23rd August Sun

[Luke]

I do own one eyepiece Luke it is a Pentax zoom 6-19mm I think. I was surprised I couldn't reach focus as well. With the camera I am 1mm before the end of the focuser. Does that mean I need an extension tube on the wedge as well?

Alexandra

Oh those Pentax zooms are no good, please send it to me and I'll swap you for two proper astronomy eyepieces (Skywatcher 10 and 25mm)   

Being serious, yes sounds like you need an extension tube, I am not sure where is best, I use Quark straight through for imaging and have an extension tube before the Quark in the light path (in my case, as I use UV/IR cut, UV/IR cut must be before Quark so UV/IR cut is on the extension tube).

You can also try using a reducer on your eyepiece if you have one that fits, a 19mm eyepiece will be quite high power with your scope, I normally use a 32mm, and the reducer I think should also mean your focal point moves in a bit so you might then get focus without an extension tube. I wonder if your zoom would work quite nicely with a reducer.