Upgrade EPs - Advice needed please

[Steve 1962]

Hi

After a few years of mainly imaging and occassional viewing through some cheap SW EPs that came with my first scope, I've decided that it's time to build up a small set of "nice" eyepieces.

I've read all the threads and reviews, and I'm now puggled for choice.

I want 3(?) EPs that will:

Suit my scopes and existing kit - I have an FLT98 f6.3 refractor, a C9.25 SCT at f10 and f6.3, both with 1.25" and 2" focusser fittings and 1.25" TV 2x and 3x Barlows,

Suit my eyes - I'm 50 and shortsighted - I wear glasses but tend not to need them for observing,

Provide high quality, close up lunar and planetary images, wider lunar images (the whole moon would be ideal in both or either of the scopes), galaxies and wide star fields.

I've read up about TV Delos, Pentax XW, WO SWAN and UWAN and Skywatcher Nirvana & Panaviews and have an absolute maximum total budget of about £1,000 over the next year or so.

Any thoughts, advice or recommendations about what EPs and focal lengths to go for would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Steve

[Lorne]

After about 18 months in this hobby I decided - after filling my eyepiece case with Plossls and BST Explorers - that I didnt use over half the eyepieces that I had. I worked out what I thought I'd use and after trying a few eyepieces belonging to some of the guys from my local observing group I'm going down the Nirvana route. Up to now I've got the 7mm and 16mm, hopefully by the time the nights get darker again I'll have the 28mm to complete my set. I dont think the 4mm at X300 Mag, would get much, if any use in my scope. The views I've had through the Nirvanas have been great.

If you can, try to get out observing with a group local to you and hopefully you can try out different E/P's to see what suits you before you splash out.

L.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I have an F/10 SCT and F/6 frac, very similar to your kit, and I am also 50 and nearsighted, but with cylindrcal astigmatism thrown in, so I need to use glasses when observing. For wide field, I much prefer sticking a 2" EP in the SCT than the focal reducer with a 1.25. The difference is quite big. My most-used wide-field EP is the 31T5 Nagler, although a Nirvana 28 would serve you very well indeed. The 40mm Paragon is also very good, but give a slightly large exit pupil at F/6 in my APM 80mm (there is a TS Paragon clone going for 100 euro on the Dutch ABS counterpart here http://www.te-les-koop.nl/BekijkAdvertentie.php?key=11072). Something like my 22T4 or 17T4 Nagler is called for in my SCT if I go galaxy hunting or want to see the entire moon at 119x (ES, Nirvana and Meade counterparts also fine). At the short end the Pentax XF 8.5 deserves special mention. This is outstanding! Clearly beat my older Radian 8mm, but cost only 159 euro. At 60 deg FOV slightly narrower than XW and Delos, but a total bargain. Getting either a powermate or Meade TeleXtender might also be considered, especially for use in the F/6.3 frac,

As you can see from my sig, I have a lot more than three EPs, and use most of them frequently.

[Steve 1962]

Thanks Lorne and Michael

Off to see if I can find some Nirvanas to have a look through then.

Thanks again

Steve

[Britishmadman]

Hello im looking to upgrade my SW 2x barlow that came with the SW 150p. i now have a celestron c8, can someone please help me with what barlow to choose

[Guest]

I'd like to second the XF 8.5mm. It's not just very comfortable to use because of the extendable eye-cup, but also gives me excellent views in my C8 and in my f/5 refractor.

[estwing]

try a tal barlow,great budget, but hard to get hold of!

[Mr Spock]

try a tal barlow,great budget, but hard to get hold of!

As he has a TV Barlow, the Tal would be a downgrade

The first eyepiece I would recommend would be the 22mm T4 Nagler. Great for widefield in your 98, and pefect for galaxies in the C9.25. If I was buying again I would probably have a 10mm Delos for the C9.25 - x235 seems a really good magnification for it. I would probably keep the 8mm LVW, though the 8mm Delos would be tempting. There, that's spending £1k

[Steve 1962]

try a tal barlow,great budget, but hard to get hold of!

As he has a TV Barlow, the Tal would be a downgrade

Thanks again - just to be clear - I'm not after a Barlow - that's Britishmadman - we seem to have crossed threads.

I have to say I'm very tempted by the Delos and the Pentax

Steve

[Dunkster]

Both the Delos and Pentax seem to get great write-ups and sound like a sure thing for high magnification work.

For mid (SCT:14-16mm?) and wide (SCT:20+), I'd probably (and I did!) go for 82 degree EPs... Nagler is popular if you have the budget, but as Michael said, the Nirvana, Meade and Explore Scientific EPs should all do well in most focal lengths in either scope. An ES82 in a 30mm or the Nagler 31T5 should give excellent wide views (>1 degree) in your SCT assuming you have the darkness for it, but neither are small or light and you'd probably be best served for wide views using your frac. If you wanted to blow most of your budget on a single wide EP, the Ethos 21mm is supposed to be excellent too, but it's really the sort of thing you need to experience for yourself to determine if the extra cost is worth it.

I have a 20mm Nagler and in my C6 and C11 the views are excellent and I have the ES82s in shorter focal lengths and like them a lot too - their eye relief is a little bit shorter than the Naglers, but I don't find it a problem with my glasses off (I don't really notice when switching). Given that the ES are on sale in the US, I'll probably invest in another (longer FL) before too long!

Sorry that my post is mostly geared toward the SCT