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desert island Dob ep's

estwing

By estwing
in Discussions - Eyepieces

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estwing

estwing

Posted
Posted

ok guy's i'm on this island with a F4.8 12.5" dob, i can only have two ep's, one for planetry, one for DSO's....which two should i take...(or recommend me some ep's for this scope)...but that just sounds boring!

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Saleratus

Saleratus

Posted
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I had a desert island dob situation as I moved to England with a single dob (11" f/4.5), leaving most of my kit in America, where I still go home often.

I chose:

Pentax XW 30

Televue Ethos 13

Televue Panoptic 24

Televue 3-6mm zoom

I've since been playing around with a Pentax XW 40, and a 4.8 & a 3.8 ethos.

If I had to narrow down to two, one for deep sky, and one for planets, I'd choose

Ethos 13 for deep sky

If you have tracking, I'd chose the Televue 3-6mm zoom for planetary.

If you track manually, I'd get a 4.7 Ethos as the wide FOV makes it easier to keep objects in the view.

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John

John

Posted
Posted
If your skies ink black 31mm T5 Nagler if not 26mm T5 Nagler.

13mm Ethos and a 2" Powermate.

That should keep you busy.....and broke.:(

That just about nails it for me too. You may need to counterweight the scope with a large conch as these are heavy eyepieces :(

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JamesC

JamesC

Posted
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Generally agree with the above. You need at least 3 eyepieces: one wide angle - maybe around 6mm exit pupil or whatever you think you can realistically handle; one for DSOs - I think the calls for 13mm are about right; and one for planetary - personally I would go for about 300x (which many people think is too much).

For the wide angle, I would consider the Meade 5000 28mm SWA which is still a reasonable price here. Actually I might even be tempted by the 34mm, even although the exit pupil would be too large - just to get the additional field of view (the 31mm T5 would solve that problem, but it's a jumbo eyepiece).

For the DSOs I'd either go for Meade 5000 14mm UWA, which I know is pretty good, or else take a punt on the Explore Scientific 14mm 82 degree eyepiece, which I've never seen.

There is a school of thought that you may as well go straight for the expensive eyepieces and then you don't need to think about upgrading, but personally I think I would be happy with the above.

If that was still too pricey, at f4.8, I think I'd go for generic 52 degree plossls.

Planetary is tricky. I might go for a 5mm Nagler, even although the eye relief is tight (the 6mm Delos is probably a much more comfortable eyepiece). There is no budgeting on wide angle planetary eyepieces. Of course you could build an equatorial platform and then use an orthoscopic!

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michael.h.f.wilkinson

michael.h.f.wilkinson

Posted
Posted

well after a few months i got the 13mm ethos, now to track down a 2" powermate or go for the 26mm T5 Nagler...but which should i get first?

The 26 Nagler with 2x PowerMate is a bit of a waste if you have a 13mm Ethos. A 31mm Nagler is the ticket (there was one in the classifieds, and I spotted one on ABS)

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Damo636

Damo636

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The 26 Nagler with 2x PowerMate is a bit of a waste if you have a 13mm Ethos. A 31mm Nagler is the ticket (there was one in the classifieds, and I spotted one on ABS)

Apart from the almighty weight of the 31mm Nagler/Powermate combo, the 13mm Ethos will still show more sky than the 15.5mm virtual Nagler. I would highly recommend an Antares 1.6x barlow...http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Antares-2-1-6x-Barlow-Lens-for-Telescope-Model-2UBS-/120924747274?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c27ad360a#ht_3954wt_952

They are superb with the Ethos, in fact with any eyepiece I've used in it and lightweight for a 2" barlow.

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Damo636

Damo636

Posted
Posted

Sounds like a good plan. The 2" 2x Powermate is a fabulous piece of kit. The only reason I sold mine was because I found it slightly unwieldy when coupled with large eyepieces such as the Ethos. It will give you an essentially perfect 6.5mm Ethos though :-)

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estwing

estwing

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Sounds like a good plan. The 2" 2x Powermate is a fabulous piece of kit. The only reason I sold mine was because I found it slightly unwieldy when coupled with large eyepieces such as the Ethos. It will give you an essentially perfect 6.5mm Ethos though :-)

....and those last 10 words in your post Damo have made my day..i would of liked to get my hands on a Delos after your glowing report on it's first light..but my head tells me the powermate is the more sensible thing to buy....with more 2" ep's on the horizon :help:
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michael.h.f.wilkinson

michael.h.f.wilkinson

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I would prefer going for the delos 6 that combine a powermate with the ethos. The first reason is the weight, the second is that in either case you are carrying 3 pieces of kit: a Nagler 26, an Ethos 13, and a powermate, or a Nagler 26, an Ethos 13, and a Delos 6. In either case you have three focal lengths at your disposal. I somehow find switching EPs less of a hassle than inserting a barlow.

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John

John

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... I somehow find switching EPs less of a hassle than inserting a barlow.....

Having used some great barlows and Powermates, I've found myself reaching the same conclusion.

One piece of expensive kit less to fumble with in the dark :rolleyes2:

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swamp thing

swamp thing

Posted
Posted

I think your choice is a good un. I have no issues using a Powermate. IMO it's no different than having to use a 1.25" to 2" eyepiece adapter every time you change eyepieces. Most seem to deal with that OK. The added bonus of the Ethos field will be a great advantage at these higher powers too, specially with larger apertures. I know it's an area in which I will be looking at real soon with the Ethos Powermate combo way out in front of any single eyepiece :)

your not using high power just on planets and small objects with larger apertures you are zooming in on Galaxy cores, planetary nebulae, and the hearts of Globs. The 100 deg field is a winner on these.

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