Old Eyepieces

[Roy Challen]

I recently bought a second hand orthoscopic ep hoping for a quality high mag view. What I got could not be described as orthoscopic.

So, I took the ep to work, dismantled it, and had a look at the glass under a microscope. There was a lot of mould and dust on the inner surface of the triplet, no lens edge blackening, and a scallop crack on the edge of the middle element of the triplet. I gave it a clean, painted the lens edges and also the inside of the barrel as it was almost mirror like. Nothing I can do about the crack though - it doesn't intrude into the field of view luckily. Next time out it showed a great improvement but still not what I was really expecting (it is a Meade circle t ep- should be excellent)so maybe the crack is causing some internal reflections.

What I want to know is, barring the crack, will all old ep's end up in this state? Could this one just be poorly stored / looked after? I was considering buying older, collectible EPs, but now feel a bit put off especially as modern, decent quality EPs needn't cost very much.

What are your thoughts/experiences?

[John]

Sounds like an eyepiece that has just not been cared for (apart from yourself of course) Roy.

I have a Circle-T 18mm Ortho branded "Telescope House" in a similar state. It was delivered with a scope that I bought, for use as a dust plug for the drawtube.

More often though eyepieces do get looked after and continue to provide good service for many years.

Glass and coating technologies have improved over recent years but older units can still be satisfying to use.

[Dude_with_the_tube]

that sounds like the previous owner didnt took any care of that eye piece.I assume yours is the 1980`s Meade flat top Circle T? These are vintage and are collectors item. Edge blackening wasnt popular 25 and more years ago and it has been proved that this does not effect anything either(optically).Mold,dust is quite common in these very old eye pieces and can be cleaned out buy yourself ,if you know what you are doing, or by a specialist.You shouldnt be put off by this as unfortunately this does happen when you go after old/very old eye pieces.When buying these old ones,always check lenses first or ask the seller to give you a very detailed description of any faults etc and possible close up pics.Collecting old eye pieces could be a great fun.I am not a collector by any means,but i do like the old goldies. Currently using 30 years old ones( meade Research grades from 1985) and cant see modern alternatives being better?They are good,by any means necessary,but not better (personal opinion)

[Roy Challen]

Thanks John, Dude

Pretty much confirms what I think. I can't really say that the previous owner didn't look after it as eyepieces often go through many owners before they find one they are comfortable with!

At least it is useable now, if not exactly a great ep

[damnut]

Recently acquired a T2 13mm Nagler, that could only be described as immaculate. Cheers DRT.

[Dude_with_the_tube]

To be perfectly honest Roy, Meades MA orthos and the whole series of MA`s suffered from internal dusting and often required to be cleaned to get the best out of them.this is sadly the down side of quite a few vintage eye pieces,but not all of them.However,there shouldnt be any cracks on lens elements.Also these where best on slow scopes of F9 and slower as 30 years ago there wasnt any fast scopes and all eye pieces where made and planned based on slow scopes,as such not all of them will perform in our modern fast instruments.

But look at the bright side.Simple orthos,kelners and plossls are easy to clean,what cant be said about multi lens eye piece if the need appears.I had issue with a vintage Meade UWA what suffered from internal dusting,but i didnt fancy taking my chances of dismantling a complex 8 lens eye piece

And on top of that,you can still find 30+ year old eye pieces what are like brand new! My first set of Meade RG`s where purchased from an older gent from USA who bought them new 30 years ago and NEVER used them!these where stored in his cabinet until recently he remembered about them and decided to sell them off.

[estwing]

Sounds like an eyepiece that has just not been cared for (apart from yourself of course) Roy.

I have a Circle-T 18mm Ortho branded "Telescope House" in a similar state. It was delivered with a scope that I bought, for use as a dust plug for the drawtube.

More often though eyepieces do get looked after and continue to provide good service for many years.

Glass and coating technologies have improved over recent years but older units can still be satisfying to use.

I have the same John but a 4mm