Any recent experience with premium zoom lens

[jeelan]

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone's had any recent experiences with premium zoom lens?

Referring specifically to any of the following:

Leica ASPH 25-50x
Zeiss 20-75x
Swarovski 25-50x WA

Ive just taken delivery of the Swaro ATS 80 spotting scope with 25-50x zoom and have written to APM to see if they have an adapter which allows me to use this eyepiece on my scopes but was also interested in picking up the Zeiss 20-75x due to the wide range it offers but haven't read too many reviews about the Zeiss.

I know the Leica seems to be popular but most reviews are 2-3yrs old - are some of these users still happy with their choice?

All above lenses are supplied with their respective brand of spotting scopes at the moment.

cheers
Jeelan

[casstony]

Hi Jeelan, I owned the Leica ASPH and some Delos at the same time; regarding the quality of the view I could flip a coin between the zoom or a few Delos eyepieces, the Leica was very nice. I ended up letting them all go in favour of binoviewers. The guy I bought the denk binotron from sold it in favour of the Leica zoom.

[dannat]

not too many zeiss suers i think -better to read/ask on CN, some over there used the swaro but favoured the leica -can't remember the distortion involved, maybe eofb

starlight will make you an adpater also if i reember

[Tinderboxsky]

Hi Jeelen, I have the earlier Zeiss 20-60 zoom on my Zeiss 85TFL that I bought new 10 years ago. It gets extensive terrestrial use and is also my light weight grab and go scope at night. Not the same lens but perhaps some comments may help.
Image quality is first class across the whole FOV across the magnification range. I cannot detect any aberrations, not that I have had a forensic look and have not had any other eyepiece in the scope to compare. The is no degradation of the image at the edge of the FOV. The field stop is sharp and black. The AFOV increases slightly and eye relief decreases as magnification increases. I don't know the specs but eye relief appears similar to my Vixen LV eyepieces at low magnifications, about 20mm. At high powers I would estimate eye relief at 10mm. Build quality is typical Zeiss and it works just like new after 10 years of regular use.
As a separate thought, I would question the value of buying the Zeiss 20-75, unless your plan is to sell the Leica. You are only gaining a 50% increase in maximum magnification for considerable expense. Visually this may not be a worthwhile apparent increase for the expense. You can get a feel for the effective increase by comparing the images at 33 and 50x in your Swarovski.
I find myself seldom using the higher powers for terrestrial use and the sweet spot for astronomical observing is also at the lower range. The higher power gets a workout for the moon and planets of course - eg a quick grab and go look at a shadow transit on Jupiter or the terminator line on the Moon.
Let me know if you have any specific questions.
Steve.

[jeelan]

Thanks for the feedback on this one all,

I'm still waiting on a response from APM regarding the Swaro adapter. If I can get that I definitely want to try my Swaro 25-50 in both my scopes as this eyepiece is a cracker for contrast and sharpness in the limited time I've played around with it.

Given that both the Leica and Swaro are identical focal lengths, I'm not considering the Leica, however the Zeiss has been taken my interest because of the increased range.

When I bought the Swaro, I spent about an hr at the store comparing it with the Zeiss Diascope 20-75x85mm.

In the end it came down to weight and ergonomics for me - that's how close I found the optics.

They have the Zeiss on special and I'm still tempted to get it as the eyepiece by itself is almost 40% of the price of the package.

I've turned the Swaro skywards only once and was impressed with the views through the full range of magnification so once I'm back in Perth, I'm keen to put it next to the ED80 with the LVWs and XW's... :)

cheers
Jeelan

[jeelan]

So I bit the bullet and bought the Zeiss 20-75x zoom eyepiece (bought the Zeiss scope in fact).

Unfortunately the store didn't have the Zeiss astronomy adapter so its on backorder therefore I can't try the zoom on the telescopes but its an impressive piece.

I've also ordered the adapter from APM for the Swaro 25-50x eyepiece.

Hopefully over the next couple of weeks, I can do some comparative reviews between the 2 zoom eyepiece on both my CPC 1100 and the 80mm refractor.

Here's some pics in the interim comparing the Swaro and Zeiss.

[jeelan]

incase anyone's wondering about the size of the eyepiece, here's a pic of the Zeiss eyepiece compared to the Vixen LVW 42mm..

[bytor666]

I don't know if you are interested, but I tried out the 3-6mm Nagler Zoom last night and it is excellent!

Just wanted to pass the word along...

[jeelan]

Thanks for that mate..

will have to try it out..

cheers
Jeelan

[AEAJR]

Any other comments on zooms. I have the Celestron 8-24. Have never seen or tried any of these "premium" eyepieces.

[Merlin66]

The Pentax SMC 8-24mm waterproof Nitrogen filled zoom is excellent!!
I bought, used and resold many (Moonfish, Baader, Meade, TV) before I had the opportunity to buy this Pentax.....
I use it for solar observing with the ED80/SM60 and the 102/ PST Mod - no need for anything else.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/203119-USA/Pentax_70509_SMC_8_24mm_Zoom_Eyepie ce.html

[Spaceport]

Hello.

Over the past 55 years we have had many visitors through our observatory facility in Port Macquarie NSW. A constant challenge has been the changing of eyepieces for the visitor. So our committee decided to look into the availability of zoom eyepieces. The best we have been able to find are limited in their zoom range and it would seem you guys are one step ahead and seem to be using spotter scope eyepieces with adapters for telescope viewing, interesting.

Why then spotter eyepieces and not camera zoom lenses with adapters fitted? Is it the lens aberration/distortion factor or something like that?

jeelan, have you got the adapter for the Ziess zoom lens yet, I may have missed a thread or 10 and if so how's it fitting in your telescope...is it 2" or 1/1/4 Adapter? If you are happy with your set up, we may just go the same way.

Regards Kevin

[AEAJR]

The 8-24 Celestron Zoom I am using is made for telescopes. The quality of view is, in my opinion, similar to a Plossl eyepiece. The only significant negative is that at 24 mm the AFOV is 40 degrees. At 8 mm it is 60 degrees. At 8 mm it tends to be a bit brighter in the center than at the edges but, in my opinion, quite usable.
http://agenaastro.com/celestron-8-24mm-zoom-eyepiece.html


The more premium zoom, at 4X the price, that seems to get excellent reviews is the Baader Hyperion Mark III 8mm to 24 mm zoom. This is a 1.25" eyepiece but comes with a 2" adapter that attaches to the eyepiece.
http://agenaastro.com/baader-8-24mm-mark-iii-hyperion-zoom-eyepiece.html

This has a bit wider AFOV, 50 going to 68 and is likely better to the edges than the Celestron.

These are both 1.25" eyepieces. I have not see or read of any 2" zoom eyepieces but I imagine they must exist.

[jeelan]

Hi Kevin,

Yes I've got the 2" adapter for the Zeiss zoom and I'm really enjoying it. Viewing time with it has been limited due to work commitments and the weather gods but the few times that its been clear and I've had my scope out, the Zeiss zoom is the only eyepiece i've used along with my LVW 42mm and thats been sufficient for both planetary and DSO's

I got my adapter from Markus at APM telescopes. Its a Baader adapter. Baader seem to do a lot with Zeiss for a number of adapter both ways (using Zeiss spotting scope eye pieces on astro scopes and using baader eyepieces in Zeiss Spotting scopes).

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/jeelanamin/Optics/Swaro%20Zoom%20and%20Zeiss%20Zoom/_DSC0203_zpsxvmczmif.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/jeelanamin/Optics/Swaro%20Zoom%20and%20Zeiss%20Zoom/_DSC0210_zpsa2rujdc0.jpg

I had also ordered a Zeiss Adapter when I purchased the spotting scope and that's arrived, I just havent picked it up yet so it'll be interesting to compare the 2.

I know i've only recently acquired the LVW eyepiece set but if in the next 3-4 months my opinion remains unchanged on the Zeiss zoom, I'm seriously contemplating selling this set (except the 42mm) and keeping only the Pentax XW's

Certainly from a public observatory, having a single eyepiece that covers a decent range seems more efficient than managing various eyepieces.

cheers
Jeelan