If you could design a new eyepiece what would it be?

[Moonshane]

Often we find that a certain eyepiece will perform well on certain subjects but not have quite the right sort of magnification for the target or be lacking in some other way.

If I were to be given the chance to suggest a new eyepiece for the Televue range (my preferred manufacturer) it would be a zoom eyepiece of the quality of my Nagler 6-3mm zoom but with a focal range of 7-14mm, 60 degree field and 15mm of eye relief. This would provide a full range of magnifications for much of my observing in just two eyepieces for home and travel.

What eyepiece would you like to have made and why? This has to be within the cnfines of physics and optics of course so no 8-24mm Ethos zooms in a 1.25" fitting!

Yes, it's raining again.......

Cheers

Shane

[Mr Spock]

I would like a 10mm ortho made from the finest glass available and with the best coatings available.

[Moonshane]

Nice Michael. I think it would be a very popular eyepiece too.

[E621Keith]

A 100 deg eyepiece with 20mm eye relief would be nice.

[swamp thing]

I would like an eyepiece that enabled both eyes to be able to see into it. Not a binoviewer, but more like looking into a small window.

[Moonshane]

blimey Steve! that said, is this not available? I think you mean the 31mm Nagler?

[jeremy1]

I bet there are some science boffins out there that could design a lens thats like looking at a sat nav screen and depending what you select would change from lets say 6mm to 40mm. So there would be no more squinting through a single eye piece.

[Damo636]

The 28mm Uwan is the closest thing I have used to a "both eyes" eyepiece, I could almost get my whole face in there . Nice though!

[swamp thing]

I was kinda thinking of like the experience of looking into a divers face mask. So the eyecup was right around both eyes

[Moonshane]

funnily enough my original reply had that eyepiece not the Nagler!

[LukeSkywatcher]

I'd design EP's that have a special coating that stop them from fogging up.

[Damo636]

I'd design EP's that have a special coating that stop them from fogging up.

Good call, I find this a torture

[LukeSkywatcher]

Good call, I find this a torture

The technology already exists. Its just never been used for astro-optics.

http://www.allaboutv...es/coatings.htm

Half way down the page. Its a product called Fog Free.

[nightfisher]

Im with spock, a 10mm orthoscopic design with a maybe a little more field of view and slightly better eye relief, using ED glass with top rate coatings would be highly logical

[John]

I think I'd try and develop a mid-range zoom eyepiece along the lines that Shane suggests in the opening post in this thread. Something with a consistent 60 degree FoV and par-focality across the range, decent eye relief and not too bulky. Oh, and orthoscopic levels of sharpness, contrast and light scatter control. I think £300 would be a good retail price point to aim for.

[E621Keith]

I think I'd try and develop a mid-range zoom eyepiece along the lines that Shane suggests in the opening post in this thread. Something with a consistent 60 degree FoV and par-focality across the range, decent eye relief and not too bulky. Oh, and orthoscopic levels of sharpness, contrast and light scatter control. I think £300 would be a good retail price point to aim for.

That's a lot to ask for £300. After all Pentax's 8-24 zoom cost between £320 to £400 new. If TV made it that good, I bet they will charge £600 like Leica's ASPH zoom.

[John]

That's a lot to ask for £300. After all Pentax's 8-24 zoom cost between £320 to £400 new. If TV made it that good, I bet they will charge £600 like Leica's ASPH zoom.

I'd use ultra-efficient production methods and undercut and outperform the likes of TV, Zeiss, Pentax and Leica

I've just got a few parts of that plan to figure out though .......

[acey]

I'd like a medium-wide-angle (60 degree) high-quality reticle eyepiece with wide cross hairs (or bar micrometer) pre-installed - so I don't need to take apart the one I've already got in order to access its focal plane. It would be used for measuring apparent angular sizes of DSOs.

[Moonshane]

ha ha - nice one John. I was just about to say hey, it's your eyepiece charge what you like

it's a shame that the TV 8-24mm zoom is not really a TV 8-24mm zoom. based on my Nagler zoom, I think zooms perhaps perform better when the min - max ratio is 1-2 (e.g. 3-6mm not 3-18mm)

[cantab]

5 mm to 40 mm zoom, parfocal with a view quality and apparent field at least as good as a quality Plossl over the full range of focal length.

Surely it must be possible with sufficient design ingenuity and engineering quality to break through the 3 min/max ratio barrier.

[E621Keith]

5 mm to 40 mm zoom, parfocal with a view quality and apparent field at least as good as a quality Plossl over the full range of focal length.

Surely it must be possible with sufficient design ingenuity and engineering quality to break through the 3 min/max ratio barrier.

I am not sure about mega zoom eyepiece. I agree with John about keeping the zoom ratio low. A lot of camera lenses have over 3x min/max ratio, but usually the higher this ratio gets the worse the optics becomes. The fact that my Nikon 18-200 zoom isn't as sharp as my kit 18-55 is a proof of this.

According to the eyepiece guru on CN, the best zoom on the market is the Leica ASPH 8.9-17.8mm zoom and that only has a zoom ratio of 2x. Likewise the 2 Nagler zooms are also 2x ratio zoom.

btw, I just saw this on that German site that sells eyepiece with ridiculous price tag. It's a Zeiss 6.7-25.1mm zoom eyepiece with a 3.75x zoom ratio. Yours for €700 ex shipping

http://www.apm-telescopes.net/en/Eyepieces/Zoom-Eyepieces/Zeiss-Zoom-Eyepiece-6.7-25.1-mm1.html

[alan potts]

I have an Antares 8-5mm zoom which is very nice and for a zoom all round optically it's top draw. I would design 30-15mm 82 degree version along the same lines.

Alan.

[alan potts]

My wife worked for a company selling Zeiss, not long ago they sent her one of these by mistake, sadly she sent it back before I got to know, 700Eus, it's only money.

Alan.

[Alma]

The Nagler 3-6mm zoom is a good starting point. I would make the focal length range slightly longer as I never find 3mm much use. 3.5mm to 6.5mm would be better for my scope (105/650 f/6.2 triplet refractor) and make the a.f.o.v. as wide as possible (a 68 degree Panoptiic field of view would be nice) . Wonder how much it would cost though?

[John]

....... Wonder how much it would cost though?....

Antares managed to produce the Speers-Waler 5mm-8mm zoom for a retail price of around £200. That had a sharp 80+ degrees field of view across the zoom range.