Hyperion fixed/zoom or Celestron X-Cel LX?

[Cashman]

I want to upgrade the stock eyepieces (10mm, 25mm and 2x) on my Skywatcher 130p which if I have worked it out correctly 650/130=f5. Going by the sticky 'which eyepieces thread' a suggested kit would comprise of 2x Barlow, 8, 18, and 25mm.

Ive been looking at the Hyperion Zoom for quite a while but was weighing it up against the fixed focal length Hyperions. Is there much difference in image quality? From I gather you can take some of them apart and with a fine tuning ring it will give you different focal lengths. Could somebody please explain which eyepiece I would buy to get the best benefit from this?

Is the fine tuning ring option worth forgetting about and going with the celestron Eps? Are they as good? I need a barlow too because the one I have just seems to badly degrade the image. Is the one that matches this set any good?

I'm happy to fork out the cash but I want to make sure I spend it properly.

I also want a filter that will give me less glare viewing planets, moon and nebulae. Is there a one stop shop filter for this purpose?

I know I'm asking quite a few different things here but your collective expertise would be much appreciated. Many thanks in advance.

[DOBBY]

Don't get me wrong... the click-stop is a good eyepiece...but the quality of the view increases with aperture & the view in a 200 gets a bit 'grainy' when zoomed all the way in...so might well be worse in a 130.

however...the fixed length hyperions seem better...hyperion do their own barlow...made for use with the click-stop.

I would give the celestron X-Cel LX range a good look... I find I'm using them more & more in my F4.5 & in the 200.

As for filters...UHC will show some nebulae OIII is not really suited to a 130

[Cashman]

Would a neodynamium filter do much to help me?

[M4lcs67]

I was in the same situation recently with either the fixed focal length Hyperion over the zoom. After much research I have plumped for the fixed focal length and my brand new 24mm arrived this morning. Blimey. It is nice and chunky when compared to the 25mm that came with my 127 SLT. I will be adding an 8mm when finances allow, but for now the 24mm should work well on it's own or with my Ultima 2x barlow.

I was seriously considering the zoom and the flexibility that it has, but the fixed focal won on out and out performance and the fact that it has 68% fov. The fov of the zoom fluctuates depending on where it is set.

I had also considered the X-Cels myself, but after reading various comments and threads about the Hyperions I think I have made the right choice. Yes it is rather pricey, but quality costs sometimes. On occasions it can become a false economy going for the cheapest option. Only time will tell when I get outside with it, but I am certain that it will be a vast improvement on the stock ep that came with the scope.

[Cashman]

I'm going to order a 24mm and (probably) an 8mm tonight. Pretty much replacing what I have with better. Looks like stocks on filters are drained so will investigate more on that front later.

Let me know how you get on with yours Malcspring.

[M4lcs67]

Nice one Cashman. You will be suprised how big and chunky they are. I will probably be going for the 8mm and the adaptor rings at some point, but am going to see how I get on with the 24mm. At least in the short term I can use my 2x barlow to give me 12mm.

[Stephen]

Having owned both, the LXs are better (and cheaper) edge corrected than the Hyperions at f5 and f4

[Cashman]

Just another quick question..

First Light Optics - Cheshire Collimating Eyepiece

Is this the ONLY thing need to collimate my scope? About time I learned how really.

[Cashman]

Having owned both, the LXs are better (and cheaper) edge corrected than the Hyperions at f5 and f4

can you mount a camera on them? and could you possibly just explain edge correction? Is that how blurred you get the further from centre of the field of view? Or like chromatic aberration? (which i understand)

[Stephen]

can you mount a camera on them?

Nope

[John]

...could you possibly just explain edge correction? Is that how blurred you get the further from centre of the field of view? Or like chromatic aberration? (which i understand)

The aberration here is called eyepiece astigmatism and looks a bit like this with widefield eyepieces used in fast scopes (fast = F/6, F/5, F4 etc):

[Cashman]

more of a lens distortion then... stretching towards the edges

[4lefts]

I would give the celestron X-Cel LX range a good look... I find I'm using them more & more in my F4.5 & in the 200.

so they work well with a fast scope? good to know... i have the 25mm, and it's nice but i've only tried it at f11. you're using a coma corrector i guess?

[Cashman]

I'm think I'm going to have to be swayed by the camera mount issue. I can't mount my Eos600D directly on the scope as it doesn't focus. It does with a barlow but with my cheap barlow the image was horrendous.

[twotter]

The aberration here is called eyepiece astigmatism and looks a bit like this with widefield eyepieces used in fast scopes (fast = F/6, F/5, F4 etc):

My 200P dob is F6 and I don't see this astigmatism in my Hyperions, so they're okay at this speed at least

[Tinker1947]

I'm think I'm going to have to be swayed by the camera mount issue. I can't mount my Eos600D directly on the scope as it doesn't focus. It does with a barlow but with my cheap barlow the image was horrendous.

A simple spacer would work if you need to move the camera away from the focus tube, i recently brought 4 different 1.25" to 2" converters come to less than £25 from Astroboot, would be worth a look.....

AstroBoot

[Cashman]

Would I not lose the magnification from the eye piece then? When I used it mounted on the low quality 2x Barlow the image I saw of Jupiter was tiny. Mounted directly on the scope I assume it would be even smaller still. Would it not be pixelated to hell by the time it was blown up to a size with any detail?

[rwilkey]

Hi Cashman, there is no one-stop filter as such, however, an ND96 (0.09) Moon filter will serve your purpose, it is a neutral density filter and will work well on Moon and planets I should think, though I never filter the planets I have to admit.

[4lefts]

the baader neodymium filter is nice on the moon.

[todd8137]

Having owned both, the LXs are better (and cheaper) edge corrected than the Hyperions at f5 and f4

hi there i am looking at the celestron x-cel lx eps for my sw 300p dob would they be any good i want a coupl a decent low/high power dos eps and at 70 quid would these work well or not ?