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Lenses, lenses, lenses!!!!

drshminky

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drshminky

drshminky

Posted
Posted

Hello all

Although been learngin over the last year I am still a bit of a newbie and could do with some advice.  

I have a skywatcher 130P which is suprisingly good, however Mrs Shminky has just asked me what I want for xmas - a dangerous thing to ask!!! 

I am thinking about getting more than the standard lense that came wioth the 130P which are good but I could do with upgrading. I don't yet own a Barlow but I do have a moon filter. Mrs Shminky is totally hooked on the Moon and Jupiter so I would love for her to see the colour just a shade more and was thinking a set of lense may be a good thing.

Do you have any advice on an ok  (lets say up to £150) lense kit that would compliment my scope while also giving me a good bit of Barlow action?

Alternatively do I just whack all of the money into a good Barlow?

Any advice is as always much appreciated.

Thanks fellow gazers :D

Drshminky

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ronin

ronin

Posted
Posted

The BST Starguiders would suit your scope pretty well, they are a good performer and the price is sort of right for the scope.

If 3 then it would I guess be the 5mm 8mm and 25mm.

Is there a budget that your wife is anticipating.

One aspect is that if you get a bigger scope then they will still do well on whatever next, Even if you went for more top end eyepieces then the BST's would still be excellent as a set to use at times when dropping a £200 eyepiece in is inappropriate - public events etc.

So they cover what you have now and what may come in the future.

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Alfian

Alfian

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Posted

I have the Celestron 130EQ which is similar but I suspect the Skywatcher is slightly better. I am assuming it is the F5  scope. Firstly I would buying avoid a "lense kit" by which I assume mean a boxed collection of eyepieces. Though sometimes good value (not always) you may wind up buying EPs you will not often use. I would also avoid chasing too high a magnification - the 130 in theory (depending on which theory) might give you a max of 260x but this would be dependent on condition being absolutely perfect. Brighter objects like the moon will take high(ish) mags but in practice I would aim at a max mag of about 180 x. This equates to a about a 4mm EP  So  something like this may do you well.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-25-4-5mm-58-Degree-TMB-Planetary-II-eyepiece-/161184376420

One of the benefits of using a Barlow is you can use it with a longer focal length EP which typically have more eye relief which is more comfortable than the typically smaller eye relief of shorter focal length EPs. These TMBs though seem to have very good eye relief. 

I would also go for something like a 15mm -18mm EP giving 36 -  43 x which I find is really useful magnification range.  I use a Vixen NPL 15mm which is good but a Celestron X-Cel LX 18mm  would also do nicely.

Something like a 25mm   low power wider angle  EP will always be "must have" in my opinion (with an F5 you can't go too much lower) and again something like an X-cel LX would be good.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/celestron-eyepieces/celestron-x-cel-lx-eyepiece.html

Coming back to the Barlow - if you are planning to get one 2x or 2.5x (I'd avoid going higher) its worth thinking it through to avoid "duplicates" by having for, sake of argument, a 20mm and a 10mm EP and a 2x barlow - here either the barlow or the 10mm would be redundant. 

I have the Revelation 2.5 Barlow which is no Televue but is still remarkable value for money. Good luck with your EP hunting.

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tone

tone

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Ive just bought the same scope and was also unsure which eye pieces to go with so ive decided on hedging my bets and going for 25, 20, 15, 6.5 plus a 2x and 3x barlow ( 3x still to get, most to still try out) as i figure that will give me an even kinda spread down to 3.2 with the equivalent of 12 EP sizes. 

I cant advise on eye piece types as im still in the early learning stages , however i have noticed that for moon viewing, a moon&skyglow filter work quite nicely with a #3 polarizer ( far better than any of the wratten number filters i have sofar) 

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Alfian

Alfian

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Hi tone, if you haven't bought the 3x Barlow I would hold off it. You look to have plenty of possibilities with the 2x. A  6.5mm with a 3 x Barlow will give the equivalent of "2.16 x". On a 650mm scope that will give 300x which in my opinion is way too ambitious,

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happy-kat

happy-kat

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The supplied 25 is OK to use I find I would not bother replacing that one.

I have for mine 130p heritage f5 scope.

Maxvision 16mm lovely sharp views. Packs weight well above price you pay.

GSO 32mm for the widest views my scope will do. Or vixen npl 30mm for another more inexpensive wide fov.

Then with the budget left over I would look at the BSTs high power like 6mm-8mm ramge that have been mentioned positively but I have not personally looked through one.

I am happy to have all different brands of eyepiece, some prefer all the same. If the brand model of eye piece is not parfocal I see no advantage staying all the same. Mine are close enough in weight to not affect balance.

The maxvision does push the budget so it would mean two eyepieces. And on searching the supplier has none in stock currently of this size.

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YKSE

YKSE

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Posted

I'd recommend you using the stock eyepieces as much as you can to find what is most important to YOU, e.g. eye relief(do you wear glasses), on-axis sharpness (central 50-60% of field of view), constrast, wider field of view, off-axis sharpness, etc.

There're more recommendations here, worth to have a look too:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/217907-first-eyepiece-upgrade-what-you-wish-you-had-done/?hl=%2Bfirst+%2Bupgrade+%2Bykse#entry2338965

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glynnlondon

glynnlondon

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Posted

The explorer 130p was my first scope and of the stock eps I found the 25mm to be ok but the 10mm was fairly poor.

If your eyesight is alright and you dont wear glasses I found the baader classic orthos worked great in the scope.

The eye relief is very tight especially in the high power ep , but if that is not a problem ( and it wasnt for me ) they are great eyepieces for the money giving sharp as a tack views.

The 18mm is also a super ep but you can keep the 25mm stock ep and use that as your low power one  , I would leave off on the barlow.

I think two eyepieces would suit you fine for now a hjgh power for planetary at 6mm and replace the mid power 10mm with these.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/baader-planetarium/baader-classic-ortho-bco-eyepiece.html

All the best with your choices Tone and clear skies.

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tone

tone

Posted
Posted

Hi tone, if you haven't bought the 3x Barlow I would hold off it. You look to have plenty of possibilities with the 2x. A 6.5mm with a 3 x Barlow will give the equivalent of "2.16 x". On a 650mm scope that will give 300x which in my opinion is way too ambitious,

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tone

tone

Posted
Posted

The explorer 130p was my first scope and of the stock eps I found the 25mm to be ok but the 10mm was fairly poor.

If your eyesight is alright and you dont wear glasses I found the baader classic orthos worked great in the scope.

The eye relief is very tight especially in the high power ep , but if that is not a problem ( and it wasnt for me ) they are great eyepieces for the money giving sharp as a tack views.

The 18mm is also a super ep but you can keep the 25mm stock ep and use that as your low power one  , I would leave off on the barlow.

I think two eyepieces would suit you fine for now a hjgh power for planetary at 6mm and replace the mid power 10mm with these.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/baader-planetarium/baader-classic-ortho-bco-eyepiece.html

All the best with your choices Tone and clear skies.

 thankyou, however its drshminky s thread and initial question not mine Im already plossl'd up ( cheap and murky ebay goodness ) and am not allowed to even consider buying any new EPs for a while 

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

Posted
Posted

Thanks for that so we're looking at an 8MM, 10 and 25? or any other suggestions?

Drshminky

You already have a 10,25mm..........so no point spending money on similar. The ones you have are fine (not great but not bad either. You can update them in the future). I would suggest an 8mm (BST or Vixen NPL) for observing planets. 

How about a nice UHC filter for observing certain types of Nebulae?. Also given your location, perhaps even a light pollution filter.

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