3.7mm Ethos first light and review

[Joves]

Hi guys,

Skies finally cleared last night(at least somewhat, despite a 75% waxing moon), so I finally got to try out a few of my new Ethos eyepieces.

Let me say for starters, the Ethos lineup, whilst not inexpensive, are very impressive. This being said, the extreme wide-field vs non wide-field debate/decision is certainly a valid one and I can see how, after giving these at least a somewhat decent run, wide-field may not be for everyone. Very fortunately for me though, I absolutely love them!

The sky conditions last night were quite nice, albeit for an 3/4 moon. This is always going to skew any time at the scope whilst trying to view an object and give a review (albeit a first and a very ameteurish one at that, no doubt) of an eyepiece, but I will report it as I saw it so you get at least somewhat an idea of what to expect when viewing through the Ethos 3.7mm. Now, I actually had a fairly good go of each of the Ethos range last night but thought I would start my reports on this one, for no other reason other than this FL seems to be the least owned/reviewed on this site.

The sky last night was nice. Far from ideal, with a 3/4 moon, but much nicer than the three nights of rain that preceded it. That being said, there were still large clumps of cumulus streaming across the sky, but this was one of those nights where that was actually a nice thing. The gaps between were decent and the skies beyond were dark. Needless to say, my only fear was that some of these clouds might open up and gift me a lovely wet scope and eyepiece. I only mention this because, no doubt, fear and nervousness MUST effect one's view!

I started the night looking at what inspired me to head outside in the first place... The moon. Sitting high and proud amongst intermittent wafts of illuminated clouds, it set the scene for the perfect werewolf movie. Excited to see ANYTHING, I grabbed my trusty (haven't had it for long, but it's already proving to be my weopen of choice) TeleVue-76! Instead if doing what I normally would do, which is start with a low powered eyepiece and work my way up, my anticipation for seeing what the views might be like with the Ethos 3.7mm saw me grab this EP first. Now, this is not normally the best idea when not using a non go-to mount especially when your scope isn't fitted with any type of finder. This being said, I figured the moon isn't so hard to find (not as easy as you'd think either, mind you), so I figured "what the hell?!" After a short moment of back and forth action, I had it in my view...

Well, let me tell you this... There is definitely something to be said for extreme wide-field (110 degree apparent) views of an object such as the moon. The used setup, 3.7mm Ethos in a TV-76, yields an impressive 50.88 arc minute true FOV, which more than comfortably covers the entire moon (sitting at approx. 30 arc minutes). Looking at these numbers, one might expect that there would be a decent amount of space between the centred moon and the field stop, but one would be surprised. In this eyepiece, it's a snug fit. However, given the fact that it's workng at 130x magnification, I think it is extraordinary that the whole lunar disk could be encompassed in the FOV, full stop! This is what makes this eyepiece so special. I've viewed the moon under high mag many times before, but never without having to compromise on the amount of the actual disk seen in the FOV. Capturing ridiculous amounts of detail on the lunar surface (75% waxing didn't hurt either) whilst still having the entire disk in the FOV is almost a surreal experience. Illuminated and shaded craters literally bursting from the contrast of the glowingly bright and Maria stricken surface, all whilst being completely framed by a jet-black framing of sky, made for the nicest view of the moon I have ever seen. Simply amazing!

Being a bright night (due to the object which had just left me in complete awe), I played around with different EP's until M42 came into sight above the much imposing 12 storey apartment block direct impeding my view. Objects such as 47 Tucanae were beautiful, regardless of which EP it was viewed through. The 3.7mm gave a stunning view of this, almost allowing me to resolve the outer edges of the beautiful globular, irrespective of the fact that I was viewing from a very modest (albeit, a very nice) 3" refractor.

At the time of M42 coming into view, I was actually viewing through the 17mm Ethos, an amazing EP unto itself which is deserved of its own review in its own right. This is sure to come in due course. The waxing moon, still shining brightly on the almost setting horizon, didn't seem to be affecting views of M42 too terribly, with a bright core, wispy nebulosity and the four main stars of the trapezium easily seen through the 17mm. I decided then to, instead of changing Ep's, add the Astronomik UHC filter into the mix. Wow, wha a difference. The stars of the Trapezium were admittedly not as distinct, but the nebula itself (I kid you not) tripled in size. I could almost compare It to views I get through my Mallincam video camera, but that would be unfair AND a massive exaggeration. Thst being said, the view was by far the nicest visual view of the Orion Nebula I have ever seen.

Still sporting (and gasping at the view of) the 17mm, I wondered what M42 might look like with higher magnification (perhaps that of the 3.7mm), so I promptly switched EP's. The UHC filter was still on, which I figured was the right move, and the image was nice enough. But, it was a far cry from what I had viewed through the 17mm. Nice enough, but a little too dark. Deciding that it was most likely due to the filter, I removed the the EP from the diagonal and unscrewed the filter. Tired and almost done, I put the 3.7mm (unfiltered) back into the diagonal. A quick refocus later and... O...M...G... I have never seen anything like it through an eyepiece. The entire nebula literally jumped into my already weary eyeballs! Details not seen before practically filled the entire FOV. The stars of the Trapezium, usually four under reasonable conditions, showed hints of a fifth and sixth. The usual bright white of the nebula hinted at hues of green. All of this was beautiful, but the most amazing thing was the depth of the nebula through the 3.7mm. I don't want to overstate things, but it took on an almost 3D like quality. Absolutely stunning. What added to this, and was most beautiful about the entire scene, was the velvety black background sky surrounding M42 through this EP. The contrast was amazing. Never before have I seen such detail and clarity under such magnification at the eyepiece. I swear, if the Orion Nebula and the moon were the only possible objects to view with the 3.7mm Ethos, to me, it'd still be well worth the price of admission.

A couple of other things I'm sure some of you might be curios about, and that is the overall comfort of use and eye relief of this eyepiece. I'm not going to lie and say this is the easiest EP to view through. It's not! 110 degrees is surely not going to be everyone's cup of tea and I can understand why. It demands quite a bit of attention from the observer. For those who like a nicely framed object with no distractions, your money will be better spent elsewhere. For anything but the largest objects (the moon and M42 being my subjects in point) I did find my eye wanting to wander toward the field stop, intuitively trying to glimpse everything in the FOV. This, I imagine, could be quite distracting for some. Being that I don't have a huge amount of experience with differing AFOV EP's, this didn't concern me in the slightest. I found it to be arguably the most immersive experience I've ever had visually at the telescope. This being said, eye position can be a tad tricky. To get the entire field in sight, you really have to push your eye into the rubber eye guard a touch further than is ideal. Not far enough and you're not capturing the entire FOV, too far and you're wondering when you grew such lovely eyelashes. However, roll down the rubber guard and gently come in for another look and it's an entirely different experience. The whole Televue 'space walk' starts to make sense. It is almost as though the field stop doesn't exist at all! The 3.7mm is almost like two different EP's in one. Eyecup up for very wide and beautiful (but subdued) views and eyecup down for an unobscured wander of what feels like wide field low mag, but is actually high magnification heaven. Personally, unlike the lower power Ethos range, I think I will be spending most of my time with the eyecup down on the 3.7mm.

So, should you buy this EP? Well, that is a darn good question, as I have no doubt that not all will like it. Why, exactly, takes a little thought. My only conclusion so far, with so little use, is this. It's most certainly a contradictory eyepiece. It is very easy to look through this EP and want to compare it to a low powered, wide field eyepiece. This, when considered, is not at all a fair comparison. However, the 3.7mm Ethos ALMOST pulls it off. If you're looking for high power, full framed objects that aren't going to utilise 110 degrees AFOV, there are plenty of wonderful, and less costly, alternatives. However, if you are wanting a high powered EP that makes you almost forget you are looking through a telescope, I'd urge you to at least consider seeking out a high powered Ethos to at least take a look. I was worried, considering the fact that my only scope that can handle this FL is on a manual, non-tracking mount, that this eyepiece would get very little use, but I already know that I needn't have been... I'll be using this every chance I get!

[Spec-Chum]

Sounds superb! Way out of my league tho.

Maybe one day

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[Joves]

Like I say spec... There are alternatives. Is it worth 2, 3 or 7 times that of a regular, nice quality EP, I'd have to say no. However, if you ever get the chance, give one a go... They're really nice!

[rl]

I've got the 4.7mm SX and would agree with virtually every comment you make. You have to learn to relax and be patient using these eyepieces and and stop trying to take in everything at once...or you start getting RSI in the eyeballs! I use mine always with the rubber eye guard rolled down. Used with a 12" F/4 Newt (*255) it's superb on globs and planets when conditions allow. Enjoy..

RL

[rl]

....and I meant to say that's an excellent review with the pro's and cons well explained.

RL

[Joves]

Thanks RL... I hope it shows that, as much as I love this EP so far, it's not going to appeal to everyone.

[John]

What an excellent read - your excitement at the experience just jumps out of the screen 

I've been wondering about moving from my 6mm Ethos to a 6mm Delos lately but you just may have convinced me to stick with the Ethos now 

I believe the Ethos SX eyepieces were designed to simulate some of the experiences that Al Nagler had working on the optics in the simulators used to train NASA's LEM astronauts. No wonder they are good on the moon !

[Pig]

Excellent write up Jove's very pleasing to read

I loved the comment about "such lovely eyelashes"

[Rickstar]

Thanks for the great, enthusiastic writeup, Joves.  What you have written describes my experience with the 4.7 Ethos quite accurately.  I use the eye guard  rolled down as well.  The 4.7 gives me 115x in the NP-101 and provides great views of the moon and Saturn.  I'm itching to try my new 3.7... if only the weather will cooperate.  I love watching objects drift through the huge Ethos FOV in my undriven scope.

Rick

[Joves]

Thanks for the kind words, guys. I actually really enjoyed writing it. Just needed a little inspiration!

Also, glad to hear you guys find the experience with your high power Ethos' to be the same as mine and that my thoughts weren't entirely off the mark

[alan potts]

Joves,

Excellent review you are clearly in love. My collection stops at the 6mm but I would like to add the 4.7mm one day, I think the 3.7mm is maybe just a bit too short for me to warrant spending 500 quid on one when I have the Delos covering this spot.

Alan.

[Joves]

Thanks Alan. I will no doubt end up getting the 4.7mm, as this is the last one to complete the set. Very happy with the whole range so far.

Would love to take a look through the Delos for an indication of difference in eye relief. They sound like a super comfortable EP.

Aaron

[Stu]

Lovely review Aaron, beat me to it!!

I totally agree that the 3.7SX with the TV76 is an amazing combination, particularly on the moon. Being able to get that fov with x130 is fantastic, and the contrast and definition is wonderful.

Have yet to see M42 under decent conditions with it but am expecting it to be fabulous!

I must ask, did you find your eyelashes intruding on the view when you tried to see the whole field up to the fieldstop, or is it just me with my long lashes :-)

Stu

[Moonshane]

superb write up and your enthusiasm shines through.

I think I am the only person in the world who does not like my 13mm Ethos (it gives about the same mag and field in my scopes as your 3.7mm does in your TV frac) on the moon. Both that eyepiece and my 26mm Nagler provoke some kind of reaction with my eyes which creates weird pink and blue tones as I 'roll my eye around' to take in the view. I thought it was my Baader neodymium filter but it's the same without it. On anything other than the moon though it's a stunning eyepiece.

[Joves]

Lovely review Aaron, beat me to it!!I totally agree that the 3.7SX with the TV76 is an amazing combination, particularly on the moon. Being able to get that fov with x130 is fantastic, and the contrast and definition is wonderful.Have yet to see M42 under decent conditions with it but am expecting it to be fabulous!I must ask, did you find your eyelashes intruding on the view when you tried to see the whole field up to the fieldstop, or is it just me with my long lashes :-)Stu

Thanks Stu. They sure do make a nice combination. Funny that the EP is almost as big as the scope though

You'll love M42 through this setup. I love the Orion Nebula with a wide field, low-medium mag EP (the 13mm is sensational), but I am so pleased it looks so nice at high magnification. Kind of adds another beautiful target to view in the night sky!!

I sure do have the eyelash issue, Stu. It's only an issue, though, if I'm really pushing in to the eye guard to capture the field stop. If I pull back just a touch, yes I do lose a slight amount of the FOV, but the issue goes away. To be honest, I find viewing the field stop with the eyecup rolled down to provide the most stunning view. It completely changes the image. Almost feels like looking through a small portal window from a shuttle, out into the vastness of space (not that I have an blumming idea what it's like to do that, of course). Sounds super corny, I know, but I find it to be true. Not sure if you've tried this? If not, you really must give it a go!

[Joves]

superb write up and your enthusiasm shines through.

I think I am the only person in the world who does not like my 13mm Ethos (it gives about the same mag and field in my scopes as your 3.7mm does in your TV frac) on the moon. Both that eyepiece and my 26mm Nagler provoke some kind of reaction with my eyes which creates weird pink and blue tones as I 'roll my eye around' to take in the view. I thought it was my Baader neodymium filter but it's the same without it. On anything other than the moon though it's a stunning eyepiece.

Thanks Moonshane. I must admit, I read back over my post today after getting a few comments about the enthusiasm, and couldn't help but think "Whoooah, ease up a little mate... You're sounding a little TOO happy over there!" Haha

That's a little curious about your experience with the 13mm Ethos. At first I read it as though you were having the same issue on every target you viewed with it, and thought "oh man, what a darn shame!" Don't get me wrong, it's absolutely still a shame, as the moon is beautiful through these EP's... But it's certainly not the ONLY thing! I wonder what would be causing you to see this in both the Ethos AND the Nagler?? At first I thought "faulty EP", but clearly not.

[Moonshane]

I think it's a combination of my eyes and certain designs of eyepiece (seemingly the ones with the worst 'ring of fire' when you held the eyepiece to your eye in daylight) as it does not happen with my 16mm T2 or any other eyepiece I have. I did also recently suffer an occular migraine brought on by a interative whiteboard presentation (I saw RGB zigzags in my eyes and had severe tunnel vision for about 10 minutes) so maybe it's my eyes!

[Stu]

Thanks Stu. They sure do make a nice combination. Funny that the EP is almost as big as the scope though

You'll love M42 through this setup. I love the Orion Nebula with a wide field, low-medium mag EP (the 13mm is sensational), but I am so pleased it looks so nice at high magnification. Kind of adds another beautiful target to view in the night sky!!

I sure do have the eyelash issue, Stu. It's only an issue, though, if I'm really pushing in to the eye guard to capture the field stop. If I pull back just a touch, yes I do lose a slight amount of the FOV, but the issue goes away. To be honest, I find viewing the field stop with the eyecup rolled down to provide the most stunning view. It completely changes the image. Almost feels like looking through a small portal window from a shuttle, out into the vastness of space (not that I have an blumming idea what it's like to do that, of course). Sounds super corny, I know, but I find it to be true. Not sure if you've tried this? If not, you really must give it a go!

Yes, does feel a bit odd such a big ep in a little scope, but like you I was really surprised by the results. It just brought out all the different shades on the surface in a way I had not really seen before. I'm sure the image would be the same or better in my 106 but the limb would be tight up against the fieldstop so the effect wouldn't be as nice to view.

Agreed that the eyelashes are only a problem on the moon when trying to really see the fieldstop. The wife will laugh at me, but I may just try trimming mine short to see if it gets rid of the problem :-).

Stu

[alan potts]

Joves,

I really like that one, "I am happy with the whole range", my you would be a difficult man to please if you were not. Don't rule out Delos at some point, they have strengths over the Ethos but they are very subtle, the ER quite frankly I don't find an issue but it would be if I wore glasses. I don't look for it but for some odd reason I can see the whole field stop by the slightest eye movement, I know some don't want this but i rather like to see it.

Alan.

[Joves]

Joves,I really like that one, "I am happy with the whole range", my you would be a difficult man to please if you were not. Don't rule out Delos at some point, they have strengths over the Ethos but they are very subtle, the ER quite frankly I don't find an issue but it would be if I wore glasses. I don't look for it but for some odd reason I can see the whole field stop by the slightest eye movement, I know some don't want this but i rather like to see it.Alan.

Haha... Sorry, I think that may have come across the wrong way and sounded a little arrogant. I meant that I'm very pleased with each of the Ethos EP's equally across the whole range

I will definitely be trying to get a look through a Delos the first chance I get. As for eye relief, I agree. I don't have an issue with the Ethos' at all. Then again, I don't wear glasses either, which I imagine would make things complicated. I like to see the field stop as well. The wider field of the 3.7mm certainly helps on a non-tracking mount though. I managed to take a nice look at Jupiter last night through this combination and found the amount of need to bump to keep it in view very tolerable.

Aaron

[Joves]

I think it's a combination of my eyes and certain designs of eyepiece (seemingly the ones with the worst 'ring of fire' when you held the eyepiece to your eye in daylight) as it does not happen with my 16mm T2 or any other eyepiece I have. I did also recently suffer an occular migraine brought on by a interative whiteboard presentation (I saw RGB zigzags in my eyes and had severe tunnel vision for about 10 minutes) so maybe it's my eyes!

That sounds like a nasty experience!

[Moonshane]

thankfully one that has not repeated itself. I think it was just a weird coincidence of my position in the room, the scrren/projector and being tired too. it still means I am not keen on the Ethos with the moon though

[alan potts]

Joves,

I can't believe it, almost a week has passed and you have not bought another Ethos, I can't stop looking at the 4.7mm even though I don't really need it. One don't need things one wants things. The wife just asked me what I wanted for Christmas and like a fool I said nothing, what can you buy here.

Alan

[Joves]

I know, Alan... It just doesn't seem right, does it! And to think, the only one I still need to get is the only one you really wanted me to get! Not long before I do, I'm pretty sure of that.

Would be a brave man that said "a 4.7mm Ethos, please" to your wife's Christmas question. The minute she saw the price of it, she'd be taking a closer look at every eyepiece you currently have in your kit! Thankfully mine has no interest in visiting the telescope shop with me... I'd be in some strife if she did!

[Rickstar]

A 4.7 Ethos would make a great stocking stuffer but, to steal from Jaws:  "you're gonna need a bigger stocking".