Some new friends

[great_bear]

Looking forward to getting to know my new friends better...

The 18mm and 12.5mm are Fujiyamas. The 6mm is Astro Hutech - only by virtue of the 6mm Fujiyama not arriving onshore until October time, and my suspicion that the smoothtop 6/18/25mm Hutechs are probably parfocal with - and maybe identical to - the Fujiyamas.

Probably not truly identical as it turns out. The Fujiyamas - although looking smooth-barrelled - actually have an almost-imperceptible microscopically ridged feel to both the body and barrel, whereas the Hutech barrel is genuinely smooth. I intend to get the full set of Fujiyamas in due course.

Have to wait for the moon to swing back into view in a week's time to have a full test of the one's I've got, but have been thoroughly enjoying checking out some stars in the meantime...

[John]

Very nice Jeremy - I'll look forward to reading your views on how they perform

Interesting that the Fujiyamas have a slightly different finish to the Astro Hutech's - you can't tell that from the photos.

I've got the 25mm Astro Hutech to try now - that seems to be the same body format as the 6mm and the 18mm in that range, as you predicted.

[great_bear]

Interesting that the Fujiyamas have a slightly different finish to the Astro Hutech's - you can't tell that from the photos.

You can't even see it in real life, let alone photos - you have to run your finger up and down the barrel to feel it.

Also worth noting that the Fujiyama 18mm is one of those eyepieces where the field-stop is only sharp once the eyepiece is inserted into a telescope - if you just hold the eyepiece up to the light on it's own to check it out, then the field stop will appear fuzzy.

[faulksy]

on the 18mm is the eye glass lens flush with the top. my bgo is inserted into the body of the ep my approx. 3-4mm seems strange. and in use the field stop is easyer to see than my other bgo,s

[great_bear]

The BGOs inset the lens on the 18mm as a means of taming the eye-relief. Meade do the same thing in an extreme way on the S4000 26mm Plossl. The designers of this new range of orthoscopics don't feel this necessary for some reason.

At the other end of the scale (6mm), putting the eye-lens essentially flush with the top makes cleaning far easier than equivalent occulars with inset lenses

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

The BGOs inset the lens on the 18mm as a means of taming the eye-relief. Meade do the same thing in an extreme way on the S4000 26mm Plossl. The designers of this new range of orthoscopics don't feel this necessary for some reason.

At the other end of the scale (6mm), putting the eye-lens essentially flush with the top makes cleaning far easier than equivalent occulars with inset lenses

Taming eye relief? An 18mm ortho has about 14.4mm eye relief. That surely does not need taming? Only the most severe ortho/monocentric addict used to less than 6mm eye relief would call 14.4 mm excessive. I can undertand a recessed eye lens in, say a 32 or 36mm Plossl or ortho, but not in an 18mm. After all, the volcano-top design of some classic orthos was intended to mitigate the lack of eye relief.

[faulksy]

The BGOs inset the lens on the 18mm as a means of taming the eye-relief. Meade do the same thing in an extreme way on the S4000 26mm Plossl. The designers of this new range of orthoscopics don't feel this necessary for some reason.

At the other end of the scale (6mm), putting the eye-lens essentially flush with the top makes cleaning far easier than equivalent occulars with inset lenses

that makes sence, the 9 and 12.5 are level with the top.thanks for that

[great_bear]

Taming eye relief? An 18mm ortho has about 14.4mm eye relief. That surely does not need taming?

Depends on your point-of-view. In the absence of a rubber eye-shield, you can be left trying to hover your head in the air finding the sweet-spot in some eyepieces. I hate that; I really need the feedback of at least my eyebrow touching against something to give the positive feedback needed to keep my head from wavering (the absence of which results in blackouts).

With an adjustable eyecup, 14mm eye-relief is fine, but in a flat-top with no eyeshield? I'd certainly struggle, and would be reaching for the fuzzy-felt and velcro.

With the Meade 26mm Plossl, I personally *love* the fact its eye-lens is deliberately positioned almost 1/3-way down the tube - for me it makes it very comfortable indeed, though I know some people are baffled by this deliberate squandering of eye-relief...