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William Optics SPL v Celestron X-Cel LX

up2nogood

By up2nogood
in Discussions - Eyepieces

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johninderby

johninderby

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Having owned both (and have several of the LXs now) I can say they are very similar optically with the LX being maybe the slightest bit sharper if anything. The X-Cel LX has a bigger FOV though, so I would go for the LX as you getting the bigger FOV with no loss in optical performance. Also there is a bigger range of focal lengths in the LX series to choose from if you wanted buy some others later on.

John.

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jkwhinfrey

jkwhinfrey

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Sorry, but I don't know about the X-Cel LX, the WO 6mm SPL is lovely though.

I bought one recently - partly influenced by Robin's endorsement :p - and it's provided the best views of Jupiter I've ever had. It's excellent on the Moon too, and I found it to be sharp and clear across the whole field of view.

I'm really happy with it, can you tell?

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rwilkey

rwilkey

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I agree with johninderby's view on the differences in the two eyepieces, however, I have to say in my experience the SPL's are tack-sharp on the Moon and very comfortable to view through. The Celestron LX is a 'super' plossl with six elements in four groups, so a very good view to be had through this as well, makes such a difficult decision. The build quality of the SPL's win out slightly, although the twist-up eyecups on the LX are a good 'nice to have'. The LX also has a nice range of focal lengths though the 2.3mm will be too much for most scopes, as the 3mm in the SPL will also be, but they Barlow well and you can try barlowing the 6mm on good nights of seeing.

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hayju01

hayju01

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I have all three of the WO SPL range and find them very good. I'm affraid I can not compare to the LX having not owned one of these. I would agree with Robin the 3mm is pushing it even on my C9.25.

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Stephen

Stephen

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So using a Barlow with a 6mm would give me 400x. would that be ok on a good night with the moon and planets. or mainly just the moon?

Cheers :p

Only the moon, and that's if ever :icon_salut:

Unfortunately UK seeing dictates about 250X absolute max with the best conditions.

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up2nogood

up2nogood

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Only the moon, and that's if ever :p

Unfortunately UK seeing dictates about 250X absolute max with the best conditions.

I've read some people saying at some point when mars was close they viewed it at 375x. i keep reading tomany different storys lol:D

As johninderby has tried both, i would like a better fov. so i;ll try the 7mm and 12mm Celestron X-Cel LX eyepiece :icon_salut:

what other x cel ep would be good do add to it for my 8" dob.

skys have been so cloudy of late... hope it's nice and clear tonight:)

Cheers.

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Stephen

Stephen

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I've read some people saying at some point when mars was close they viewed it at 375x. i keep reading tomany different storys lol:D

As johninderby has tried both, i would like a better fov. so i;ll try the 7mm and 12mm Celestron X-Cel LX eyepiece :p

what other x cel ep would be good do add to it for my 8" dob.

skys have been so cloudy of late... hope it's nice and clear tonight:)

Cheers.

I struggled to use the 8" dob above 200x ever - but you never know :icon_salut:

I'd be tempted to change up the 12mm to an 18mm, and consider a widefield EP (Skywatcher Panaview 32mm) in addition.

I have the 12 and the 18, but I'm not buying any smaller EPs so I barlow them down to give me a 6 and a 9 also.

As you are getting the 7, I feel the 12 may just not get used.

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Stephen

Stephen

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i can push nearly 300x with my 9.25 and i imagine a lot of others can as well but its not very often. have you thought of the bgos they are jaw droppingly ggod

"Jaw droppingly good" should also be quantified with "useless for spectacle wearers" Eye relief is about 0.8 focal length I think? :icon_salut:

However hats off to you for 300x :p

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wolfdogg

wolfdogg

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i run at 227x with the SC8, and its always been too dark for comfort because im running at f10, its just never really been comfortable, but i was not polar aligned on a motor drive those times either with that eyepiece (8.8 UWA). The eye relief is not good either, so that prob weighs in on lack of comfort also. I did see the great red spot pretty good with that a couple times, but i dont seem to use it too much on the moon which is even naturally brighter, or for anything for that matter. maybe its just my setup though. is your 9.25's F Ratio up there too?

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michael.h.f.wilkinson

michael.h.f.wilkinson

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Same here for a C9.25. I frequently observe at x294 with out difficulty on the moon, and on those rare steady nights, x392. Maybe it's just C9.25 users...

Count in some C8 users as well. I use 250x quite frequently, and go for 290x on good nights (14mm UWA plus 2x TeleXtender), and have gone to 435 on Mars once (14mm UWA plus 3x TeleXtender), I mainly did it for a lark really, but the view was pretty decent at that time. I used 290x (using my old Vixen LV 7mm) on Saturn years back, and my jaw dropped as I could see spokes in the rings.

People often try high magnification briefly, are disappointed by the blurry view, and switch back to lower magnification. In my experience you need to keep the high magnification in for quite a few minutes to capture moments of good seeing.

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michael.h.f.wilkinson

michael.h.f.wilkinson

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i run at 227x with the SC8, and its always been too dark for comfort because im running at f10, its just never really been comfortable, but i was not polar aligned on a motor drive those times either with that eyepiece (8.8 UWA). The eye relief is not good either, so that prob weighs in on lack of comfort also. I did see the great red spot pretty good with that a couple times, but i dont seem to use it too much on the moon which is even naturally brighter, or for anything for that matter. maybe its just my setup though. is your 9.25's F Ratio up there too?

F-ratio has nothing to do with dim views in visual work. An 8.8mm ep in an 8" F/10 gives exactly the same view as a 4.4mm EP in an 8" F/5 scope (bar slight differences in central obstruction or transmission). The light intensity at the focal plane of the scope is 4 times less in the F/10 scope, but because the F/5 scope requires a 2x higher magnification of the primary image, a 4x "dilution" of the light occurs. Put differently, the same amount of light is captured by the objectives, and at a given apparent magnification is displayed over the same solid angle, so the intensity of the images must be the same.

If anything, the F/10 scope will show a crisper view because aberrations in the EP do not play up as much. F-ratio only determines the largest true FOV in a scope of given aperture.

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faulksy

faulksy

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"Jaw droppingly good" should also be quantified with "useless for spectacle wearers" Eye relief is about 0.8 focal length I think? ;)

However hats off to you for 300x :)

your right about the eye relief.

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faulksy

faulksy

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Same here for a C9.25. I frequently observe at x294 with out difficulty on the moon, and on those rare steady nights, x392. Maybe it's just C9.25 users...

they are very good mr spock, as you no

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up2nogood

up2nogood

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Well cut long story in half :)

I only had my scope little while now!

So only my missus knows.

As im pretty private person. anyways, my friend come round out the blue! as i was messing with my scope! and he said i didn't know u was into this you secret man lol.

anyways, he told me his mates dad is it to all this. and he asked what ep do you have, i said i have just 2 but want to get etc etc.

so we had a look at the moon last night, was fun.

so he said im just gonna make a call! (as he seems to make things happen;))

and with in half hour his mates dad turns up lol lol.

he had a good few ep. i thought blimy talk about coincidence.

Out of all the really Expensive one i compared a Baader Hyperion 68 degree which has a ring thing with it to make it into a 6mm.

a 8mm bst. 12mm bst. and a Celestron X-Cel LX 9mm. no 7mm :confused: lol

the views were quite clear for few hours. the bst i thought were pretty good. also nice on the moon, but with the 8mm i get some kind of black out when looking around, so i just adjusted the cup to what suits me. for £40 there pretty alright ;)

the cel x i found really nice. just had abit more niceness to it.

tried the Baader 8mm, and wow the fov makes a huge difference.

even tho the Baader was nice, i think the cel lx was that bit more clearer, even tried with a tal 2x balow. not as more fov tho.. i

we ended up looking at the moon 300x, then went with the Baader and ring to make it into a 6mm with the barlow at 400 x lol.

and yes it was clear. but i had to get my eye just right to stop the black out. but wow i have never seen the moon so close. i got so carried away i didnt put my gloves on :headbang: my hands were frozen lol.

oh and jupiter looked nice!!

got a Mk-III Baader Hyperion 8-24mm Clickstop Zoom to try next :(

i wanted to ask, i got a moon filter today. do i attach this to the barlow or just the bottom of the ep, as moon so bright on the eye.

would this turn a ep into something else?

can see venus, but so bright and not much to see via the scope. just glearing light!

cheers :o

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wolfdogg

wolfdogg

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i wanted to ask, i got a moon filter today. do i attach this to the barlow or just the bottom of the ep, as moon so bright on the eye.

Correct me if im wrong but i think you would want it at the end of the line, which means in the EP, to let the barlow deal with the full light path.

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