Any information about this meade eyepiece

[bigdave1960]

Hi there I recently picked up this meade 14mm uwa eyepice for which i paid £100 although the paint is a bit scratched the glass parts have no marks or scratches .Can any one tell me anything about it? looking on the internet the nearest i could find was not the same for a start off they had a rubber eyecup which mine does not (nor does it appear it ever had one )I am guessing its getting on a bit how does it hold up to similar  more recent eyepieces ?In use it gives very good views and i think it was probably worth the £100 i paid for it

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

That is a classic eyepiece. I haven't looked through one but they have a very good reputation

[John]

Thats the Mk 1 version of the Meade UWA 14mm. It has an 84 degree apparent field of view and is considered a bit of a classic. Meade added a rubber eyecup to later versions of the eyepiece. Yours probably dates from the late 1980's / early 1990's.

This SGL member had a set of them:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/220060-family-reunion-meade-4000-series-uwa-smooth-sides/

[bigdave1960]

Looks like i found a good one with out really realising at the time Its certainly my favourite eyepiece and gives wonderful views

[russ.will]

Was that the one at ENS?

Meade have made some excellent EPs down the years, but even if you take that out of the equation, a well corrected 14mm (or so) wide angle EP is one of those that will find itself living in the focuser quite a lot of the time , in quite a range of scopes. I spent well over an hour last night with my 14mm in the diagonal, roaming around the Leo galaxies and then glob hunting, before finishing up with some doubles.

The thing is, I seem to remember doing similar in my 12" dob (albeit with a 14mm ES82 and latterly a 12mm Delos) with a focal length 30% lower than I have now. I guess that 110-150x range is quite a sweet spot for a number of subjects, that copes with UK skies on most nights.

Russell

[Dave In Vermont]

Those were popular back around 2003. Several companies had similar EP's out, trying to corner the market. I have a few other similar EP's from then, and they're all nice. It was around then that the wide-view craze really took off, and everyone tried to create their niche in the market. So they kept changing right up until today. It still goes on.

Wider Skies,

Dave

[Dude_with_the_tube]

i had a full set of these when i had my dobsonian.They are classic now and as John said this is the first version of Meade 4000 series UWA with 84 deg FOV and do not have rubber eyeguard. You can find quite a lot of reading material on the web and a LOT on Cloudy Nights forum if you search for meade 4000 14mm UWA "Smoothside".Off the whole series,i think the 14mm and 6.7mm where the best. 4.7mm had tight eye relief where 8.8 was OK but didnt impress me with anything.All of them where sharp to the edge with flat field and nice presentation.When comparing to modern eye pieces,i found 14mm a little "dimmer" in comparison to modern alternatives like 13mm Ethos or Nagler or meade 5000 and Ex Sc in the same focal range.Obviously light transmission in modern ones are better,however,field correction was better in meade 4000 UWA.It is a love or hate eye piece due to not having rubber eye guard.If you have street lights intruding,then it can be an issue,but from dark site,these are great.Also will take a bit of time to get used to the smoothie for eye placement as wrongly placed eye will introduce kidney beaning,but once mastered these are classic,great performing eye pieces and despite being over 20 years old,still hold they position to the same level as modern alternatives.If you do have the urge of getting whole series of these,watch out of internal dust between elements as back then,there was no nitrogen or argon purging,neither there was the thought of making eye pieces air tight

Clear skies.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I had the Series 5000 14mm UWA, which I sometimes regret selling. Very nice EP that spent a lot of time in the focuser. The eye relief was just a shade short for me. Now I have a Nagler 12T4, but is sometimes a bit of a jump from the 17T4. 14mm is indeed a very nice focal length.

[bigdave1960]

yes it was from ENS on my 8" scope it gives me 71X and  I find that quite a useful power although my gardens not very dark there are no lights shining directly in nether the less i often wear a coat with a large hood that comes over my face and the EP and that cuts out all the light that may get round the sides .

[Roy Challen]

yes it was from ENS on my 8" scope it gives me 71X and  I find that quite a useful power although my gardens not very dark there are no lights shining directly in nether the less i often wear a coat with a large hood that comes over my face and the EP and that cuts out all the light that may get round the sides .

Amazing how effective doing that can be! I recently changed my viewing technique by wearing a hoodie and changing my seating position by a few degrees - and the improvement is dramatic.

[russ.will]

I wear a hoodie rather than hat, as it is a natural partner to EPs with eyecup or without. I think of it as a headcup. Works wonders for white light solar too, although one oftne needs time to 'cool off'!

Russell

[deepspacehunter]

I used to have one... it is a Very Good Eyepiece, I have replaced mine with the MEADE 14mm 100* EP... You can take off the 1 1/4 part ( with the lens in it ) and put the EP in a 2" Focuser and You will get a MUCH WIDER field of view.... so it is like 2 Eyepieces in one !!

Mark

[alan potts]

I didn't understand how large it was until I read Dude WTT report on the full range, I may well look out for one of them, I liked the S5000 14mm mk1 which I guess was rather small by way of comparison the late 14mm I do not feel is the same. Intruth there are a good few older eyepieces I would like to pick up and try for a while but it is so difficult to come by them here as i will not use the States to acquire things.

Alan