Wrong eyepiece shipped to me ...

[thomasr]

I've been using the stock 25mm EP that came with my Nexstar 6se for a while now, and so I ordered a few more magnification options including a generic "Solomark" 32mm Plossl. Unfortunately, when it arrived it wasn't the 32mm 52*FOV piece that I ordered - it was a 3.2mm 58*FOV! To be specific, the plain black box has a white sticker containing "SWA-58-3.2WA Plossl 3.2mm Eyepiece" and the lens itself says "TMB Optical SW 3.2MM Planetary II".

I contacted the seller (the item appears to have shipped directly from mainland China) and he promised to sent the correct unit immediately, but in the interim I thought I'd drop this thing in my 6se and see what happens. I set up the scope (indoors) to point at a product package roughly 30 feet away on a counter, then I turned a couple bright lights on to illuminate the subject a bit better. Through the stock 25mm EP, the package lettering (though backward) was sharp, bright, and contrasty edge-to-edge. Through the new 3.2mm EP, the lettering was huge (469x magnification!) but the image was very dim and washed out. With the possible exception of the moon, I am guessing that no nighttime target would be visible as anything but a watery ghost. On the plus side, the field of view was impessively wide and my amateur eyes didn't detect any differences in quality away from center.

Physically, the unit seems solid and well-built. I'm far from an expert when it comes to this kind of thing, but the coating doesn't show any obvious flaws, and while I do see a few flecks of dust inside the optics, it's limited. There is a twist-up eyecup with rubber ring that provides around 2cm eye relief.

So here's an off-the-wall question: while the seller seems responsive and I believe I will get this mess sorted out, if someone with a 6se were thinking of ways to make this EP useful, would a focal reducer help? I assume a 3.2mm EP is really only useful with something like F/5 or faster, but would F/6.3 (giving me an effective magnification of 295x) be at all usable?

[Tinker1947]

Little wonder the image is washed out ect a Mag of 469X is closer to a microscope than a telescope,  your need good seeing to use 300X may be once or twice a year.....

[ronin]

Seems a bit unnecessary to buy a reducer to find out if an eyepiece that is a bit extreme will work. If you were to get a reducer then try but otherwise I cannot se a reason to spend out on one. Buy a 5mm, it will give the same magnification and cost less.

Suspect I have an eyepiece from the same source. However I got the 3.2 TMB deliberately (and one a bit longer) but the boxes said "Plossl".

I asked the supplier why and he laughed and said that as best anyone could make out to the average Chinese person any eyepiece with "Pl...." was "Plossl".

So any eyepiece called "Pl"anetary was put in a box marked Plossl, and any eyepiece marked "Pl"ossl was also put in a box marked Plossl.

He said it caused chaos when they first arrived as all boxes said Plossl, I thnk he checked each box to verify what he had received.

[Pig]

I just about get away with 4mm on my 150 SCT when Lunar observing, you also need quite a good focuser too. The Moon is very forgiving and can take surprising amounts of magnification, especially so on those cloud free clear nights.

[thomasr]

Seems a bit unnecessary to buy a reducer to find out if an eyepiece that is a bit extreme will work. If you were to get a reducer then try but otherwise I cannot se a reason to spend out on one.

I'm not planning to spend over a hundred dollars on a reducer just to find out if a thirty dollar EP can work okay two nights a year. I was mainly asking out of curiosity. Once the EPs I ordered finally get here, I'll have a 32mm, 25mm, 15mm, and 9mm. Since this is my first telescope, I'm in no hurry to buy more glass.