So I am not a fan of the TE-9Z zoom eyepiece on my Kowa 663M. I think it could be so much better with an eyepiece with a wider field of view that doesn't have that feeling of looking down a barrel. I love the eye relief and picture from the 30x Wide 14WD eyepiece, but I need more magnification. I have narrowed my search down to either the Baader Hyperion Mark IV or the Opticron SDL V3. For those that have used these eyepieces, how did they compare to the Kowa TE 9z or each other? Am I missing an eyepiece that might be better. Want to get the best possible eyepiece for this scope which I love to pack around compared to the big heavy ones.
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Which Zoom Eyepiece for Kowa 663M Opticron SDLV3 or Baader Hyperion Mark IV (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter toasty1
- Start date
Both are and wide at the higher powers, but get quite narrow at low powers (especially the Opticron). Optically they’re both pretty good, though I’ve not been able to compare side by side. They have different fittings, so what fitting are you looking to use? The Baader mk4 “can be adapted to spotting scopes” (by removing a sleeve and changing a plate), but I found it still a tiny bit too wide to fit my Opticron 60mm4 and I didn’t fancy sanding either the scope or eyepiece to make it fit. I like wide views and sometimes just being a mid power fixed wide field eyepiece, maybe you just need to find a higher power fixed eyepiece to bring along?
Peter
Peter
Have you considered using the 1.6x extender with the 30x wide? I'm interested in trying it myself.
I have zero experience adapting other brands of eyepieces to a Kowa.
Toasty1, I have both of these eyepieces along with tsn1 and tsn3 scopes. Same focal length as yours so same resulting magnification. I could not get satisfactory results with the baader. I found a combination of haze/ vingneting on one scope and failure to focus past a few hundred yards on the other. Perhaps you can find my comments on this site as the whole deal is complicated .That said Baader shows the 600 series in their examples. The BHZ is nice on the right scope, great for astronomy.
The Sdlv3 is a different deal. For this use it is better. Clear ege to edge. It is a superb eyepiece all around. It is wider where it counts, has comfortable eye relief probably more than your 30w. It will bring your scope as close to alpha as you can get. It's a better physical fit than the BHZ also. It is narrow at low powers but no more than any other zoom. At about 25x it begins to angularly really open up and is a pleasure to use. I keep it at about 30x where it is about 58 deg and ready to move up as needed . It's about 70 deg maybe a tad more at 52.5x which is the top. But hold on..if you cannot tinker with it it's maybe not for you. The thickness of needed o-ring or other spacer you use is not consistent scope to scope. One more thing, since your scope is a 66 you should use the existing zoom to evaluate whether the image resolution is to your liking at the 52x. This will be the same only the tiniest level more bright and of course wider. Mine will not focus on stars below 25x setting. Maybe it would if I tuned the o-ring thickness. I stopped fiddling with it and just enjoy it. For all terrestrial it is great. Good luck, JP
The Sdlv3 is a different deal. For this use it is better. Clear ege to edge. It is a superb eyepiece all around. It is wider where it counts, has comfortable eye relief probably more than your 30w. It will bring your scope as close to alpha as you can get. It's a better physical fit than the BHZ also. It is narrow at low powers but no more than any other zoom. At about 25x it begins to angularly really open up and is a pleasure to use. I keep it at about 30x where it is about 58 deg and ready to move up as needed . It's about 70 deg maybe a tad more at 52.5x which is the top. But hold on..if you cannot tinker with it it's maybe not for you. The thickness of needed o-ring or other spacer you use is not consistent scope to scope. One more thing, since your scope is a 66 you should use the existing zoom to evaluate whether the image resolution is to your liking at the 52x. This will be the same only the tiniest level more bright and of course wider. Mine will not focus on stars below 25x setting. Maybe it would if I tuned the o-ring thickness. I stopped fiddling with it and just enjoy it. For all terrestrial it is great. Good luck, JP
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One more thing for others who may read on such things here later and slight change of topic, IMO the HDF is superior in view to the kowa te-z9 or is it 9z? The vixen glh48 eyepiece is the same as the hdf. Hard to find but still obtainable in the $170 range. It is a couple of degrees more narrow (38-58) than most zooms(40-60deg). It has some amazing coatings and is superb for clarity , brightness and color in a scope I have that is labeled multi coated (windowed model).