Which EP for a 12" Dob?

[Pug]

In the process of waiting for a 2nd hand dob to come up for sale! While I'm waiting, any recommendations as to which 2" ep works best in them?

Looking at a budget of £150ish, new or 2nd hand, thanks in advance!

[rwilkey]

I think it would be best to wait for the scope, try it out with the packaged ep's, then see where your preferences lie as regards viewing. 2" ep's at low power are good for DSO's if that's where your preference lies. What are you interested in seeing, and will the new scope be purely for visual?

[Pug]

Purely visual, the plan is to use it for dso hunting, not sure how it'll cope for lunar and planetary viewing but it'll be an improvement on my current scope!

[rwilkey]

If that's the case you can't go far wrong with a PanaView 32mm dependant on the f/ratio, would it be f/5 like my SW200? I am sure planetary and moon will be great in that scope with the supplied ep's, you can always improve on these later.

[Stephen]

I think the SW Aero performs better (still in budget) than the Panaview.

[Pug]

Thank you!

The Panaview is well within budget as well, money left for other goodies too!

[rwilkey]

Kh3ldar, I think you are probably right, I haven't tried that one, but have always heard good reports about it.

[Pug]

Och, I'm a slow typist!

Thanks to both, reckon I need to get to a star party and try some out.

[rwilkey]

Hi Pug, it was at a star party (SSP) where I 'discovered' the PanaView. A good place to start.

[iamjulian]

A £130 (ish) Aero is likely to outperform an £80 Panaview. Just as a £250 Panoptic is likely to outperform a £130 Aero. If your budget is £150, the Aero or the Baader Aspheric seem about right if you are buying new. Both will have astigmatism in the outer edge of your field of view though as your scope is likely to be f/5 or faster. Also worth thinking about how wide you want your view to be. 2" and 1.5 degrees or more of sky are nice to have when looking for DSOs, but it is perfectly possible to find plenty with a much narrower eyepiece that will be sharper across more of the field. Having a play with what comes with the scope is still definitely good advice. Trying to buy EPs before you've even bought the scope is not wise.

[Damo636]

I had the 35mm Aero for a short time and its a very nice ep. It's really sharp on axis and very light for a 2'' ep. It did show astigmatism in the last 10-15% of the fov at f6 so i would imagine it would be slightly worse at f5. A used 28mm Nirvana would come in around the budget and would outperform both the Aero & the Baader Aspheric. Some folk don't mind a little astigmatism in the outer fov but i can't stand it personally.