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Anyone else truly happy with there EP collection?


Mike73

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You say "fairly happy" Bill but I'd be interested to see how you might improve on your Planetary set ?  :smiley:

It seems to me to include the "creme de la creme" already !

:laugh2: Well one can never be completely happy!  You are right...nothing can improve on my planetary lineup...except the addition of a 7mm TMB Supermono!!  Nothing out there IMO better than the Pentax XWs, especially not as an entire line.  The bino pairs is what I'm not so happy with.  Right now just Plossls for the most part.  Would really like to get 2nds of the XWs in 20mm, 14mm, and 10mm.  But that's a lot of cash.

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Just made a couple of adjustments to my minimalist set. It now comprises:

Baader GO 6mm

Leica Vario Zoom 7.3-22mm

Baader Aspheric 31mm (all being well will replace my Meade SWA 24.5mm which will be sold)

Tal 25mm for finder/occasional main scope use.

I've also got a set of 3 TS Optiks reverse Kellners, 26mm, 32mm and 40mm with 55 degree fields - but having trouble getting them to come to focus in my D&G...watch this space!

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Just made a couple of adjustments to my minimalist set. It now comprises:

Baader GO 6mm

Leica Vario Zoom 7.3-22mm

Baader Aspheric 31mm (all being well will replace my Meade SWA 24.5mm which will be sold) ....

My set for my 6" F/12 refractor is looking rather similar Dave:

- Baader 8-24mm zoom (used as an 8-20mm though)

- Baader Aspheric 31mm

- 6mm slot still vacant although I'm thinking of using a Baader Classic 6mm ortho in a 2" adapter to equalise the weight. 

I'm trying to maintain an even weight at the focuser end with this set.

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I have a really mixed bag of eyepieces after two years of unco-ordinated purchases.I'm currently trying to downsize my astro gear to a more manageable level so decided to think about what I use regularly, and it comes down to the same basic list:

Baader Hyperion Zoom mk III 8-24mm (with the matching 2.25x barlow) - I mainly use this in 2" mode and it goes pretty nicely with my Skylight 4" f13; its nice not having to rebalance!

TAL 25mm plossl - excellent quality and sharpness

GSO (TS Branded) 20mm WA Erfle - this is a bit of a workhorse; 70 degree field of view makes it ideal for locating objects as well as widefield views; great way to start and finish sessions.

TAL 15mm kelner - I'm using this a surprising amount recently (thanks, Shane); its fab in my Istar 150 f10 for a straight x100 - narrow field of view but sharp!

Baader GO 7mm - planety goodness

Baader GO 5mm - even more planety goodness (really wish I;d got the full set when I could).

I generally use the zoom for a whole session, or a combination of the other eps (again trying to limit rebalancing issues and avoid swapping from 2" to 1.25").

I recently bought a Delos 10mm (thanks Emad!) but haven't had all that much chance to use it really. Nice piece of kit, though I'm not really sure what its best match is yet. I rarely use barlows, but I'm definitely keeping the TV 2.5x powermate and the TAL x2 barlow (I have a TAL x3, but hardly ever use that).

Got a few other assorted EPs (assorted BSTs and plossls and a 2" 30mm Erfles) but I never seem to use them any more.

On the whole, I'm happy with what I have at the moment - and right now I'd trade most of it for some clear skies :grin:.

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:laugh2: Well one can never be completely happy!  You are right...nothing can improve on my planetary lineup...except the addition of a 7mm TMB Supermono!!  Nothing out there IMO better than the Pentax XWs, especially not as an entire line.  The bino pairs is what I'm not so happy with.  Right now just Plossls for the most part.  Would really like to get 2nds of the XWs in 20mm, 14mm, and 10mm.  But that's a lot of cash.

Not sure you will get your nose in between the XWs Bill. I've only seen the 20 mm and it was rather large.
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I've binoviewed  MKV's with 20mm & 10mm XW's and they are great eyepieces for binoviewing. No problems at all.

I think it depends on the binoviewer being used, the smaller binoviewers, William Optics & Maxbrights may have a problem?

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I've binoviewed  MKV's with 20mm & 10mm XW's and they are great eyepieces for binoviewing. No problems at all.

I think it depends on the binoviewer being used, the smaller binoviewers, William Optics & Maxbrights may have a problem?

I think Mark was talking about IPD vs size of Pentax, the biggest diameter of all the Pentax is 61mm, so your IPD needs to be bigger than 61mm to start with, then you need some space for your nose too.

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I think Mark was talking about IPD vs size of Pentax, the biggest diameter of all the Pentax is 61mm, so your IPD needs to be bigger than 61mm to start with, then you need some space for your nose too.

That's exactly what I was talking about.

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People keep talking about "your EP collection" I always talk about my EP collections. Each of them is quite modest, really :angel:

Planetary collection: Pentax XW7 and XW10, plus Delos 8,

DSO collection: TV Naglers 31T5, 22T4, 17T4, and 12T4,

Solar/lightweight travel collection: MaxVision 24mm and 20mm 68 deg, TV Radian 14mm, Pentax XF8.5 and Meade 2x TeleXtender. 

The TV Radian has just been added to the solar collection, which makes me much happier (for now) ;)

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I've binoviewed  MKV's with 20mm & 10mm XW's and they are great eyepieces for binoviewing. No problems at all.

I think it depends on the binoviewer being used, the smaller binoviewers, William Optics & Maxbrights may have a problem?

I have an ipd of approx 75mm and the widest EPs I can use with my WO binos are Vixen NLVs, which are 45mm wide at the top. I can only just get my nose in the gap between the 2 EPs. The 20 mm XW I saw last week seemed bigger than the NLV, but I may be wrong. I have heard of people using Ethos in binos though.
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John, Mark,

It's interesting how our basic ep kits for longer fracs seem very similar :laugh: ...great minds and all that eh...?

John, how do you rate the Aspheric 31mm? I had one a couple of years ago which I really liked, in my 6" F8 refractor..slight softening at the edges but most of the field was very sharp. I'd expect my F15 D&G to be very forgiving even at the edge of field...the Meade SWA 24.5mm works very well and I'm only changing for the Baader to get a lower power in similar fov.

Mark, the Tal Kellner is an underrated gem. I had one and loved it...it's only drawback is a somewhat narrow field, but mine made a very decent planetary ep when barlowed.

I put a thread a while back about Kellners...I think they are great value for money and if more newbies new about them they could upgrade their stock eps at a very reasonable price. In long fracs they are pretty much very sharp right to the edge..

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Perhaps this is who you need to be to use a pair of 31mm Naglers in a binoviewer ;-)

yvebebe2.jpg

Stu

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

As the Nagler 31T5 "Panzerfaust" has a 3.3" = 84mm diameter, I would have to undergo surgery to handle that interocular distance, and complete nose removal would cut it.

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Vixen Lvw set and a volcano topped circle t ortho set, hmm, yep Im happy. Took me awhile to try various types but for my scopes and me these are spot on. All i need to complete is a 40mm circle t ortho then i will be ecstatic

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.....John, how do you rate the Aspheric 31mm? I had one a couple of years ago which I really liked, in my 6" F8 refractor..slight softening at the edges but most of the field was very sharp. I'd expect my F15 D&G to be very forgiving even at the edge of field...the Meade SWA 24.5mm works very well and I'm only changing for the Baader to get a lower power in similar fov......

I've only tried it once so far and that was with my 12" F/5.3 dobsonian. It was pretty good in that although there was some astigmatism in the outer field of view as I was expecting. I guess it will be pretty much sharp right across in the 6" F/12 though.

The Baader 8-24 zoom shows very little astigmatism though, even at F/5.3. It's much better corrected in that respect than the fixed focal length Hyperions.

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LOL. I cannot believe a verbalised impression of Sid the Sloth appears to be my 15,000th post.

I can't think of a better way of passing that milestone Shane :-). It was a classic, and made me chuckle :-)

Congrats, by the way!

Stu

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I am going to declare myself DONE and very happy with my eyepiece collection. 3.5mm, 4.5mm and 6mm Delos are on the way :laugh: I shall never again wish for another eyepiece. At least, that's what I told the missus :grin:

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I am going to declare myself DONE and very happy with my eyepiece collection. 3.5mm, 4.5mm and 6mm Delos are on the way :laugh: I shall never again wish for another eyepiece. At least, that's what I told the missus :grin:

Doesn't stop Sarah buying anymore of course :grin:.

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