Delos 8mm has arrived

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I snapped this up on ABS-UK, and the seller very kindly sent the EP to me before I had paid, and said I could pay if I was satisfied. The EP arrived today, very well packed, in the original box, and indistinguishable from new. The EP looks absolutely lovely, I tried it in daylight with the APM 80mm in which it gives a very useful 60x (like my old Radian 8mm), and studied details on the leaves on the trees behind our house. The image was nice and crisp, and the view very comfortable. It goes without saying I promptly paid the seller.

What surprised me was the length of the EP: significantly taller even than the XW7. The eye lens is absolutely massive, bigger than that of the XWs. I do have to get used to the adjustment mechanism of the eye-cup. I prefer that of the XWs at the moment, and the click-stop mechanism of my T4s (and former Radians), but that may change as I get used to it. I compared it to the XW7, and the views were very similar in sharpness and viewing comfort. The only minor drawback is that the Delos is nowhere near parfocal with the XWs, unlike the XF8.5. Having said that, the XF8.5's 60 deg FOV seems a bit cramped (don't shake your heads, ortho and monocentric fans ) between the two XWs, whereas the Delos has a very nice FOV, closely matching the XWs.

Having said that, I am not sure the XF8.5 is going anywhere any time soon, as it is a very handy lightweight EP to use in the solar scope. And of course my sons were already suggesting he could use the XF8.5 in their 4.5" mini-Dob. We shall see about that.

I will post more as soon as it gets a proper first light

[Stargazer_00]

I have an 8mm Delos winging is way too me as we speak it'll give 206x in my main scope and 93x in my grab and go. so won't really go lower in the delos range than that looking forward to seeing what you do with yours!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

In my main scope it will give 254x, so a nice planetary mag for good nights, but not good enough for the XW7 at 290x. With the XW10 getting 203x I have most planetary bases covered. It should be nice for solar as well, giving 50x in my LS35 (although you need really good skies to make that useful, given an aperture of just 35mm)

[Damo636]

Nice one Michael, that's an excellent addition to the stall.

[Stu]

Very nice ep Michael. I really like mine. I think (and hope) that you will get used to the eye cup adjustment. I actually prefer it to the others now, it's very smooth and easy to lock in the correct position.

Stu

[Stargazer_00]

I think the eyecup adjustment on Delos is fantastic. You spend a little while getting it set exactly where you like it then fix it in place permanently. I leave my 10mm set up for my comfort only and the 8mm when it arrives in a few days will also be set for my use only!

[Damo636]

I'm kind of an odd ball in that I have come to prefer observing with the eye guard fully in the home position! With the 3 Delos (Deloi??) I owned previously, & the 3 Pentax XW's I have now, I came to prefer observing with the eye guard screwed all the way in. I find the resulting view is super immersive & as I observe seated most of the time, holding the exit pupil is not that difficult.

[John]

I'm kind of an odd ball in that I have come to prefer observing with the eye guard fully in the home position! With the 3 Delos (Deloi??) I owned previously, & the 3 Pentax XW's I have now, I came to prefer observing with the eye guard screwed all the way in. I find the resulting view is super immersive & as I observe seated most of the time, holding the exit pupil is not that difficult.

Interesting Damo. I found the XW's virtually unusable with the eye guard fully down - blackouts all over. I was a little despondent until I read the Pentax instructions where they suggested moving it all the way out if you don't wear glasses. That did the trick for me. Shows that we are all different though

[Stargazer_00]

It's all about how well you can control the stability of your head I guess. Personally I have the Delos set so the rubber eyeguard is up I rest it ever so gently on the side of my nose as a reference point to keep my head still. I don't have any of the rubber eyecup touching my face.

This is one of the main reason I love the Delos, the long eye relief. You can hold your head off of the eyepiece and still see all the FOV. My ES eyepieces demand you have the entire eyecup in contact with your face to see the whole view, and sometimes even have to have the eyecup down and still have parts of it touching your face. I find it a bit cramped.

[RME1]

I gave my 8mm Delos it's first outing last night and I'm really impressed with it. Just received my 12mm Delos 5 mins ago, I'm so relieved that my wife was at work!!. I just hope it stays clear tonight to use it.

Richard.

[AlexB67]

This is one of the main reason I love the Delos, the long eye relief. You can hold your head off of the eyepiece and still see all the FOV. My ES eyepieces demand you have the entire eyecup in contact with your face to see the whole view, and sometimes even have to have the eyecup down and still have parts of it touching your face. I find it a bit cramped.

I like reasonable eyerelief too. Not that I am in the Delos camp so can't comment on that. I mostly observe without glasses once I settle on a target, but the twist eyecup on the BST I like. I can still have a nice sort of seal with the eyecup to not let light in from the side, which is really handy to dark adapt better when you are in garden with some surrounding LP I find, but at the same time have a little eye to lens clearance. I think I've got rather long eyelashes that do not help, but going back to something like my stock 10mm with rather short eyerelief, never again, for that reason I'd never go for an ES by the sound of it or anything with rubber eyecups like the stock eyepieces that have no height adjustment or really short eye relief. I think the top of the lens would be covered in grease in a short time with them too.

Yes I do have a shower , but it is natural for glands and eyelashes to deposit stuff after some time, that is what nature designed them for, to hoover up stuff and protect the eye, so the lenses would get dirty pretty quickly with my eyelashes brushing the surface.

[Daniel-K]

had my best view of jupiter through my 8MM Delos in my 250PX great EP

[Stargazer_00]

My 8mm Delos just turned up, looking like clear(ish) skies forecast for tonight too!

[Pig]

They are all simply very good eyepieces

[alan potts]

Michael,

Firstly congratualtions on your new eyepiece and my, what a trusting person sold it to you.

The 8mm D is about the only one I have not seen or used, I am sure it is as good as the others. I look forward to reading your first light report.

Follow up on the Pentax WX, I cannot use the 5mm without the eyeguard up either, it just blacks out like John finds.

Graham, congratulations on your 8mm too, I want one I feel left out.

Alan

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Cheers all. I tended to work with the eye cup down, but more an more I set the eye cup in such a way that the rubber just touches my glasses. The click-stop system on my T4s, is handy, as I know exactly how many clicks each requires. I also tend to change the settings for guests, so the ability to adapt quickly is a bonus.

I might have first light on the Delos in H-alpha during lunchtime, and tonight on the night sky.

[Stargazer_00]

The Delos fixing ring can be set to varying levels of tightness ive found so you can have it gripping but not fully. This allows you to move the eyecup as you choose and it'll stay in place even with a moderate amount of face push pressure. Easy and quick to adjust. I've found that I can use them quite happily with the cup and guard fully down as well and just hover my head in space. When I first got the 10mm I did find it blacked out a bit but I also knew this was a feature of long eye relief eyepieces and it just needed a slightly different viewing technique. With the ES eyepiece you get no black out at all as the eye relief is short. You kind of get used to jamming your face into the eyepiece to get the full view. The Delos is a refreshing change and what I was after in truth.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Just had a look at the sun in H-alpha. Not the sternest of tests in the F/11.43 LS35 (not just slow speed but no chromatic errors even in a cruddy little Huygens EP). Still, the view was very crisp at 50x, and very comfortable. It does need quite a bit of back focus compared to the XWs and XF. The view through the XF8.5 and XW10 were pretty similar, in terms of sharpness ad viewing comfort.