Baader Morpheus 17.5mm Telescope Eyepiece Unboxing
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ส.ค. 2024
- I have taken the plunge and spent more than £100 on an eyepiece for the first time. In this short video I unbox a Baader Morpheus 17.5mm eyepiece, which offers a 76 degree field of view and around 20mm of eye relief.
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Morpheus eyepieces are best bang for buck IMO using them for years.
You have made a very good choice Graham. I bought one and loved it so much that I now have the full range of 6. I now only use my Morpheus collection apart from a 40mm finder eyepiece. I only use the extension piece on the 4.5mm and 6.5mm. The winged eyecup is for a binoviewer.
Thanks, I spent ages researching the options and reading reviews. I should probably follow your lead and buy another focal length or two, and then retire some of my old EPs.
Hey, which one would you recommend to me as a beginner that’s upgrading his first eye piece for a f/15 mak.
I have 3 Baader Hyperions and I love them. I have the 10, 17 and 24 mm. Next one will be the 5mm (next month :p ) . All on a Celestron Evolution C6 :)
Hi Graham. You are going to become addicted to this 17.5 the first time you use it, and will find it difficult, then impossible not to buy another. Or, more likely, otherS. I have 3 Morphei (17.5, 12.5, 9) and their zoom cousin the Baader 8.24mm. All have that wonderful huge eye lens so you get that looking out a space port experience, supplemented by that incredible 76 degree FOV (in the Morphei). The 12.5 and, especially, the 9mm which flat out nails the wide FOV/high power sweet spot. For a quick set up session, I have come around to taking out just 2 EPs, the 17.5 for big chunk of night sky vastness and finder duties, and the Baader Mark IV zoom for variable image size and increasingly detailed views. That’s it. Just the 2. In all 3 Morphei, I get the same sublime sharpness/resolution…..impossibly pinpoint stars, lunar craters/mountain peaks and dragon back summit spines,, and outstanding contrast. If these Morphei aren’t perfect EPs, well….close enough. I use them in a C90 Mak, Stellarvue Access SV80ED, a 90mm/660 refractor, Celestron C6….and a few others, including my little 70AZ/900 “Kinda Sorta Galileo Experience” long tube refractor which is just, well, fun. So a wide range. Jackpot optics in all of them.
Please post your thoughts once you’ve done your first light with the 17.5 (good choice, first one I bought, too), really eager to see what you have to say.
I really enjoy your videos, you expansive knowledge of our hobby (way above mine), your easy conversational tone. I always take something worthwhile from each of them.
Best,
Doug in Oregon.
Hi Doug, it's always great to hear when other people recommend a piece of kit from their experience. I really like the 17.5 and am eye-ing another purchase. I can already recognise your experience of only ending up using 2 or 3 EPs - so far the stock 40mm Plossl to align my Evolution and then the 17.5mm Morpheus. For more power I have a 10mm SLV which I really like the idea of replacing it with a 9mm Morpheus to get that extra FoV. My only slightly negative experience was using the 17.5 for a daytime check in my C90 and GT81 - I struggled with eye position and saw what i thought was the orange "ring of fire". There is a long comment from another user who noted the same. I got more used to getting my eye position right and the problem was resolved, also as I'm almost exclusively a night-time user it hasn't been an issue. I still respect the views of that user though, who was dissapointed. The UK costs of the range is now high (£230) but if I rationalise some of my EP collection then a 2nd Morpheus can't be far away. Clear skies!
@@JenhamsAstro Hey Graham. The 17.5 is my go-to EP for both my 2” and 1.25” focuser; how many EPs have that kind of crossover versatility? My recommendation for your second Morpheus would be the 9mm. Fantastic EP. The Double Cluster is an explosion of stars of all kinds of sizes and magnitudes. Just phenomenal. Not sure how redundant the 9mm might be given that you already have a 10mm, though I’m sure that it doesn’t have a 76 degree (measured at 78 in a Cloudy Nights post). It’s that combination of super wide angle low power EP with high magnification. The 12.5 or 14 Morpheus are too similar to the 17.5 while tehe 9mm is an instantly noticeably different experiences. When I go to the DC or any open cluster (M52 comes to mind as I was working CASS last month), it’s an instant W.O.W.
As for the orange “ring of fire”…..I’ve never seen anything like this, day or night skies. So I can’t contribute anything here. Clear skies.
Doug
@@dougrennie4901 Thanks Doug, the 9mm will go top of the list! The SLV is a great EP with sharp views, 20mm eye relief and a small size, but the FOV is only 50 degrees. If I get the 9mm I’ll keep it and see how much use it gets.
@@JenhamsAstro hi graham have you already tried the 17.5 morpheus with a 2x barlow for the higher magnification?
@@dietgerherregodts2220 Not yet, I will try it but I wonder if the optical train might be unwieldy.
I own the complete set of the cousin to the Morpheus the Hyperion and there great I imagine the Morpheus are even better.
Looking forward to your videos using the new lens and scope. Cheers!
I've always had fairly pronounced long sightedness, all my eyepieces are long eye relief
The standard ones I've always found a strain to use, usually give away that come in a set or with the scope, keep a few good ones for eyepiece projection photography but I've never used them for visual
Yes, if they aren’t comfortable they don’t get used.
but how does it perform? I can see pictures of it on the website no need to show us the eyepiece, we need a review of the views though it not of it.
Hmm.. I'm a bit confused. How does that work if you have a 2" diagonal and the 1,25" nosepiece can't be taken off?. 1. won't the 1,25" nosepiece be to long for the diagonal and 2nd, will the 1,25" nosepiece not cut light away?
It slots into my 2” diagonal without any clash. I think the 2” diameter part is shorter than on other 2” EPs for this reason. I assume (hope!) that Baader have done the ray tracing but haven’t looked further into this aspect.
Hey, sir.
Was considering this eyepiece. Gonna go see if I can find your review of it. Sub’d!
Hey Graham have you tested the new lens yet? I'm also looking to buy new lenses for my evo and find this very interesting I hope you like the new evo I'm following this anyway kind regards
Hi Dietger, yes I have used it a couple of times as the nights get darker. So far I am very impressed. I’m getting used to finding the right eye position but once found the view was sharp and with comfortable eye relief. It’s not too heavy - I was concerned it might be. So far I’ve only used it in a 1.25” diagonal which felt fine. Great moon views last night with the Evo collimated, despite the low elevation.
@@JenhamsAstro ok that's good to hear I had already read about the right position to watch that this is a bit of a search. Had a few good nights here as well. in any case, have fun watching! until next greetings
Those foam plastic cushioning things are a bit like clouds!I must confess that the only clouds I'm interested in are exotic high altitude one's like Noculluient and Nacreous ones looks like Stratus today guessing a ceiling of about 800m?
Excellent eyepiece as well as the choice of. Graham, there's a claim that Baader Morpheus eyepieces are quite forgiving as for the kidney effect. Did You maybe check it out!? Other than that nice review as usually!!
They don’t suffer from kidney beaning
@@Astronurd Thanks a lot!!
Did you discover what that little metal clip is for? I have the 9mm Morpheus which also came with one of those clips but the paperwork/leaflet didn't explain what it was for.
I found this somewhat obscure explanation: www.baader-planetarium.co.uk/2020/03/19/that-baader-morpheus-metal-clip-thing/
@@JenhamsAstro : Thanks for the info....I would never have guessed their purpose.
10mm kellner FTW , For The Win, till you drop it, in a field at midnight.
I don’t know what a 10mm Kellner has to do with anything, but if you drop it in a field at midnight then it’s got luminous lettering on it so it’ll be easily spotted.
Right, time to hurt some feelings because i know too well in this hobby people are far too tribal and defensive when it comes to kit😂
When we were stuck in lockdown, these eyepieces were rarer than hen's teeth, after almost a year of sending emails to flo/rother valley optics and others for ETAs that came and went, some random seller on eBay who bought loads of astronomy equipment at the beginning of the pandemic and then sold all of his equipment when we were coming out of the second lockdown put the 12.5mm Morpheus after turning up a year after he ordered it on eBay for £120. Then i though, ok, it was said to be better than the 14mm, the 17.5mm was impossible to get a hold of so i thought i would give this one a try. He sold me it for £110 free delivery.
Great i thought.
Honestly, if i had bought it for the current prices, i would have hated myself if i couldn't send it back.
One testing it for months and months between Skywatcher Explorer 200p/Explorer 130p/Astromaster AZ90/ST80 my biggest issue was that during the daytime, the brighter the day became, the more washed out the image was, not blurred but very faint, as if the coatings became more illuminous the brighter the day became, sunny days was impossible to use.
The moon had a yellow or orange tint and there was a shadow when i took my eye off centre, it didn't move like kidney beaning, sometimes this happens in 82-degree eyepieces when you move in too far, the view is still there but looks a slightly different colour. The blue ring is normal in wide angle eyepieces but wow, that blue bright.
The eye relief was fine, the view felt a bit too fluid, like my eye was swimming in jelly but you got used to it, however the eye cup is the worst or laziest design flaw i have seen in a premium eyepiece.
I have used other morpheus to see if it was faulty but no, the same experience.
Then, i thought, i already own the 25mm Celestron X-cel LX so i bought the 12mm from China for half the price it was sold in the UK to compare (i bought the whole set after this except the 2.3mm because that's just a weird focal length for most telescopes, Celestron should have released a 3mm).
On using the same telescopes both day and night, the X-cel was obviously narrower, it showed a little more than 2/3rds of the field of view but oddly enough, i didn't feel the less field of view was as much as i thought it would be.
The view through the X-cel looked more neutral, the day test spanked the Morpheus which was washed out but the X-cel, while showing a little washed out was clearer, i could see things that were faint or not visible in the Morpheus from the Sunshine and the moon looked neutral grey and what i noticed is that the Morpheus wasn't as sharp as i initially thought across the field of view.
The Morphius became blurry about 70% from the centre, it was usable but noticeable. The X-cel was sharp almost right to the edge, maybe 98% but the tiny area that showed blurriness was usable, you only notice daytime, night time you likely wouldn't see it but you can see it in the Morpheus both day and night.
Then i looked up, went through forums to see if anyone else had any issues, came across some that said they were less than impressed but nothing specific until i found a post on a popular bird forum of another user with the same focal length also saying that the Morpheus yellows the view and has weird eye placement and takes away detail and they were asking for alternatives. The eye placement was fine for me except for what i sad above.
Then i came across the 13mm APM 100-degree eyepiece people were talking about on Cloudy Nights and for months i deliberated over it and tried to find a seller in the UK that stocks them, not easy but i found one and bought it.
This was the best eyepiece that i have ever used, both day and night the view was clearer, sharper across the full field and obviously much wider, around a degree wider but i am convinced it's more. This is sold as 13.5mm by stellarvue in the USA, it was only a hair less field of view than my 25mm X-Cel and a little window on a distant building less in my 24/68mm eyepiece.
The eye relief is less than both the X-cel and Morpheus but the full field is very easy to see, this took me by surprise because i have and use 82 degree eyepieces that are not comfortable and gave me eye strain from trying to see the edges etc. with my eye almost touching the glass but i had none of this with the APM, i looked into the eyepiece and i could look around, no kidney beaning, no black outs, no eye strain, no washed out image during the day or yellowing of the view, it looked neutral like the X-Cel and sharp to about 98% but still usable.
With glasses (varies depending on thickness) i could see about 95% of the field of view, so, more than an 82 degree eyepiece, i pulled my head back to see how far i could increase eye relief and how much field of view i lost, one night i was looking at Jupiter in a narrow opening at about 30cm away, not something i would do when not testing but quite good considering some eyepieces go black when you pull your head too far away. I matched the field of view of the Morpheus and my head was further back slightly than when looking at the Morpheus.
This is why i love the APM eyepieces, they are not finicky to use, you look, you see and a couple of weeks later, i bought the 7mm and compared that eyepiece with my 7mm X-CEL, both excellent eyepieces but seeing the moon, with plenty of space around it at 143X in the APM is just spectacular.
Thats 3 eyepieces, X-Cel LX much cheaper than the other 2 and stand on their own against the much more expensive competition, albeit at a narrower field of view and the APM is not much more than the new high prices of the Morphius with a somewhat adjustable eye relief at the cost of shrinking field of view.
This comment should have been posted on a forum but i only use them for other people's reviews, never to my post own, though i do it on TH-cam from time to time, plus, i can rarely be bothered with people who become petty and try to round on you like hyenas *because thou shalt not speak ill of popular brand names* and then you get censored when by the mods when you call them out on it because for some strange reason, people get very testy easily in this hobby.
Thanks for giving your feedback on the Morpheus. I’ve also noticed the yellow for daytime viewing unless I get my eye in a very certain position but to be honest this doesn’t bother me too much as I’m a nighttime observer and it hasn’t been an issue with the moon. Interesting to hear about the APMs. I understand your point about the forums, sometimes conversations can get more heated than they should, which is a shame as it can result in a more narrow range of viewpoints.
@@JenhamsAstro Been awhile and done some more comparisons, nothing has changed but the X-Cel/Morpheus has one benefit over the APM in 2 inch diagonals.
All 3 eyepieces focus fine in 1.25 inch diagonals with and without barlow lenses but because most 2 inch diagonals have a high hat 2 inch to 1.25 adapter, this pushes focus further inwards and while i had no issue with using both the APMs and Morpheus in 2 inch mode, the APM ran out of focus while the X-CEL/Morpheus was fine using the high hat adapter.
This is likely my my Ostara 400/80 telescope because it has an extra section to add a finderscope which another version of the same telescope doesn't and a 2X 2 inch barlow doesn't have enough inward focus travel either when in front of the diagonal or directly inserted into the diagonal and to get 2X, you need to screw the 2 inch barlow lens nosepiece onto the diagonal and use the 2X barlow lens tube as an extension tube because it brings the focus much further out.
Thought this would be useful for anyone who comes across my comment regarding these eyepieces and to test them on their refractors to make sure they come to focus. Newtonians are unaffected from my tests.
@@JenhamsAstro Another minor update, something i do from time to time if i have anything useful to add or something i first reported on becomes more clearer.
When i posted above about the view being fluid, like swimming in jelly, i recently came across other posts that had a similar opinion, apparently, the eyepieces have a parallax effect, not knowing what it was, i found a gif to show what it was compared to none parallax, in simple terms, the view moves when you move your eye or head, whereas none paralax, the view is static regardless of where you move your eye or head, not really noticeable at night but daytime, cant avoid it because there is just too much to look at, haven't seen this in other eyepieces but now i know what its called. Whether someone calls it an aberration is open for debate. Screwing a DSLR onto it, this effect doesn't happen.
When i posted about the APM 13mm XWA running out of inward focus travel in a 2inch diagonal in 1.25inch high hat adapter, this also happens with the 17.5mm Morpheus too as it requires more inward focus than the other Morpheus eyepieces, makes me feel better that its not just the 13mm, ha.
The APM XWA are my favourite eyepieces, i now own all of them except the 3.5mm, the view feels much more stable (static) than the Morpheus, the Baader Hyperion Zoom, while narrower also feels more stable than the Morpheus but comparisons are on going with a Celestron Zoom 8-24 but i did notice one aberration with the Celestron zoom, not easy to reproduce, a bright light (reflection probably) appears randomly then disappears, seen it in a video on here on the moon and only happens on bright objects or daytime and a DSLR attached picks it up when it happens, other than that, the Baader and Celestron are quite close in performance.
These tests are done in the above telescopes but also newer F4 telescopes (Zhumel 100mm and SvBony 50mm finder guide scope with their dielectric diagonal), compact telescopes, great for travel.