eyepiece kit, or zoom eyepiece. which is better?

[simon]

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.

hi.

so is my scope a fast scope at f5? :-S

Not at all, it is just that the "faster" the scope (low f number) the more sensitive it will be to poor eyepieces

[simon]

so is it better for me to always buy an eyepiece with the widest field of view what ever the mm (25mm - 5mm) of the eyepiece for good viewing (with no blurred edges?)

[pvaz]

With fast scopes (under f/6) you have 3 options:

1) Stick with regular designs EPs such as plossls or orthos

2) Buy cheap widefield EPs and put up with the mushy edges

3) Buy expensive widefield EPs and get the best of both worlds

[hwsoderlund]

hi.

so is my scope a fast scope at f5? :-S

I think most people would call f5 pretty fast.

[simon]

With fast scopes (under f/6) you have 3 options:

1) Stick with regular designs EPs such as plossls or orthos

2) Buy cheap widefield EPs and put up with the mushy edges

3) Buy expensive widefield EPs and get the best of both worlds

thanks pvaz. would you say Celestron X-Cel LX were cheap widefield EPs? should i be thinking more than £70 each EP?

thanks.

[hwsoderlund]

so is it better for me to always buy an eyepiece with the widest field of view what ever the mm (25mm - 5mm) of the eyepiece for good viewing (with no blurred edges?)

I have been in your situation myself. I bought my Lightbridge in April. Since then I have bought a few cheap Plossls, a zoom eyepiece, a 6mm TMB planetary eyepiece and a few more. Eventually I realised that I needed to spend more money to get quality views. I was also curious about wider field eyepieces than the ones I had, mostly to reduce the need to nudge the telescope so much when tracking objects. I ended up buying three Explore Scientific EPs; 11mm 82°, 14mm 82° and 24mm 68°. These three are the only ones I use now, the rest just sit there, collecting dust. So given what I know now, my advice to you would be to spend your £120 on one high quality eyepiece like the ES 11mm 82°. This would give you 5.5mm with a barlow. Together with your 25mm Plossl this will get you pretty far. I think your budget will cover the ES if you order from the US, and that is including shipping + customs charges. At least it should get you pretty close.

[S.A.M]

Both have advantages, if you are limited for space the zoom is the way to go, if you have space it is better to go for eye pieces as they are generally better quality. Hope this helps.

Peter

[simon]

I have been in your situation myself. I bought my Lightbridge in April. Since then I have bought a few cheap Plossls, a zoom eyepiece, a 6mm TMB planetary eyepiece and a few more. Eventually I realised that I needed to spend more money to get quality views. I was also curious about wider field eyepieces than the ones I had, mostly to reduce the need to nudge the telescope so much when tracking objects. I ended up buying three Explore Scientific EPs; 11mm 82°, 14mm 82° and 24mm 68°. These three are the only ones I use now, the rest just sit there, collecting dust. So given what I know now, my advice to you would be to spend your £120 on one high quality eyepiece like the ES 11mm 82°. This would give you 5.5mm with a barlow. Together with your 25mm Plossl this will get you pretty far. I think your budget will cover the ES if you order from the US, and that is including shipping + customs charges. At least it should get you pretty close.

hi

so an 10mm eyepieces around 80° FOV around £100 should work well ?

[pvaz]

thanks pvaz. would you say Celestron X-Cel LX were cheap widefield EPs? should i be thinking more than £70 each EP?

thanks.

I haven't tryed the X-Cel so I can't give a proper opinion on them. Best thing is to try and google a review on them. Make sure the reviewer used a scope with a low f/ ratio.

From what I've read around this are the EPs I would be considering:

- BST explorers are the cheapest with good reviews down to f/6. I'm not sure if they remain as good at f/4.7.

- Explore Scientific 82º series and the Skywatcher Nirvana series seams to have great reviews and are often compared to Televue Naglers and Pentax XWs (this are the high end standard for fast scopes).

If you can go to a star party and check some of this it would be great. Another option is to buy 2nd hand at regular prices, then you can try and resell for the same price if you don't like them.

I live in a remote area so star parties ware not an option to me. At 1st I went about it by getting a large set of cheaper widefield EPs. I found about which focal lengths I used the most and put up with having the outer 15% to 20% of the FoV looking as if it was out of focus. When I realized what I used most, I sold those and upgraded to a small set of Televue EPs. The EPs alone cost me a lot more then my scope, but I got that solved for now and they will probably last me a lifetime.

[simon]

I haven't tryed the X-Cel so I can't give a proper opinion on them. Best thing is to try and google a review on them. Make sure the reviewer used a scope with a low f/ ratio.

From what I've read around this are the EPs I would be considering:

- BST explorers are the cheapest with good reviews down to f/6. I'm not sure if they remain as good at f/4.7.

- Explore Scientific 82º series and the Skywatcher Nirvana series seams to have great reviews and are often compared to Televue Naglers and Pentax XWs (this are the high end standard for fast scopes).

If you can go to a star party and check some of this it would be great. Another option is to buy 2nd hand at regular prices, then you can try and resell for the same price if you don't like them.

I live in a remote area so star parties ware not an option to me. At 1st I went about it by getting a large set of cheaper widefield EPs. I found about which focal lengths I used the most and put up with having the outer 15% to 20% of the FoV looking as if it was out of focus. When I realized what I used most, I sold those and upgraded to a small set of Televue EPs. The EPs alone cost me a lot more then my scope, but I got that solved for now and they will probably last me a lifetime.

thanks for the help pvaz :-)

[8kids]

I use a baader zoom with my 12" newt it works very well.

I think I'm fortunate at the moment because I've not used any premium eyepieces so I don't feel the need to invest them .......Yet.........

I also use a panaview 26mm and as above it works well at the moment........so long as I avoid using anything black and green.

Gary.

[hwsoderlund]

hi

so an 10mm eyepieces around 80° FOV around £100 should work well ?

It is impossible to say categorically that all 10mm 80° EPs for around £100 will work well. But I can certainly vouch for the ES 11mm 82°. It works very well in my scope, and since your scope is optically very similar to mine, there is no reason why it shouldn't work well for you.

[KenG]

Get a zoom. It'll give you an idea of what your scope will do at different magnifications and will always be useful. Don't rush into compromise eyepieces. I have an f4 scope and I use Vixen LVW's along with a Meade tele-extender. At £200 the Vixens aren't cheap but they're worth every penny as long as you know which ones will work best for you. The whole point of fast scopes is the stunning views they deliver, and for me anyway, magnification is not a priority - I never use more than x130, in fact my favourite eyepiece is the 17mm which yields just x53.

[hemihaggis1]

i tried the seben zoom in f4 meade schmit-newt ...sorry guys it was useless ...

i tried the baader zoom and it is infinately better ..even in my f4 it works great

[Moonshane]

In answer to your question I went down both routes as it happens! I always prefer a fixed focal length eyepiece as generally I feel they provide much better images than zooms. that said, I have a very high quality and expensive zoom (£200 used) which covers the very high power range and it's very useful.

you have good tracking with your scope so don't really need to worry too much about wide fields of view. as you have a barlow and 25mm already then I think a used 15mm Televue Plossl would be a good buy. this would give magnifications of 80x and 160x with the barlow and would provide very nice images of moon and planets and cost maybe £50. It will work very well in a fast scope too. With the addition of a 20mm TV plossl at the same price you'd have a really superb set for £100 or so. If you wanted to splash a bit more cash then a Televue 2x barlow would be had used for maybe £60-75.

I admit I am a brand-a-holic when it comes to Televue but really you cannot go wrong and can always sell if you don't like them. The eye relief is pretty good on 15mm + focal length too.

[Moonshane]

I just realised I didn't quite answer your question in that I'd buy targeted eyepieces based on magnification and exit pupil rather than a set. although some find sets a good way to see what they prefer.

[earth titan]

Having tried a Baader zoom, I have decided to go for reasonable quality EPS as they seem better.

Just my opinion though.

Typed by me, using fumms...

[sam mayo]

i had the same quandary but i want bigger fov so going for a set

[simon]

Thanks everyone for the help.

i took a trip out to sherwoods on saturday, and purchased two Celstron X-cel LX 9mm and 5mm .

i managed to try them out lastnight ,and they work well on jupiter. very comftable and an ok FOV.

am thinking of a 30mm, but think i want atleast an 80 if not higher FOV. any suggestions?

think i need a new barlow too i might get the celestron x-cel LX . anyone got one?

THANKS ALL.

[cyborg421]

I have a similar scope to you.

My advice to you would be to buy as good as quality as you can afford and take your time in building a collection. Make do with what you have until you can. Learn the sky, practice averted vision, get used to different seeing conditions, finding objects and buy once, buy quality.

Pvaz is right. The fact you have a fast scope is an important factor when choosing eyepieces.

Simon