Explore Scientific 24mm 68deg bargain

[Thonolan]

I find the views though a 20/21mm 100 degree eyepiece in a decent sized dobsonian (12" in my case) intoxicating. I have some light pollution to contend with and the higher magnification really helps blacken the background sky. It's my favourite combination for hunting deep sky objects

I'm sooo looking forward to using them! My initial plan was buying a 21mm Ethos, but this bresser.de offer made the 20 + 25 ES a lot cheaper than a single unit of Ethos, and I thought it would be fun to have both focal lenghts. It will be my first experience with 100 degree eyepieces, but I'm positive I'm going to enjoy them. Have looked several times through 82 degree eyepieces (both Nagler and ES, and btw, I must say the ES82 24mm is a darn good piece of glass, I was impressed), and I found the super wide field really engaging, sometimes even wanting more

[alan potts]

I am looking forward to what you have to say about the 25mm 100 degree. I only read one report on it shortly after launch and that was not a good one the eyepiece was returned though the buyer was happy with the replacement if I recall correctly.

It is an eyepiece that I am interested in for my Dobsonian as a finder to possibly oust the 31mm Nagler, but I can't help stop think of the words of Al Nagler when he said the Ethos range stop at 21mm as there would be compromises to go larger and then didn't tell us what. He seems to have stuck to his word though.

I used to have the 34mm SWA Meade which is the same as you have in a different swimsuite, also interesting that like you I like this for the 180mm Mak though in may case it is the 35mm Panoptic, fabulous eyepiece that could only be improved by a price cut..

Alan

[spaceboy]

I will also be waiting on that 1st light report. I have been tempted by the ES 25mm 100° for a while now as the exit pupil of a 30mm ep in my dso set up really suffers from the local light pollution. Unfortunately previous reviews dampened my spirits bur as Dave said in an earlier post, you have to weigh up the negative and positive reviews and finally make up your own mind. With the ES25 I don't think it helps that the price tag was originally so high so reviews are few and far between but with these recent discounts there may be a few more reviews to come in the future. Again you can't beat a good sale to help get word of a product out there I just hope that sale lasts long enough that those of us who are hesitant to commit with out further feedback don't miss out.

[Thonolan]

Well guys, first time since the beginning of June that it's raining over here. Nothing like buying astronomy equipment to end a period of drought.

[John]

Well guys, first time since the beginning of June that it's raining over here. Nothing like buying astronomy equipment to end a period of drought.

I know the feeling. I've been loaned 5 of the new Vixen ultra-wide angle eyepieces to test and it's been nothing but clouds for the past few nights

[alan potts]

The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain, then again insane but it's raining in Bulgaria again and it's a pain, is that plain .

I'm getting mine for a type 2 Paracorr, managed to keep it hidden but the clouds saw it. We had weather warnings not to go out as it was going to rain so hard we may not be able to catch a breath, 10mm of the stuff, now they promise 3 inch today and more code red warnings, I think they have the same Bresser weather station I have, it's never right.

Alan

[SimonfromSussex]

Big thank you to Dave for the heads up on these!

I've been using two 25 televue plossi in my binoviewers since getting them but wanted a wider field of view.

I couldn't quite justify two 24 pans but for just over £150 for two 24 68deg ex sc these are a true bargain!

Quick delivery and nicely packaged the retailer was very good for me. 

Tried them last night on Saturn and the moon through my OMC and they were excellent, so one very happy camper.

The wider view with the binos makes a big difference over the plossis. I didn't notice any loss of view at the edges but then I was using a very slow scope.

Hoping to try them today on the sun through the faster lunt and see how they perform.

[Chris]

Congrats Simon, they look the business in binos, and less than a the price of a single second hand Pan24. Good to hear they are nice and sharp at the edge in slower scopes.

[Saganite]

Managed a good 5/6 hours observing at long last until the clouds rolled in at 2 am. The ES 24mm performed well in the 12" Dob at f5, on axis, but did go a little soft on the last 10%, but certainly not a problem for me,It framed the moon beautifully, as it did M13, and sweeping a glorious swathe of Milky Way.

In The ED100 F9, it was just superb, again on axis, pin sharp.Switching off the tracking and allowing Theophilus to drift, it stayed sharp almost to the field stop.

I did adjust the focus as the crater disappeared, but pulling back on axis, it needed almost no adjustment.

I will test it again tonight on other objects, but I have to say I am very happy with it.

. 

[Mark at Beaufort]

Big thank you to Dave for the heads up on these!

I've been using two 25 televue plossi in my binoviewers since getting them but wanted a wider field of view.

I couldn't quite justify two 24 pans but for just over £150 for two 24 68deg ex sc these are a true bargain!

Quick delivery and nicely packaged the retailer was very good for me. 

Tried them last night on Saturn and the moon through my OMC and they were excellent, so one very happy camper.

The wider view with the binos makes a big difference over the plossis. I didn't notice any loss of view at the edges but then I was using a very slow scope.

Hoping to try them today on the sun through the faster lunt and see how they perform.

20150821_195158.jpg

Simon your set up looks really good. I have been using binoviewers for several years but I have been restricted to using plossls. Part of the problem has been the barrel size of each EP and trying to get my nose between them. I assume the ES 24mm is not too bad in that regard?

[Chris]

Simon your set up looks really good. I have been using binoviewers for several years but I have been restricted to using plossls. Part of the problem has been the barrel size of each EP and trying to get my nose between them. I assume the ES 24mm is not too bad in that regard?

I was wondering this also.

[YKSE]

Managed a good 5/6 hours observing at long last until the clouds rolled in at 2 am. The ES 24mm performed well in the 12" Dob at f5, on axis, but did go a little soft on the last 10%, but certainly not a problem for me,It framed the moon beautifully, as it did M13, and sweeping a glorious swathe of Milky Way.

In The ED100 F9, it was just superb, again on axis, pin sharp.Switching off the tracking and allowing Theophilus to drift, it stayed sharp almost to the field stop.

The soft edge in your Dob can depends on a number of thing, such as coma, field curvature and astigmatism, etc

Coma will be presented in your Dob, it's evident with stars showing cometic tail towards the edge, our eyes have different sensitivity to see it, some see more, others less.

Field curvature can be identified by refocusing the stars at the edge, if it can be done, then there're field curvature present in your system(scope+eyepiece), since your Dob is flat field, the curvature must be in the eyepiece. The presence of coma does make it more difficult tricky to identify it.

Astigmatism shows crossed stars (fainter stars so that diffraction spikes shouldn't be present) even in best focus.

FWIW, the best optical quality in any eyepieces is in the center, with minimal aberrations of any kinds. Wide FOV with good edge correction is excellent for viewing bright open clusters and star hopping, not extremely important for other DSO or planets, where other optical qualities like good transmission, scatter light control, minimized internal reflection, etc can be more importance, IMHO.

[SimonfromSussex]

Simon your set up looks really good. I have been using binoviewers for several years but I have been restricted to using plossls. Part of the problem has been the barrel size of each EP and trying to get my nose between them. I assume the ES 24mm is not too bad in that regard?

These work fine for me Mark but then I guess it might be a personal thing as to how close your eyes are apart?

They are obviously more chunky then the plossls and so the binoviewers sit wider open but my nose fits neatly between then and once I got used to the eye relief position (which did take a bit of trial and error) they were great. 

Just had a go with them on the sun with the lunt and I'm really chuffed. The wider view really helps take in the finer detail bizarrely (two humongous proms at the mo) , perhaps it's because my eyes feel more relaxed? 

[adamw]

My ES68 24mm arrived from Germany. Ordered Tuesday arrived Friday. Just checked my bank account it worked out at £79 including delivery and it looks and feels a quality ep. Hopefully it will perform as good as it looks in an f8 frac.

[Chris]

That's a mighty fine scope you have to test it in Adam

[Chris]

Just got in from a thrilling test with the ES68 24mm and ED100 plus Tak prism diagonal. The eyepiece performed superbly! practically razor sharp edge to edge, just very minor degradation 5-10% from the edge which barely effected the star shapes. I'm very pleased and a bit relieved after my first test with the shorter ED70.

I have to say it stayed in the scope the whole session! I viewed M27, M57, M13, the double cluster, and various other open clusters. Tried to bag m31/32 but it was through the leaves of the neigbours tree.

I can certainly recommmend the ES68 24mm for anyone with a long focal length scope, it's super comfortable too

[Fozzie]

Pleased to see some encouraging reviews starting to bubble through.. I was hoping to get some f11 time with some esteemed company this weekend at Ingleton but alas I've only just managed to get the rain water our of my ears!..

Should be on for some white light in an hour or so so will report in then..

Ta

Fozzie

Oh and Chris are you thinking of doing a bit of a review of the ED70. . I for one would be interested in your thoughts as you know..

[Mark at Beaufort]

Just got in from a thrilling test with the ES68 24mm and ED100 plus Tak prism diagonal. The eyepiece performed superbly! practically razor sharp edge to edge, just very minor degradation 5-10% from the edge which barely effected the star shapes.

Please to read this report Chris. Hopefuly, if the sky clears (tonight???) then I will test the EP on the Orion VX8.

[Chris]

Oh and Chris are you thinking of doing a bit of a review of the ED70. . I for one would be interested in your thoughts as you know..

Hi Fozzie, I've only had one outing with the ED70, and this was solely using the ES86 24mm. It wasn't a great experience to be honest, but this would be the case with any short focus ED doublet where there is strong field curvature.

I'll PM you my initial thoughts on the ED70 Fozzie

[Terr1]

I just ordered this as well to replace my skywatcher 25mm plossel, I hope it will perform okay in skywatcher explorer 200 f/5 newtonian.

[Mark at Beaufort]

I had clear skies last night so I tested the ES 24mm 68 degree and the MV 24mm 68 degree in my Orion VX8 f4.5 Newt.

I looked at a number of DSOs but started with the Moon which gave very sharp craters but I did get the elongation towards the edge but if I left the Moon in the centre it was very good. The DSOs viewed with both EPs were - M13, M57, M71, M27, Both parts of the Veil Neb, The Double Cluster and M51.

Both EPs had good sharp stars but I did get Coma at about 20% towards the edge. When viewing the Double Cluster both EPs gave good clean splits between the stars. I used an Astronomik O-III and a Lumicon UHC filter to view the Dumbbell Neb and the Veil. I switched the different filters between the EPs and had the same view of both these objects which was very good.

So the conclusion is that the ES 24mm 68 degree is pretty good and excellent value at £69. Comparing the two EPs I have to say that there is nothing between them.

[spaceboy]

I'm really glad to hear members positive reactions towards the ES24 given the disappointment I'd experiences, although I still have to question why a mid range ep of only 68° suffers performance in the last 10% to edge even in slower scopes?

What's the verdict to the cause of this? Do panoptics suffer similar softness towards the edge as the ES performance has been likened to the Pan in the past ? I think it has now been established that I landed myself a poor example regards sharpness but could the soft edges be due the distortion I'd seen in both the ES & MV 24mm ?

If everyone is having a similar experience with the edge performance of the ES24 I beg the question why ES can ask £130+ for the 68° 24mm when the outer 10% fov is soft? Even BST starguiders appear sharp all the way to the edge in slower scopes although, admittedly lack the same level as build quality as the ES24

[John]

I'm really glad to hear members positive reactions towards the ES24 given the disappointment I'd experiences, although I still have to question why a mid range ep of only 68° suffers performance in the last 10% to edge even in slower scopes?

What's the verdict to the cause of this? Do panoptics suffer similar softness towards the edge as the ES performance has been likened to the Pan in the past ? I think it has now been established that I landed myself a poor example regards sharpness but could the soft edges be due the distortion I'd seen in both the ES & MV 24mm ?

If everyone is having a similar experience with the edge performance of the ES24 I beg the question why ES can ask £130+ for the 68° 24mm when the outer 10% fov is soft? Even BST starguiders appear sharp all the way to the edge in slower scopes although, admittedly lack the same level as build quality as the ES24

You make some good points.

Reports on eyepiece performance (and scopes for that matter) do tend to vary quite a bit person to person. My conclusion over the years I've been reading them is that everybody calls it as they see it but we don't all see it the same way. There are so many variables including peoples eyes, observing experience, scope condition (collimation, cool down) and seeing conditions at the time of observing. There may well be some quality variation, sample to sample, in the optics as well, to add into the mix.

When I'm reviewing eyepieces for the forum I try and use them over a number of sessions, under different conditions and in different scopes. This is why my reports can take a while to emerge

When I look back at my notes when I'm compiling the final report, I quite often notice that my experience with the same eyepiece varies occasion to occasion. It's really hard (I find) to separate the "wheat from the chaff" in terms of experiences and get down to solid performance characteristics as opposed to transient effects noticed on a particular occasion. I've had eyepieces where initial impressions have been rather poor but later experiences much more positive and the other way around of course.

As we say so many times on here, eyepieces, perhaps more than any other part of the optical system (with the exception of our eyes) are a very personal thing

I'm definitely adding "Your Mileage May Vary" to all my reports now !

[Thonolan]

No first light yet for the ES100 25mm and the other eyepieces I purchased. Clouds are more or less gone but full moon is coming. I'm on holidays for the first half of September... fingers crossed for some clear skies then. I'll stay at home so plenty of time for observing.

[YKSE]

I kind of doubt it. To be able to compensate field curvature of a scope, the eyepiece needs to have curved field in opposite way. My understanding is that Televue eyepieces have quite flat field, therefore can't compensate the curvature of a scope.

Here is another case of short refractor curvature, while the user thought it was eyepiece in fault.