Different types of TMB planetary eyepieces

[ddufresne50]

I have a 4 5 6 and 7 mm Nd 9mm TmB eyepieces My 4mm tmb says burgess/tmb With the chrome silver Barrell but My 5 6 and 7 mm say planeTary 2 eyepieces on them But my 9mm is different and says TMB Optical on one side of the eyepiece while the other side says just Planetary So is my 9mm a copy from the UK not from the us Let me know

[John]

Hi and welcome to the forum. I don't think any of these are from the US or the UK - they were all made in China. The originals were a joint Bill Burgess (Burgess Optical) / Thomas Back (of TMB) collaboration with the optical design by the latter.

Since Thomas Back sadly passed away a Mk 2 version has emerged but I don't think Thomas Back or Bill Burgess had anything to do with them. The TMB branding still seems to be used unfortunately but it's doubtful if thats with the permission of the Estate of Thomas Back.

I think the 4mm is the one with Burgess / TMB connections. The rest probably not as far as I'm aware. All made in China though and all will perform reasonably well I reckon.

[ddufresne50]

I wish I could send you pics of mine The planetary 2 are the latest versions but my 4mm has Burgess/Tmb on it while the 9mm has Tmb Optical and Just Planetary written on the other side I sure hope the 9mm has these internal reflections or ghosting problems like the earlier ones Had

[ddufresne50]

How do I upload pics so I can show everyone my photos

[ronin]

It is getting very difficult to distinguish an original from a clone/copy.

I would guess that the originals were produced in China, cost alone, and then copies were either made or a QA was applied and those that failed for TMB/Burgess were marked differently. I would almost suspect the QA route as then they are still TMB's and legally a difficult situation. If you search out the main Chinese manufacturers you will find at least 2 making them.

There Mk1's and Mk 2's in the real variants. The 2's had something like 6 or 7 small improvements on the 1's.

Almost the best I can say is the genuine ones tend to be more plainly marked then the copies.

I have a TMB/Burgess marked one somewhere as well. Nice eyepiece.

[John]

One of our members posted a review of 4 of the variants of this eyepiece a little while back. You might find it interesting:

[ddufresne50]

John which category would my 9mm tmb be It has a black Barrell with green top coatings and planetary on one side and Tmb optical on the other side

[John]

To be honest I don't know exactly. There were some TMB Planetary eyepieces produced in all black with the markings you mention on them and these came out for a short time prior to the TMB Planetary II's coming out.

I think the point is that they are all pretty similar in terms of performance although some off axis flaring has been reported with some examples. The best thing is to try them out and see how they perform for you

[ddufresne50]

Thanks John My 4mm is the original burgess/tmb eyepiece very old no scatter light no ghosting in my criterion 6 inch acope

[ddufresne50]

So my 9mm is before the latest version of the planetary 2 version