Choosing Just One Eyepiece?

[ramstar]

As a beginner with main interests so far being planets & nebulae, I'm thinking of treating myself to one quality eyepiece, prepared to go up to £250 - £300 at a squeeze!

In my situation, what would you go for and why - my scope is the 200 Dob (f6)

[Stargazer_00]

An 82' afov eyepiece so you nudge less. You could get a 10 and 7mm Celestron luminos for 300 and you'd get 120x and 171x respectively. Good magnifications for planets and won't go too high of you barlow

[John]

I think you will need two eyepieces with your interests - something high power and something medium power.

The 7mm and 16mm Nirvana's (same as the William Optics UWANS) have 82 degree fields of view and are very nice eyepieces for their price. You could have them both for £280.

There are loads of choices in your price range though, even more if you have the patience to look for used eyepieces !

[Naemeth]

I'd never recommend one eyepiece. It's far better to have a range of magnifications as you want both high power and low power. Zoom eyepieces often have restrictive FOVs at the long focal length end, and usually don't have high enough magnifications at the short focal length end.

What eyepieces do you currently have?

[ramstar]

Apart from the standard 10 & 20mm which came with the scope, I've added a Hyperion 8mm & a Panaview 32mm

[Stargazer_00]

What is your impression of the 8mm?

[RikM]

Planets are very small and bright, nebulae much larger and very faint, almost at opposite ends of requirements for eyepieces so one good one won't cover them both effectively.

[ramstar]

Haha! Only had both the 8mm & 32mm about 3 weeks & no surprise that I've not used them yet because of all this cloud. Funny - I never noticed them until now

[ramstar]

I don't expect one to cover both requirements - I hope to find that I'm reasonably covered for a while with what I have - I was just wondering, as an ingulgence while I can, to invest in one eyepiece which will make me go 'WOW! when conditions are just right?

[faulksy]

as john says 7 and 16mm nirvanas, you will have a high power for planets and a medium power for some dso,s

[Stargazer_00]

If wait and see how the 8mm works out before spending another penny. Based on that decide what you need

[ramstar]

Would there be much difference between the7mm you suggest and the 8mm I already have. I find it difficult to grasp how much there is between what appears to be almost similar specs?

[Stargazer_00]

150x for the 8mm and 171x for the 7mm. You'd probably see the same amount of true field in the 7mm due to the extra afov. I personally wouldn't buy that close given the eyepieces you already have.

[John]

Would there be much difference between the7mm you suggest and the 8mm I already have. I find it difficult to grasp how much there is between what appears to be almost similar specs?

I didn't know you already had an 8mm Hyperion when I posted my suggestions !

The Nirvana is a better eyepiece than the Hyperion though, a wider field of view and sharper across it than the Hyperion is.

[Stargazer_00]

I'll say it again just to ensure the point is made; if you havent had a chance to use the 8mm hyperion yet then please dont spend a penny until you do. You need to know if you want more or less magnification.

Replacing the supplied 10 & 20 isnt a bad idea either in my opnion. Those are occupying good spots that should have good eyepieces which you naturally dont replace because you think you have them already.

[ramstar]

Thanks for all the advice. I certainly feel that I need to replace the basic 10 & 25mm -maybe with an 11 & 18 of good quality

[russ.will]

A slightly left field suggestion - But if you consider importing from the States, you can stretch your £250-300 a LOT further. From personal experience, you could get an ES82 14mm, 11mm and 2x Focal Extender ($300 plus shipping and import taxes would equate to about £285 at your door). With you current 8mm, that would give 86, 110, 150, 171, 218 and 300x.

There are good savings to be made this way with a lot of brands, but the current US prices on ES stuff make the differential somewhat more notable. Plenty of US dealers are more than happy to ship to the UK, so it's worth at least having a look.

Russell

[ramstar]

Yes - I had thought of buying from the US as an option

[Stargazer_00]

There's a bit of a shortage at the moment given the pricing. Still lots to be had though

[Moonshane]

if you don't have a Telrad and a RACI finder, I'd recommend those first for maybe £100 from your budget. pointless having nice eyepieces if you cannot find things easily.

then wait until you have more experience before buying eyepieces but try to form a plan based on your experience and to accommodate future scopes. if you buy used then you risk less loss.

In the end I found for high power observing I wanted lots of focal lengths as the seeing varies a lot. I now have three scopes and 11 eyepieces covering almost all possible combos:

32mm

26mm

15mm

13mm

12.5mm

11mm

10mm

9mm

8mm

7mm

6-3mm zoom.

[ramstar]

I do have a Telrad - I really would struggle to find what a want by just using the findrrscope. Do you find that you use the 6-3mm zoom very often?

[Moonshane]

I use the 6-3mm zoom a lot, especially on the moon and double stars. my scopes have a longer focal length than yours too at 1600mm and 1840mm.

[alan potts]

I would be inclined to look secondhand, there is a nice eyepiece on Classified now a 16mm SWA Meade, it don't have the FOV but it is a very good eyepiece. Then try for a Meade of ExSC 6.7mm. Focal lenght wise I rally agree with what has been said by many.

Alan.

[fredster]

The Meade 5000 UWA's are still on offer at Telescope House for £116 per eyepiece. Which is superb value. Like other eyepieces recommended they are Ultra wide 82deg variety, which suits a dob. The 14mm would be a superb workhorse eyepiece in the 200P and could be barlowed to 7mm.

Personally i would make the most of the Explore Scientific sale in the US and grab a couple of eyepieces, like the 14mm and 6.7mm. The 6.7mm wouldn't step on the toes of the 8mm Hyperion you already have, while the 14mm would likely become your most used eyepiece.

[Charon]

My two bobs worth is for you to go to a Astronomy club and try out various eyepieces in the same scope as yours (if and when the UK weather clears), this will help you in making your mind up.