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eyepiece kit, or zoom eyepiece. which is better?

simon

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simon

simon

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eyepiece kit, or zoom eyepiece. which is better?

i really fancy the idea of a zoom eyepiece. can these be bought and give quality views. if so, which make and model do you feel is best. spending around £120.

or would an eyepiece and filter kit be better even if they are quite bad viewing, compared to quality eyepieces.

or should i just buy a quality 7mm or 5mm to add to my 25mm and barlow set. i'm viewing planets and the moon mainley at the moment.

thanks.

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John

John

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If you can run to £190 the Baader Hyperion 8mm - 24mm zoom is very good. It is very nearly as good as the fixed focal length Hyperion eyepieces but has a narrower field of view.

Otherwise I'd buy a couple of decent eyepieces such as the BST Explorers or Celestron X-Cel LX's.

Lower cost zoom lenses make too many optical compromises in my opinion. The eyepiece sets are reasonable if you will use all the components in it. The two eyepiece types I've mentioned above will perform better than the ones in the eyepiece sets though.

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gooseholla

gooseholla

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I went for an eyepiece kit in the end. The 9mm, 20mm, 32mm and 12mm make regular outings, leaving only 15mm. Barlow is used, also, as is the ND filter. Added a good planetary/ED 8mm, a 5mm ortho and threw in a couple of kellners. Gives me a lot of flexibility. Probably cost about £170 for the lot, so cheaper than some of the good zooms. Rarely do I find myself wanting anything else, and the eyepieces get a lot of time in the scope - I select them for use. I also don't have changing FOV across the plossls, like a zoom does. Yet, I can see the benefits of a zoom and why they are attractive, but I don't think that on the whole they will ever replace single eyepieces at each focal length.

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Spec-Chum

Spec-Chum

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Is the Seben going to be satisfying in an F/4.7 scope though ?. Thats a lot sterner test than F/6 dob or F/8.3 refractor.

Yeah good point, but lets be honest and say you don't buy a budget zoom eyepiece for it's optical quality to be fair. I like mine because of the convenience factor, but yes, I would agree a 4.7 scope would be murder anywhere off axis I would imagine.

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acey

acey

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I find the Baader 8-24mm zoom invaluable for deep-sky viewing. Any very small faint fuzzy will be invisible if the power is too low, but the zoom can be used to find the field, then the power is raised until it pops into view. With a dob it can be easy to lose a faint DSO at high power, for example when swapping between eyepieces, so the zoom is a help in this respect too. I also have a spotting scope with a built-in zoom eyepiece which is very handy as a deep-sky travel scope.

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

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In my experience, EP kits are great for starters in astronomy. They are relatively cheap and let you experience many different magnifications. If you decide to re-sell they somewhat hold their value and you dont take a big loss.

Zoom EP's can be expensive, but if you break down the cost per "click stops", it puts the cost of each click @ about £30 (very middle of the road cost for quality). You also get every mm of click in between the denaoted clicks (if that makes sense to you)

Example: If you buy a Hyperion 8-24mm ZOOM...................you get:

8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24

Thats a whole EP collection for the cost.

The other alternative is to buy individual focal length EP's for whatever price you can affordto pay per EP. The cost will soon add up.

I personally have a Hyperion 8-24mm zoom and love it. I also have four Vixen NPL EP's that cost me £30 each and i REALLY love them.

The thing with EP kits is that you get a lot of EP's and coloured filters included that you will quickly see that you will never use..............you are paying the price for 2 or 3 EP's in the kit and the case they come in.

A zoom EP i would say is better value.

Hand on heart though.........................your best bet is to find a range of EP's that are within your budget and buy a low mag,medium mag and a high mag in that range...........and really that is just about all you will need.

This is just my opinion.

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

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I bought a Baader zoom mk3 and love it to bits! its worth putting the rest to your budget and buying one of these. you wont regret it!!

I tend to agree. It saves a lot of hassle of swapping over EP's during an observing session and it is top quality.

I now only take my scope,power tank and Hyperion zoom out on any given night.

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JohnC

JohnC

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I pick up my Baader zoom next week :smiley:

I have tried one a few times and am very impressed.

I have a Seben zoom that is not too bad at all, but the Baader is a lot sharper.

I really appreciate the convenience of the zoom.

John

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

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I will say that if you are fully mobile and can carry your scope and all the extra bits out into your garden then an expensive zoom EP really is not for you.

I am in a wheelchair and to get my scope,mount,tripod,power pack takes me 3-4 trips indoors. My EP case is another trip. With the zoom EP i can hang it around my neck and take it outside. So personally for me the zoom EP is great.

The less trips i have to make indoors the better.

Thats why i invested in the Hyperion 8-24mm zoom......................and it works brilliantly.

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pvaz

pvaz

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Just keep in mind how fussy a f4.7 can be on EPs. Whatever you buy make sure you'll be able to return it for a full refund in case you're not pleased with the edge quality. Some EPs are sharp on say a f8 but on a f/4.7 they get all mushy towards the edge.

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hwsoderlund

hwsoderlund

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hi

i'm a bit confused about the f4.7 thing?

isnt the lower the number the better the wide field of view?

does this mean hi power eyepieces are no good in the 10" dobsonian?

Not at all, it is just that the "faster" the scope (low f number) the more sensitive it will be to poor eyepieces. An eyepiece has to be well corrected to give good images at the edge of field in an f4.7 scope, and such an eyepiece will inevitably be more expensive than a not-so-well-corrected one. In a fast scope you will also need rather short FL eyepieces to get really high mag. For instance, to achieve 100x in my 10" Meade Lightbridge (f5) I would need a 12.5mm eyepiece. If my scope was f10 I would need a 25 mm eyepiece to get the same mag. For really high mag, say 300x, I would need a 4.1mm eyepiece. If the scope was f10 8.2mm would be enough. So you have to select eyepieces that suit the focal length of your scope.

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