Eyepiece at 30 to 35

[bomberbaz]

Currently I use a moonfish 30mm 80* ep for my low power, widefield viewing. Its not a bad ep and I do like it but as you might expect the views through it in an F5 are not as good as the views I used to get through my now sold F10 SCT.

I looked througat a baader aspheric the other day and the views weren't half bad at all being pretty good accross the view although exit pupil was slightly on the large size with a 36mm ep.

Just wondered what anyones thoughts are for a wide view ep at around the sizes quoted at a similar price or less to an aspheric.

[rowan46]

what about a maxvision? I have never tried the aspheric but I heard that they can be soft at f5 http://www.optical-systems.com/maxvision-68deg-okular-34mm-p-25564.html

[LeeB]

I know its not everyone's cup of tea but I like my orion Ultrascopic 35mm , super sharp and very comfy. I realise its only a 1.25 but at 49 degrees its still quite a bit of sky and works well in the 10"" F4.8.

[bomberbaz]

what about a maxvision? I have never tried the aspheric but I heard that they can be soft at f5 http://www.optical-systems.com/maxvision-68deg-okular-34mm-p-25564.html

just had a look at that and it does look quite good but no mention of eyerelief. I messaged them to find out. Specs look perfect in terms of magnification and fov. Might be worth looking at, cheers rowan. Will look into this.

[rowan46]

the meade one has 24mm eye relief so it should be fine

[bomberbaz]

Have you tried one of these rowan?

[rowan46]

I have a maxvision 24 uwa its a clone of the meade 5000uwa and es 82 lots of people have bought these eyepieces look at the maxvision threads none have been disappointed in the performance for the price dept. these things are not televue or pentax xw quality they are a noticable but small step down but they are less than half the price for about 90% of the performance

[alan potts]

Very good suggestion from Rowan there, I had the 34mm Meade SWA and it is one hell of an eyepiece. It is fairly fat though and at 810gr not a lightweight.

Alan

[bomberbaz]

Slight issue here with this and something I need to give serious consideration. Eye pupil dilation for my age plus the fact I view with specs.

One is i am 50 on Thursday (birthday money coming ) so I have to think about the exit pupil. A 34mm (which is my ideal EP size in terms of mag and tfov) gives a exit pupil of 6.8! Is this too much for me or do my specs for astigmatism counteract this. I am totally lost here as this is getting all scientific and I really have not a clue.

I know that specs change all the exit pupil figures around but I really dont know how much this makes to my own eyes. Does anyone have any stats on this particular age/eye pupil thing?

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

The average maximum pupil size at age 50 is about 6.2mm I think. The range is quite wide, so mileage may vary a lot. I have used a Paragon 40mm in my F/6 scope, at age 49 a few years back, and I must say it gave very good views, from really dark sites. In moderate LP, the background looked a bit washed out. Having said that, I prefer the views through my Nagler 31T5, even in low LP, not so much due to improved image quality (the Paragon was great), but due to a darker background. Even in my C8 at F/10, I noticed I was not using it much (if at all) so I sold it to fund two second hand XWs). I think a 34mm is a bit long for an F/5 scope. Something like a 24-28mm UWA will be better than a 34mm SWA. There are quite a few choices: The Meade Series 5000 24mm UWA has 17.6 mm eye relief, so the MaxVision 24mm 82 deg should be the same. The price listed here:

http://www.explorescientific.de/maxvision-82deg-okular-24mm-p-25559.html

is a steal!

[rowan46]

The average maximum pupil size at age 50 is about 6.2mm I think. The range is quite wide, so mileage may vary a lot. I have used a Paragon 40mm in my F/6 scope, at age 49 a few years back, and I must say it gave very good views, from really dark sites. In moderate LP, the background looked a bit washed out. Having said that, I prefer the views through my Nagler 31T5, even in low LP, not so much due to improved image quality (the Paragon was great), but due to a darker background. Even in my C8 at F/10, I noticed I was not using it much (if at all) so I sold it to fund two second hand XWs). I think a 34mm is a bit long for an F/5 scope. Something like a 24-28mm UWA will be better than a 34mm SWA. There are quite a few choices: The Meade Series 5000 24mm UWA has 17.6 mm eye relief, so the MaxVision 24mm 82 deg should be the same. The price listed here:

http://www.exploresc...mm-p-25559.html

is a steal!

got to agree with michael as usual. I have the 24mm uwa maxvision which gives a large exit pupil on my very short refractor. this leads to some washed out skies but the contrast on the eyepiece to some extent mitigates this. you however If i remember rightly are using a 12" dob and with such a long length eyepiece run the risk of even more washed out skies i think a slightly shorter but wider eyepiece would suit you better and the 24mm would suit you better especially at that price. it really is a very good eyepiece at a very good price

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

got to agree with michael as usual. I have the 24mm uwa maxvision which gives a large exit pupil on my very short refractor. this leads to some washed out skies but the contrast on the eyepiece to some extent mitigates this. you however If i remember rightly are using a 12" dob and with such a long length eyepiece run the risk of even more washed out skies i think a slightly shorter but wider eyepiece would suit you better and the 24mm would suit you better especially at that price. it really is a very good eyepiece at a very good price

The problem with EPs wider than 82 degrees is their poor eye relief (for those with glasses, for others they are fine). At F/5 a 24mm gives a 4.8mm exit pupil, which is OK in many circumstances. A slightly shorter alternative is the 22T4. That is in an entirely different price bracket, however.

[bomberbaz]

Cheers for the replies guys, you confirmed what i suspected. I might just do nothing and stick with the WO swan 25mm. At 72* fov it has great eye relief and rhe views really aren't that bad. It makes a good wide field ep and i also still have the moonfish 30 to play with for uwa views. Not the best as michael points out due to my glasses but again not really worth replacing due to exit pupil issues.

That said, will see how much money i get and may just get a vixen lvw 22. Just because, hehe