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Discuss your Favorite Low Power EP for DSO hunting

Rob

By Rob
in Observing - Discussion

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James

James

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24mm Panoptic - wide 68 degree apparent field and well corrected for my f/4.7 scope... that said I have a 27mm Kellner that came with my first scope back in 1986, its got a much reduced field of view but I still use it a lot!

James

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Rob

Rob

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Thats interesting James, the kellner been around for a long time. I guess its how well they are made, some ditch them straight away while others still love them??.. what make is yours?.

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GazOC

GazOC

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One I use a lot is my 1.25" 32mm Celestron Plossl that cost me a tenner of Ebay. Its a cracking eyepiece in my Maks that can't take 2" models. My others are the Revelation 80 and 70 deg 30mm, great at longer focal ratios but not really up to much at f5 and below.

I've got my eye on a 30mm Pentax in the near future though...

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Rob

Rob

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Are, now the Pentax is a great EP!.. this does not mean the cheaper ones are poor, as you say Gaz that 32mm Celestron is a cracker for the money (I had one once). The Meade 4000 32mm or 40mm was also a nice EP. Agreed!

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James

James

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Thats interesting James, the kellner been around for a long time. I guess its how well they are made, some ditch them straight away while others still love them??.. what make is yours?.

No idea! It came with the scope and the manual describes it as a Kellner. It has a helical focus and was made in Japan but has no other distinguising features. It works well in my f/4.7 scope which surprises me.

A 30mm Pentax would be fantastic but I'm waiting for the 30mm Paragon... :wink:

James

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daz

daz

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I have a 32mm 2" Series 5000, which I've only had a chance to use once and that was for a few minutes :wink:

I suspect the edges will be soft in the f/4 newt, but hope to give it a thorough workout at Kelling - or maybe before!!

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saturn5

saturn5

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I have a 40mm Tele-Vue plossl,over 1 degree fov,gives sharp images with only a slight blurring/softening towards the egde,lovely wide views which are good for hunting down those faint fuzzies.

Am planning 38mm Orion Super-wide which will give a fov of 2 degrees,i have Orion Stratus 68 ep which i am impressed with so i hope the super wides are as good.

Have to say i have never had anything bad to say about any Orion purchase i have made :wink:

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Cloudwatcher

Cloudwatcher

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I have a 2" 28mm Kellner that came with the ST150 which gives spectacular W/F views. It also works quite well on the 8" f4 Schmidt-Newt but I find it's a bit cumbersome on the smaller refractors. On the Mak which,as Gaz says, is limited to 1.25" EPs I tend to use either a 32 or 40mm S/plossl which give both a reasonable magnification and FOV through the f/1500 tube.

CW

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Andrew*

Andrew*

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I have a Meade SWA 32mm (2"). It's got 65 degree aFOV which is very comfy to use. It's almost sharp in my f/5 newt. Wasn't half as good as the series 5000 plossl but still acceptable.

I think the revelation 26mm I'm about to acquire may well be my favourite for the frac...

Andrew

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jonifive

jonifive

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My Revelation 32mm (From the set) is my favorite. I use it more than any other EP. The views through both my WO66 and my SW 200 are spectacular. It is also incredibly comfortable on the eye. Between that and my telrad, finding DSO's becomes less of a chore.

I can't imagine how good a Hyperion or a Pentax would be, one day I'll come to a Starparty and have a gander through one.

JV

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John

John

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At the moment mine is a Tele Vue 32mm Plossl which gives an actual field of 2.4 degrees in my Vixen 102mm F6.5 refractor. I'm thinking of moving to a 24mm Panoptic which shows the same amount of sky as the 32mm but at higher power but they are very pricey new and rare as hens teeth used - and to think I had one and sold it a couple of years ago :wink:

John

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James

James

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Whats the point of going for higher power? you end up seeing less of the dso your viewing regardless of fov :? I always though the lower the magnification the better contrast you got when viewing faint fuzzies.

I think the point John is making is that with either eyepiece he can see exactly the same amount of sky - the advantage of slightly higher power is actually improved contrast as the background sky will be darkened just a little.

James

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saturn5

saturn5

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I'm confused now Maccers.If the higher magnification darkens the background doesnt the actual object your looking at become fainter too(because of the higher magnification)?

If i were looking at M31 with a 40mm ep,giving 30x mag and then used a 25 mm ep,giving 48x mag i find the better contrast is with the lower mag ep,or maybe i need my eyes testing :wink:

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James

James

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I'm confused now Maccers.If the higher magnification darkens the background doesnt the actual object your looking at become fainter too(because of the higher magnification)?

If i were looking at M31 with a 40mm ep,giving 30x mag and then used a 25 mm ep,giving 48x mag i find the better contrast is with the lower mag ep,or maybe i need my eyes testing :wink:

I think that what happens is that the background darkens slightly more than the object you're looking at therefore increasing the contrast a little. To some extent it depends on the eyepiece too. I doubt you need your eyes testing - views through eyepieces are quite subjective. One persons bright and clear view is anothers not so good view. :D

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John

John

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I think that what happens is that the background darkens slightly more than the object you're looking at therefore increasing the contrast a little. To some extent it depends on the eyepiece too. I doubt you need your eyes testing - views through eyepieces are quite subjective. One persons bright and clear view is anothers not so good view. :wink:

Good explanation James :D - that is what I've found and is the reason why my 32mm always gets the preference over the 40mm. I think the effect is more pronouced if there is light pollution around - in perfect skies it might not be such an issue.

I used to own a 2inch 38mm 70degree eyepiece which gave a 4 degree true field at 17x in my scope which was very nice but unless the sky was very dark indeed the 32mm showed more contrast between DSO's and the background sky.

John

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