Skywatcher stock to (maybe) ES82?

[Size9Hex]

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping to ask for your wisdom and experience towards an eyepiece purchase question please.

I have a Skywatcher 250px (f/4.7) with stock Skywatcher Super MA 10 and 25mm eyepieces for 120 and 48x magnification. It's on a simple non-motorised Dob mount.

Having used these during a number of decent sessions in the last month or two, I've got some sort of idea of their capabilities (although only in isolation with nothing to compare against). I find myself wanting for increased magnification on the moon and planets, and also a wider apparent field of view (partly for more immersion, partly for less nudging), and also generally better image quality (for overall enjoyment, and less nudging the target back into the centre where the quality is less degraded). Longer term, I suspect there's also a niche for something between the 10 and 25mm pieces.

My budget is "spend enough to get something decent, that will last me years without feeling compelled to upgrade again, but don't get the very best if it costs twice as much as something that's almost as good".

I was looking at the Explore Scientific 82 range as possibly ticking the wide angle aspect at a price that wasn't too eye watering.

Is this range a sensible match for my scope? I'm wondering about the f/4.7 speed. I'm also wondering about matching the quality of the EP to the quality of the scope, thinking (rightly or wrongly) that if one was of a much greater quality than the other then the high quality would be lost/wasted.

Or are there other options that may suit me better?

Any and all thoughts welcome, and thanks in advance!

[alan potts]

I had the largest part of the same eyepieces with the word Meade on them, the only one I never saw was the 18mm. These are very good eyepieces so I think it is safe to assume the ExSc ones will be as well. I also feel it makes sense to have a wider field of view on hand with a Dobsonian. I have one and would like 200 degree FOV eyepieces if such exisited.

ExSc are now also much cheaper than the Meade ones were once, take the shortest 4.7mm, that was once 149 pounds with the Meade badge on, now it is about 130 Euros. Good value at this price.

Alan

[Size9Hex]

I had the largest part of the same eyepieces with the word Meade on them, the only one I never saw was the 18mm. These are very good eyepieces so I think it is safe to assume the ExSc ones will be as well. I also feel it makes sense to have a wider field of view on hand with a Dobsonian. I have one and would like 200 degree FOV eyepieces if such exisited.

ExSc are now also much cheaper than the Meade ones were once, take the shortest 4.7mm, that was once 149 pounds with the Meade badge on, now it is about 130 Euros. Good value at this price.

Alan

Thanks Alan. Nice advice. And with my tongue in cheek, let me know if you ever see a 200 degree eyepiece on sale. I'll take one too. There are some targets well down in the Southern Hemisphere that I wouldn't mind seeing from the UK ;-)

[alan potts]

Paul,

You and me both, there are some wonderful clusters and nebulae in the southern skies, it really would be some scope to see them from here, I do at least get to see a bit more of the likes of Scorpius than in the UK but not enough.

Good luck with the eyepieces.

You may wish to check out Maxvision eyepiece in the 82 degreeFOV, these are also called UWA, Ultra Wide Angle.They are a cancelled order from Meade so we hope the same quality. First Light Optics did have some but I don't know the situation now. These are even less and a bigger bargain.

[wasteland]

I've recently purchased a 24mm 82° Maxvision through Bresser.com, where the eyepieces is currently on sale at just 100€+shipping fees (which amount to around 10 extra euros for Italy, I'm sure that the price for a UK shipping would be comparable). I haven't had time so far for a proper in-depth test, but from what I have seen it's sharp on axis and has only minor aberrations near the edge of the field (to my sensibility, at least). Considering it's BY FAR the cheapest 82° 'longish' FL you'll find on the market, I'd say it's definitely a bargain.

[Size9Hex]

Thanks Alan and Wasteland.

The Maxvision 82 does look rather a bargain! I was tempted, but 24mm seems to be the only option offered for sale anywhere. It sits in the same niche as my current 25mm, although I assume it's of much better quality and would be a lot better for star hopping with the wider view. Although I'd love something like this longer term (and I'll keep your recommendation in mind), I'm thinking about initially plugging the holes where I have nothing, starting with a high power eyepiece beyond the 10mm (120x) that I currently have. I probably worded my post badly, but I wasn't planning to buy loads at once (just the higher power initially), but I like the idea of selecting from a trustworthy range as it might form the basis of a longer term collection if I got on well with the first one.

[Mark at Beaufort]

Paul I have almost the full range of the ES 82 degree EPs. I have the 4.7mm which I mainly use when viewing Globular clusters. I currently use an Orion VX8 but previously had the 10" Dob the same as yours.

The ES 82 are excellent EPs - I previously had the Ethos 8mm, 13mm and 21mm.

For your next purchase I would recommend either the 8.8mm or 6.7mm rather than the 4.7mm.

[alan potts]

Paul,

The 24mm is a very good eyepiece, it was the last I got rid of albeit with a Meade badge. I wish I had held on to it now really. I did a side by side test with the 26mm Nagler and it held it's own very well at less than half the price. I think the Max vision ones are about a third of the price of the Televue but the Nagler was the winner on over all optical quality, as it should be.

Alan

[Size9Hex]

The 24mm is a very good eyepiece

For your next purchase I would recommend either the 8.8mm or 6.7mm rather than the 4.7mm.

Thank you again! I'm in a right quandry now!

For the focal lengths you mentioned:

Do you find you use the 24mm mainly for star hopping, or does it also see much action observing (and what sort of targets)? I can imagine myself using a 24mm wide angle every single session for hopping, but can also imagine myself switching it out quite quickly for something a bit shorter for observing many of the targets I've seen. Admitedly, with only a 10 and 25 in my kit today, I don't have many options right now, but I'm thinking longer term.

Of the 8.8 and 6.7, I was inclined towards the 6.7 as being sufficient different from the current 10mm for it to have a distinct purpose, however I'd really welcome your thoughts/experience of it having mentioned the 8.8. I'm not really a fan of my 10mm (it's not bad after collimating the scope properly, and it has helped me see some fabulous things, but it's hardly a joy to use). I'm wondering whether the 6.7 would compliment it, whereas the 8.8 would replace it? What sort of things do you use these for, and to what extent please?

[wasteland]

Consider that although two eyepieces may yield the same magnification the effective view can be vastly different according to their apparent field of view (AFOV)! For instance, the 24mm 82° will show you a portion of the sky that is 2.29 times larger than a standard 52° 25mm plossl. (I got the figure by squaring the ratio of the AFOVs times the inverse ratio of the focal lenghts, which is to say, squaring the ratio of the true field of view's).  

Of course in the end it all comes down to one's tastes. I sadly (?) fell very quickly to the widefield sickness and will probably never be completely content anymore with watching the heavens through a mere 52° window, but many people here seem to be immune to the allure of the wide field, and will actually prefer simple and narrower (yet arguably more contrast-y) designs, such as the orthoscopics. It's a complicated world, really, and the only certainty is that your walled is going to be much lighter than it was when you first start wondering about upgrading your eyepieces in the first place. 

[Mark at Beaufort]

Paul I think I should state that my ES 82 EPs are mainly used in my Orion VX8 to look at DSOs. I have a 4" APO frac for viewing the Planets, Moon, Sun (white light) and Double stars and here I use binoviewers.

With regard to the ES 82 on DSOs I start with the 24mm to gain the general position of the choosen object. Once found I either choose the 18mm but more often the 14mm. The majority of the time I then switch to the 8.8mm but if it is a Glob or a Planetary Neb I will use the 6.7mm first. To be honest the 4.7mm only gets 10% use and this is mainly on Globs like M13, M92 etc

Certainly the 6.7mm with a Lumicon UHC or Astronomic O-III get a lot of use with something like Planetary Nebs.

It always difficult to decide on new EPs but I have been satisfied with the ES 82.

[alan potts]

I have read and agree with the answer Mark has given above. I have wide varity of scopes from a 3048mm Meade 12 inch SC to a short 70mm APO with a F/L of 420mm. Because of this it is very difficult for me to answer as i am always going to need and want more eyepieces. I would suggest you buy one or two now and add to these over time building a set of eyepieces, ending up with all 7 in this range from 4.7mm through to 30mm will not be a bad thing.

Alan

[Size9Hex]

Thank you for your latest replies Mark, Alan and Wasteland. It's a pleasure to be a part of this community, and you have all really helped. All the very best for a happy 2016 :-)