Doubling barlows

[taxman]

Has anyone tried this?

I have just got a new Zenithstar66 for travelling/ leaving in the car etc and am looking to go minimalist. The eyepiece(s) will stay with the telescope as it is for those unplanned times when you look up and wish you had a telescope handy.

With the 25mm plossl, I'd get 15.5x, 31x, 46.5x and 93x by combining 2x and 3x barlows. With a 32mm plossl it would be 12x, 24x, 36x and 72x. These numbers are rough.

I have read some bad things about doubling barlows, but they seem to be more a result of cheap barlows. What I am wondering is, if I stick to televue gear, would image distortion, eye relief etc really be an issue?

Also, while I am asking questions, has anyone got any thoughts on the Astronomik UHC-E for a Megrez 90?

[rmcpb]

I had a play once with two 2x barlows. The view was not too good but I think it was because I pushed the magnification too much. If you have the barlows just try it. If you are going to buy them get one and borrow another to test.

Cheers

[darrellx]

Taxman

I have a Megrez90 and recently purchased a 2inch Astronomik UHC-E. However, with the recent poor weather on the Gold Coast, I haven't really had the chance to try it out. I am hoping this weekend will provide some clear sky. I will let you know how it goes. Is there something specific you are interested in?

Darrell

[xelasnave]

Experiment and find out.
I once had 2 3x and 1 2x yes thats 3 all up in a 1200mm fl ar... I was taking photos of ants up the trees on a static tripod.. it was surprising how decent the image remained.
alex

[Omaroo]

Here's a photo I took of the moon through a Televue 5x Powermate stacked atop a GSO 2x barlow. This is through a scope with only 820mm focal length. Looks pretty good to me! Works on bright objects OK, not too good on much else.

[bloodhound31]

Wow Chris, thats excellent!

Baz.

[Omaroo]

Thanks Barry :) Yup - you gotta love an APO. Single-frame too (no stacking), which is kind of cool. Testament to the optics I guess... :thumbsup:

[taxman]

I noticed today that Baader zooms are back in stock, so I got one of those instead. This gives me 16x - 48x with a 3.1 to 1.4 degree TFOV.

I am only really interested in the lower powers anyway for this aperture.

Of course now I need a new diagonal and a bigger uhc filter - how do you pronounce false economy :lol: ?

[Kevnool]

Great effort Chris thats proving it works.....cheers Kev.