ukskies

Hi Geoff, Thank you, that's very helpful information. Your adaptor obviously sits flush and thus square into the 2" tube. Mine stops when the clamp screw touches the 2" tube and there is no flange to keep it square to the tube. Another picture. It's the same direct into the draw tube.

Hi , Does no one on here know how much the focusser needs to be extended to reach focus? As I bought a used scope with no eyepieces and wish to order everything at once, this would be very useful information for me right now. I'm reasonably convinced that the problem I am experiencing lies with the 1.25" adaptor, the one supplied with the scope doesn't seat securely and can be fitted in the 2" extension tubes at different angles quite easily. A picture of the tubes I received with the scope might help perhaps. The one on the right is a 2" 50mm ext tube the one in the middle is a 2" 47mm ext tube.

Hi everyone, I have today washed the mirrors on my 2nd hand 12" flextube Dob, no dramas and no scratches, all went according to plan, they are now gleaming. After reinstalling the mirrors I attempted collimation. I am new to reflectors but I began checking the secondary alignment through the focusser tube. Having got this to my satisfaction, it looked round and i could see the primary mirror, I decided to try the laser in the inch and a quarter adaptor. This is where my problems began. The laser wasn't striking the middle of the secondary, not even close, I had fitted both 2" extension tubes that I had with the scope to the focusser and when I tried rotating the assembly in the skywatcher focusser the laser described an arc on the secondary. something clearly was out so I first checked the laser, it was fine, when I rotated it in the adaptor it stayed in the same position on the secondary. this leads me to the extension tubes and the adaptor. I spent an hour and a half patiently adjusting this then that before I packed away for today. I've never collimated a scope before but I have engineering experience so I'm able to grasp the concept of what is required. I have modified the original skywatcher focusser by flatting the bottom of the draw tube and reducing the slop to zero, it's not the best but it is very solid now with no slop. The above is background for my questions. Firstly, does anyone happen to know how much extension the 12" flextube needs to achieve focus please? In addition to the standard drawtube that is. Secondly, do most people fit better adaptors and extensions to these, ones that centre the eyepiece every time? If not, how do you all collimate?

Thanks Louis, I'm not really sure how small an exit pupil I will tolerate now with my old eyes, guess we'll soon know tho.

Thanks John, I'll keep adding to the collection as I go and yes the price of these eyepieces is rather high and I fully expect to spend much more than my scope cost.

Thanks John, I was just curious because I'd read on reviews of people using high powers on the moon with big scopes and excellent seeing. I understand fully that most nights wont support that magnification.

Hi Louis, thanks , that's more good info. I know everything is dependant on the seeing on any given night but on really still nights what kind of magnification do you use on the moon?

Thanks Robin, that's my first two eyepieces sorted then and I'll add to the collection as I go forwards. The help is really appreciated, many thanks.

Thanks Robin, I like that suggestion, the 24mm Panoptic would give me about 65x in my Dob. I will consider the 10mm XW instead of the 7mm then. That would give me 150x.

Thanks Louis, that's interesting, assuming 1200mm fl for the scope that's around 85x mag?

Right I'm a bit restricted on my spend this month so would like to get maybe 2 premium eyepieces. I have rather light polluted skies and will go to a dark sky site nearby on some occasions but mainly I'll be viewing from the LP back garden. With this in mind what focal lengths do I go for first? I think the 7mm Pentax giving 214x might be a good choice for higher powered viewing though I would appreciate your input here too. Which focal length would compliment my first choice (or yours) best as a first pair?

Thanks Robin, I guess trying different eyepieces and making your own evaluation is part of the fun. Yes I will go for quality eyepieces as i believe it saves money and indeed frustration in the long run .

Thank you John, That looks just like a shopping list! 😀 I'm going to avoid zooms for the time being but I was already thinking the shorter XW's up to 10mm would be worth a try. The Delos is a nice recommendation tho, I'll give that some attention, thanks.

Thank you Robin, I always liked the TV's, they are superbly sharp. I'm just thinking that I might get more eyepieces for my budget with something of comparable quality with a different manufacturer. I won't rule out having some TV's in my collection in the future though. I'm actually thinking that it might be a good idea to use different manufacturers. Looking at your signature I see you have several manufacturers listed in you collection.

Hi Louis, thanks for your post. Unfortunately I am no longer young and my eyes ,tho pretty good still, have aged. Your comments about the Morpheus are interesting, I did look at those before the XW's. How do you think they would compare? Everybody speaks well of the XW's.

Thanks, that's really good to know. tbh there are so many eyepieces available that I'm having trouble deciding which to go for. I figure the Pentax XW's are good sharp eyepieces and excellent quality. Everyone seems to like them from all the reviews so they seem to be a good choice.

Right, most of the day doing internet research has led me to believe that there is little to chose between the TV Delos and the Pentax XW's. Would this be a reasonable assumption? The Delos is much more expensive and I'm on a budget so if this is the case then the Pentax XW's appear to be terrific value. I'm going to not order a Baader zoom for the time being and would prefer to order a couple of XW's instead. Would this be a wise thing to do? Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. Is there a problem with field curvature in the longer fl Xw's?

Ruud, thank you very much for the explanation. I am able to understand now after reading that.

Thank you Ruud for your interesting post, I'll take that into consideration. This has given me something to think about. A question though if i may. Does going to the smallest exit pupil not affect the ease of viewing afforded by a slightly larger one. I get what you are saying that some of the light is wasted if your exit pupil is larger than your eye can accommodate but doesn't that allow a bit of latitude with eye position? Maybe it depends on the target too? Would I be right in thinking that on brighter targets that have too much brightness, a large exit pupil would be less of a problem than on a dim and distant target or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Thank you Geoff, I'm very tempted by the mk4 zoom I admit. It's nice to have a zoom in the collection and everyone seems to speak well of this one.

You have some lovely quality eyepieces in your collection John no doubt. I would like to get some ultra wide eyepieces myself sometime in the future so thanks for sharing your thoughts. For the moment at least I am thinking I should be looking at TV delites and Panoptics or Pentax XW's as they fit more within the current budget.

Thank you, yes, I like TV eyepieces and from what I have read the XW's are also highly regarded.

Thanks John, Im hoping the scope will be a keeper. Well the budget is quite tight this month after the scope purchase so probably £600ish? But then I don't have to buy them all at once. so any and all suggestions will be appreciated. To begin with I'd like to get two different focal lengths this month so split the budget 300 ish each or if I went for a Baader zoom combo say I'd poss have 400 ish for the second choice. I am aware that buying cheap eyepieces is a waste of money so will avoid that road. Anybody recommend the Baader zoom or is there more preferred choices?

Hi everyone, as some of you know I have just bought a Skywatcher 300p synscan dob, now called R2-D2 by swmbo, it came with a few extras but but I got it without any eyepieces. This suited me tbh as now I can buy some really good ones and start my eyepiece collection off. I would like to keep eye relief at 12mm min wherever possible as I do sometimes wear spectacles when viewing. First question, do any particular eyepieces work well with this telescope please, from your experience? I did get a Skywatcher 2" coma corrector with the scope and would appreciate your thoughts on this too please, purely for visual, at least at the moment. I have owned previously a Teleview 3-6 zoom and tho the eye relief was tough to get on with i did like the ability to match power to seeing and also to warp up into close lunar orbit from some distance away. With this in mind I have become interested in a Baader hyperion mk 4 zoom with matching 2.25 barlow. Looks good value for what it can do,does the collective have any thoughts on this? I also fancy a nice 2" eyepiece, maybe more than one, would you recommend this as a good choice? I don't mind buying good quality eyepieces but if you know of a mid priced one that works really well then I'm all ears. And finally I'm hoping, later this year, to be the proud owner of a Takahashi refractor. Obviously there are different focal lengths between the two scopes but I would like to be able to use my eyepieces in both scopes as wherever possible so please bear this in mind or advise if you can

I must apologise to you all for the coming 8 weeks or so of continuous cloud, it will be down to me for bringing the curse to you all. After that i will attempt a first light report. The scope came without any eyepieces so I'm going to start another thread for recommendations.