Skywatcher 250px Flextube - Revelation Astro Photo Visual Kit?

[gasjkh2]

Newbie here, so be nice to me please, I went to my 1st Astro Society meeting last jight. Gr8 bunch of guys who were very helpful. One of the members advised me to invest in some better eyepieces rather than the stock ones. He recommended the Revelation Astro Photo Visual Set.

Just wondered if anyone can comment on these as he used them. They are advertised for £120ish and as I am starting out, I get a lot for my money (filters, barlow lens, etc).

He had my 250px scope setup and working for me fine last night using one of his eyepieces (32mm I believe) and I was already impressed. We found Albeiro last night (a double star).

So I am hooked, and need some help from the forum please.

Going to a society meeting I can recommend as it is a steep learning curve for a beginner. I have got the confidence to learn now!!

All comments are welcome please?

[ronin]

Always difficult, the set you give looks reasonable, they are all stated as plossls, and as Revelation and GSO are I believe the same they will be pretty reasonable plossls.

The photo aspect of the 32mm is I suggest irrelevant, dobsonians and any imaging do not mix. The same goes for the T-ring to attach a camera. Also I have yet to read of someone attaching a camera and getting it to focus without altering the scope mirror position.

Filters, well I never use any, a coloured one on any DSO seems only to reduce light and as they are dim removing light seems odd. A narrow O-III may be useful but not I suspect coloured filters.

Coloured filters on planets, not sure about. The moon filter will be useful.

Eyepieces: As said the plossls and a reasonable selection, it stops at 9mm however. I will bet that you will want a 5mm or 7mm.

I prefer individual eyepieces. However the set you give seems reasonable. As said one concern is the stopping at 9mm, and also how well they will work in your 250PX which I suppose is about f/4.5.

What brand of plossl did you try?

If a budget one then Revelations should be OK, however if they handed you a TV plossl others may perform no where near as good.

I have the BST eyepieces and as many others i like them, but they cost more, and even if you bought 3 you would be spending £147, and I would generally recommend 4 eyepieces, so that is £196. The 25mm BST will give a view the same as a 30mm plossl. So you do not lose the width of view.

What do you expect to have in say a years time?

If the intention is to get used to the scope, find things and get used to it then go and buy TV Delos within 12 months as "Your eyepiece star party exhibition set" then the Revelation set fits in to that. If the idea is to get a set now that do a pretty good job and you can use for the next 2 to 5 years then the BST's are the better option.

What I guess is many have that arrangement, a high grade set and an every day set.

One thing about the BST's they perform well and they look good as a set, I have a full set but also a half set for more public use.

Ask if anyone has a BST at the club, if possible try the 8mm. I suspect it will be excellent in your scope.

Also find out what plossl you tried and ask if anyone has a GSO/Revelation or even Meade plossl.

Bet you never thought getting an eyepiece could be so much trouble. :grin:

[gasjkh2]

Ronin - thankyou for swift reply. I was told this forum was where to post.

Crikey ! Now not sure which way to go.

Are BST eyepieces for a Skywatcher 250px the way forward then? Is there any size I need to be looking for etc?

[happy-kat]

Take your time choosing which eye pieces as you will be spending way more time looking through them so I would not buy in haste.

There is an excellent which eyepiece thread it is long but it is the start of the thread you could read.

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/43171-eyepieces-the-very-least-you-need/page-1

This is also a very good read.

http://www.swindonstargazers.com/beginners/eyepieces.htm

[MattJenko]

I have the solid tube version of the 250 and I have the Baader Hyperion zoom and barlow which works pretty well. I have an OIII filter which has given me glimpses of certain DSOs, but think money would be better spent elsewhere to start with.

I tried a few eyepieces at my local society but my favourite eyepiece is one I bought after recommendations from this forum - a MaxVision 28mm, which is my wide view eyepiece. For me it gives as good a view as anything else I have tried. I would ideally like some high powered planetary eyepieces like the Vixen SLVs, but until my money tree bears fruit, I am sticking with my Baader zoom and barlow.

Happy double hunting!

[gasjkh2]

Thanks to everyone for the excellent advice.

I have ordered the SE MaxVision 18mm to get me up, and running (hopefully)!!!

Great forum.

[gasjkh2]

Apologies - meant the 28mm!

[Paul73]

That will give you nice wide views. I've got one, they are very good. The Max Vision at the longer end and the BST's at the shorter end are a really good cost effective start with this scope.

Something like MV 68° 28mm, 20mm, 16mm and the BST 12mm and 8mm will see you right for a while. Resist the temptation to go for the really high magnifications. These give you 43x, 60x, 75x, 100x and 150x. You could happily drop out the 20mm and the 12mm and still have a good collection.

Then buy a UHC filter for the nebula....

Let us know how you get on with the 28mm.

Paul