6mm planetary eyepiece?

[Guest]

I am using my Celestron C100 ed to observe Jupiter at the moment.A nice crisp view  with my 8.5mm Pentax XF eyepiece.

In an attempt to get a better view I tried a 5mm 60 degree eyepiece.But this was just a tweek to much magnification for the telescope.I think that a 6mm would probably hit the sweet spot for magnification.While I can look out for an orthoscopic eyepiece,I was hoping to get a wider field 6mm eyepiece.I have been looking at the Williams Optics 6mm SPL planetary eyepiece.

Not having tried the eyepiece I am reluctant to spend £70.

Which 6mm eyepiece would do a good job I wonder?Thanks,

Martin.

[alan potts]

Talking secondhand and spending more of you hard earned cash I would go for a Radian 6mm, you will not better it without spending a lot of money and getting the same specifcation.

The other thing you could do and get slightly better views is go for a Hutech 6mm orthoscopic, tight on eye-relief and small FOV but very difficult to beat.

Alan

[RichM63]

I bought the TS UWA 60° 6mm. from Germany

I love it, plus it has decent eye relief and you can adjust the eye cup by a long way.

It was slightly cheaper than the WO 6mm.

But 'seeing' certainly has a big effect at this magnification.

Richard

[russ]

The Radian is a fab eyepiece if you have money. Ortho sharp and excellent eye relief. Stunning. It's on a par with your Pentax XF 8.5.

[andrew63]

Although they are popular, from a comfort point -  the SPL BST TMB etc are just not as optically good as a 6 ortho. If your after the same quality of image as the 8.5mm xf gives on jupiter,  the 6 ortho. is the best option -  if you don't want to compromise that is.

I wonder about a good barlow with your 12 XF ? -  could be an option - perhaps a tele extender would be better to avoid too much eye relief. 

andrew

[Guest]

Thanks for the great advice.I don't seem to get on with barlow's.I will look out for a used Radian.

Martin.

[rory]

I'm taking it you tried the 5mm x cel which your selling? I ask because I believe the meade HD eyepieces are equal quality and fov . The meade do a 6.5 mm .

[John]

Talking secondhand and spending more of you hard earned cash I would go for a Radian 6mm, you will not better it without spending a lot of money and getting the same specifcation.

The other thing you could do and get slightly better views is go for a Hutech 6mm orthoscopic, tight on eye-relief and small FOV but very difficult to beat.

Alan

Those would probably be my recommendations too. 

The Baader Classic 6mm Ortho is pretty good as well and slightly easier to view though than the Hutech / Fujiyama orthos. The Baader Classic seems to perform as well as a Pentax XW other than in the areas of field of view and eye relief. All for a bit less than £50 !

[AlexB67]

Hi martin, I wish you luck getting one, the 6mm Radian is quite rare in all honesty. I kept my eyes out carefully for 4 months, I did see one in January, but post Xmas budget did not allow, it vanished in hours, then this month one turned up out of the blue I snapped up.  Possibly I may have missed some, but they are the only two 6mm Radians I saw in 4 months, I had almost given up.

If you want something more urgently the Radian may not fulfil that wish, when they do turn up, act quickly, they vanish as soon as they appear on astro buy and sell.  I count myself a lucky man for getting one when I was on the edge of giving up, my patience was running thin, so I started looking at other option such as the Vixen and orthos, though not as wide FOV wil provide views as good as they come. Not that I ever got to that point to find out to have the luxury of such comparisons, but according to many opinions by long term observers.

[faulksy]

or get a 6mm delos

[John]

or get a 6mm delos

For £70 ??? - where ??? !!!! 

[Guest]

The 5mm Celestron X-Cel was good,but just over the edge of what my C100 ed would cope with.You need great seeing conditions for the 5mm.I would like to try a 6mm.The Vixen NLV 6mm has a much reduced field of view of 45 degrees.I think that an ortho would have the same field.

[David55]

I have the Williams Optics 6mm SPL eyepiece and am very happy with it on my 200p dobsonian. The relatively wide angle saves having to jog my telescope too often. The image is sharp on days of good seeing, right across the field of view. Would recommend it.

[Guest]

The Circle T orthoscopic's have a field of view of 43 degrees,but eye relief is approx 5mm. The Viexen NLV 6mm has a larger eye lens and an eye relief of 20mm.This would be a lot more comfortable to use in my opinion.

[faulksy]

For £70 ??? - where ??? !!!! 

mist that bit john :embarassed:

[Mark at Beaufort]

I have always used eyepieces with good eye relief and large eye lenses. I currently use Ethos and Delos EPs but have had Nagler EPs in the past. I always felt that the eye relief of orthoscopic EPs would not suit my needs.

How wrong was that opinion!!!

I recently have been given the opportunity to test some Hutech Orthoscopics EPs with the 6mm, 9mm and 18mm as the samples. Yes the eye relief is tight and yes the FOV is much smaller than my normal EPs but the sharpness and the contrast are excellent. I have had some great views of Jupiter using the 6mm Hutech and a 6" f5 Newt

To answer your question on a suitable planetary EP I would suggest you look for an Orthoscopic. John has recommended the Baader Classic 6mm Orthoscopic and I trust his judgement. This EP is only £49 from FLO and if it is anything like the Hutech its going to be pretty good.

[YKSE]

Those would probably be my recommendations too. 

The Baader Classic 6mm Ortho is pretty good as well and slightly easier to view though than the Hutech / Fujiyama orthos. The Baader Classic seems to perform as well as a Pentax XW other than in the areas of field of view and eye relief. All for a bit less than £50 !

I can only agree, you'll have a hard time to find a better new EP for £50 for planetary work.

[Bart]

I have a 6mm BCO giving just over x200 and it is a very nice clear EP. Yes it's tight on eye relief but you comfort yourself with the knowledge it's giving you a great view!!

Barry

[AlexB67]

Some will even say that positive effect of having to push your eye against the eyepiece is a good experience, long eye relief sometimes can mean having to hover over it with some models having no adjustable top. Some like that bit of contact, hugging the eyepiece and all that, ask Qualia   . 

The only downside in my case for buying the radian now is that I have not as yet had a sample of that ortho experience.   Even with a pentax 7mm planned for, why not an ortho 7 or 8mm to supersede the 8mm BST  

only a matter of time  that orthos enter into my case I feel .... At a minimum my life would not feel right if I did not at least try one. The BSTs will not be going anywhere either, great if I don't want to risk it on holiday by air, the Heritage and the BSTs will be perfect for that. It is not the first time it has happened a suitcase went missing on the airport.

See, I have it all covered if the missus ever starts to wonder if I ever plan to sell any of that stuff, there will be a reason for owning every one of them. :0)

[YKSE]

I would say that one advantage with narrow FOV is that it frames the objects better, giving a more concentrated view.

[JulianFR]

I'm very happy with my WO SPL 6mm, which was recommended on this forum.