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Next EP purchase

badhex

By badhex
in Discussions - Eyepieces

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badhex

badhex

Posted
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Hello all

So, I'm thinking about my next eyepiece purchase and had a few questions about what to get next.

I'm roughly following the excellent Warthog Tutorial on focal lengths and primarily buying for my F12.75 Skymax 102 (although would like to try and proof myself for different scopes if possible, more on that later) which takes 1.25" eyepieces. I have filled the high and medium high power slots, which really shows up what I don't have in the medium low and low department. According to the tutorial, my best bet would be approx. 26mm for medium low and 38mm for low power and I'm leaning toward low - this is where the questions come in.

Firstly, I'm aware that after a certain focal length, there's not much point in buying super/ultra wide angle EPs in 1.25“

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badhex

badhex

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Rubbish, just clicked post by accident!

So er, yeah I believe that approx 18mm ish the maximum size for something like a UWA 82° in 1.25" as the barrel restricts the view beyond that - Can anyone elaborate at all with more detail eg. Maximum useful FOV for say a 38mm?

Also, I'm aware that in general you can't buy one set of EPs that will completely cover all your scopes due to differences in magnification, F ratio of scope, exit pupil size etc. I have an F5 6" frac and where possible would like to overlap EPs for use in both scopes but I've heard that some EPs won't work so well in fast vs slow scopes and vice versa. Again can someone elaborate on this?

Lastly, does anyone have actual recommendations for a low power 1.25" EP around the 38mm mark with as wide FOV as possible, taking into account the above. I'm looking to spend approx. £100 or thereabouts and was looking at possibly the MaxVisions but they seem to just be 2" at that long a focal length.

As always many thanks for any feedback.

Joe

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Dude_with_the_tube

Dude_with_the_tube

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a bit confused.com here

i can see in your signature that you already have a 30mm GSO in 2" format.Why you need another low power EP? Or the reason is that you want low power in 1.25" and will not use GSO?

If thats the case and based on Ep`s you already have,i would strongly suggest to go for Maxvision 24mm 68 degree EP in 1.25" or look for the same GSO 32mm plossl.

There is no point of getting 38mm one in 1.25" format as it will show the same things as 32mm due to restrictions of barrel.

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badhex

badhex

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Ah yes dude, I picked up the 30mm very recently which will fit only in my F5 frac, is probably around maximum usable FOV for that scope due to exit pupil. The Skymax only has a 1.25“ fitting unfortunately but looking to buy for that as it's my most used scope.

The general question about what works in fast vs slow scopes was not directly related to the next purchase, I should have made that clear, sorry!

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Dude_with_the_tube

Dude_with_the_tube

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ok got it.

Well,depending on your budget really.If you dont want to spend a fortune,you can go for GSO plossls all the way,these are cheap and will work on both scopes,only issue is the eye relief on sub 10mm plosls gets really tight and is not off everyone's liking.

your meade hd`s on another hand are good quality Ep`s and you could carry on with them too,same goes for Meade 5000 series UWA`s.(i had a whole array of them and these where very nice).there are plenty of options really and all boils down to what are your preferences and finances.Slow scopes are far less demanding to EP`s as fast scopes,but i really doubt F5 frac will be much off use for planetary high powers due to CA it produces.Other option what i have never personally tried and never will are BST Explorers for your Skymax.I know these will be Rubbish in fast scopes,but in slow scope these will work and at a price of 49 squid a piece you cant go wrong.Televue plossls second hand are great bargains and off superb quality and will work on both scopes.I see eye pieces as a long term investment and as such,i rather save up longer and buy quality once and you can always re-sell them with no loss,where bucket full of cheap chinese glass is still a bucket full of cheap glass what will only sell for peanuts and with a loss.

As such,it is your call :) 

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badhex

badhex

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Great, thanks for the replies. So I'm thinking that I will go for the Televue 32mm Plossl as it is a good investment and I have birthday money burning a hole in my wallet! :)

Nightfisher when you said Televue do you mean the Plossls?

WRT barrel size restrictions, I knew there was a practical limit but wasn't sure what it was. Given that it is about 32mm, seems odd that Televue do a 1.25" 40mm Plossl - surely you get a fair bit less than 50° FOV which just seems to be defeating the object of a long FL eyepiece?

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russ.will

russ.will

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Just before you do that, Have a look at the Maxvison 24mm SWA.

It basically covers the same FOV as a 32mm Plossl, but at a higher magnification and with a larger apparent FOV. Basically, it' covers the same area of sky, but presents it in a much larger image circle and it's a far more immersive experience. It's also handy that it's a very sharp and well corrected EP that will have uses in short fracs and big F5 Newts too.

Without busting the 1.25" requirement, it (or a 24mm Televue Panoptic with which it is often compared) is pretty much THE do-it-all EP.

Russell

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badhex

badhex

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Ooh now that's put the cat among the pigeons! If I can get one that might be a winner, I've read a lot of good things about that EP, and all the maxvision swa.

Basically I'm looking to maximise the view I get from the Skymax as it can be a bit narrow and does make it a pain to find stuff sometimes when star hopping, and this will fit the bill for the medium low I was planning to get in the future. I enjoy the view from the 18mm UWA Meade 5000 and being similar optics I imagine the view is comparable.

Well, I understand that the Maxvision EPs are fairly hard to get hold of now so I'll have a look around while I chew it over.

Decisions, decisions...

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badhex

badhex

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It arrived! :) For £72.80 including P&P you really cannot go wrong!

Packaging not quite as nice as that well-known brand but it'd going into a proper padded EP case anyway so not too worried about that. Anyway, I won't be looking through the packaging!

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post-8274-0-85203000-1427374069_thumb.jp

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badhex

badhex

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Nice ep, looks good, where did you get it from

al

Well it's Explore Scientific's rebrand of Meade SWAs from an order that didn't happen a few years back, as far as anyone can tell. I got mine from astroshop.eu (the only place I could find it) but it may have been the last one, was looking on the site last night and they didn't have the 24mm listed any more..!

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badhex

badhex

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I must say I'm really impressed with the 18mm UWA in general apart from the occasional ring of fire effect when you're not centred properly.

Still not had chance to try the Maxvision. So you can blame me for the weather if you live in London.

I vote we all buy new EPs while the weather is bad.

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