either.

Your post reminded me that I hadn't posted some focal length measurements I made of the Baader and Zeiss zooms, so I added them to the end of the big Baader zoom thread

Henry

Henry,

Thanks. I think you interpreted my comments correctly. I think the Baader actually allows the Ultima ED to live up to its full potential. Though the standard zoom is entirely adequate the Baader is brighter in addition to providing the wider field of view.

Though I have no doubt you are probably correct about the width of the two fields of view the fact that the Baader has better edge performance than the Zeiss tends to offset this...at least from my perspective. It certainly gives the impression of as wide of a field of a view as the Zeiss. Maybe the edge performance is the reason.

One bit of bad news....I did not have a chance last night to really try the Baader Hyperion 17 mm on the Diascope in all aspects. It does not come close to reaching infinity focus in the Zeiss. That is a huge disappointment for me as I was looking for a solid "wide angle" (68 degrees or better) eyepiece to use in the Diascope. I am satisfied with the Xcel ED 25 mm in many respects but wouldn't mind having a wider field of view, fixed power eyepiece to use for certain applications.

If anyone has any suggestions for something similar to the Hyperion fixed then I would love to hear it.

The Televue 19mm Panoptic needs about 10mm less infocus to reach infinity compared to the 17mm Hyperion. It might work and there's the widefield Zeiss Diascope 23/30x fixed eyepiece (16.7mm), discontinued but maybe obtainable second hand.

Frank, read my Televue Ethos thread. I screwed in a 1.6x Siebert OCA and got it to infinity focus.

I also happen to have a 17mm Hyperion and the OCA does fit into the nose of the eyepiece.

Thanks CP. I will look into that.

On a related note, I have been swapping pm's with Sancho and his setup (Diascope 85 plus Hyperion zoom and Hyperion 17 mm). He has been able to reach infinity focus with the 17 mm so we got into a bit of a discussion. What we determined was that the adapter he is using for the 17 mm/Diascope combination is different than what I am using. Though I did not know it until now, apparently Baader makes a bayonet mount adapter specifically for use with the Baader eyepieces on the Diascopes. I had been using the standard Zeiss 1.25 inch astro adapter to use any 1.25 inch astro eyepiece on the Diascope. The bayonet adapter must allow the eyepiece to sit deeper into the scope body and thus allow focus at infinity.

That is the good news. The bad news is that it appears this bayonet adapter is only sold in the UK.

...but there is a very generous individual who has volunteered to obtain one for me and ship it stateside.

I should have it in a week or so....

...and I greatly look forward to trying it out.

FrankD said:

Thanks CP. I will look into that.

On a related note, I have been swapping pm's with Sancho and his setup (Diascope 85 plus Hyperion zoom and Hyperion 17 mm). He has been able to reach infinity focus with the 17 mm so we got into a bit of a discussion. What we determined was that the adapter he is using for the 17 mm/Diascope combination is different than what I am using. Though I did not know it until now, apparently Baader makes a bayonet mount adapter specifically for use with the Baader eyepieces on the Diascopes. I had been using the standard Zeiss 1.25 inch astro adapter to use any 1.25 inch astro eyepiece on the Diascope. The bayonet adapter must allow the eyepiece to sit deeper into the scope body and thus allow focus at infinity.

That is the good news. The bad news is that it appears this bayonet adapter is only sold in the UK.

...but there is a very generous individual who has volunteered to obtain one for me and ship it stateside.

I should have it in a week or so....

...and I greatly look forward to trying it out.

Click to expand...

Let me know how this works out because I have been thinking of the Hyperion 17mm for my Diascope also.

I have used both 13mm Nagler and 24mm Panoptic in the diascope, and like them, but . . . I'm really looking for an EP that's in the 30x range.

stumbled across these:

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop...2408_Baader-GEN-II-14mm---60--wide-angle.html

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop...piece---13mm---1-25----68--Field-of-View.html


not sure if they are good prices, or just about ave??