Odd Request

[Alien 13]

Hello all.

I have a WO ZS71 and quite fancy actually having a look through it instead of having it live its life with  a camera attached.

I am a total noob at the visual side of things but this is a list of things i would like to try.

1. Visual of the moon and sun (with solar filter of course) i expect i would need something around 8mm  not sure if it needs to be a 2" jobbie or not.

2. Wide field with the lowest possible magnification which i assume would have to be a 2" one @ 40mm.

My scope has a FL of about 400mm and a FR of 5.9 but like i said i know nothing about  eyepieces/fov/eye relief.

I did try a std skywatcher diagonal and 20mm in it but the view was abysmal lots of CA lots of wierd things happening to the FOV when i moved my eye about.

Any thoughts, recomendations? Thanks in advance.

Alan

[rowan46]

Hi alan any thoughts on budget if you don't want to throw a lot of money at the wide field but want a decent view the 34mm maxvision 68 is probably as big as you want to go http://www.explorescientific.de/Okulare/Maxvision-68-Okular-34mm.html

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

My 80mm APM has about the same focal ratio, and the same EPs should work well in yours. Any good quality 6-8mm EP should give good results on the sun and moon. A second-hand Radian is an excellent choice. A size of 1.25" is enough, just use a 2"->1.25" adaptor. I would recommend a 2" star diagonal for the wide-field side. I would seriously consider the MaxVision EPs at the moment, I have the 24 and 20mm 68 deg ones, and they are superb value for money (that 24mm gives the widest possible field in a . I have not myself looked through the 24mm 82 deg one, but by all accounts it is close to Nagler quality, for a fraction of the price (I had the Meade-branded 14mm 82 deg, and it held its own against a Nagler 17T4, the MaxVisions are re-branded Meades, optically and mechanically identical). The 24mm 82 deg gives a 4.9 deg FOV in your scope, at a 4mm exit pupil size. Wider views still can be had with the likes of a Nagler 31T5 (6.36 deg) at a 5.25mm exit pupil (and steeply increased price). Something in between (14-16mm) would be nice as well. The MaxVision 16mm 68 deg is good in terms of sharpness, but not suitable if you need to wear glasses while observing.

[leelee970]

Try this link Alan.

http://www.12dstring.me.uk/fov.htm

It will give you an idea of what you maybe able to see with certain EP's

Lee

[Alien 13]

Thanks both i am probably looking at £40-£100 each but i assume the 8mm one might be the cheaper of the two so that could leave a bit more for the other one.

Alan