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32mm EP advise

bendiddley

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bendiddley

bendiddley

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Hi all. I'm on the look out for a 32mm EP and have come across this one at FLO. Can anyone tell me if it is any good, it's their cheapest range so not sure if it's that great in quality? I'm on a bit of a budget so can't really go over £50. If not this one, can anyone recommend another?

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-eyepieces/skywatcher-sp-plossl-eyepieces.html

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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the write up states Best suited for telescopes with f-ratios f6 or slower. I'd suggest this will mean that there will be a fair amount of edge distortion in your scope which I think is f5?

it will give decent views other than this I think but personally if you have a £50 budgt, I'd wait for a bit, save a bit more and buy a used Televue 32mm Plossl for about £60-70. This will be far superior and work in all scopes you'll ever own (unless really fast when exit pupil becomes an issue).

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bendiddley

bendiddley

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It's a dob, so I think it'll be an F6, but good call on the 2nd hand TV Plossl, may have to be patient though.

Yep I kind of figured it would probably better to save up for something decent. I think I need to ask the parents in law for a different christmas present in that case. Is there anything that I could get that is not as expensive as a televue but still pretty good?

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fredster

fredster

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As you have the Skyliner 200P, which has a 2" focuser, you could widen your search to a 2" eyepiece. I've looked through a Skyliner 200P quite a few times using a 32mm Panaview or also the cheaper Ascension 32mm (same spec) and the view was superb. The advantage is the true field of view visible, 1.39deg for the 32mm Plossl or 1.87deg for the 32mm 2" 70deg. Makes quite a difference when viewing large expansive objects, such as M31, M45 etc. And also a real boon when star hopping.

These are the ones i've tried:

http://www.opticstar.com/Run/Astronomy/Astro-Accessories-Telescopes-Ascension.asp?p=0_10_5_1_1_5

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-eyepieces/skywatcher-panaview-2-eyepieces.html

The Panaview well and truly blows your budget but the Ascension 32mm 2" is only just above by £10. And couldn't actually tell the difference between the two at the eyepiece.

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Spec-Chum

Spec-Chum

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a 32mm Panaview or also the cheaper Ascension 32mm (same spec)

Interesting. Are you sure these are the same spec? Bit of a bargain if so.

Saying that, the Ascension 30" UWA is a MoonFish 30mm like mine, and I find that great value at £59 from Skies the Limit...

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bendiddley

bendiddley

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As you have the Skyliner 200P, which has a 2" focuser, you could widen your search to a 2" eyepiece. I've looked through a Skyliner 200P quite a few times using a 32mm Panaview or also the cheaper Ascension 32mm (same spec) and the view was superb. The advantage is the true field of view visible, 1.39deg for the 32mm Plossl or 1.87deg for the 32mm 2" 70deg. Makes quite a difference when viewing large expansive objects, such as M31, M45 etc. And also a real boon when star hopping.

These are the ones i've tried:

http://www.opticstar...?p=0_10_5_1_1_5

http://www.firstligh...-eyepieces.html

The Panaview well and truly blows your budget but the Ascension 32mm 2" is only just above by £10. And couldn't actually tell the difference between the two at the eyepiece.

Thanks but I'm not looking to get a 2" EP as I don't want to have to keep swapping over the 2" and 1.25" focuser adapters each time.

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John

John

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thanks andrew, i've seen the vixen 30mm, but i wondered if i would miss the extra 2˚ of a 32mm. do you know if it would make much difference?

You really would not notice a 2 degree difference in field of view or a 2mm difference in focal length either. Quite often the true specification of an eyepiece varies a little from the published spec anyway.

My advice would be to stick to you budget. You can get a good, standard field, 32mm plossl for that wheras the £50 or so 2" widefields will be budget ones with inevitable performance compromises, eg: some distortion to stars in the outer parts of the field of view - the part of the view that would have caused you to exceed your budget !

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fredster

fredster

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Yeah, my bad. I read it to mean the same eyepiece lol

They are both made by United Optics though. Found an earlier thread here on SGL discussing both eyepieces plus the WO SWAN. All from the same manufacturer, just badged up differently. The Ascension being a Generation 1 eyepiece, while the Panaview is Generation 2. What that means in terms of spec i don't know.

http://united-optics.com/Products/Telescope_Accessories/Telescope_Accessories.html

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ronin

ronin

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Realistically I wouldn't wait for a used 32mm TV plossl for £50.

They do not come up often and I suspect that £70-80 would be a more realistic price, they are £120 new.

Plossl's brands that seem to get mentioned here and elsewhere are the TV's, Vixens, GSO's and Sterling.

Although many may come from the same factory (GSO make the Meade plossls and others) they may well go through a QA check and get graded. A simple laser down the eyepiece to a sensor and pattern check would take 1-2 seconds (if that) and you could seperate into Grade A and Grade B quite easily. So the old saying you get what you pay for may well be applicable.

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