Stock SW 25mm and 10mm eye relief

[TwoPi]

Hi all,

Just out of interest, does anyone know what the eye relief quoted is for the stock SkyWatcher eyepieces that come with the 200P? Can't find the specs anywhere on the web.

Whilst I'm asking, believe it or not I'm actually a bit confused over which eyepieces I actually have. They both say Super Plossl <x>mm Multi-Coated on the side and the 25mm also has 52° on the side. Looking at the SkyWatcher and UK importer Optical Vision websites, they look more like (but not identical to) the 'SP-Series' Super Plossl Eyepieces than the Super-MA Series Eyepieces (which I would guess makes more sense given Plossl is printed on the side...) but the SP-Series only offers 24mm, not 25mm?

Can anyone shed any light?

Cheers,

[ronl]

Try this link http://www.swindonstargazers.com/beginners/eyepieces.htm

it's a very good site for beginners and explains all about eyepieces.

[RikM]

The MA's have plain metal bodies and look like this:

and the Plossls look like this, the longer FL have a rubberised grip:

[Eastridge]

Hi, can't help with the 25 but I asked about the 10 a while ago and the best answer I got was from Robin ( who did Swindon link above) who said:

The sw ep is not a plossl but an MA (modified acromat) so don't judge the eye relief by the plossl design, the eye relief on the 'super MA' is actually better, I can only guess from my experience, I think it is around 10-12mm, ....

To which Naemouth helpfully added that it's more usable to many others of that length because the image is formed very close to the lens and so even 8mm ER would allow you to see it with glasses.

Hoope this helps

Edited September 15, 2013 by Eastridge

[TwoPi]

Cheers for the replies guys.

Ron, thanks for the link but I've looked at Robin's eyepiece guide before and whilst excellent, doesn't specifically give the eye relief data I'm looking for.

Rik & Eastridge, I'm really not convinced I do have the Super MA eyepieces - see the attached photo of the eyepieces... these look more like the plossls to me (and indeed have Super Plossl written on the side), but from the SkyWatcher and OVL websites it appears that they don't make a 25mm super plossl so maybe I'm wrong??

If I'm right then from the replies to your earlier thread Eastridge, I guess I should assume around 0.7 or 0.8 x focal length for eye relief in the absence of data from the manufacturer?

Thanks again,

[Eastridge]

Hi,

Agree that your 25 looks nothing like my 25 MA ( which is exactly as per pic given by Rick above) The 10 is difficult isn't it? doesn't look exactly the same as either MA or Possl pics to me. I guess needs someone with greater experience of lenses to comment.

[Naemeth]

The 25mm and 10mm MA, usually supplied with most Skywatcher telescopes actually have pretty long eye relief. I tried them with my old pair of glasses and they work fine (new pair need much more eye relief so I don't use them for stargazing - they just get in the way), I estimated the eye relief on the 10mm MA to be about 12mm. The 25mm MA is probably roughly in line with a 25mm plossl, so probably gives about 20mm eye relief.

Those eyepieces do look like plossls though, did you get the scope second hand?

[coulthamst]

My SW 200mm Flextube came supplied with SW Plossls from new, so perhaps Skywatcher does not always provide Super MAs as standard?

[TwoPi]

Those eyepieces do look like plossls though, did you get the scope second hand?

Nope, brand new last Feb. Maybe the fact that it's a FlexTube/GOTO (i.e. more expensive) means they bundle Plossls rather than MAs? Or maybe it's just random...!

But seems odd that a 25mm SP doesn't appear on the SW website!

[RikM]

Skywatcher often bundle non-standard eyepieces with OTA packages. The Evostar ED Pro telescopes come with a 2" 28mm LES, whatever that is. The closest thing on the OVL (Skywatcher importers) web site are the LER eyepices, but they only list 15, 20, & 25mm. No 28mm option in sight.

[TwoPi]

Bizarre!

[bingevader]

As Eastridge says, it looks nothing like the MA and much more like the 26mm plossls around (looks a lot like my meade!).

I did find this, that bears an uncanny resemblance though!

Cheers

[rwilkey]

I would say they are plossls, there is a trend for bundling better quality ep's at the moment, anyway, it's how they perform that counts in my opinion.

[TwoPi]

As Eastridge says, it looks nothing like the MA and much more like the 26mm plossls around (looks a lot like my meade!).

I did find this, that bears an uncanny resemblance though!

Cheers

Crikey, it does look identical doesn't it! Almost identical box too (although mine is a hinged lid rather than a lift off lid). Good old Yuyao Yuzhong Optical Instruments eh

Looks like SW might chop and change where they source their stock eyepieces from then.

[John]

I would say they are plossls, there is a trend for bundling better quality ep's at the moment, anyway, it's how they perform that counts in my opinion.

I agree - I reckon they are both plossls - the 10mm has a "P" visible despite the faded printing. They are multi-coated rather than fully multi-coated and there are numerous manufacturers in Taiwan and China who make this pattern of eyepiece. Eye relief will be as per the normal plossl which is around 80% of the focal length in mm I believe.

These are an improvement over the 3 element MA types.

[TwoPi]

And in fact this looks very similar to the 10mm, just with different text printed on it and missing the groove on the metal barrel...

Mystery solved - thanks everyone

[Pogo007]

I believe the 10mm has 7mm ER and the 25mm has 17.5mm ER

[bingevader]

My goodness, that was a bit of voodoo to raise this zombie from the dead!

[Louis D]

20 hours ago, Pogo007 said:

I believe the 10mm has 7mm ER and the 25mm has 17.5mm ER

@TwoPi hasn't even visited SGL since May 22, 2018.

4 hours ago, bingevader said:

My goodness, that was a bit of voodoo to raise this zombie from the dead!

Back! Back into the dead thread graveyard!!!

[Guest]

Lazarus thread!