Cheap silver tops and solar observing

[spaceboy]

Bit of a long shot but are there any other members with the old cheap silver top plossl and are using a Lunt wedge for solar and have ortho/ TV plossl for comparisons ????

I just wanted to get another pair of eyes to confirm that what I have been seeing isn't a fluke. I had to travel to get a look in at the sun the other day and didn't go prepared for good seeing so had to make do with what I had to hand. This being a 10mm silver/black top plossl that I believe would have came as standard with new Helios and blue tube SW scopes. I would have just been happy getting a little more magnification out of the views than I was getting with my 12.5mm ortho but I was took by surprise to see this was actually quite the performer with the dead centre view far exceeding that what I was getting through the ortho. 

Now don't get too excited I'm not saying this is a lost treasure or the replacement for expensive Televue plossl or orthos as the fov that was worth looking at equalled to maybe 20% of the total 50 degrees so far less of that of the useable 35 degree FOV of the ortho. It may have just been the extra magnification or the seeing cleared up perfectly for the time the 10mm was in the focuser but I was knocked side ways by just how sharp and contrasted the views were in the 10mm when taking in to account these eyepieces were often thrown in with new scopes just to get you up and running and even more so when you consider the 10mm MA they throw in with new scopes these days are only good for use as a dust cap.

I'd be interested to hear others view on this if they have one to hand and enjoy solar observing. Remember it is only the centre that is worth looking at as the edges (in a faster refractor at least) are nothing but a blurred mush so some sort of tracking mount may also be handy.

[nightfisher]

Guess what, the silvertop skywatcher is a sort of forgotten treasure in some respects matey, i have the 25, 20 and 10mm in these, i also keep a half hearted watch for a nice 17mm if it comes up at right price as these plossl ep`s give superb Luna views and as a bonus lend themselves to A-focal imaging.

I have not tried them in my f5 but in longer focal length scopes they are sharp to edge and have a lovely slightly warm tone for Luna, cant really comment regard the Solar as i dont do a lot of this but some of my Solar images will be done with a 20mm silvertop..................very good ep`s 

[Pig]

The sun is a lot more forgiving with eyepieces, especially so for white light, and I am not at all surprised at your results  Myself I find the best results for Ha to be around 9mm and anything down to 2.5mm (on a very good day with a 500mm Focal length scope) for white light.

I find the focuser to be more important than eyepieces and would advise a dual speed type.

[spaceboy]

I agree focusing is everything. When details are as large as they are when solar/lunar observing you really do notice when you haven't quite hit the sweet spot. I was lucky enough to have recently picked up an auto focuser as part of a scope bundle I was bidding on so I plan to use this with a little modification to the electronics to allow my super fine focusing.