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Wide angle eyepiece question

Danny83uk

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Ricochet

Ricochet

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Try this instead - it's slightly better again and this one is on sale at the moment so less than the one above:

http://www.bresser.de/en/Sale/Display-Items/Explore-Scientific-68-Ar-Eyepiece-24mm-1-25.html

I picked one of those up in that sale a couple of weeks ago and it's great. Delivery (DHL) took maybe two days to arrive from Germany which I think is pretty good going.

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Danny83uk

Danny83uk

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I picked one of those up in that sale a couple of weeks ago and it's great. Delivery (DHL) took maybe two days to arrive from Germany which I think is pretty good going.

Im seriously looking into getting it. Espically at that discount. Was it an upgrade to your EP's and have you seen a vast improvement?

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John

John

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Better because it's argon filled but essentially the same?

No the Argon purging makes no difference. It's optically very slightly better corrected in fast scopes and the coatings are slightly better.

You will see the words "subtle" and "slightly" quite a lot when comparing eyepiece performance. Having compared a lot of eyepieces, from low, medium and high cost niches, the differences between them ones are really quite small these days.

Don't expect miracles from eyepieces either. Seeing conditions and experience make more difference to the quality of the views than spending 2x or 3x as much on the eyepiece.

The step from the stock eyepieces to the ones in the £30-£70 bracket is probably the largest performance gain. After that it's all small gains and maybe ergonomic preferences.

Not that this seems to get in the way of folks investing in £200-£300 eyepieces though !

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Ricochet

Ricochet

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Im seriously looking into getting it. Espically at that discount. Was it an upgrade to your EP's and have you seen a vast improvement?

Yes, compared to a 25mm Plossl the FoV is much wider, image distortions are reduced to the point where I'm not noticing them (although you can see some if your eye is in the wrong place) and everything is sharper. It's probable contrast is better too but I haven't actually done a direct comparison between the two because since using the ES68 the Plossl doesn't even warrant a place in the eyepiece case, let alone the scope. The only negatives are that bringing your eye to the eyecup can create a little microclimate that fogs up the lens, so I've started leaving a small part folded down to allow airflow and that eye relief might be a bit tight if you need to observe wearing glasses. Otherwise, if you've got a telescope with a focuser that only accepts 1.25" EPs then you should definitely buy this EP, even at full price.

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Danny83uk

Danny83uk

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No the Argon purging makes no difference. It's optically very slightly better corrected in fast scopes and the coatings are slightly better.

You will see the words "subtle" and "slightly" quite a lot when comparing eyepiece performance. Having compared a lot of eyepieces, from low, medium and high cost niches, the differences between them ones are really quite small these days.

Don't expect miracles from eyepieces either. Seeing conditions and experience make more difference to the quality of the views than spending 2x or 3x as much on the eyepiece.

The step from the stock eyepieces to the ones in the £30-£70 bracket is probably the largest performance gain. After that it's all small gains and maybe ergonomic preferences.

Not that this seems to get in the way of folks investing in £200-£300 eyepieces though !

I dont think mine is a fast scope at f/7 but i am looking to upgrade the ones supplied.I suppose a good EP will be good on any scope i invest into later on.

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Mak the Night

Mak the Night

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I bought a 24mm Panoptic not long after I bought a 25mm TeleVue Plossl and I thought the 25mm Plossl had become virtually redundant. I recently discovered that the 25mm TV seemed to give me a slightly brighter image when viewing M42 with my 102mm Mak. It may have been just the conditions as I didn't make a direct comparison on that night, but the 25mm Plossl did nudge the exit pupil to almost 2mm. Plus, it is a simpler design than the Panoptic and although it lacks the Panoptic's 27mm field stop it has a perfectly respectable 21.2mm. A good large Plossl is still pretty decent for a wide view of sorts.

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Danny83uk

Danny83uk

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Yes, compared to a 25mm Plossl the FoV is much wider, image distortions are reduced to the point where I'm not noticing them (although you can see some if your eye is in the wrong place) and everything is sharper. It's probable contrast is better too but I haven't actually done a direct comparison between the two because since using the ES68 the Plossl doesn't even warrant a place in the eyepiece case, let alone the scope. The only negatives are that bringing your eye to the eyecup can create a little microclimate that fogs up the lens, so I've started leaving a small part folded down to allow airflow and that eye relief might be a bit tight if you need to observe wearing glasses. Otherwise, if you've got a telescope with a focuser that only accepts 1.25" EPs then you should definitely buy this EP, even at full price.

Thank you

Thank you for your order in Bresser.de.

We registered your order under the number: **********

You've already received an e-mail with an order confirmation.

Yoink! And its in the post..

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Danny83uk

Danny83uk

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Now rather then me begin another topic can i pick your brains about a replacement high power lens for the same scope. I believe the lowest i can go is 5.25 but with that not likely to be an increment am i okay to drop to a 5 or am i going to go upto 6? I understand my 10mm with a barlow is basically a 5mm But id like to have a view without using a barlow and keep some of the sharpness.
 Am i thinking correct there?

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John

John

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I think you are thinking along the right lines. A 5mm eyepiece would give you 180x which should be quite a useful high power as long as the seing conditions are reasonable.

For viewing comfort and decent optical quality for the price the BST Starguider 5mm seems to be worth considering. They are between £45 and £50 to purchase new.

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Danny83uk

Danny83uk

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I think you are thinking along the right lines. A 5mm eyepiece would give you 180x which should be quite a useful high power as long as the seing conditions are reasonable.

For viewing comfort and decent optical quality for the price the BST Starguider 5mm seems to be worth considering. They are between £45 and £50 to purchase new.

Its in the region of what id like to spend. But if i can get better for that bit more im upfor considering it.

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John

John

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Its in the region of what id like to spend. But if i can get better for that bit more im upfor considering it.

I think you might have to pay quite a bit more to get a noticable optical performance improvement. The Vixen SLV 5mm performs better although the apparent field of view drops from 58 to 50 degrees. The SLV's cost £99. The Celestron X-Cel LX 5mm costs £59 but I'm not convinced that there is much, if any, optical performance gain between the BST Starguiders and the X-Cel LX's ?. Others will probably have a different view though  :icon_biggrin: 

See what other suggestions are put forward.

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Danny83uk

Danny83uk

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I think you might have to pay quite a bit more to get a noticable optical performance improvement. The Vixen SLV 5mm performs better although the apparent field of view drops from 58 to 50 degrees. The SLV's cost £99. The Celestron X-Cel LX 5mm costs £59 but I'm not convinced that there is much, if any, optical performance gain between the BST Starguiders and the X-Cel LX's ?. Others will probably have a different view though  :icon_biggrin:

See what other suggestions are put forward.

Thats what im happy to hear. Im still getting started (Just over a year)so im not after spending 'silly' money. But im keen to upgrade my started EP's

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Danny83uk

Danny83uk

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Well its arrived and boy its a beast. id like to thank you all for the input and help in the purchase. But id also like to blame you all for the frostbite i now feel in my fingers and toes after spending far too long outside seeing the skies in a much better way. The magnification is marginly better but the crispness is something else. I think i just need to invest in a few filters to really show orion at its best. Andromeda is now something im now happy ive seen  (as the previous grey smudge didnt really count) Im still keen on the High power EP if anyones got more too add to johns suggestion.

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Ricochet

Ricochet

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I think the BSTs are a pretty good option for your high power views. I need to do some more testing but at this point I don't think there's a lot in it, quality wise, between a barlowed 24mm ES68 and a 12mm BST or a barlowed 16mm ES68 and an 8mm BST. Of course the view is slightly narrower but the things you tend to observe at high power like planets and doubles don't necessarily require wide angle views anyway. In addition the BST's and ES68's seem pretty much parfocal so there isn't much issue switching between the two.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Charic

Charic

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On 08/01/2016 at 18:00, Danny83uk said:

 My viewings of Orions nebula and andromeda where limited to small grey smudges ineffect. Is this the best I can hope with my current setup of scope/EP.

Thats probably about right for your current set-up and local conditions, and for many folk too ?

Try changing the local conditions first?  head out for a darker site to observe from. My 200P shows Andromeda M31 as a small grey smudge from the garden, but from a darker site, its as if I own a bigger, better telescope, the image is stunning.

I  even needed  a  larger afov eyepiece to see it  M31 ? If you find a change in conditions makes an improvement, therein lies the answer, the local conditions are letting you down, an improvement to the scope  itself could help a little from your  present site, up-to  a limit, but this scope too would be better at the darker site.

Darkness ( no light pollution) and good seeing are the most important things to possess over eyepieces alone.

An eyepiece alone wont improve much  except  maybe the field of view,  the EP( microscope ) only magnifies  the image provided from the scope,  it can only magnify what it sees!

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Charic

Charic

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1 hour ago, Danny83uk said:

Sadly im limited to my immediate area due to my vision problems mensioned earlier. My goal now is to achieve the best i can where i am.

 

My bad, i missed that!

The only other thing that's possible is to try and hide in the shadows, if there are any ( behind a shed for example or between buildings, but this further limits the view of the skyline)

I seems that shielding my eyes from direct street-lighting using shadows  or sitting inside my Dob-tent, I feel I can detect  some fainter  targets, mainly Stars, but M31 appears the same,  a patch?

Some folk have assured me that I would see a difference If I upgraded to a bigger scope under the same conditions, as per my garden. I don't want to proceed along those lines, until one day I can sit my scope next to an alternative and compare the two scopes, side by side. Then I could assure myself that its the right thing too do. I'm also sure these folk are not just saying that for the fun of it, they have trodden the same path and are only passing on their experiences.

I'll still have to test for my self.

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