planetary eyepiece reccomendations

[Jim Steele]

I'm after a bit more magnification for planets on my tal100rs than the stock supplied 6.3 mm plosl - while not bad i'mn after a bit more 'wow' factor.

Budget is £50-100, and toying between a 5mm astro hutech ortho, second hand Bgo 5mm, or a baaeder hyperion again in 5mm.

Just wanted to gauge opinion and perhaps see if they were any more suggestions

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

If you can handle the (lack of) eye relief of the 6.3mm Plossl (which I cannot), an ortho is right up your alley.  Instead of the Baader Hyperion 5mm I would consider a Vixen NLV or SLV 5mm. These are very good planetary EPs.

[Laurie61]

Hi, if you are happy with the eye relief of the 6.3 mm plossl then the 5 mm Bgo would give that bit extra mag and sharp views. Did your scope come with the 2x tal barlow ? another option would be to find an 11 mm TV plossl and barlow it giving an effective 5.5 mm  and more eye relief than the 5 mm Bgo ?   

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I am wondering whether a 6mm BCO or BGO  (or Vixen (S or N)LV 6mm) would not perhaps be better. At F/10, a 5mm gives 200x, which might be stretching things a bit. A 6mm would give you 167x, which is better in most cases. A colleague of mine uses a similar 100mm F/10 scope, and uses a 7mm Vixen LV (143x) as his highest-magnification planetary EP. The improved sharpness in moving from similar focal length (cheap) Plossls made a big difference. Many 6.3mm Plossls are generic cheap ones (yours might not be, of course), and stepping up in quality might do more than stepping up in magnification. The 5mm might well be of use on objects of high surface brightness (Mars, Moon), but would be less useful on Jupiter.

[Dude_with_the_tube]

orthos will be hard to beat on planetaries and for a budget of 100 quid you should be able to locate 2 used orthos in 5mm and 6mm,try both and see which one suits your needs best or keep both.Doesnt matter what brand they are as visually difference will be so little that you will hardly notice.(BGo,BCO,Cirle T)

be aware of relatively short eye relief.

i have a 4mm ortho and i need to cut my eye lashes to be able to use that and use a Loctite to glue it to my eye ball so i dont need to adjust much

[Pig]

+1 for the Vixen SLV they are a fantastic eyepiece,  the 50degree FOV will be ideal for Planetary observations  they are available in 4,5 & 6mm

[John]

+1 for the Vixen SLV they are a fantastic eyepiece,  the 50degree FOV will be ideal for Planetary observations  they are available in 4,5 & 6mm

+2 for the Vixen SLV's. I'm still pulling together a report on the 3 I've been loaned by First Light Optics (6mm, 12mm and 20mm) but I've been really impressed by them.

The 6mm is a cracking planetary eyepiece plus it's really comfortable to use due to it's 20mm of eye relief and large accommodating eye lens. I've been really pleasantly surprised how the 6mm SLV produces sharpness, contrast and light scatter control in the same league as the Baader Genuine Ortho despite the additional glass elements that are needed to make it comfortable to use. I've no doubt that the 5mm SLV would be of the same quality but It is slightly over the upper end of Jim's budget though. 

5mm orthoscopics are usable and do produce great views but, for me at least, the eye relief and eye lens size of an orthoscopic at that focal length have just dropped below the threshold that is desirable for a high power eyepiece that will be regularly used.

Another comfortable to use option at around the £100 mark would be a used 5mm Tele Vue Radian.

[AlexB67]

IMO, the 5mm BGO is a wonderful eyepiece both in my 10 inch and 5 inch scope, apart from the FOV an eyerelief as already said some may not like, when seeing allows it is often my favourite, pretty much always on the moon and a lot of the times on planets too.  Great for detecting subtle contrast features and nice bright colour neutral images  

Astro Hutech which apparently should just be as good  are currently on a reduced price from what they once were, @FLO for 69 pounds will bag a you a new 5 or 6mm.  

[Jim Steele]

+2 for the Vixen SLV's. I'm still pulling together a report on the 3 I've been loaned by First Light Optics (6mm, 12mm and 20mm) but I've been really impressed by them.

The 6mm is a cracking planetary eyepiece plus it's really comfortable to use due to it's 20mm of eye relief and large accommodating eye lens. I've been really pleasantly surprised how the 6mm SLV produces sharpness, contrast and light scatter control in the same league as the Baader Genuine Ortho despite the additional glass elements that are needed to make it comfortable to use. I've no doubt that the 5mm SLV would be of the same quality but It is slightly over the upper end of Jim's budget though. 

5mm orthoscopics are usable and do produce great views but, for me at least, the eye relief and eye lens size of an orthoscopic at that focal length have just dropped below the threshold that is desirable for a high power eyepiece that will be regularly used.

Another comfortable to use option at around the £100 mark would be a used 5mm Tele Vue Radian.

Thanks John,

Two good suggestions I hadnt considered. I look forward to your report on them.

IMO, the 5mm BGO is a wonderful eyepiece both in my 10 inch and 5 inch scope, apart from the FOV an eyerelief as already said some may not like, when seeing allows it is often my favourite, pretty much always on the moon and a lot of the times on planets too.  Great for detecting subtle contrast features and nice bright colour neutral images  

Astro Hutech which apparently should just be as good  are currently on a reduced price from what they once were, @FLO for 69 pounds will bag a you a new 5 or 6mm.  

Thank Alex. Good to know, the BGO or Astro Hutech seems like a good buy at the moment. What is the eye relief like for them? my 6.3mm is around 6mm which is comfortable though i dont think I would like to go much tighter than this.

Another option could be a TMB planatary? 

Interestingly noone reccomended the Hyperions, any reason for this or do they just lack sharpness at the edge of the field?

Eyepieces are all very confusing - too many options.

Ben

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

The Abbe orthoscopic design has an eye relief of 80% of the focal length (4mm eye relief for a 5mm EP). Very tight indeed. Live is SO much nicer when you do not have to weld the EP to your cornea, as I found out when I replaced my 10mm Plossl (7-8mm eye relief) by a 9mm Vixen LV (20mm eye relief). The LV is the predecessor of the N:V and recently SLV series. Optically they have changed little, I feel, but coatings and build have improved.