32mm wide field of view 2" recommendation.

[Moonshane]

my philosophy is that as I don't now have anything like the disposable income I used to have, I need to make sure that I buy well. the only way to make best use of your money in my opinion (more so with fast scopes), is to buy 'best quality' but in used condition.

this way I have built up a very good collection of eyepieces which are bar only a couple of eyepieces all used (11 eyepieces plus 3 scopes).

my recommendation given your comments is a 32mm Televue Plossl. This in no way provides a constricted view, gives really sharp contrasty images for the width of your coma free zone and is small and light too. Some will argue that this provides too narrow a field or what have you, but I genuinely think it will provide excellent views for you. It will cost about £65-70 used.

You can then start saving from either a 24mm or 27mm Panoptic (I went for a 26mm Nagler) which will provide wider fields of view with the same excellent sharpness. as you have found, it's actually quite expensive to keep buying 'cheap' options with the lack of satisfaction that often comes with them.

[scarp15]

I agree with Shane, some of the best affordable, and in particular if purchased second hand, are the Televue plossl range, which includes the 32mm based on your enquiry. They can, in my opinion, at times hold their own against for example, panotics and naglers and provide a somewhat different and more penetrating view.

[Moonshane]

I should add that for me at least the 32mm plossl is by far my favoured solar/lunar eyepiece (to allow views of the whole disk) even though I do have the 26mm Nagler. For some reason I don't get on with complex eyepieces when observing Luna. For this target I also prefer my 12.5mm BGO and 15mm TV Plossl to my 13mm Ethos. maybe I'm a one off though!

furthermore, if you buy a used TVP at say £65, you could sell it again if you don't get on for maybe £65 - no risk really (other than the postage costs).

[simon]

thanks all . very helpful indeed :-)

[Tinker1947]

My first wide angle choice was a Baader Hyperion 31mm, works really well since then there have been other EP's the last being a Pentax XW 30mm, until the Pentax the Hyperion never had any faults but looking through the Pentax does show up soft edges on the Hyperion, that's not to say its a bad EP as its not, just the Pentax is really a lot better.

[jimmyjamjoejoe]

My first wide angle choice was a Baader Hyperion 31mm, works really well since then there have been other EP's the last being a Pentax XW 30mm, until the Pentax the Hyperion never had any faults but looking through the Pentax does show up soft edges on the Hyperion, that's not to say its a bad EP as its not, just the Pentax is really a lot better.

Jeez that's big... I have the hyperion and thought it was rather chunky, that thing makes it look like a thimble!

[John]

Jeez that's big... I have the hyperion and thought it was rather chunky, that thing makes it look like a thimble!

They get bigger than even the XW: