2" Eps

[Dom1961]

Are 2" Eps useful? If so any recommendations for <£50 finder 2"eps?

[John]

The advantage of the 2" eyepiece is that it can give a larger field of view than the same focal length eyepiece in the 1.25" size. With your scope something around the 32mm focal length would be useful. 2" eyepieces are a bit more expensive than 1.25" ones because there is more glass, metal and machning involved. The Skywatcher Panaviews are popular budget ones but are more than your budget I'm afraid.

The only 2" eyepieces that can be found new, as far as I know, for under £50 are the Revelation 2" eyepieces that Telescope House sells:

http://www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/Revelation_30mm_Eyepiece_2__.html

It will show distorted stars to some extent in the outer half of the field of view though. It's difficult to avoid this issue with budget wide field eyepieces being used in scopes with focal ratios of F7, F6, F5 etc I'm afraid.

[Dom1961]

In that case , after I get the 3 bsts ill save up for the panaview, thanks for the advice!!!

[-Aldebaran-]

You are really limiting your choices with that kind of budget, 2" eyepieces are generally more expensive than 1.25" of the same fov, if you stretch your budget by £20-30 then you could take on a Skywatcher Panaview for instance. The 2" Ep's are generally used for more deep sky observations as they have longer focal lengths so you get a wider field field of view.

[-Aldebaran-]

Or you could just read John's comment! Oh dear.

[bingevader]

For the money, the 32mm Panaview is rather splendid in a 200p.

It's a little soft around the edges, but you'll have to fork out considerably more to improve that.

My Maxvision 24mm 82° eye piece was a bargain at getting on for 2x the price and that's still a little soft around the edges too.

[gooseholla]

I hate the Panaview. In my 12" F/5 and 18" F/4 only a few stars at the very centre are sharp. Put an ad out, you'll be surprised with the response. A couple of years back I put an ad up and got all kinds of people emailing me with 2" eyepieces  for £50 or less. I even bagged a T5 20mm Nagler for £80 delivered.

John

[Dom1961]

What ep do you recommend then?

[Gazabone]

FLO do a remarkable good 28mm from Skywatcher for £30 odd if I remember. A jolly good way to experience 2" without breaking the bank.

[John]

Eyepiece choices are so confusing ! - for each person who says they like a certain eyepiece there will be another who hates it

I'd stick to your plan to get some BST Explorer / Starguiders and then spend more time looking at the feedback on 2" eyepieces. The BST's will do a great job in your scope. A lot of folks get by without a 2" eyepiece - most deep sky objects will fit into the 1 degree field of view that a 25mm 1.25" plossl shows with your scope.

[alan potts]

 I even bagged a T5 20mm Nagler for £80 delivered.

John

John,

Clearly someone that didn't have a clue what it was, about 250 is the going rate now.

I think to go back to the point and you F 4 18 inch, there are many eyepieces that would come a cropper at that speed as I am sure you know. My mirror is a little slower than your and I didn't like Meade SWA's with it at all, as you say the centre was nice and after that I really couldn't write what I thought here.

I think one problem I have is I am used to looking through top eyepieces, it can make you a bit fussy.

alan

[bingevader]

Indeed, thanks Alan.

We are, after all, taking about a different 'scope and a different budget!

It's one of the only 2" 32mm EPs I'll be able to afford, the Panaview left me with a big cheesy grin on my face when I first used it in a Skyliner 200p and is still one of my favourite EPs, but then again, my glass is always half full.

It's also great for star-hopping.

But then of cause, these are purely my own experiences and others are welcome to disagree.

[RikM]

There is quite a difference between the f/6 Skyliner and even f/5, let alone f/4. For the OP, the faster the focal ratio (lower the F number) the more obvious any optical issues become.

As Alan says, things that work well at f/10 (or f/6), may not work well at f/4. Similarly things that don't work at f/4 maybe fine at f/6. Everyone 'sees' sxlightly differently, so we all have different tolerance for distorted stars anyway.

[SpaceWalker]

What ep do you recommend then?

I have a 32mm Agena SWA which is the same as SW Panaview. It's my wide angle/finder eyepiece. Works quite good on my 8" f/6 Dob. About 75% of FOV in the center is sharp, the rest shows astigmatism. But you can't find anything better at this price. According to multiple rviews the 38mm eyepiece is the best in this series. If your skies are light polluted than the 32mm would be better, but for darker skies the 38mm Panaview would be preferable since in addition to wider exit pupil it'll provide max TFOV possible in 200mm Dob with 2" focuser.

[RikM]

I have a 32mm Agena SWA which is the same as SW Panaview. It's my wide angle/finder eyepiece. Works quite good on my 8" f/6 Dob. About 75% of FOV in the center is sharp, the rest shows astigmatism. But you can't find anything better at this price. According to multiple rviews the 38mm eyepiece is the best in this series. If your skies are light polluted than the 32mm would be better, but for darker skies the 38mm Panaview would be preferable since in addition to wider exit pupil it'll provide max TFOV possible in 200mm Dob with 2" focuser.

You make a good point about sky conditions. I use a 28mm as my low power (I have a 250px f/4.7) I dropped down from a 30mm because of my local light pollution washing the image out.