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250px: £300 to spend - which eyepieces?


jasdav

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Hi All,

I tried for some help on the beginners section but got no help so hope you don't mind me posting again here.

I recently upgraded from a Mak 127 to a Skywatcher 250px flex tube synscan (f4.7). I'll be selling my Televue 32mm and TMB 6mm that I bought for the Mak, and will have around £300 to spend on eyepieces, preferably 3, but possibly just 2.

I'll be keeping a BGO 7mm and Celestron Ultima Barlow.

I'd like to cover the range from around 4-5mm up to 25-27mm. I'm approaching 50 so I don't think my old pupils will take anything longer .

I'm lucky enough to live somewhere good and dark, about 1000ft up on Exmoor. I would like reasonable eye relief as I like to share the scope with kids and friends, and wish to cover planetary and deep sky viewing.

What would be your eyepiece choices for this scope?

Thanks,

Jason

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Thanks Grunthos,

I hadn't even thought about a zoom to be honest. I'd not read great things about the fixed focal length hyperions in fast scopes, though nearly bought one last year for the Mak.

As a life long photographer, until the last few years I'd always used prime lenses, but have to say that zoom quality is so good now I've sold all apart from a macro lens.

I'll look into that idea further. Thanks again,

Jason

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Cheers Dobby,

The Panaview was definitely one I had been considering, and I'll take a look at the Celestrons. Would fit the budget nicely, with some to spare!

Any idea if the 5mm Celestron would be better than the TMB 5mm? And how would these compare to the much more expensive TV Radian 5mm?

I had considered buying the Panaview 26mm along with the TV Radian 5mm, and using the Barlow on the Panaview for 13mm, buying a mid range eyepiece at a later date. I guess those two along with a Celestron 18mm wouldn't push me too far over budget.

I'm assuming I may need to spend proportionately more on the higher magnification eyepiece.

Jason

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Hi Rik,

The TMB is going as I'd like to push the magnification a bit more to 4 or 5mm, as I already have a 7mm. I've been happy with it, and the eye relief is good for sharing, but the BGO is much nicer (and twice the price of course).

I loved the TV 32mm in the Mak but in the 250px, actually prefer the views I'm getting with the standard included 25mm lens. The TV is noticeably darker and I'm assuming it is to do with its relatively large exit pupil and light that's not getting into my old eye.

Thanks,

Jason

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Just a suggestion. 13mm ethos sell for around £300 -£330 S/H and will give you x93 and a FOV of 1.1 degrees. This would be almost the same FOV of a 25mm plossl but the higher magnification showing you far more contrast and detail on far more DSO's. At a later date you could get a x1.6 Antares barlow offering you x148 times magnification (similar to an 8mm EP) TMB 6mm gives a perfect planetary x200 the etho will cover most of your medium power - med high deep sky objects and the 10x50s will provide for the low power larger open clusters. In the long run the quality of the etho will far surpass that of several cheaper ep's and the advantages of a 100' FOV will soon become apparent.

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Thanks Spaceboy and Sunshine185,

Both ideas I hadn't thought about. It makes good sense to buy something that will be of lasting use and I'll look at the ethos.

I hadn't considered binoviewers and yet I spend my day looking down a binocular microscope - I know the enormous difference 2 eyepieces make to my job. Would these balance ok on the 250px or would I need to add some counterweight?

Jason

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Its not perfect like it would be on the back of a mak, but its perfectly useable and adding some counter weights would hardly cost owt if you find you need them. I have no experience of high end ep's like naglers and ethos's, but I did have a 7mm x-cel lx which cost £70 and although the view was superb it just couldn't compete with the relaxed, natural view I got with the bv's. There is no tired eye syndrome, having to keep swapping left eye, right eye, far longer can be spent viewing, eye floaters seem unnoticeable and due to the sturdiness of the dob mount, you can get your eyes up close without fear of the view wobbling. If anyone lives near to me you are welcome to come round and check them out, it would also be interesting to compare a £300-£400 ep with the bv on something like the moon. Good luck with whatever you decide to buy.

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Balancing a scope correctly is essential for getting good accuracy out of EQ mounts. As long of the COG is correct there should be no undue strain on the mount. When it comes to AZ GOTO mounts I would imaging the same rule applies. I'm not sure how easy it is to accurately balance GT dobs as I was under the impression they don't have clutches but I'm guessing as long as you avoid extremes (too heavy EP or too heavy counter weight) and adjust your counter weight in accordance to your ALT ( closer to the pivot point the higher the ALT) there should be no issue. I'm sure if I am wrong someone will correct me :D

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