Baader Planetarium FFC CaF2 Flatfield Barlow

The sharpest barlow there is!

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 the Baader CaF2 Flatfield Converter, a stunning performer. This is not a simple barlow lens at all. The Baader CaF2 Flatfield Converter 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 f4.5 newtonians, f8 apochromatic refractors, or f10 Schmidt-Cassegrains. Our range of T2 adapters and extensions provide the ability to use the Baader CaF2 Flatfield Converter in conjunction with a widest array of telescopes, SLR or Digital cameras, eyepieces and. related equipment.

A separate group of 6x6 Spacer Tubes, Changers, T-Rings and 2" adapters is available to order to offer unequalled performance for medium format cameras or 2" eyepieces.

About the Baader CaF2 Flatfield Converter

Calcium Fluorite (CaF2 ) helps to create next generation Microchips, being the predominant optical crystal to enable perfect color correction and submicron resolution for the worlds most expensive microlithography lenses (it is also the costliest optical material at the same time!).

The same CaF2 enables Baader 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 authorised service for Carl Zeiss astro amateur products, and knowing about all the designs that Zeiss had in store for the astronomical community - Baader took this level of performance a step forward by actually producing these accessories one by one that were designed by Zeiss engineers as a future generation of astronomical accessories.

The Fluorite Flatfield Converter (FFC) is designed by one of the APQ optical engineers. It provides a diffraction limited, apochromatic flat field over a 90mm circular format.

It will work equally well for an 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 (acc. to design calculations done by Zeiss).

You can use the FFC equally well as a super sharp visual barlow lens 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 get 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.

Everytime you were a little frustrated either due to lacking sharpness across the field (as is common with barlow lenses due to the curved field they supply), or due to the tiny usable field size at eyepiece projection work, which introduces a whole variety of other optical shortcomings, colour errors, curved fields, vignetting, distortions etc.

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. The FFC is fully multicoated with hard 7 layer coatings with matched index on all air to glass surfaces - even at the Fluorite surfaces themselves, just as some manufacturers claim it for their APO´s. Looking into the lens system will exhibit a pitch black tube with complete absence of straylight. The lenses are almost invisible.

Experience the Baader CaF2 Flatfield Converter. You'll be amazed.