First Light:Orion Deluxe 2x Barlow 2"

[Tamtarn]

We've been waiting for a clear night for nearly 4 weeks. We had finally got rid of the smoke haze, then we had clouds and moonlight to contend with
Then out of the blue on Monday night we had good seeing conditions the moon wasn't rising until about midnight so we were able to get a few hours of observing.

We received our Orion Deluxe 2x Barlow 2" three weeks ago and this was our first chance to use it in our 12" Dob f5.

First try was with our Panoptic 27mm. Orion and Tarantula were spectacular and the barlow seemed to sharpen the edge of field just that little bit more. This combination gave us 68 degree FOV and 13.5 mag a very nice view indeed.

Then the combo we had been anxious to try. The Nagler 17mmT4 barlowed WOW !!! Orion...Tarantula...Tucanae were just beautiful. It was almost like seeing them for the first time. This combination gave us 82 degree FOV and 8.5 mag The vision was perfect no loss of contrast sharpness to edge of field and brightness... all excellent. We would have to say that in our opinion on this particular night this combo was on a par with the 7 & 10 XW's. In fact with the extra FOV maybe even better

Using the barlow with our Pano and Nagler has given us a great range of focal lengths. 27-17-13.5-10-8.5-and 7. With just 4 dedicated EP's and the Barlow.

This is a great barlow Highly recommended


Barb & David

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

Great report guys. It is a fantastic barlow.

IIRC the 27mm Panoptic vignettes in it somewhat (brightness drop-off approaching edge of field). This is probably specific to that Pano, because Dave 47tuc used his UO 2" barlow (same as the Orion Deluxe) with a 31mm Nagler no probs (see UO 2" barlow writeup under reviews). Maybe the TV Panoptic barlow interface is worth a try. Technically it should turn the barlow into a 2x Powermate - and they are not expensive either.

I've used the 17mm T4 + UO barlow combo myself and found it excellent also (and ridiculously heavy too). Lately I've been trying out the 20mm T5 in the same barlow and that's an absolute beauty too. Like you say, the 10mm XW has some competition now when more FOV is called for. But I think the effective FL of the barlowed 20mm is somewhere in the 9-9.4mm range, so the barlow works as a 2.1-2.2x with this EP. Ive measured the magnification more accurately with 13, 8 and 5mm Stratus EPs (used in 2" mode) and I got about 2.1x for those. If the barlow really worked as a 2x, your barlowed 17mm T4 should give exactly the same true FOV as the 10mm XW, but you will probably find it is a bit less.

[Tamtarn]

Steve we didn't notice any vignetting using the 27mm Pano with the barlow, in fact the barlow improved brightness and sharpness right to the edge of field of the Pano.

We did get a little kidney beaning due to the extra eye relief that the barlow creates when used with the 27mm Pano which has 19mm eye relief already. However it was so slight that it wasn't a concern and easily corrected once eye position was altered.

Thanks for the suggestion of the Panoptic Barlow Interface if we find we use this combination a lot we may consider one.

[astro_south (Andrew)]

Thanks for the report David and Barb. I am also in the market for a 2" barlow and I am glad to here good reports about the Orion as it is on my list of possibles. Nice to know that 31mm nag works nicely with the UO (and Orion Deluxe) - thanks Steve.

[Nordo]

Thanks for the review Dave.
I got a 2" Deluxe for Xmas, along with a 13mm Stratus. Still waiting for first light, but hoping to make it to Astroron's on the 20th Jan . We've had a lot of cloud the last few weeks.

[JethroB76 (Jeff)]

Have to agree, the views through the Orion Deluxe (thanks David ) have been very nice in combination with my Stratuses, though I haven't really had anything to compare it to

[Tamtarn]

Hi Jeff

Good to hear you are enjoying your new Barlow.