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BGO 7mm & 9mm available


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You know what, the other night for the first time ever I actually felt a sense of vertigo looking at something. It was weird, i was so enthralled by the view and realising what i was looking at and how big the universe is for a single fleeting moment the crashing reality of it all made me feel like i was a tiny little speck, floating along in the universe.

which of course we all are :)

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As they say... it's not what you've got that counts, but what you do with it ;)

A good memory is a good thing to have :cool: but it's more a case of how you process the memories and all the inbound information that makes the difference.

There's a fine line between perfectionist and obsessive. Rationalisation is the counterbalance. I'll use the ES analogy here. We all know (pretty certain?) that the Naglers are better than the ES82s, but the rational part is that the ES82s are roughly 90% of the experience and a fair bit cheaper, so it's easier to collect a nice spread of EPs for all occasions. If money were/is no object, then we'd all throw caution to the wind and have the best we could lay our hands on, all for the few nights the weather chooses to cooperate. As Russell put it yesterday, how many hours do we need to put in to net enough to buy these things :eek:

But I like my toys as much as the next man, and I work hard for them. They're not always the same as everyone else's. But they suit me. When I buy something, it's because I've done my research and already rationalised it (ok, sometimes on impulse ;) ), and understand the strengths and weaknesses and estimated how much it's likely to affect my enjoyment. I like things where I am the limiting component in the chain. But it's all too easy to get caught up in the obsessive side, we have way to many cloudy nights sitting in here reading, writing, getting frustrated. You can see evidence of it in countless threads, mostly here in the Eyepiece discussions :D It's just a question of finding the sweet spot. And then the happy place. For me, I enjoy all the researching, understanding and rationalising steps, and the sweet spot is realising my choice. The happy place is a clear night under the stars using it, warts or otherwise :cool:

Obsession is really a very pertinent point here. When I had my last assignments to do over the last month (ish), I had to literally stop myself from logging on here and checking the classifieds, Astrobuysell classifieds etc.. just because I always wanted to know about the best gear etc. (even when SGL was blocked from my IP, by myself, I still found myself trying to get on here...). Eventually, the habit was broken, and now I visit because I want to and not because I feel I have to. Now I know when I'm spending too much time or money, and I'm able to really work out what I want out of this hobby and what I want to invest in it.

I've made my decision on going to premium eyepieces because I don't have the money to spend on replacing my eyepieces all the time. If you only make one upgrade, you only cry once ;).

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Once you have the best gear or as close as it is easy to get there is nowhere to go. I wish I had just gone straight in a bought Televue and Pentax as I spent and wasted a good deal on other kit, buying all of it new. Much of it was sold for 50% or less. I got my S/H 9mm BGO yesterday so it may be interesting to see how it compares with my 9mm Nagler, well the middle bit anyway.

I really think on reflection I would much sooner have had one top eyepiece than two of the others, it can become a bit of an obsession though.

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Just a heads up, as most of the Ortho fans seem to be in this thread, but I've just stuck all three of my BGOs in the classifieds.

Don't get me wrong, they are a fantastically sharp and honest little EP, but for the stuff I like to view most, I found myself tending to find it with the ES, pop the BGO in, note the advantages, get tired of trying to access the tiny eye lens and just go back to the ES. Okay, that's got more to do with the contortions of a frac on EQ mount than the Dob, but I also found that with extended use, I tended to prefer seeing an object, or lunar/solar feature, in the context of it's surroundings.

They have, however piqued my interest in EPs with a slightly more 'focused' mojo. If it takes a bit more money to get a bit of latitude with respect to eye positioning and a slightly wider FOV, without giving up the razor sharpness, contrast and general light control, then I'm now interested. In that regard, my brief time (which actually encompassed more nights of viewing than the whole of the winter!) was money well spent just to be shown the light.

Anybody know of any cheap XFs?

Russell

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I guess the Pentax XW's or the Delos would fulfill your criteria of "...a bit of latitude with respect to eye positioning and a slightly wider FOV, without giving up the razor sharpness, contrast and general light control...." Russell.

They are a LOT more expensive than BGO's of course. I'm not sure I've personally used anything else that quite gets there though (not that I've actually used a Delos - I'm going by feedback from others on those).

I understand what you mean about using the shorter focal length orthoscopics - almost a "hair shirt" experience.

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I understand what you mean about using the shorter focal length orthoscopics - almost a "hair shirt" experience.
That is an excellent way of putting it. It was definitely an eye opener and an experience that I definitely don't regret, despite it's slightly impulsive origins.

Russell

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I really can't imagine they will be up for sale for long, Russ. These BGOs are very difficult to be bettered on the performance category.

If it helps in any manner, for quite some time (since the end of February) I've been trying to find an EP with the performance of a BGO but with more forgiving eye-relief (which means I can stay longer at the EP) and perhaps offer a wider field of view, mainly for aesthetic reasons of picturing the object. Running through reams of literature, reviews and articles, in the 'real-world-of-availability' I kept coming across Ethos, Delos, Pentax XW & XF. That in comparison with some top-topest 'planetary' EPs, it appears to be suggested that there may be a difference but one so slight it is hardly worth bothering about.

So, like John, I'd seriously suggest that if your 'mojo' has been tweaked, to save up for one of these EPs. Personally, I find that you do get what you pay for. As such, the 10mm Delos clearly out performs my 9mm BGO in terms of contrast, tone or colour rendition, brightness, and comfort. With that said, with Moon observations, I sometime prefer to 'get in there' with the BGO rather than have a distracting field-of-view of the entire moon.

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There are more "extreme" eyepieces than orthos. The TMB Supermonocentric's have a 3 element in one group design so the air-to-glass surfaces are reduced to two. The apparent field of view of these is around 30 degrees and their eye lenses are even smaller that the abbe orthos. The one I owned for a while (5mm) was just a shade better than a 5mm University Optics HD ortho (which is the same as a Baader GO) on the nights of best seeing and only a touch in it even then. And then we have the ball eyepieces which some of the "Cloudynights" forum members are using. These seem to be DIY jobs made from a single bead of optical glass mounted in an old eyepiece body. Whats being said is that the sharpness and contrast on axis is spectacular but you only get a sharp field of around 10 degrees and eye relief of virtually zero.

For me, the ball eyepieces seem just too extreme and the Supermonocentric's are a) now too expensive at $400 each and just fall the wrong side of my "usability" line in terms of FoV. The Baader Genuine Orthos and now the Astro Hutech orthos are just on the right side of that same line, are relatively affordable and do a pretty good imitation of the best there is.

Bill Burgess and Thomas Back were on the right lines with their Burgess / TMB Planetary in terms of trying to deliver abbe orthoscopic rivalling qualities in a package with more eye relief and field of view, at an affordable price. Somehow though, that design never seemed to me to to quite meet it's performance aspirations. Maybe it deserves another shot though ?

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Having seen a 40 degree FOV for the first time, albeit only looking at the back of my hand or the light here in my mates fish tank, I struggle to imagine what a 30 degree field would look like. Then to be landed with what appears to be the only large thing on offer, the price. I think for that I would be adding either the 3.5mm XW or Delos to the collection.

I also find it difficult to understand why anyone would want an eyepiece that by all accounts needs to be glued to the eye and is then only 10 degrees or so sharp. It seems to me that no matter how hideous an idea can become someone with either pay the price or do it. Still wouldn't do for us to all be the same.

Alan

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Having used 45 degree AFOV, I can imagine what 30 degree AFOV looks like, and as long as you didn't go over about 250x, you should be able to fit Jupiter in. Certainly not the Moon though. Those 10 degree eyepieces sound like a nightmare to use for anyone with long eyelashes or those that need glasses.

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I also find it difficult to understand why anyone would want an eyepiece that by all accounts needs to be glued to the eye and is then only 10 degrees or so sharp.
That not only takes John's hair shirt mentality to a new level, it adds self flaggelation, just for good measure. Baffling.

Russell

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I have to say I am fairly pleased with myself. I managed to get the BGO 6mm, 7mm and 9mm as well as the Hutech 12.5mm. Now having seen and had a play with the 6mm I think the 5mm may well be a bit tight on the ER front. What with the other eyepieces which are a bit more difficult to hide, it is a good job I get back home a 1.00am the wife will be half asleep, I hope.

Alan

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At the moment I have my carry on bag full, I may even have to take one or two out of the boxes to fit them in. If I had a 21mm E in my pocket I think my trousers would fall down. I think this must now bring the eyepiece chapter to a close, I need to sit down now and use them all and see if any can move on. I think it was you Dunk that said the 35mm Panoptic was excess baggage and you may well be correct, but with having a few different scopes they may well all have there part to play. It strikes me that after so long collecting them, some S/H and some new, it would be foolish to arrive at any quick decisions that I may regret. I made a start with being able to sell on the damaged 55mm, which never got enough scope time after the 41mm Panoptic, it was just the small FOV that after seeing an Ethos was just so tiny. Even the Panoptics look small after such an eyepiece has been used. If after the 18th you don't see me on site you know I am in the barn or living in a cardboard box . Alan

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Now having seen and had a play with the 6mm I think the 5mm may well be a bit tight on the ER front.
Yes. For me, the 7mm was on the limit, but comfy enough. The 6mm was too tight for prolonged eyeballing. I'd need to start trimming my lushious lashes to even consider the 5mm and that ain't happening!

Russell

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Sadly, the 5mm would be the focal length that I would use the most in my APO, which I should think has the best optics of all my scopes. Like Russell I too am an Adonis and have lovely long lashes. I think the 6mm will be just manageable, I can't start to imagine what the 4mm ortho mentioned on site, I believe by Graham will be like, a contact lens. May be I could try the 9mm powermated Alan

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Sadly, the 5mm would be the focal length that I would use the most in my APO, which I should think has the best optics of all my scopes. Like Russell I too am an Adonis and have lovely long lashes. I think the 6mm will be just manageable, I can't start to imagine what the 4mm ortho mentioned on site, I believe by Graham will be like, a contact lens. Alan

Pentax XW 5mm? Orthoscopic views with comfortable eye relief with a wider FOV.... just more expensive.

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Naemeth,

I have one in the flight bad which I managed to buy from a site member. So I may well be able to see what the Powermate used with the 9mm and the XW 5mm have between them. The buying of the range of orthos was just a reasonably priced experiment to see what others had reported. If I don't like them they will be sold on, the only down side is it would have to be as a job lot as the courier from Bulgaria would be too costly to sell one by one.

Alan.

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The Pentax XW really are an amazing eyepiece. I was observing Saturn a few nights ago with the 7mm (214x), and was truly gobsmacked by the views. Playing about by letting the planet drift into the fov one side, and then out the other, I could not detect any eyepiece induced aberrations of note! The Cassini division was still knife edge sharp as the ring exited the field stop!

Orthoscopic??, most definitely :-)

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