Baader Fluorite Flatfield Converter (FFC) 4x - 8x Barlow

4x - 8x - the worlds best Barlow lens.

For the first time in astronomical history, a fully multicoated astronomical barlow lens has been designed with multiple CaF2 Fluorite elements (real CaF2 - not common ED Glass!). The result is a stunning performer. This is not a simple barlow lens at all. The FFC optical design provides a flat field, covering a 90mm circle with apochromatic correction from 3x to 8x focal extension. This unique design works equally well on all optical systems - be it f 4.5 newtonians, f8 apochromatic refractors, or f10 Schmidt-Cassegrains.

The Baader trademarked Astro T-2 System provides each and every adapter in order to use the CaF2 Flatfield-Converter in conjunction with a widest array of telescopes, SLR or Digital cameras, eyepieces and all related equipment. A separate group of, Changers, T-Rings and 2" adapters is available to offer unequalled performance for medium format cameras or 2" eyepieces.

The sharpest you have ever seen!

Calcium Fluorite (CaF2 ) helped to create the latest generations of Microchips, being the predominant optical crystal to enable perfect color correction and submicron resolution for the worlds most expensive microlithography lenses (and being the costliest optical material at the same time).

The same CaF2 enables us to produce super-sharp amateur optics with a level of performance unheard of before. Calcium Fluorite is known as the heart of the legendary Zeiss APQ apochromatic refractors. Being the authorized service for Carl Zeiss astro amateur products, and knowing about all the designs that Zeiss had in store for the astronomical community - we took this level of performance a step forward by actually producing those accessories one by one that were designed by Zeiss engineers as future generation of astronomical accessories.

The Fluorite Flatfield Converter

The Fluorite Flatfield Converter (FFC) is designed by one of the APQ optical inventors. It provides a diffraction limited, apochromatic flat field over a 90mm circular format. It will work equally well for a SLR-Camera and (if used on a planet for instance), it provides 10 times higher linear resolution than the best 4 mm Carl Zeiss Abbé projection eyepiece.

You can use the FFC equally well as a super sharp visual barlow lens (even in front of our giant binocular) with a focal extension range from 3 x up to 8 x, depending on the accessories / extensions used. It will be the sharpest Barlow lens you have ever used. All optical surfaces are made to the highest existing standards with 1/10 wave accuracy, in order to not disturb the wavefront of even the most discriminating telescope optics.

You may have tried a lot of things to receive a large image scale with your telescope; you may have used even the best of all existing barlow lenses - or the most incredible eyepieces for eyepiece projection.

There has been nothing in existence so far like the FFC because nobody dared to fully address the problem by using worlds most expensive generated crystal. Only the use of this extreme material provides that extra degree of freedom for the optical designer, namely to maintain apochromatic color correction, while supplying a flat field over a 90mm circle, this has to be tried to be believed!

Some items that are showing as in stock are in stock at our holding warehouses, not at the shop. To double check the stock levels at the shop, please contact us on 01909774369 or sales@rothervalleyoptics.co.uk.

The delivery times for most items is 1 - 2 days but again, please double check stock levels on important orders before placing an order via the website.

The delivery costs for courier next day are for mainland UK only. If you live in the Scottish Highlands/Islands, Channel Islands or Northern Ireland, then a shipping surchage will apply. please contact us for prices. Smaller items can still go 1st class via Royal Mail.

Please note that if you are wanting to take advantage of our Saturday and Sunday timed services or next day pre 12 or pre 10:30 services, you MUST check that the stock is here at the shop before placing orders. Also, orders using the Saturday and Sunday services must be placed before 1pm the previous working day. Also, please remember to check that the stock is here at the shop before placing orders. If the stock is not at the shop, we won't be able to ship on any of the timed services. 

Please note International customers will need to contact us for a shipping price prior to ordering via the website. We don't ship all items internationally. It is at our discretion what we ship outside of the UK. This all depends on the size and weight of the items. Please get in touch with us for any postage costs. Please note we do NOT ship telescopes or heavy items outside of the UK. This is due to massive postage costs and problems regarding returns.

If you have any questions regarding stock levels or delivery, please get in touch.

Zygo Interferometer Testing For ED Refractor Telescopes!

We are extremely pleased to announce our Zygo Interferometer is now installed and ready for use! Our experienced staff can test refractor lenses up to 120mm aperture and provide a comprehensive 2 page report showing the optical quality and Strehl ratio, plus much more information. We are using the very latest Zygo MX software to provide a more detailed report compared to other standard reports.

The interferometer is essentially a measuring instrument. Within the interferometer is a calibrated laser that is pointed through the optical test surface, then onto a high quality reference sphere, then back through the test subject then to an internal camera which gives us the measurement on the screen. From this, we can adjust the position of the test optic and the reference sphere to obtain a perfectly calibrated system. The more central the laser to the test optic and then on return, the better and more accurate reading and measurement we can take. This takes a lot of adjustment to get the best results from the optical surface. Once the measurement has been taken, we are provided with a series of results that show the optical quality of the surface plus other information. Continue reading for an explanation of the individual values and you can also see a test report that was done on one of our RVO Horizon 60 OTAs. 

We are offering certain telescopes with a Zygo test at an extra cost. Mainly ED doublets and triplets. All available telescopes with a Zygo test report are listed here. Just select Zygo Test Report from the drop down box at the top of the listing and we will test the optics in house and provide a full 2 page report with your scope. This will show you the optical quality of your telescope optics. We can also offer this service on your refractor telescope. Please get in touch for more details about this. 

At Rother Valley Optics, one thing we pride ourselves on is customer service and quality of our equipment. When we test your telescope, we will ensure that it is of the highest quality otherwise, we will reject the scope under our strict quality control and test another model for your peace of mind. One of the main values to look at when testing a refractor is the Strehl ratio. The higher this number, the higher quality lens you have. At Rother Valley Optics, we will guarantee the highest possible Strehl ratio for your telescope.  We will aim to provide 0.95 Strehl or higher on Takahashi, RVO Horizon, William Optics and many more! Generally, the higher the Strehl ratio, the lower the Astigmatism and Coma meaning a better image quality from your instrument. 

Other measurements such as the PV and RMS are important too. With these measurements, the lower the number the better as it shows less curvature on the lens. The flatter an optical lens, the better it will perform. The PV rating (Peak To Valley) is a measurement from the highest point (Peak) to the lowest point (Valley). From this we get the RMS (Root, Mean, Square). This is a similar figure to the PV and measured exactly the same way. The RMS is basically an average height difference from the PV so again, the lower the better. As you can see form the example below, we measured an RMS of just 0.027 wave which is a very good value.

We also measure the Power with our systems which is essentially the error from the reference sphere to the test optic. The reference sphere we use on our system is a very high quality sphere so the closer to zero the Power, the less error between the 2 elements thus ensuring a higher quality optical surface. 

You will also see some more values such as Astigmatism and Coma. Again, these are measured by the interferometer when we take measurements of the optical surface after adjustment. These are values which ideally would be at 0 but as our test optics are all curved lenses, there will always be astigmatism and coma present. The lower the number, the less of these aberations you will effectively see but with most refractors, you can buy field flatteners which will compensate for the coma anyway. The astigmatisms value is explaining the error between the symmetrical curvature of the lens. Basically, no lens will be perfectly symmetrical, the lower the astigmatism, the more symmetrical the lens surface is. 

Once the Zygo test report has been completed, the optical alignment is thoroughly tested and tuned to ensure they are spot on before they leave us. 

All available telescopes are on the website at the link below and ones we've tested already that are available straight away are also listed.

https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/zygo-tested-refractors.html

Here is an example of the test what we provide. This was a test on one of our Horizon 60 ED OTA's.

For any questions about this amazing new service, please either call 01909774369 or email sales@rothervalleyoptics.co.uk.

Are you interested in this product but would like to speak to someone with some more information? Simply fill in the form below and we will get back to you as soon as we can!

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