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Powermate™ vs. Barlow
To understand the Powermate, we must first understand the Barlow lens. Barlows amplify the power of a
telescope. They can be considered "focal reducers" for eyepieces, or "focal extenders" for objectives. Terence
Dickenson, in his Barlow test report in Sky and Telescope, July 1997, says: "Technology has erased the old
objections. A modern Barlow will not degrade your telescope's optics. Anyone telling you otherwise is using
outdated information.
Moreover, the highly regarded Nagler eyepieces and their clones have built-in Barlows, ample evidence that
the lens is not some detrimental intruder." Thanks, Terence, for laying the myth of the degrading Barlow to
rest. |
A high quality Barlow must be properly designed and manufactured in order to avoid compromising a telescope's color and spherical
aberration corrections. The "invisibility" of Tele Vue's 2-element Barlows has been noted in test reports in the astronomy
magazines. However, by the nature of its negative power lens, a Barlow will do more than just increase magnification, regardless
of the number of elements.
The diverging rays leaving the Barlow result in moving the exit pupil further out, thereby extending the eye relief. In short to
medium focal length eyepieces the change is not noticeable. However, in the case of long focal length eyepieces, the increase can
be significant and not without performance consequences.
Vignetting can occur due to the altered ray path, when the eyepiece's lenses are not large enough in diameter to allow all the
rays to make it through. Shorter Barlows, or ones with too much magnification, only exacerbate the problem because the ray path
entering the eyepiece is steeper.
We had to go beyond the Barlow concept to achieve the goal of a compact, high power, fully corrected image amplifier. The
Powermate™ consists of a negative doublet plus a positive "pupil-correcting" doublet. This 4-element system provides the
magnifying function of a Barlow without its limitations by restoring the field rays back to their original direction, as if the
Powermate™ were not there. The result is a pure magnification increase. Includes 1 1/4" adapter, brass clamp rings, filter threads Accepts PTR-4201 |
