Celestron Ultima 65 meets Baader Hyperion Zoom (1 Viewer)

[jcwu88]

Hello, everyone,

I just got my Celestron Ultima 65 spotting scope. It is smaller and lighter than I expected.
It comes with a 7-21mm zoom eyepiece (which is very similiar to Orion Explorer II 7-21mm zoom). The eyepiece has a 35mm thread to attach the scope body.
Optically, this zoom works fine at 21mm (18x), clear and sharp to 80% edge. The image degrades after 30X. Above 40X, the eye relief is short so I could not see the whole FOV (I wear glasses.)
The FOV is very narrow -- the common drawback of low-end zoom ep. Feel like looking through pinhole at 55X.
At high power, the purple CA is noticable.

Is that all about Ultima 65? Not really.....

I have one Baader Hyperion 8-24mm zoom. As the manual's description, the Hyperion zoom can use on Ultima! So I give it a try.
Hyperion zoom fit perfectly on the Ultima body.
The image is "wow"-- wide, crisp and vivid color. I could not believe it is the same scope I look before. Image is excellent from 24mm to 16mm. A little dim at 8mm but is still acceptable.
How a good eyepiece change performance so much!!
Really nice to have Baader with Ultima. Especially for their price :t:

 

[BrianInnes]

Hello, everyone,

I just got my Celestron Ultima 65 spotting scope. It is smaller and lighter than I expected.
It comes with a 7-21mm zoom eyepiece (which is very similiar to Orion Explorer II 7-21mm zoom). The eyepiece has a 35mm thread to attach the scope body.
Optically, this zoom works fine at 21mm (18x), clear and sharp to 80% edge. The image degrades after 30X. Above 40X, the eye relief is short so I could not see the whole FOV (I wear glasses.)
The FOV is very narrow -- the common drawback of low-end zoom ep. Feel like looking through pinhole at 55X.
At high power, the purple CA is noticable.

Is that all about Ultima 65? Not really.....

I have one Baader Hyperion 8-24mm zoom. As the manual's description, the Hyperion zoom can use on Ultima! So I give it a try.
Hyperion zoom fit perfectly on the Ultima body.
The image is "wow"-- wide, crisp and vivid color. I could not believe it is the same scope I look before. Image is excellent from 24mm to 16mm. A little dim at 8mm but is still acceptable.
How a good eyepiece change performance so much!!
Really nice to have Baader with Ultima. Especially for their price :t:

Interesting. Is the Celestron Ultima a plain glass (I mean non ED) scope? If so it's interesting to see how upgrading the eyepiece can make such a difference.

 

[jcwu88]

It is non-ED scope. (There is CA at high power zoom)
The most improved part is the view angle.

 

[rmel66]

Celestron just came out with a 65mm ED scope using the same eyepiece arrangement. Would be interesting to see how the new scope matches up with the Hyperion Zoom.

Rmel66

 

[FrankD]

Thanks for the tip. I have the 65 Ultima (respectable image quality for the price even with the standard zoom). I tried all of my current eyepieces and nothing fits. However, I might have to take a peek at that Baader you mentioned.

 

[FrankD]

I know this is an old thread but I was curious if anyone knows of some type of adapter where I could try standard 1.25" astro eyepieces on the Ultima. Maybe I am way off base but would is just need to have a 35 mm thread on one end and a "sleeve" on the other for the astro eyepieces to fit in?

 

[PYRTLE]

I certainly would have thought that Celestron market exactly what you require as a standard accessory so as to fit astro (1 1/4" ) eyepieces.

 

[FrankD]

Pyrtle,

Thanks. Surprisingly I did not think to email Celestron about the issue. I know I have seen various threads discussing adaptor rings to fit certain eyepieces on certain scopes. I just wasn't sure if anyone who had experience with this could suggest a specific site that sold these or could possibly direct me to a specific adaptor.

Thanks again.