Help with my decision for EP

[Astro-Nova]

NExt to my 10mm and 25mm EP's, I decided my next buy will be an extra EP and leave a 2x barlow lens in my wishlist for now.

Want to ask you what is the best focal length and best brand to go for? 6mm is most popular I read. I want to get a clearer planetary image with my 200p skyliner scope (see sig). Obviously a EP which also brings DSO to light would be a bonus but not essential for now. Taking it step by step.

Budget £30-£50

Please advise me

[stevetynant]

A BST Explorere 15mm for about £40 and then if you could push the boat out a Tal Barlow for about £30 perhaps - that way you would have your wide feild requirements covered for the time being with the 25mm which isn't too bad, medium covered by the 15mm and 12mm (barlowed 25mm) and also 8mm aprox with the Barlowed 15mm.

If you could only get one at the moment I think I would get a barlow and save a little more for your next purchase?

good luck with whatever you decide

Steve

[umadog]

Whilst your 8" scope can theoretically get to about 320 to 400x per inch, you will find yourself limited to about 200x to 250x on most nights due to the atmosphere. I suggest keeping to the lower end of that range since the eyepiece will be usable on more nights and, being lower power, will also have uses for DSOs such as globular clusters and planetary nebulae.

So your scope f/6 and has a focal length of 1200mm. The 10 mm you have generates 120x. A 6 mm will give you 200x. A 5 mm may be pushing things a little at 240x. So I would look for a nice 6 mm Plossl. Both Celestron and Meade have eyepieces at that focal length and in your budget. I have some old Meade eyepieces which were comparable in price and they perform very well, but I've not used the newer ones. Hopefully someone with more experience in what's currently available in that price range can chip in.

You could just buy a barlow instead. The problem with doing that is that you'll end up with what is effectively a 5 mm eyepiece and that means 240x. 200x seems to be around the threshold beyond which planets often start to look crappy (it depends on seeing, of course). So you may be crossing that threshold too often with the 240x. It's a very odd thing: you use too much power and you suddenly see less. It's up to you which to purchase first, but ultimately you could well use both the barlowed 10 mm and the unbarlowed 6 mm on a regular basis.

[nightfisher]

celestron x-cel lx is well worth looking at, but slightly over budget or the BST explorer range from skies the limit get superb praise

[Caldwell 14]

celestron x-cel lx is well worth looking at, but slightly over budget or the BST explorer range from skies the limit get superb praise

I concur

[Naemeth]

I'm rather tempted to recommend a Barlow, that way you'd effectively have 5mm, 10mm, 12.5mm and 25mm.

If you're going with a single EP, perhaps go for a 6mm or 8mm, but bear in mind the 8mm will have more use on those not perfect but still good days. You could always go for the Vixen NPL Eyepieces, I've heard they're pretty good for their money, and they are actually at the bottom end of your budget, so you could get one and a Barlow.

[Astro-Nova]

thank you all

the VIXEN EP's look rather attractive so I might get one of them. And then I could get a 2x TAL barlow as well with a bit of luck as naemeth stated.

Debating now if I should go for 8mm or 6mm first, decisions decisions.

[Naemeth]

FLO are out of stock on the TAL Barlows I believe, and I think you should go for the 8mm, the 6mm will serve you well too though, although with a Barlow, you'll effectively have 5mm already.... difficult choice, decisions indeed!

[Astro-Nova]

that is true naemeth.....problem I have with using barlow with my 10mm is that it came with my dob, and the feedback on this forum about this EP is not great. However I dont have bad problems with it. I think ill start with 8mm and barlow first, I can always invest in the 6mm afterwards cause they are only £30 per EP. Still not sure though so ill have a lil study before I make the proper decision.

The TAL is for sale on a lot of sites for same/similar price so that should be alright

[Naemeth]

The EPs supplied with the scope aren't great, but still useable while you wait for the money for decent ones . The EPs supplied are also the same you get for any scope, and they wouldn't be supplied if they weren't at all useable .

[LukeSkywatcher]

Vixen NPL. £30 a pop. Brilliant EP's.

[faulksy]

i have a lovely 15mm ts hr 60 fov ep for sale on abs £35 all in if your interested

[umadog]

Remember that although 6mm and 5mm sound like very similar eyepiece focal lengths, the difference in magnification is fairly significant. The magnification jump per mm of eyepiece focal length is quite large for the shorter eyepieces. In addition, you want to tile quite thoroughly the range of magnifications near your seeing limit.

Anecdotally, I find plenty of nights where I can use my 9.5 mm (221x) but not the 8 mm (262x). Nights where I can jump to 7mm (300x) are rarer still. I use the 6mm (350x) on planets only two or three times a year.

[Astro-Nova]

So hard this decision but very useful advise from all of you. Some EP's are conflicting each other as it seems like they all have their own purposes and give different views in different scopes.

I will deffo start collecting them vixen EP's they are really affordable! So what ever focal lenght EP I pick, it be a vixen.

Maybe if I ask you what focal length (with or without barlow) will give me the maximum quality for both good resolution + good magnification at an average sky with quite a bit of light pollution. Would the 8mm be the best bet? And as I will eventually drive out at darker skies to get the 6mm then, to be my best bet for good quality?