One Eyepiece

[E621Keith]

FYI, Nikon NAV HW from APM is €1720 each, or more than 2 times the price of an Ethos 13 and €500 more than a APM 80/480 triplet.

[Damo636]

I bet they sell loads of those !!

[E621Keith]

I don't think Nikon is selling even at the much cheaper Japanese price within Japan. However, I think Nikon just did it for fun, to show what they can do if they can be bother to design and build astro eyepiece again. If they were serious they would be selling them outside the Japanese home market or adapt it for their spotting scope. On paper, Nikon's HW are much better than any Nikon spotting scope eyepieces, and since no one else makes 100 deg spotting scope eyepieces, I'd think it would be logical for Nikon to sell a converted version. The fact that they don't shows Nikon don't really care.

I'd bet most of HW they sold were sold to Nikon collectors rather than astronomers.

[scarp15]

I concur with Alan's original comment and my favourite eyepiece, which also receives the most use would be the 20mm Nagler T5. It does a good job on every subject and in my scopes works at 102x and 75x.

[LukeSkywatcher]

At the end of March i bought a Hyperion 8-24mm zoom EP. Its had very limited use since then due to the weather but i know it performs extremely well. I seriously doubt if any of my other EP's will be used again. I have 3-4 Vixen EP's (8,15,25 and 30mm) and a very nice 4mm Celestron Omni.

Much as it will kill me to do so, i think i might have to start shifting these so as to get a bit of cash for new purchases.

p.s.~~~my FAVOURITE ep of all time is the 32mm GSO (or as it was in the EP kit i bought..................a 32mm Celestron Plossl)

[Kef9]

I would have to be boring and go with a 13mm ethos!!! Thing is it's just the best.

[alan potts]

Well Chaps,

A wide field choice enters the ring from Lukeskywatcher (nice name) and if I may say it is nice to see an eyepiece being selected that did not cost the earth.

But Kefs selection of again, the 13mm Ethos puts that back out in front. Wish I could see one so I could understand what I am missing. Maybe it would be cost effective for me to fly in for a star party to see.

Going to the Nikon story, I have never seen a Nikon eyepiece, when did they make them?

Alan.

Alan.

[John]

13mm is a very versatile focal length. No surprise then that Al Naglers 1st Nager was in that focal length as was the 1st Ethos released.

I love the 13mm Ethos and voted for it in this thread but it is horrendously expensive and very large and heavy too. I still occasionally hanker for it's predecessor in my set which was a 13mm T6 Nagler - a wonderful eyepiece in a very compact package (the smallest one pictured below):

[alan potts]

John,

You send me the Ethos and I will send you the 13mm Nagler, I still have the box and bubble wrap. Can't sat fairer than that!

Alan.

[Andrew*]

My choice would also be the Hyperion 8-24mm zoom. I have two for binoviewing (when I can be bothered setting them up), and one lives permanently in my solar case as it's the only eyepiece I use for solar. It's not far from hogging the focuser in my other scopes as well. Just so versatile.

Andrew

[E621Keith]

Going to the Nikon story, I have never seen a Nikon eyepiece, when did they make them?

Nikon launched the NAV series in Japan (and so far only in Japan) in 2009 for the International Year of Astronomy. Apparently the Nikon SW has been giving the Pentax XW a hard time in the home market where the Nikon are much more competitively priced. I believe all NAV outside Japan were either purchased in Japan or grey market export, which is why they're almost unheard of in the west.

A question about the Ethos 13, does it have field curvature and pincushion distortion problem? Especially when it's used on bright extended objects such as the moon or the sun (with appropriate filter).

[Damo636]

A question about the Ethos 13, does it have field curvature and pincushion distortion problem? Especially when it's used on bright extended objects such as the moon or the sun (with appropriate filter).

I have noticed some very mild field curvature in the 13mm Ethos but its far from objectionable.

[m.tweedy]

21 Ethos my most used (and HEAVIEST) eyepiece

[Kef9]

Well Chaps,

A wide field choice enters the ring from Lukeskywatcher (nice name) and if I may say it is nice to see an eyepiece being selected that did not cost the earth.

But Kefs selection of again, the 13mm Ethos puts that back out in front. Wish I could see one so I could understand what I am missing. Maybe it would be cost effective for me to fly in for a star party to see.

Going to the Nikon story, I have never seen a Nikon eyepiece, when did they make them?

Alan.

Alan.

Those nikon eyepieces cost a fortune, when Ilast looked a few years ago they were in the £1,000's.

It's interesting that although I said I would have the 13mm ethos if I could only have one, I don't use it as much as my 5mm XO, 21 Ethos or 31 Nag so if I had to choose 2 eyepieces the 13mm ethos would not be one

[username]

It would have to be my humble 36 euro 20mm GSO Superview. I haven't had the honour of looking through a nice widefield but in my current collection it's the most versatile. On it's own it gives me 1 degree of sky at x65 and I can x1.5 or x2 barlow it to give x100 or x130. I could probably get away with using just this in my 4 inch mak at the moment if I didn't have any others.

[E621Keith]

Those nikon eyepieces cost a fortune, when Ilast looked a few years ago they were in the £1,000's.

It's interesting that although I said I would have the 13mm ethos if I could only have one, I don't use it as much as my 5mm XO, 21 Ethos or 31 Nag so if I had to choose 2 eyepieces the 13mm ethos would not be one

The prices of Nikon in Japan is actually reasonable (still expensive). I bought my 12.5 HW for around £650 when I was there early last month. It's more expensive than a Ethos 13 in the UK, but it came with a matched barlow, so I could just about justified a slightly higher price tag, because I was effectively getting one and a half eyepieces (12.5mm and a 10mm) for the price of one eyepiece.

First light tonight showed it was a very capable eyepiece in my C6, (it better be consider how much it costed). Sufficient eye relief to wear my spectacles and still see the field stops. Transmission was slightly higher than my LVW 13 and also more resistant to internal reflection. Lateral CA was well controlled and only becoming visible at the field stop with very bright stars (e.g. Arcturus). Off axis CA from my spectacles was not a big issue for DSO observation, unlike it was for solar observation which I reported in another thread. I don't think my scope was fully cooled down, so I won't comment on other aspects, but my overall impression was the HW was better than my LVW in the 65deg field that the LVW covered and more. My eyepiece has a S/N 0111, so obviously they're not selling many of them, especially for an eyepiece that was released 3 years ago.

Will it unseat the Pentax zoom - my current favourite and the 'one' eyepiece? I will have to see when Jupiter comes back in a few months time.

[alan potts]

Interesting to see the Hypirion Zoom picking up some votes as one eyepiece, but is it one eyepiece, I think not. I started by saying the TV 20mm as I think this is one of the most complete Ep's ever made, there are other of course. I should have said one focal length, still it is only a bit of fun.

That Nikon Ep is sure priced to keep the riff faff away, it would have to be something amazing for me to spend that, as I said before it's a good telescope cost. APM triplet, 12 inch dob or my 190mm Mac Newt. This might be an idea for another silly thread. What would you choose one of the telscopes afore mentioned or a Nikon NAV eyepiece.

I go with the Mac/Newt 190mm because I know how good it is.

Alan.