Ratlet

I'd look at flocking the inside rather than painting.  I did paint some parts of my 130pds (focuser tube and mirror edges) and just used some generic blackboard paint.  Very dark and Matt finish.

To make life easier I got a plastic poster cover ( https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261693313857?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=EKBTSg_tQPW&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=PvuSuZhdTlO&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY ) and cut this to fit the tube.  The spring in the plastic will force it onto the tube walls.

I then cut the flocking to fit the plastic poster tube and stuck that it.  Darker than a polar bear's nose at night.

The 130PDS is living in the shed at the moment.  With my SVBONY 3-8mm zoom, I can nip out when making dinner and waiting ofr the tatties to boil.  Jupiter is (for my location) very high at this time so the seeing is always much better than later on when it hovers above the house.  Some nice banding evident and went staight from 8mm to 3mm (80 to 216x).  Nice trick that!  Seeing wasn't the best, but got the odd bit of stability with some nice detail popping out.

Nice job mate.  You did a better job than me of controlling the bright stars in Orion's belt.

I wonder if anyone detonated their imaging rig while hypersensitizing the film with hydrogen.

The trouble with having a 3D printer is the temptation to refine a design...

I've changed the thread so that it has a quarter turn rather than multiple turns.  This also means that it will secure either way and should be less fiddly at night.

Also adding some cutouts to prevent it turning beyond being in line and I'm getting it so there is embossed text on the long end so I can see which filter is which whilst they are in the case.  Glow in the dark viny should arrive tomorrow so I can see how the text looks filled in.  The wife was unimpressed I used loads of the rainbow pla so I've now ordered some Matt black.

 

Had it once for definite. M42 looked absolute garbage and just came in lol.

 

Excellent detailed review, and thanks very much for taking the time to write this.  I've been using your reviews as a gold standard for choosing eyepieces.  It's the reason I picked this up whilst your initial thoughts were put up on another thread!

I am basically the newbie you suggest this would be well suited to, 6 months observing with a 130PDS (F5/650mmFL).  I agree that this is an excellent choice for a short focal length eyepiece.  I can directly compare it to the Starguider/Paradigm 8mm with the matched x2 Barlow and found that with the exception of the eye relief the svbony zoom was superior for viewing Jupiter and Mars with my setup at 8 and 4mm (as well as having all the additional focal lengths).  I have yet to try it on lunar or DSO observing.

Given that for two of the Starguiders (or one and the barlow) you are looking at (as of Jan 2023) £100-110, versus £105-115 for the Zoom I would agree that the zoom is the better choice for a short focal length option, provided you don’t need more eye relief.

I'd give consideration to not getting the 8mm and Barlow (assuming it's the matched BST) and picking up the svbony 3-8mm zoom instead.  I've got the 8mm and Barlow for my 130pds (F5) and the svbony knocks spots off it.  It'll cost about the same as the 8mm and Barlow too.  You'll get plenty of use out of it at 8mm and can fine tune to focal length to your seeing and there's not much chance of you getting stumped out if the seeing great.

That is unless you need to wear glasses.

38 minutes ago, TomCrewe said:

The 127EQ came with a 4mm lens and after reading more articles I purchased a 15mm & 26mm Super Plossl lenses,

I will see how I go with them and maybe add the 32mm later, Thanks for the help.

 

No worries.  You'll be well served with those 2 for some time.

Cheers guys. I'll make up some stl's for different lids with some common filter types.  

EDIT:  I'm going to chonken up th thread and then upload.

I’ve recently gotten Shadowfoam and made an eyepiece case/tray.  Not a huge amount of space in my tray and in trying to fit everything in I noticed 2 things about my filters:

1. The boxes are huge.

2. The boxes are difference sizes.

Being blessed with a 3D printer I downloaded and STL for a case which is round and screws together.  However because of the male thread it’s a bit of a faff getting the filter out and I managed to get a thumb print on my UHC filter.  I did like the embossed lettering on top though.

  Spent most of yesterday cleaning out the bunnies and designing a better case in Fusion 360 and came up with this design:

• The wings and cuts allows you to easily grab the filter without risk of thumb prints.

• The treads are matched up so that when it is tight the wings of the top and bottom piece align and are held closed by friction.

• It’s pretty small so won’t take up acres of real estate in the eyepiece case.

• The embossed lettering allows you to easily feel what the filter is in the dark if you have lots the same size.  The missus has a Cricut so I’ve ordered some glow in the dark vinyl so I can cut and stick lettering in it to make it more readable.

• The design is relatively simple and can easily be modified for longer filters such and the variable polariser, or where you might have 2 screwed together for standard use.

Any thoughts?

That's my trofast drawer outfitted with shafowfoam now!

Still got masking tape on half of it till I figure out what's going on there.  Trying to 3D print some filter cases so they are all roughly the same dimensions.  The ones on thingverse are not great.

I'll look into a proper case next month, assuming people stop posting bargains in the classified section.

Hopefully the wife doesn't spot that there is a gap for 2 more eyepieces...

Any chance you could upload the stl for the focus knob?  That would be handy.

I've got an almost identical setup.  Makes a great imaging scope.  If you have trouble achieving infinity focus there are 3 small screws in the silver and black bit by the objective lens, you can slacken these off and loosen the ring to get a bit more travel on the focuser.

I'm a big fan of vintage glass.  For large fov targets it's probably the most cost effective option.

47 minutes ago, Space Oddities said:

A new spider came in by the post this morning! It's a very nicely made aluminium spider, with a black matte coating, for my Sky-Watcher 130P-DS. It is said to improve shape of the spikes (no more misalignment leading to double spikes), and helps the scope hold its collimation. It isn't cheap, I believe it's made in Germany (here is the manufacturer if anyone's interested: https://www.backyard-universe.de), but since this scope cost me almost nothing, I thought why not!

 

Hope it works.  If you get a chance could you post some images showing the star shapes once the skies clear in March?

That's smashing.  What a wonderful sense of depth.

We are currently in between two storm fronts, with last night being pretty windy and the weekend being potentially even worse, however tonight is quite clear so far, and seeing Jupiter and Mars in the twilight sky I grabbed the SVBONY 3-8mm zoom and my 8mm BST and the x2 ED barlow with my 130PDS.

Jupiter was up first and I have to say even without having the eyepiece to do a side by side, the contrast was obviously improved with the SVBONY at 8mm vs the Starguider.  The equatorial bands had more colour to them and they also appeared sharper.  Try as I might I just couldn’t get the Starguider to show as sharp delineation between the banding as the SVBONY.  The SVBONY was even better at 4mm compared to the barlowed 8mm.  Contrast was still improved and there was a much better feeling of being in focus.  More of a snap to focus where as the Starguider kind of wallowed through focus but didn’t feel as sharp even at its best.  I did get some blackouts with the Starguiders, but none at all with the svbony.

I didn't spend much time on mars as the wind was starting to pick up and the daughter wanted a look at Jupiter.  However I found the colour much more satisfying the the svbony.  It was a very deep red orange, whilst the Starguider and Barlow is much brighter, more of a white orange.

 As has been mentioned the SVBONY is not parfocal through its focal lengths, however the adjustments required for best focus are tiny and I mostly used the fine adjustment to correct and was within the range of my usual futzing with focus.  It didn’t feel onerous at any rate.

The eyecup is weird.  It almost feel like they want you to push your eye into it.  It certainly felt like I needed to be very close, especially at the shorter focal lengths.  The Starguiders certainly have the advantage on eye relief.  I’ll see how I get on, but I suspect it will be spending most of the time folded over, which won't be an issue for it as it is very soft and squishy.  There is a thread under the eyecup.  Not sure what it's for or what size it is, but there is one there.

The barrel on the eyepiece is very long and playing with how far into the focuser it feels like it could have done with a bit more body and a bit less length.  Fortunately I've got some parfocal rings so I'll add that when I get a chance.

Just because I had the barlow out I decided to try it out and it barlowed well with no loss of contrast at comparable focal lengths.

Hopefully it will remain clear.  If it does I’m going to nip out again.  GRS should be transiting shortly and I’ve yet to see it. (Update:. It didn't stay clear)

I think, as a rank amateur, this zoom represents a pretty good option for people starting out who are looking for a planetary eyepiece.  It's very comfortable to use and has, to me, great views.  It's a very nice experience just changing to focal length the test where the sweet spot of the seeing is.  A lot easier than changing eyepieces!  It feels very good quality and the click stops when you change focal length makes it very easy to tell where you are.

8 minutes ago, MalcolmM said:

Hi @Stu that looks a great job.

Could you share your technique/process please?

Every time I look at my objective it seems to get dirtier!

Malcolm

 

Easy:  Stop looking at the objective. 😂

I've always wondered how folk clean expensive glass.  I've only had to clean my cheapy Tair, and it was riddled with fungus.

Welcome to the forum!  130p will do you proud.  I've got it's imaging twin the 130pds but only use it for visual.

I've also been looking for some socks education on here after the last couple clear nights

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/404608-the-joy-of-socks-lets-talk-about-socks-baby/

Thanks for the tips folks.  @Louis D I've ordered the cheap ebay ones, if nothing else it'll be interesting to see what they do.  @Don Pensack thanks for the information about where those reflections are coming from.  I didn't really think about the source and just assumed it was reflecting inside the lenses somewhere, but in hindsight the rapid motion does suggest an eyeball effect at play.

15 minutes ago, Don Pensack said:

Mars is still a decent size till about the end of the month.

I'd love it if I could see anything on mars.  This far the limit of my observations has been "it's orange".  I've got a 130pds so short focal length for planetary, but it's been mostly maybe there is some differences in colour, some slightly darker bits, possibly.  If I can get better contrast on mars or see anything conclusively I'll consider the eyepiece a winner!

I'm quite excited to do some comparisons.  The Starguiders with the Starguider shorty X2 Barlow gives some wild reflections that look like firefly's darting about, especially the 8mm Also, from comparison with my 4mm Ramsden the contrast isn't great either as the cheapy Ramsden has given the most satisfying, contrasty views of Jupiter, although almost everything else was inferior.  On the nights that have supported the 4mm I actually prefer the views with the Ramsden on Jupiter just for the improved contrast.

I regret selling my mak also.  I suspect they are called makes because you mak a mistake when you sell them.

I'm very short sighted and I don't wear my glasses when observing.  It depends on your prescription I think.  If you astigmatism and view without your glasses you'll still have astigmatism and the image will be affected.

With regarded to eye relief, it's basically how far away from the eyepiece your eye needs to be to see the whole image to the edge of the black circle.  If you wear glasses whilst observing you might not be able to get close enough to the eyepiece to see the entire view.

Is the 3 point guidescope style ring on the samyang to aid with getting it in line with the other scopes?  I could see that working, but I'm not massivly familiar with the style of lens to camera adapter.  I use my vintage glass with just two guide scope rings holding the lens in place.  I would imagine it would basically need 'collimating' with the other scope that is iamging but would be reasonably straightforward.

Q:  What focal length are you imaging at?

A:  All of them.

I had a flashback with that first pic.  Looked like the rig in my student flat in Edinburgh.  4 lads in there and not a hoover between us.  Just kidding cracking, job cleaning it.  Can't blame you for letting it develop.  I'd be bricking it having to clean it.

Good job on the cleaning.