William Optics Binoviewers -- The best budget binoviewer available?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ส.ค. 2024
- In this video I unbox and take a look at the William Optics binoviewers, a great budget binoviewer. These are possibly the best budget binoviewer available right now. Other higher end models, the like the Denks or Baader Mark IVs will give you a slightly higher quality view, though the main benefit of the higher end models is a wider overall field of view and more options like power switches, etc. The Williams Optics version is light weight though, and gets you most of the way to the view in the higher end models. Binoviewers are fantastic for viewing the moon and planets, and great for many deep sky objects too, but you do get a slightly dimmer view through them, so faint objects may be harder to see through the binoviewers.
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Thank you!
I appreciate what you do for us, always always since a kid, love and was always in awe of the heavens, I was always looking up into the night sky. Plz continue these videos I like it so very much. God bless you and your family and thx again
There are a bunch of videos I want to do but I’ve been focusing on my other channel lately and trying to post there once a week. Hopefully I can get ahead enough on that channel to get back to doing more videos on this one again.
I agree with your video description. After seeing the planets and the moon with this Willian Optics binoviwer, my jaws dropped while saying: wow !
Yeah binoviewers really create a whole new experience.
Looking with both eyes gives an entirely different experience. Looking at stars can also be more spectacular. Now if you want to view DSO in detail then classical single eye with a high end telescope set up is the way to go.
DSOs can still look really nice in binoviewers, especially bright ones like the Orion Nebula, but the light loss from binoviewers does certainly limit your ability to see detail in fainter ones. Though a bigger telescope can of course offset some of that.
Thanks for making me spend $268!!
Wait until you try the money pit that is astrophotography. That is a rapid way to part with a lot of money.
I Should get these for my Celestron XLT
Thank you!
Thanks for the informative video, it's very well done. I would like to know what connections you have there between the diagonal and binoviewer? All I can make out is the Baader quick changer.
Baader has the quick change system so the one end screws to the diagonal and the other with an adapter to the binoviewers. The baader stuff is all t threads so you have to get an adapter for the binoviewers if you want to use them that way. I’m currently just using them with a nosepiece since I don’t have the quick change adapters on any of my other diagonals so it was a pain to have to swap those and getting adapters for every diagonal and eyepiece holder is expensive and a pain too. Lol.
Good morning. Watching your video for a second time. Quick question….do you have to adjust each eyepiece individually to focus? Thanks, Mark
I focus like with regular binoculars. Use the telescope focuser to get one eye in focus then adjust the focus in the other eyepiece to get them both in focus. You can always slide an eyepiece slightly out of the eyepiece holder if you need a larger range of focus.
do you know how to get a manual for this bino? I'm using a Nexstar 8SE with focal reducer and can focus on nearby terrestrial objects but not on sky objects...they are just out focal range...what to do?
I’m not sure where to get a manual if they don’t have one on the WO website. You can try contacting them. They are usually reasonably responsive. Without the focal reducer on your 8SE it will focus without any barlow or anything attached. With the focal reducer it is tricky since distance from the reducer is really important. You need to use as short of a diagonal as possible (like not using a visual back and then inserting the diagonal into that but rather one that threads onto the reducer). I would try to make sure you can reach focus without using a diagonal ( straight through) with the binoviewers first and then go from there. I’m pretty sure I was able to reach focus with a reducer on a smaller SCT with them but can’t remember my exact configuration. I have an 8” Edge HD now and don’t have a reducer for that version. Not that it would help since it is a completely different kind of reducer than works on the regular 8” scts.
How would you "synchronize" the zoom of two independent eyepieces?
Some zooms have clicks at set focal lengths so it is easy to get both at say 10mm or whatever. Otherwise it can be tricky but easier with practice.
Was planning on these to use with a Quark Solar eyepiece. But eyepieces in range of 32mm is prefered for that. Don't really want vignetting to occur. Since this has a multiplier with it, does it mean the 20mm eyepieces for it end up being something like 10mm?
It is a 1.6x barlow but you might be able to use a 1.25x one depending on the scope. I think the 1.6x lens would make the 20mm eyepiece closer to 12.5-13 mm. The baader max bright binoviewer would allow you to use a 32mm eyepiece I believe but you would still need to use a barlow lens on the front.
How are the individual eyepiece focus adjusters on the William Optics eyepiece holders?
They are ok. The threads on the them are fine enough that a small turn of the holder won’t throw your focus way out of whack. There is no way to lock the focus position though so sometimes it is easier to just crank them down tight and then focus both eyes by raising one of the eyepieces up a little in the holder so both will focus together.
What attracted me to these binoviewers is their light weight and size. Do you have a recommendation for higher quality bino viewers that are lightweight? thanks, Mark
People seem to like the Baader Maxbright BInoviewers a lot though I’ve not tried them. They are also lighter in weight. I’ve used the Denk IIs and those are great but certainly heavier.
@@EarthtoSpaceScience Thank you for your help. I ordered the William Optic binos after watching your review. I have a grab and go 72mm Astro-Tech scope that I am trying to keep as light as possible. Plus, my only real astronomy interests are the Moon and planets. Therefore I think they will be great for that. 👍
Will this binoviewer work in my skywatcher startravel 6" refractor? It has a focal length of 700mm. Thanks.
Refractors can be tricky and depend on the focuser. Probably they will reach focus with the included 1.6x Barlow lens attached. It just depends on how much travel the focuser has. You may need to pick up the optional 2x Barlow lens are just use any other Barlow you may have. There will be a way to get them to reach focus but it is hard to say exactly what it will be. The diagonal can matter too. They might work in a 1.25” diagonal since the light path is shorter but not a 2” one which has a longer light path, for example.
I have old SCT Celestron celestar 8. Since I can't go more than 20mm eyepiece, is it good option for deep sky observation ?
It is a little more limiting on some deep sky observations because of that. It still works well on a lot of them, but obviously the larger ones aren’t going to fit in the field of view. Even so, looking at the Orion Nebula with the BInoviewers is still a treat. But larger star clusters that don’t fully fit in the field of view don’t always look as good as they do with a larger field of view eyepiece or telescope setup.
Thanks for the video.. Looking this purchase. A couple of questions. I've seen reference to using the Televue Powermate as well (for magnification boost).. thoughts? Also, have a SkyWatcher 120 Esprit and 120ED.. I believe these would work?
The powermates are great. I have the 2.5x one. I’ve never used it with the binoviewers though. I’m sure it would be great visually, but I try to keep the binoviewers as close to the diagonal as possible so as not to creat as large of a moment arm if they are in top something like a powermate. Now that wouldn’t matter so much with a larger scope but with my little C6 it makes balancing problematic. With those large refractor you have that probably wouldn’t be an issue. The WO binoviewers should work fine in those refractors though you will probably only reach focus with the included 1.6x Barlow lens unless the focus travel range is unusually large. I haven’t tried one yet but the new Baader Maxbright II binoviewers look like they are pretty nice but more pricey. But you could use a pair of 24mm pan optics in those without any vignetting.
I acquired a WO Bino Viewer to use with my SCT but i am selling that now as I want to use a Refractor for a faster setup. Is there a recommended aperture size for a Refractor that gives good views with the Bino Viewers, or a Focal lenght they work best with ?
Thanks for you excellent review.
I've used these with a 70mm refractor with a 420mm focal length and they worked fine on the moon and planets. The binoviewers will dim your view somewhat, so for deep sky objects maybe 90mm or larger would be best. Some refractors allow you to shorten the tube in one way or another to use binoviewers without a barlow lens, but most will require you to use a barlow lens. Usually the included 1.6x lens will allow these to reach focus in a refractor, but of course that shrinks your field of view as well. Sometimes using a 1.25" prism diagonal can help, since those have a much shorter light path and can allow you to reach focus without a barlow in some setups. It just depends on how much focus travel a given telescope has.
Super dear
Thanks for the great informative video. i'm using skywatcher 102 apo refractor (f10) but am now planning to buy a 12 inch dobsonian f5, will these work with the dobsonian with the supplied barlow?
Hard to say, but my initial guess is probably not unless it is one of the skywatcher flex tube dobsonians were the secondary cage and slide up and down. When I had a 10" f5 dobsonian I was able to use my DenkII binoviewers I had at that time. However, with that setup, they provided an extension tube to put between the barlow lens and the binoviewer to allow them to reach focus. Those flextube dobsonians allow you to drop down the secondary cage a few inches to allow binoviewers to reach focus without a barlow lens at all from what I understand. Reflectors are the most tricky of telescope types when it comes to reaching focus with binoviewers, but those types of dobs seem to work the best, though I've never personally used one. It really comes down to the type of focuser and amount of focuser travel. You might need an extension tube for the WO binoviewers or a 2x instead of 1.6x barlow. It can be a lot of trial and error with reflectors and binoviewers.
@@EarthtoSpaceScience thanks for taking the time to reply :-) I will save up for a truss tube 12 inch skywatcher dobsonian as I've read good reviews about them and try on that. They're a bit more expensive then solid tube ones....at least where I live in Sydney, Australia.
What type of lens have inside of the bino is APO or TRIPLET APO optics
There are no lenses inside the binoviewers, it just a set of prisms.
@@EarthtoSpaceScience ,i know but the lenses they have diferent Optics
Deciding between this model and Baader . Anyone have any feedback please?
these unfortunately don't work when the telescope has not enough back focus, like a PST. Do you know what adapter can be used to move the back focus further?
With any refractor or similar type setup including a PST, it is tricky. The 1.6x Barlow lens that is included will help them reach focus in most scopes but not all, and a 2x Barlow can help. You can buy a thread on 2x Barlow lens for these binoviewers from agena Astro and other places. Inserting these into a regular 2x Barlow lens will work too. I don’t know what will work in a PST but would try a 2x Barlow first. Of course putting these in a Barlow and then on the back of a PST will probably make balancing it quite a bit harder.
@@EarthtoSpaceScience I happen to have a cheap bino that comes with a 1.85x threaded barlow, it works!
Hi, can start with an cheeper bino with the 1.85x Barlow or can buy the siebert 1.3 adapter. I have no idea which is better for my PST? And is the Barlow exactly 1.85 x the eyepiece? Thanks !
I have no idea if the seibert barlow will work with the PST but for the other I think in that scope it should be close to 1.85x if you use that one. It varies with the scope type. With scopes like SCTs that focus by moving the primary mirror the magnification varies because the focal length changes. So the barloe might work exactly as specified but you might have a different focal length and a somewhat different magnification than what you might expect.
daslolo hi, andre. I want to ask you if the bino and 1.85x Barlow works for pst? However , pst's can be vary verry much I believe. Therefore , I want to ask you what the real magnification is with the 1.85 x Barlow and 2x 32 mm eyepiece ? ( translate in single pst magnification) If its too highe-then I think the siebert 1.3x corrector is better for my " medium powered" pst. ( and maybe also for you) Thanks for the tip!
Would it be good with SW Mak 127?
They should work fine with a Mak. Any Mak or Cat should be able to reach focus just fine. However, sometimes you lose some aperture because the focal length is longer when using the binoviewers which can degrade the view a bit. So it is often a good idea to use the included Barlow lens even if you don’t need it to reach focus, especially when looking at planets, so the scope operates at full aperture.
Would these work with maks?
Yes, they will easily come to focus in any telescope that has a moveable mirror like an SCT or Mak since the focus range is so large.
I am shopping around for a binoviewer and I was seriously considering this one.
The other one I was considering is the Orion Premium Linear binoviewer (red/blk one for $500).
Any thoughts on which one is the better purchase?
Much thanks! :)
I haven’t tried the linear binoviewers. Reviews I have seen are mixed (mainly because they are limited in total field of view). Though you have the same issue with the WO ones in a refractor since you have to use the Barlow lens.
I personally prefer the techno sky linear binoviewer (same one as orion, just from lunt) but same optics etc.. Anyway, for me, since I have a few different scopes, (Newtonian, refractor, and mak) it's nice being able to use the techno sky on all of them without a barlow/ or accessories.. and as long as you use eyepieces under 17.3mm you'll get full fov from 82° eyepieces..i use a set of the 82° 16mm or 7mm Nirvanas.. they are absolutely perfect, both in views, shape, and size for bino-viewing.. plus they were the most reasonably priced. I think I paid roughly 150 dollars for a pair. But they are hard to find in the USA for whatever reason. I had to buy from a dealer in the uk. Shipping was about 20 dollars.
so they are still much cheaper than something like a tele vue nagler.. and people that have done side by side comparisons; say there is little difference between the two. Except price! A pair of naglers will cost you $600 plus. The only downside of the linear ones is it becomes difficult, if not impossible to use larger made eyepieces due to their shape etc. But i tried both the wo, celestron, and the linear models.. and the linear ones were my favorite. For many reasons, but mostly ease and versatility. Until I can afford a binoviewer from Vernerscope, the techno sky (orion linear) are an awesome option. Definitely recommend! They are constantly backordered at orion. But lunt carries them as well, (same price) and they usually have a few in stock. Good luck!
The 2x WO barlow that is sold separately is terrible with chromatic aberration and best avoided.
Hi!
I just bought the Olivon Binoviewer, and it's shipping from the US to Sweden where I live. This binoviewer is said to work especially for spotting scopes, which I have.
I asked them if it will focus to infinity and they said yes. I own a couple of really nice eyepieces like Pentax XW:s. Now ofcourse I will have to buy one more of each, IF the binoviewer performs well. What are your thoughts on this? Do you have any experience in Binoviewing with spotting scopes?
The waiting is the hardest part :)
I’ve heard good things about that binoviewer in it being similar quality to the William optics one. Spotting scopes can be tricky since they have less available back focus a lot of times so this one probably has a short light path. If it doesn’t reach focus then you can probably by a lower power Barlow lens. I have a thread on one I can use that is 1.25x allowing it to reach focus in some scopes without boosting power to much.
@@EarthtoSpaceScience Thank you for your answer.
I have tried a barlow before on my scope but it just had the opposite effect: I couldn't reach focus to more than a 100 meters :(. Am I doing something wrong?
I really don’t know. I’m. It that familiar with spotting scopes. I have my Televue ranger which I use as both a spotting scope and telescope but that has the sliding draw tube so has a big focus range. I know a lot of spotting scopes have more limited focus range so it might be that you have to do one configuration for night sky viewing and another for daytime terrestrial viewing and may not be able to use the same setup for both to get everything to focus. Binoviewers can be a pain to setup even with just regular telescopes and a lot of trial and error can be involved until you figure out how to get everything to focus right. The type of eyepieces you use matter a lot too as every eyepiece will have different focus requirements. So things might not work well with one set of eyepieces but work fine with another. It is always a challenge until you figure out what works with a particular scope.
Hi, thanks for your video. I'm a beginner so plse forgive these seemingly naive questions. Did you say that I would have to purchase two eyepices to be able to use these binoviewers? I have a 9.25" SCT celestron scope. I wear glass, will these viwers be suitable for me to use? Thanks
They come with two 20mm eyepieces and since you don’t need to use the included Barlow with an SCT you effectively have a pair of 20mm eyepieces without the Barlow and something like 12mm eyepieces if you thread on the Barlow lens. The eye relief is pretty good but I prefer to use them without my glasses even though I have severe astigmatism.
do those eyepieces have a diopter? Is that necessary for these?
They are just standard 1.25” eyepieces. You can adjust the focus either eyepiece holder or if you need to, raise one eyepiece a little in the holder so you can focus with both eyes. Any 1.25” eyepiece between maybe 8-20mm will generally work well with these. These cheap binoviewers are not usually going to have quite as good collimation as higher end units, so eyepieces below 12mm may be more problematic to use. So it often is better to use a barlow lens in front of the binoviewers than to try and use 6-10mm eyepieces for high power.
@@EarthtoSpaceScience Thanks for the reply. Sounds like its still a fairly good deal. The other option I have locally is the Celestron Bino's, but they are the same price as this kit and they dont come with eyepieces or the Barlow. I wonder how the quality of those stack up to these WIlliams.
Hi, buy a cheep binoviewer from AliExpress with the 1.85x Barlow sounds great to use with the Coronado pst! But, what are the advange of the siebert OSC 1.3 corrector compere to that? Thanks for the golden tip!
Main difference will just be the field of view. The lower power one will give you a bigger field of view which you may or may not care about. The PST is small so I would consider the weight differences. I don't know what the seibert one weighs. Also if it raises the binos higher up from the diagonal it makes it harder to balance the scope so the length of the barlow can be important too for small scopes. Though I guess with the sun you aren't having to pan around a lot and can lock things down pretty well so maybe it won't matter much.
Thanks! Then I think it's best to start with the short version. And if I not satisfied for some reason, I will give the siebert corrector a try
Hi ! I would like to combine this binoviewer with a Newtonian 8'' (skywatcher). What is your opinion ?
These binoviewers should work as long as you use the 1.6x Barlow that comes with it. If you have one of the skywatcher dobs that are collapsible, then if you lower the secondary cage about 4” (maybe less) you should be able to reach focus without the 1.6x Barlow attachment. I think the focal ratio needs to be f 4.7 or longer for the William optics binoviewers to be able to reach focus without the Barlow lens (if you can lower the secondary) AND not chop off any of the light cone. You should generally always be able to reach focus with the barlow attachment without any issues though.
These binoviewers should work as long as you use the 1.6x Barlow that comes with it. If you have one of the skywatcher dobs that are collapsible, then if you lower the secondary cage about 4” (maybe less) you should be able to reach focus without the 1.6x Barlow attachment. I think the focal ratio needs to be f 4.7 or longer for the William optics binoviewers to be able to reach focus without the Barlow lens (if you can lower the secondary) AND not chop off any of the light cone. You should generally always be able to reach focus with the barlow attachment without any issues though.
Were your binoviewers collimated when you received them? My issue with these and the TS units is that I’ve heard they arrive out of collimation and they aren’t able to be collimated by the user
My current units arrived collimated. I had a different pair several years ago that were very slightly out of collimation but I never had trouble merging the images. Probably the best bet is to make sure you pick up a pair from a place where you can return them easily if they are out of collimation.
Earth to Space Science Thanks, how about do they have individual eyepiece focus?
Yes, you can rotate the eyepiece holders to focus. Another thing with the collimation is that the eyepiece holders use a compression ring like a typical diagonal does. So, that can shift the eyepiece a bit to one side or the other especially when you rotate the eyepiece to focus. Eyepieces with undercuts might be more likely to end up skewed slightly when tightened down. If you have a collimation issue you may be able to loosen one eyepiece and adjust it a bit to help merge the images.
Earth to Space Science Thanks, I’ve heard the undercut issues which is why I’m going to use my 14mm Morpheus and buy a twin
Have you heard that they make a T-2 Adapter so you can use the WO Binoviewer with a Baader T-2 diagonal? This eliminates some additional light path
hii.. i have Meade LX65 8" telescope with 2034mm facal length .. could this work on my telescope ??
They work great in any SCT. You will be able to use them with and without the thread of Barlow lens so you will get magnifications around 110x (without) and 175x (with the 1.6x barlow lens) straight out of the box. You can also put them in any other barlow lens you have. They will also work if you use a reducer lens on your scope to get a lower magnification and wider field of view.
@@EarthtoSpaceScience awesome!! thank u for the information ...