Do I need anything else other than a TV Click stop?

[wiseman]

I started with some BST's and some Hyperions, I prefrred the BST's, so sold the Hyperions. Now I have a TV click stop, which I like as it removes the faff of swapping ep's and also allows me to stick a filter in and still change magnifications.

So, in YHO, is there a need for the individual BST's, or should I sell them and just stick with the click stop?

Thanks

Wise

[NGC 1502]

Tough question, what one person needs is individual to them.

But from my perspective, I'd say this, if you are happy with the performance of the zoom compared with fixed eyepieces, then as you say it is less hassle zooming than changing eyepieces, and you can fit a filter and have the choice of magnification. Most zooms I've looked through have a narrow field at the low mag end, so I'd say you may need a low power wide field EP for finding objects and viewing larger ones. Is the high power end of the zoom adequate for you ?

HTH, Ed.

[John]

If you are happy with the zoom then there is no need to keep the fixed focal length eyepieces that duplicate the zoom's focal lengths, I would have thought. I found fixed focal length eyepieces performed slightly better than the equivalent zoom (Hyperions in my case) but it was quite close and the flexibility of the zoom is a bonus.

It would be worth checking that you like the performance of the zoom on a range of object types, ie: bright planets and the moon, and fainter DSO's, before making the final decision. There might be occasions when you prefer the view, and the extra field of view, that a fixed focal length provides.

The Tele Vue click stop zoom (I'm assuming we are talking about the 8mm - 24mm here) is made by Vixen I believe.

[wiseman]

yep, its the 8-24 mm, in answer to the high power, I find its a bit fuzzy at 8mm, but then the fixed e/p is abit fuzzy at 8 mm too, getting to the limits of my scope I guess.

I also have a Tv 2 inch Hand grenade for wide views, a 32mm panoptic, I think, so with two e/ps plus a big barlow that does 2 and 1 inch, I think I have everything I need, saves a heck of a lot of kit!!

Cheers

Wise

[John]

... I find its a bit fuzzy at 8mm, but then the fixed e/p is abit fuzzy at 8 mm too, getting to the limits of my scope I guess.....

An 8mm eyepiece gives 150x which should be pretty sharp under any sort of decent seeing conditions with an 8" scope. On a good night you should be able to exceed 200x and only start to see a decline in the image quality at around 240x or so. I'm talking about views of the moon, planets and binary stars here.

[wiseman]

Thanks John, I was looking at DSO's with the 8mm, when I said fuzzy

I will do a comparison with the zoom versus fixed8 mm EP on the moon and see what the comparison is

Thanks

[Nevy]

I think the tv zoom is very good (apart from the afov) it's nice on the moon and planets , it's not that far behind the Ethos's in terms of clarity and sharpness , I don't use it much but when I do I'm quite surprised how good it is.

Sent from my AWSOME iPhone using Tapatalk

[John]

Thanks John, I was looking at DSO's with the 8mm, when I said fuzzy.....

That explains it - many DSO's do tend to look fuzzy

[wiseman]

I think the tv zoom is very good (apart from the afov) it's nice on the moon and planets , it's not that far behind the Ethos's in terms of clarity and sharpness , I don't use it much but when I do I'm quite surprised how good it is.

Sent from my AWSOME iPhone using Tapatalk

I dream of having an ethos one day!