Ortho's for planetary or quality plossl ????

[Dude_with_the_tube]

university optics HD are available in US direct from manufacturer.here is the link:http://www.universityoptics.com/125inch.html#HD

they are slowly getting them back into production,i have spoken to them and by end of this year,all other focal length will become available too.Cracking eye pieces and if you cant get your hands on BGO`s,UO HD`s will perform equally good.I am quite tempted to have a full set of UO HD`s too but do i need a 3rd set of orthos....

As for the earlier question from one of SGL member about TV plossl alternatives,there is a very nice (actually superb) book by William Paolini :"Choosing and using Astronomical Eyepieces." this is the best book ever produced and i would highly suggest to get it and read it.this book contains practically every single eye piece ever produced,starting from very old,finishing with modern eye pieces.Its the holy bible of eye pieces. If the book:"Turn left at Orion" is the starting book for budding astronomer,then Paolini`s book for eye pieces MUST be the starting point on building your eye piece collections.this book will answer practically all your questions and widen your knowledge and will help to understand a lot of things.

[moriniboy]

I am looking for a shorter planetary EP than my BGO 9mm, since this will only give me x 166 in my 300PDS.

Ian

Ian I have a 5, 6 and 7mm BGO if you want to try them.

[John]

As for the earlier question from one of SGL member about TV plossl alternatives,there is a very nice (actually superb) book by William Paolini :"Choosing and using Astronomical Eyepieces." this is the best book ever produced and i would highly suggest to get it and read it.this book contains practically every single eye piece ever produced,starting from very old,finishing with modern eye pieces.Its the holy bible of eye pieces. If the book:"Turn left at Orion" is the starting book for budding astronomer,then Paolini`s book for eye pieces MUST be the starting point on building your eye piece collections.this book will answer practically all your questions and widen your knowledge and will help to understand a lot of things.

It's an excellent book and Bill posts occasionally on here and lots on Cloudynights. 

I believe he is a Pentax XW fan too 

[nightfisher]

Never done a side by side but have been very impressed by the HD orthos. Now you've got me thinking about swapping by 25mm volcano top ortho for an HD ortho to match the rest of the set. My impression was the HDs were just a hair better but the 25mm wasn't available in the HD range when I bought mine a few years ago. 

They say talk is cheap, but I find that talking about astro gear often ends up costing me money! 

all the best

Tim

Its catching, i want to swap my 18mm BGO for a mint 18mm circle T just so i get the full set

Also you mention the skywatcher plossl as being a good one............i have 3 of the old silvertop skywatcher plossl`s in 10mm 20mm and 25mm, they surprise me just how good they are

[John]

While I do prefer the ergonomics of the Circle-T "volcano top" orthos, I've done enough comparisons over the last few years to be pretty sure in my mind that the BGO's, Astro Hutech's, Fujiyama's, BCO's and University Optics HD's are better performers in terms of light throughput and glare / light scatter control. 

As I only use orthos when I want the best possible (within my budget) performance in those departments I'm not holding onto any Circle-T's now. They do hold a certain nostalgic place though, even so, and their shape is iconic. For the £25 or so you can buy them for they are still great value performers.

On the 25mm Astro Hutech and Fujiyama's, I jotted down my thoughts on the AH a while back and I've since compared it with a Fujiyama and found it very similar. Here is the link, for anyone interested:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/194204-astro-hutech-25mm-orthoscopic-eyepiece-some-notes-and-comments/

My next goal with orthos is to get hold of some of the Takahashi Abbe Orthos which come in an interesting range of focal lengths up to 32mm and are fitted with integral rubber eye cups. The early indications are that these will out perform the BGO / AH / Fuji orthos and get closer to the dizzy heights reached by the Pentax XO/ Zeiss ZAO / TMB Supermono "top tier" performers.

[YKSE]

My next goal with orthos is to get hold of some of the Takahashi Abbe Orthos which come in an interesting range of focal lengths up to 32mm and are fitted with integral rubber eye cups. The early indications are that these will out perform the BGO / AH / Fuji orthos and get closer to the dizzy heights reached by the Pentax XO/ Zeiss ZAO / TMB Supermono "top tier" performers.

I'm looking forward to your review on Tak orthos with great interest

[YKSE]

While I do prefer the ergonomics of the Circle-T "volcano top" orthos,

On the 25mm Astro Hutech and Fujiyama's, I jotted down my thoughts on the AH a while back and I've since compared it with a Fujiyama and found it very similar. Here is the link, for anyone interested:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/194204-astro-hutech-25mm-orthoscopic-eyepiece-some-notes-and-comments/

I totally agree with John about ergonomics, i.e. "volcano top" for short focal orthos, and eye cup for long focal ones.

To me, the 10mm BCO with 8mm eye relief feels more comfortable than 16mm Maxvision with 12mm eye relief, the volcano top in BCO and concave eye lens in Maxvision made this different perceptions, I think.

I bought the 25mm Tak ortho mainly based on John's review in the above link, and some blind faith on Takahashi's quality, it turned to be very satisfactory to my eyes.

Again, eyepiece ergonomics are personal preferences, YMMV, as they say.

[nightfisher]

While I do prefer the ergonomics of the Circle-T "volcano top" orthos, I've done enough comparisons over the last few years to be pretty sure in my mind that the BGO's, Astro Hutech's, Fujiyama's, BCO's and University Optics HD's are better performers in terms of light throughput and glare / light scatter control. 

As I only use orthos when I want the best possible (within my budget) performance in those departments I'm not holding onto any Circle-T's now. They do hold a certain nostalgic place though, even so, and their shape is iconic. For the £25 or so you can buy them for they are still great value performers.

On the 25mm Astro Hutech and Fujiyama's, I jotted down my thoughts on the AH a while back and I've since compared it with a Fujiyama and found it very similar. Here is the link, for anyone interested:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/194204-astro-hutech-25mm-orthoscopic-eyepiece-some-notes-and-comments/

My next goal with orthos is to get hold of some of the Takahashi Abbe Orthos which come in an interesting range of focal lengths up to 32mm and are fitted with integral rubber eye cups. The early indications are that these will out perform the BGO / AH / Fuji orthos and get closer to the dizzy heights reached by the Pentax XO/ Zeiss ZAO / TMB Supermono "top tier" performers.

You are correct that a BGO has a better light transmission than a circle T, i have found this myself, i just happen to really like the volcano tops

[spaceboy]

Well I decided to stick to my orthos. I am sure there are some exceptional plossl out there but despite the 42° FOV and tight eye relief my Fujiyama do take some beating, plus with them being near parfocal and used in my eyepiece turret it means more time observing and less time focusing.

Thanks everyone for your views on the matter.

[nightfisher]

Well I decided to stick to my orthos. I am sure there are some exceptional plossl out there but despite the 42° FOV and tight eye relief my Fujiyama do take some beating, plus with them being near parfocal and used in my eyepiece turret it means more time observing and less time focusing.

Thanks everyone for your views on the matter.

your doing the right think nick