Advice on Baader Hyperion or other eyepieces

[Chris Southby (Chris)]

Hi All
I am considering buying a couple of eyepieces and have a budget of around $400 (total). I am interested in looking at planets and DSO’s and have an 8inch Newtonian on an EQ5 mount. I usually observe from my suburban Canberra bask yard but good viewing sites are quite close by.
I have been looking at the Baader Hyperion eyepieces and they seem to be quite good value and also have the advantage of having adjustable focal lengths by using fine tuning rings. What would be the best focal lengths to get to start with, I will add to the collection of eyepieces as budget permits.
Has any one out there used these and what are your thoughts on their quality?
What other options are of better or similar quality in the roughly $200 each price range.

Cheers,

Chris

[Robert9 (Robert)]

Hi Chris,

I have a couple of Hyperions which I use with my SGT - a 21mm and an 8mm. The 21 mm gives me x71 and with a 68deg. AFOV it is great for larger clusters etc. I did try the 5mm but at 300x, I could not get a sufficently good image in the suburban polluted skies to make it worth while. So I swapped it for an 8mm which takes me up to 180x which is quite good for planet viewing in suburbia.

When I go bush, that will be a different matter - but I have to save for a few more bits and pieces before the 5mm gets a guernsey.

The lenses themselves are rather bulky and weigh in around 350-400g, however, they give excellent images.

I have pondered the use of rings to change focal lengths, but the thought of pulling the lens apart to insert a ring, or 2, or take them apart while out observing in the field sort of leaves me a bit reticent. If I was in an astro-shed, that would be a different matter. Nevertheless, it is an option well worth considering.

I guess you have looked up their other properties so I needn't repeat all that detail here.

In summary, I think they're good eps. excellent value for the money.

Robert

[wavelandscott (Scott)]

Originally Posted by Chris Southby

Hi All
I am considering buying a couple of eyepieces and have a budget of around $400 (total). I am interested in looking at planets and DSO’s and have an 8inch Newtonian on an EQ5 mount. I usually observe from my suburban Canberra bask yard but good viewing sites are quite close by.
I have been looking at the Baader Hyperion eyepieces and they seem to be quite good value and also have the advantage of having adjustable focal lengths by using fine tuning rings. What would be the best focal lengths to get to start with, I will add to the collection of eyepieces as budget permits.
Has any one out there used these and what are your thoughts on their quality?
What other options are of better or similar quality in the roughly $200 each price range.

Cheers,

Chris

The best advice (at least it matches my opinion) with respect to choosing eyepieces can be found here http://www.televue.com/engine/page.asp?cat=2

Even if you do not intend on buying a TV eyepiece, their website has lots of good information about selecting an eyepiece. I especially like the "small dob eyepiece" selection advice.

Cheers,

[Chris Southby (Chris)]

Thanks Guys
Still have a bit of saving till I get enough to buy the eyepieces so will keep researching and have a look through and maybe borrow some eyepieces at the local astromony society

Cheers

Chris

[Wavytone]

You should also take a look at the Orion Stratus' range.
Like the Hyperion they are similar to the Vixen LVW's, cheaper but not quite as good as the LVW's.

Hyperions have one specific feature for digiscoping with compact cameras - the eyelens end is threaded (inside the rubber eye ring) - this is for a camera adapter that screws on the end of the eyepiece and attaches a camera by the filter thread. The adapter and the rings to suit specific cameras are available.

[Jules76 (Julian)]

I'm still a "newbie" so take this with a grain of salt , but I spent over a week doing extensive research on the types of EP's available, what peoples recommendations were and most importantly I think, what I wanted from the EP. In the end I settled for the Hyperion.

My reasons, I wanted a really good quality EP which didn't cost the earth. I read HEAPS of reviews and people opinions on numerous forums and it came highly recommended everytime. Great quality EP's, up there with the Televue's but better priced. Would have loved to have gone for a Pentax or a Televue, but in the end the features of the Hyperion sold me at a fraction of the price.

The high FOV (compared to others around it's price) was a winner with me. After using the eyepieces which came with my Reflector for a while now which have a FOV of around 50, I knew I needed something bigger.

As Wavytone mentioned, the feature of being able to easily use it with Digital cameras with the use of other attachments. Great stuff as that's something I'm planning on doing later down the track.

Hyperion's also have fine tuning rings which you can use for example, turn a 8mm into a 6mm (using a 14mm ring) or 5mm (using a 28mm ring) or a 4.3mm (using a 14mm + 28mm ring). I admit I haven't really looked into how well this works, as I only found out about it a couple of days ago (plus it's something I'm not that concerned about for now) but it certainly looks interesting and worth looking into more.

And as for the price. I picked up an 8mm for $209 INCLUDING postage from Agena AstroProducts in the US (should be here Tuesday). I wanted to buy local but I couldn't find anywhere that had the 8mm in stock and for such a good price.

Like I said, take it with a grain of salt as I haven't got years of experience to go by, but I thought I'd give you my oppinion and reasoning for going with the Baader Hyperion's based on the extensive research I've done.

Feel free to shoot me down in flames experienced guys/girls.

[Wavytone]

You can still get the Vixen LVW's from http://www.kkohki.com/English/kkohki...ml#Vixen%20LVW for a little more than you paid - I recently bought a 5mm LVW for $268. They're still better than the Hyperions and Stratus, on par with the TV Panoptic according to reviews on www.cloudynights.com.