Help me choose best eyepiece for a F7 APO

[Moonshane]

My own view was that if I bought good quality, the type of scope I used does not matter. I have a 16" f4 and a 6" f11 and the eyepieces I mentioned work equally well in both of them (and worked in the 6" f5 I have just sold, a 90mm f5.5 refractor and a 12" f5.3).

If I were you, I would ignore the focal ratio issue as this is not really valid when considering the quality of eyepieces you mention - all TV eyepieces work well to f4 and slower, I am sure the Pentax ones do also and perhaps even the WO UWANs too.

Any of the eyepieces in my list would work well with your scope, you just need to establish budget, prefered eye relief and apparent field of view and then magnification. Once you do this, you can make your eyepiece choices which will naturally point you towards the ones you will use the most.

If you can do, buy used as this was you risk less of a loss if you decide to sell.

[John]

As I posted earlier in this thread, I have an 102mm ED F/6.5 refractor so similar to yours. I've also got a 120mm ED F/7.5 refractor and a 250mm F/4.8 newtonian. I use one eyepiece set to serve these scopes which comprises of Tele Vue Naglers, Ethos's and Pentax XW's. The set covers focal lengths from 31mm down to 3.5mm.

As Shane says, quality eyepieces will perform well in all scopes so the admittedly high initial investment pays off in the longer term.

[pvaz]

A while back I had the same problem I wanted a small set of top quality EPs but I have other hobbies (music and photography) and all of them can be pretty expensive.

With that in mind I decided to use a barlow in my set. A good barlow won't affect the views but will add weight.

My 1st quality set was:

- Antares 1.6x 2" barlow

- TV Nagler 31mm (19mm barlowed)

- TV Ethos 21mm (13mm barlowed)

- TV Ethos 10mm (6mm barlowed)

After a year or so I decided to sell the Nagler as the field of view was not that much bigger then the 21mm Ethos and, as I plan to get a 16" f/4.4 dob, it would produce a 7.05mm Exit Pupil. The money went instead to a camera lens that gets much more use.

I do mostly DSOs so most nights I only get the 21mm Ethos and the barlow out of the EP case, unless I'm observing bright planetary nebulae or globular clusters, then the 10mm comes handy.

For high power I also have a set of Baader Genuine Orthos, which are very good for that job and cheap (at least when compared to Ethos).

PS-> Except for 1 of the BGOs and the barlow I got all this 2nd hand in excellent condition.

[pvaz]

If I had an f/7 and was not planning to go bellow f/5 on future purchases, I reckon a full set of SkyWatcher Nirvanas would probably be the wisest option (cost/performance).

[kriss13]

After much deliberation I think WO UWAN will do (4, 7, 16, 28) @ 82*fov. (don't know if AstroPro clones are on par)

TV is too expensive for not so much improvement (I know they are the best).

I also ordered an Baader Hyperion Mark III Zoom 8-24mm with Baader 2.25 barlow (i read is great combo).

I'm still open to hints about my decision.

Thank you guys for all the tips and info...

[John]

After much deliberation I think WO UWAN will do (4, 7, 16, 28) @ 82*fov. (don't know if AstroPro clones are on par)

TV is too expensive for not so much improvement (I know they are the best).

I also ordered an Baader Hyperion Mark III Zoom 8-24mm with Baader 2.25 barlow (i read is great combo).

I'm still open to hints about my decision.

Thank you guys for all the tips and info...

I'm not sure why you went for the zoom as well - even with the barlow it mostly duplicates the UWAN set but won't perform quite as well.

I assume you have a 2" diagonal already - the 28mm UWAN will need one of course !

[kriss13]

Yup, I have a WO carbon 2" diagonal with 1.25 adaptor.

Zoom is for ultra grab'n'go-one EP.

Plus, when I'll have guests it will me the "Mascara" eye piece :grin:

[John]

Zoom is for ultra grab'n'go-one EP.

Plus, when I'll have guests it will me the "Mascara" eye piece :grin:

All of a sudden, that makes perfect sense

[pvaz]

Seams a great choice. I been thinking about a Baader Zoom for the same reasons.