Finder eyepiece

[ronb]

I'm toying with the idea of getting a "finder eyepiece" for my C11. One reason being that now having an observatory, because of the walls, I am unable to see any terrestrial objects on which to align the scope and RDF. The last time I refitted the RDF it took ages to ensure I had both scope and RDF aligned on the same star.

I'm looking for an eyepiece which will give a wider TFOV than my 23mm Axiom at 0.67 deg. I appreciate that exit pupil size can become a problem at longer focal lengths and do not want to spend too much as I don't see this eyepiece being used for " serious viewing".

Can anyone out there advise what to consider or what to avoid?

So far I have been looking at eyepieces ranging from the 30mm Ascension UWA through to the 56mm Meade Superplossl.

Many thanks in advance.

[John]

With a slow scope like the C11 you should not have a problem with an over large exit pupil. For a real cheap and cheerful "finder" eyepiece in an F/10 scope the Revelation 50mm might be OK. I has an apparent field of 55 degrees and costs less than £40:

Revelation 50mm Eyepiece 2"

[ronb]

Thanks John, I will give the Revelation serious consideration.

Other than cost, are there any advantages or disadvantages in going for a shorter focal length/wider field of view over a longer FL/narrower FOV?

[m.tweedy]

I regularly use my celestron 50mm 2 inch eyepiece to get a widefield view and will not part with it-ever.

[m.tweedy]

Sorry forgot to say I use it in a C11 also.

Sometimes you just want something that bit wider.

It is also useful for me when aligning the scope because the alignment star is usually in the field of view that does not happen with a higher power eyepiece.

[John]

I'm not sure that you can fit much of a wider field stop into the 2" format than a 50mm with a 55 degree AFoV has ?.

I guess the Vixen NLVW 42mm shows a tiny bit more sky but it does cost 7x as much as the Revelation.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

The widest field stop I have is that of the 40mm Paragon (1.34 deg in the C8). I think the Aeros are clones. Very good EP, and has only recently been replaced as the first EP in the scope by the "Panzerfaust" 31T5. I still use the 40mm for the widest fields (4mm exit pupil is fine). I use either the 31mm T5 or the Paragon to align my 16x70 finder.

[ronb]

Thank you for your help gentlemen, your comments are most useful and have reduced the size of my list.

From your preferences I guess it's a case of deciding how many pennies to part with then taking it from there.