Eyepiece sets

[Ganymede12]

Today I went to see an astronomer who has a little shop in Ponty's indoor market and he recommended that I buy an eyepiece set. Right now, I am saving up for 1 of 3 things. Either:

1. A laser collimator
   
2. A Dobsonian equatorial platform
   
3. and now, an eyepiece set.
   

The way I see it, the platform is only needed for imaging. I can collimate with just the Cheshire collimator. Right now, the only EP's I have are:

• Sky-Watcher standards, 10mm and 25mm.
  
• Unknown brand 6.3mm EP.
  
• Sky-Watcher 10mm erecting eyepiece
  

All are 1.25".

My question is, what is the best EP set available for under £200?

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

An EQ platform is probably not the best way forward for imaging. An EQ mount is needed there. An EP set would also not be my favourite way forward. I would rather replace the eyepieces one by one by better ones, starting with the one you like least (my guess: the 10mm standard or the 6.3 mm (most likely an unbranded Plossl, I have one for the kids)). Eyepiece sets often are a set of 5 or so Plossls, which are OK, but not exactly great. I would much rather buy 3 decent EPs separately.

[Ganymede12]

I forgot to mention, my telescope is a Sky-Watcher Skyliner 200P dob.

My only income is a paper round so I don't have much money for a few really good eyepieces. It's cheaper to by a set of just betters eyepieces. So long as the set is better than my current collection I'd be happy. I was also warned by the shopkeeper that some 30mm EP's or over may show the shadow of the spider veins How do I know which ones will and which ones won't?

[fondofchips]

I would agree with the above comment by Michael, I have started to upgrade eyepieces seperately & upgraded my star diagonal as well.

If I needed to upgrade the mount & eyepieces I would do them seperately, trying to sort out too much new gear at once can be very frustrating. Some higher quality eyepieces are heavy so scope balance could be an issue.

I started with an EQ mount and it needs a different setup routine & it can be a bit fiddly in the dark.

[John]

You should be fine with a 32mm eyepiece and an F/6 scope. It's when you go above around 35mm that there is a risk that the secondary shadow can be seen, as the exit pupil (the diameter of the bundle of light coming out of the eyepiece) gets too large.

My advice for your budget would be to think about selecting 3 - 4 carefully chosen eyepieces from a good quality but low cost range such as the Vixen NPL plossls or the BST Explorers. Go for a spread of magnifications between 40x (30mm) and say 200x (6mm). That should be doable for £200 I would think and the quality will be better than the sets and the value for money even more so because you would have selected each piece to do a job for you rather than having to accept what a brand has "bundled" for you in a set.

[cotterless45]

I 'd spend your money on the following,

Sky and Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas

25 mm Bst Explorer

12 mm Bst Explorer

8 mm flat field ep.

These will allow you to enjoy your observing with money well spent on things that you'll use.

You could spend hundreds on just one ep, but seeing conditions are more important. Don't forget birthdays and Christmas , if you're asked what you'd like!

Nick.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

If you find your 6.3mm and 10mm usable, the suggestion of a 32mm makes a lot of sense. Wider field for larger DSOs. The EPs you have cover a lot of bases already. At your budget, good quality Plossls (like the Vixen NPL) offer good value for money. The BSTs also get a good press, and have the advantage of longer eye relief at short focal lengths (essential if you wear glasses, nice otherwise).

[swamp thing]

You should be fine with a 32mm eyepiece and an F/6 scope. It's when you go above around 35mm that there is a risk that the secondary shadow can be seen, as the exit pupil (the diameter of the bundle of light coming out of the eyepiece) gets too large.

I think this is probably what your shopkeeper was warning you about. John is right about keeping away from 35mm and upwards eyepiece focal lengths in your scope.

As a note I've used a 38mm Panaview in my f/4.5 Dob trying to see this fore-mentioned secondary shadow.......zip. Even when observing the moon, nothing.

[spaceboy]

What ever you decide on make sure you buy 2nd hand !!! You will get sooooo much more for your money and more often than not eyepieces are well looked after when purchase from reputable sources rather than ebay. I have a kit myself and I would say for the money they are not a bad investment and 9/10 of them come with a decent case to keep them in and usually a reasonably good barlow. BUT it is always worth while investing a little time and effort in waiting for better quality EP's to come up used than it is to go out and buy new lesser quality EP's. OK it can be a drag waiting for the perfect ep to come up in the focal length you want but once you get them you are less likely to need to change the ep in the future. This saves you time and money in the long run.

[Moonshane]

hi Ant

I seem to recall you don't like buying used eyepieces? if this is not the case then you could buy some great bargains on http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk

Our school has a 200mm SW dob and the best views of Jupiter were with a 15mm Meade Plossl (£15 used) combined with a generic barlow - I think you have one of those already? with your scope, a 30mm eyepiece should not show the secondary as this is normally associated with large exit pupils, perhaps over 7mm. a 30/32mm eyepiece in your scope would be an exit pupil of 5mm or so. (30mm / f6 = 5) so would be fine.

Personally, I'd keep my eyes open for a used 32mm plossl and a used 15mm plossl. I bet you'd get those for under £50

[ollypenrice]

Very true about buying second hand. I've bought a Meade SWA 16 on here for £70 and a couple of TeleVue Radians for £100 each. Sets, in my view, are a waste of time. I could happily manage with three EPs for the rest of my life. Four would be a lot! Suppose that for a given observation a 5mm would be ideal. You have a so-so 5mm Plossl and a premium EP of 8mm. You will see more in the premium 8.

Don't buy an EQ platform for imaging, or at least for imaging the deep sky. It won't be accurate enough by a factor of at least ten. Laser collimators are handy but a simple Cheshire is likely to be more accurate. I use a Laser only on a Dob that is too big for one person to collimate quickly on their own.

Olly

[Stargazer_00]

Also the 32mm Plossls in the sets are usually 45 degree AFOV. You might as well put a straw on the end of your 25mm and look through that, it'd probably be about the same view.

The seperately sold 32mm plossl on FLO are 50 degree. This is a popular eyepiece so goes out of stock occasionally.

[Naemeth]

If you get them second hand you'll get a lot for your money.

32mm GSO (or Revelation) Plössl - ~£20

25mm BST Explorer ED / Starguider ED (same eyepiece ) - £36

18mm BST Explorer ED / Starguider ED (same eyepiece ) - £36

15mm BST Explorer ED / Starguider ED (same eyepiece ) - £36

12mm BST Explorer ED / Starguider ED (same eyepiece ) - £36

8mm BST Explorer ED / Starguider ED (same eyepiece ) - £36

Comes to £200 exactly .

Of course, there is no need to buy them all at once, but you'll be much better off with 2nd hand better quality eyepieces .

HTH

[DirkSteele]

Hey Ant,

Just a bit of supplementary information for you. The exit pupil of any given EP used in your scope is easy to calculate. 2 ways to do so.

1). Telescope aperture (in mm) divided by the magnification produced in your scope.

or

2). Eyepiece Focal Length (in mm) divided by the telescope focal ratio.

So for example, a 35mm EP in your scope (aperture 203mm, focal ratio 5.91, would produce an 5.9mm exit pupil. As the exit pupil gets larger than this (say 6.5mm to 7mm), the secondary shadow may become visible, plus (though you are young so less of an issue), your pupil can only dilate so much so if the exit pupil is larger than the pupil in your eye, you are wasting some of the light collection of your scope.

Clear skies,

[alan potts]

Don't buy a set, I have never seen one that I like.

I have a 26mm Meade Plossl S 4000, if you would like it, PM me with your address and if you can wait until I get to England which will be on 30th April I will post you it in a Jiffy bag free of charge. At least I know then it will be put to good use.

Alan.

[estwing]

i've got a meade japanese 3000 set of plossl's..faultless

[Ganymede12]

Don't buy a set, I have never seen one that I like.

I have a 26mm Meade Plossl S 4000, if you would like it, PM me with your address and if you can wait until I get to England which will be on 30th April I will post you it in a Jiffy bag free of charge. At least I know then it will be put to good use.

Alan.

How much better would that be than my current EPs? Would I notice the difference? Also how much do you want for it?

[Naemeth]

How much better would that be than my current EPs? Would I notice the difference? Also how much do you want for it?

If I can interject here, I have that eyepiece (Japan made) and it's very good, certainly a step-up from the supplied MAs in all areas, and has become my workhorse eyepiece .

[Stargazer_00]

Honestly Naemeth gave a great solution. And if you cant wait for second hand then dock one of the eyepieces and use the difference to get them all new, pick up whatever one you docked later.

The BST starguiders are the perfect eyepiece to upgrade to from the standard eyepieces. They offer good improvements in all aspects of an eyepiece compared to a plossl for a very reasonable price. They work well in all scopes, are comfortable to use, affordable... very good. You wont see improvements like that again from these to a next tier for anything like these prices (unless you count the current Explore Scientific discounts around currently).

If you are attracted in anyway to the eyepiece case they come in the get a dedicated aluminium case from Maplins for £25.

[JamesF]

I'll add my vote not to go for the eyepiece set. I think they have their uses, but if money is tight then I think a more productive way to spend your cash is to have a good think about the focal lengths you really want and spend on those.

James