f/6.3 focal reducer or 32mm/40mm EP?

[strutsinaction]

Hi

I have a NexStar 8SE and a Baader Hyperion 8-24mm zoom on order. Whilst waiting for these to arrive (Xmas pressie), I thought I'd start thinking about a few more accessories ;-)

The scope has a focal length of 2032mm so the zoom will give me a range of magnification of x80 to x254, so I'm thinking that a low power EP would also be in order. I could opt for a 32mm (x63) or 40mm (x50) EP, or get the Celestron f/6.3 focal reducer giving me x40 to x127 with the zoom.

I'm thinking that the focal reducer would be more useful, but it's another element in the optical path so might be less preferable to the 32mm or 40mm EP.

Has anyone used the Celestron f/6.3 focal reducer with the Hyperion zoom, and if so were there any issues?

Thanks for any advice!

Regards

John

[John]

I've used a Celestron F6.3 Focal Reducer with 8 and 5 inch SCT's and I find that it worked very well and did not seem to degrade image quality noticably, at least with non-zoom EP's. I've not tried it with a zoom.

John

[GazOC]

I've got the reducer, Hyperion zoom and a 10" SCT but havn't used the combination together but I'd guess at f6.3 the zoom would at least start to suffer from the same aberations that it does at f5.

[iancandler]

If your not going to be taking astro images with the scope then it would be better to get a 40/32mm eyepiece rather than the focal reducer.

If your going to use it for imaging then get the focal reducer.

[strutsinaction]

Thanks for the feedback/opinions. I'll also ask the chaps over on Cloudy Nights for their thoughts too.

I guess I'll wait until my scope arrives first then have another think about this.

Regards

John

[MartinB]

High John. I did have an Celestron 8" SCT and found that the Moonfish 30mm UWA works superbly http://moonfishgroup.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=42_44&products_id=50&osCsid=dc85e23a8853ddcf28d04...

I have a 6.3 reducer but have never actually used it for visual, keep meaning to give it a try.

[strutsinaction]

I think I'll opt for the 32mm EP, possibly the Meade Series 4000 Super Plössl. One of the guys (Tel) over on the Cloudy Nights forum directed me to this useful eyepiece selection article. There's obviously more to choosing an eyepiece than meets the eye

Regards

John

[Andrew*]

Hi John,

are you restricted to a 1.25" eyepiece? because if not, I have a lovely 2" 67 degree 32mm eyepiece on sale at the moment...

Cheers

Andrew

[strutsinaction]

Hi John,

are you restricted to a 1.25" eyepiece? because if not, I have a lovely 2" 67 degree 32mm eyepiece on sale at the moment...

Cheers

Andrew

Steve at FLO mentioned I might like to upgrade my 8SE to a 2" GSO diagonal so you never know I might come knocking