Televue ep range - please explain

[pjmaciw]

I am looking at ep's for my 10" Quattro f4 reflector. Reading through these forums Televue have good reports for use on fast scopes. I have looked at the Televue products but get confused between the different ranges and even different Types (type 4, 5, 6 etc)

Can someone please give me a simple overview of the Televue products and the different types?. I would like to find the best price point for performance vs value. Also, there must be other ep'e suitable for fast scopes. I would welcome your suggestions.

My current ep collection consists of the standard low quality ep's that come with cheap scopes so it should be simple to make a good step up in quality.

So, please, let me have your views and suggestions.

[Ags]

I don't speak from experience but I think from everything I have read that at F4.0 Televue are the only option.

[Chris H]

Read this http://cloudynights.com/documents/naglers.pdf

[Capricorn]

On CN was a thread about TV eyepieces, what surprised me was the number that rated the Radian as poor (suppose relatively speaking).

For an f/4 scope you may need to search around and ask a few questions.

As mentioned earlier TV' are rated to f/4, however not having anything at that f number I would suggest that if possible you see if you can try a few makes and types before commiting what could be serious money.

Equally TV plossl's are not overly expensive, have read they are specified down to f/4, perhaps you could borrow one to try out.

[brantuk]

Everything Televue can be found here

Tele Vue Optics

[Nexus 6]

a visit to a local astronomy society may be helpful to you Pete, there will probably be a few members who have some eyepieces, including Televue, worth checking out with your scope.

[Macavity]

Whatever eyepiece, you may have to limit yourself (visually) to focal lengths less than 20mm -- The large secondary shadow can get in the way a bit. <G> You might possibly need to consider coma correction, though less so, at higher magnifications?

[PeterW]

You need a coma corrector, any nagler will do a good job, the williams optic uwan are reckoned to be almost their equal.

Cheers

Peterw

[great_bear]

Can someone please give me a simple overview of the Televue products and the different types?.

Tele Vue Range:

- Plossls: No-nonsense 50° Plossls built to a high standard, and modified to work well down to F4

- Radians: The "old man's Plossl" 60° planetary eyepieces with adjustable eye-relief. Design not related to Plossls. Opinion curiously divided on optical quality. Various focal lengths are being dropped from the range - one-by-one.

- Panoptics: Wide-field, 68° eyepieces available in longer lengths only. 15mm model no longer available. Universally liked, but do have a lot of pincushion distortion.

- Delos: Wide-field, 72° eyepieces in only 10mm and 6mm lengths at the time of writing. Excellent eye-relief for spectacle wearers. Very much a premium eyepiece.

- Naglers: Ultra-wide 82° eyepieces. Type 5 is the latest design in longer focal lengths, Type 6 are the shorter lengths redesigned to be smaller and (relatively) lightweight. Some Type 4 focal-lengths remain on sale, as Type 4 are popular with spectacle wearers due to their longer eye-relief.

- Ethos: Televue's premium 100° eyepieces

- Ethos SX: 110° version of the Ethos - only two focal lengths available at the time of writing.

I would like to find the best price point for performance vs value.

The range isn't aimed at different pockets. Each model is designed with a specific purpose in mind, and high-quality persists across the range. The cost is unrelated to the quality (although it's true that the Ethos is regarded as an exceptional eyepiece)

[great_bear]

Also, there must be other ep'e suitable for fast scopes. I would welcome your suggestions.

Don't forget that a simple 2x barlow will enable most eyepieces to work well in your scope (since it effectively becomes F8).

[John]

Thats an excellent summary great_bear

I guess we should add that Tele Vue have 3 zoom eyepieces as well

- 8mm-24mm zoom: FoV varies from 55 degrees (8mm) to 40 degrees (24mm). Reputedly made for Tele Vue by Vixen. Optical performance considered pretty good but not quite up to the standard of the fixed focal length plossls.

- 3mm-6mm Nagler zoom: FoV constant at 50 degrees across zoom range. No relationship to fixed length Nagler eyepiece design, other than the designer. Competes very well with Orthoscopic and other well reputed planetary eyepiece designs.

- 2mm-4mm Nagler zoom: As above but only really useful with very short focal length scopes.

[Moonshane]

my general summary would be that all Televue eyepieces are broadly as good as each other with extremely minor differences between them in terms of contrast, sharpness, build quality and colour rendition. they are all tested and good in scopes down to f4. the main areas they differ are cost, weight, field of view and eye relief. a number of their range exhibit a slight yellowish cast (not objectionable though).

these are my views having used most of the different types:

Paracorr - works very well in scopes of f5 and below. creates the look of an f8 scope in terms of coma.

Plossls - narrow field of view these days at 50 degrees (40mm is narrower) but light and relatively inexpensive. eye relief on the shorter focal lengths (11mm and 8mm) makes them a little uncomfortable for me (I don't wear spectacles to observe). A great way to get hooked on TV quality.

Radians - nice field at 60 degrees and good eye relief (some would say too much) at 20mm. very sharp, flat field. not too heavy but a fair bit heavier than a plossl. have the instajust feature which some like some do not. I like it. Available (in some only used) in

Panoptics - very nice eyepieces and offered in the longer focal lengths. good field at 68 degrees and very sharp. I never saw the pincushion as a problem as I never really saw it in use - it's obvious on a piece of graph paper though but who looks at graph paper? the 24mm Panoptic is my favourite and gives the widest field in 1.25" eyepieces. if you like to see the field stop then these are an excellent eyepiece and not over the top price wise.

Naglers - only used the newer types myself, all have 82 degree field. Type 5. available in longer focal lengths with decent eye relief and very sharp and flat field - like a wide field Radian in some ways. I have a 26mm Nagler and this is the best eyepiece I have ever used. The 31mm is too large and a large exit pupil for some users. The field is huge and sharp all the way. Type 4. Never used one but they have a large eye lens, the instajust feature (like Radians) and good eye relief. many say they offer more of a picture window feel. Type 6. All of the higher power Naglers and in 1.25". Offer 12mm eye relief across the range and the same large field. Very compact and sharp etc. but lighter.

Nagler zooms - really a jumped up plossl zoom but really superb, albeit expensive. they offer 10mm eye relief and a 50 degree field and are excellent for fine tuning to get the most out of the seeing.

Ethos - ridiculously large field at 100-110 degrees. 17mm and above are 2" only but all have the 2" 'skirt'. it is very difficult to see the whole field and in some ways, I prefer to do so. the field of view is what makes these 'famous' but users appreciate the sharpness and contrast which is as good or better than any others in the TV stable.

Barlows and Powermates - both excellent quality. The Powermates are unusual in that they offer higher power but no increase in eye relief or effective focal length - they just magnify the image with no other effect (other than dimming due to a smaller exit pupil).

Hope this helps a bit.

Cheers

Shane

[Moonshane]

oh yeah, forgot about the Delos.

[brantuk]

"- Radians: The "old man's Plossl""

Think I'm gonna change all my Radians so I can make myself younger lol

[ollypenrice]

I have a few Radians at shorter FLs. They are very clean and sharp and beginners like them because of the eye relief. They are so much better than Plossls off axis that the 'old man's Plossl' quip is simply fatuous. Ignore it.

Olly

[brantuk]

I was just kidding Olly - take more than that to make me sell my Radians - I like 'em far too much lol

[John]

I'm ignoring Shanes description of the field of view of the Ethos as "ridiculously large"

[Macavity]

Perhaps if the thread is seeking to emulate the Viz standard, that should be unfeasibly large...

[Moonshane]

I'm ignoring Shanes description of the field of view of the Ethos as "ridiculously large"

ha ha

I bet you though that the first thought when many people look through an Ethos is along the lines of 'blimey, that's just mental!'.

it was a back handed compliment I suppose.

[great_bear]

- and my "old man's Plossl" quip about Radians was in response to the fact Al Nagler specifically designed them because - in his own words - "As the hobbyist population ages (along with me), more amateurs need eyeglasses"

It wasn't meant to be taken seriously - apologies to Olly and any other offended Radian owners!

[Quark]

"- Radians: The "old man's Plossl""

Think I'm gonna change all my Radians so I can make myself younger lol

The only time you'll change your Radians is if you turn them round 180 degrees in your case young man!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

As I have worn glasses since I was about 8 or 9 years old, and have astigmatism, I really like long eye relief, hence the Nagler T4, Radians, and the TMB Paragon in my EP case. The Meade UWA 14mm is outstanding as well, and in Olly's Tec 140 gave superb views of of M13, with pinpoint stars right up to the edge. In his 20" F/4.1 Dob, I used it to spot some very compact planetaries, and no aberrations were apparent. This shows that other high-end EPs are also up to the job at F/4. The 15mm eye relief is a tad short, so I am looking to replace it with a 12mm Nagler T4.

Nonetheless I am very pleased with my TV eps, in particular the two Nagler T4s. I will only trade in my Radians for Delos in equivalent focal lengths.

[brantuk]

Lol Quark - actually I have to buy my eyepieces for three scopes and two pairs of eyes - her indoors wears glasses - the Radians seem to work well in all three scopes and swmbo gets on with them too - so they kinda fit the bill very nicely on all counts.

@GB - I didn't take any exception matey - was just (what I thought) a funny quip lol. Good old Al Nagler looking after us "age'ing old gits"