32mm plossl

[Dave In Vermont]

Somewhat different appearance and the prices, though, are about the same. I'm pretty sure these are the same animal - but a different lot. I got them for low-power eyepieces for my new 150mm F/12 Maksutov. I will, however, give them a spin in my other scopes. I also have a 50mm EP coming at me, too. That will give me about the lowest power for a Mak - 36X.

I just found a cool little optical guy in Arizona, name of Gary Russell. Though he won't do international shipping - or Alaska & Hawaii either - his wares are quite interesting. Have a link:

http://russell-optics.com/index.html

I love esoterica!

Dave

[Mak the Night]

15 minutes ago, Dave In Vermont said:

Somewhat different appearance and the prices, though, are about the same. I'm pretty sure these are the same animal - but a different lot. I got them for low-power eyepieces for my new 150mm F/12 Maksutov. I will, however, give them a spin in my other scopes. I also have a 50mm EP coming at me, too. That will give me about the lowest power for a Mak - 36X.

I just found a cool little optical guy in Arizona, name of Gary Russell. Though he won't do international shipping - or Alaska & Hawaii either - his wares are quite interesting. Have a link:

http://russell-optics.com/index.html

I love esoterica!

Dave

That 1.25" 50mm Plossl in your link is interesting. It would be no good for my Mak though as it would only give me 26x on my Mak. I'm guessing it's so low I'd start noticing the Maksutov spot on the meniscus lens!

[Dave In Vermont]

Such is the thought. I have the 2" version coming in. It will also be fun to try it in the 12" LX90. That would give that blue-monster about 61X. I have no idea what it's FOV is though. Yet.

Have fun!

Dave

[Mak the Night]

2 minutes ago, Dave In Vermont said:

Such is the thought. I have the 2" version coming in. It will also be fun to try it in the 12" LX90. That would give that blue-monster about 61X. I have no idea what it's FOV is though. Yet.

Have fun!

Dave

I'm guessing the eye relief is astronomical lol. 

[YKSE]

20 minutes ago, Mak the Night said:

That 1.25" 50mm Plossl in your link is interesting. It would be no good for my Mak though as it would only give me 26x on my Mak. I'm guessing it's so low I'd start noticing the Maksutov spot on the meniscus lens!

I don't think so. Seeing the shadow of secondary happens when you look at a bright object (the Moon most obvisouly). I've used 32mm plossl in my 130p (f5) on the Moon, not seeing the shadow, and 50mm in my c8(f10), not shadow there either, it did help me to bag HH though.

13 minutes ago, Mak the Night said:

I'm guessing the eye relief is astronomical lol. 

My 50mm has 35mm ER, eye placement is quite easy with it actually(I understand it varies from one eyepiece to another about too long ER). The little advantage with long ER is that it doesn't mist up by our breath in cold weather.

[Mak the Night]

10 minutes ago, YKSE said:

I don't think so. Seeing the shadow of secondary happens when you look at a bright object (the Moon most obvisouly). I've used 32mm plossl in my 130p (f5) on the Moon, not seeing the shadow, and 50mm in my c8(f10), not shadow there either, it did help me to bag HH though.

My 50mm has 35mm ER, eye placement is quite easy with it actually(I understand it varies from one eyepiece to another about too long ER). The little advantage with long ER is that it doesn't mist up by our breath in cold weather.

Well, I assumed from Dave's link that it would not be recommended to go below 35x. I thought that the central obstruction would be noticeable at the 26x I would get with it on my Mak. I think I could live with a 35mm eye relief. If I had a good eyeguard extender! lol

[John]

When I had a Celestron C8 I could see the secondary shadow against a bright or slightly brighter than black background when I used the Vixen 50mm plossl that I had back then with it. I don't recall it being an issue with the 38mm SWA I used later with the same scope.

I still have a 55mm plossl knocking around somewhere in the 1.25" fitting would you believe !. Needless to say the AFoV is highly claustrophobic even though there is no field stop to talk of. I bought that eyepiece many years ago before I knew much about how eyepieces actually work

 

[Mak the Night]

I'm guessing you were getting around a 40x magnification with the 50mm on the C8 then?

[Dave In Vermont]

Perhaps you could Barlow the 50mm (or some 50mm as this guy won't ship to the UK) and still retain the long eye-relief?

Dave

[Mak the Night]

Wouldn't Barlowing actually increase the eye relief? I think threading a Barlow element directly onto the draw tube to just increase the magnification by 1.6x might be interesting though. I believe that would reduce the 50mm to about 31mm.

[Dave In Vermont]

That's what I was thinking, too. I have a nice, little screw-in Barlow cell for that. But I have the 2" behemoth coming at me, so it won't work for me. I'm doing this to give Little Mak a chance to show me the lowest-power, widest-field I can squeeze out of it.

Interesting thread, this,

Dave

[Mak the Night]

That's the thing about Mak's and SCT's, low power wide field is hard work.

[nightfisher]

I have the revelation 32mm and i have always been very happy with this plossl, a very good ep

[AndyH]

4 hours ago, Dave In Vermont said:

Somewhat different appearance and the prices, though, are about the same. I'm pretty sure these are the same animal - but a different lot. I got them for low-power eyepieces for my new 150mm F/12 Maksutov. I will, however, give them a spin in my other scopes. I also have a 50mm EP coming at me, too. That will give me about the lowest power for a Mak - 36X.

I just found a cool little optical guy in Arizona, name of Gary Russell. Though he won't do international shipping - or Alaska & Hawaii either - his wares are quite interesting. Have a link:

http://russell-optics.com/index.html

I love esoterica!

Dave

Nice !

I used to have a few of his ep's & finders. Lovely eyepieces, lightweight, comfortable to use in freezing temps, as they're nicely machined out of delrin.

He also has an ebay shop(US version only),  at http://stores.ebay.com/Russell-Optics

I used to get his stuff through Bill Vorce at Telescope Warehouse, as he had no probs selling overseas. He used to sell all sorts of wonderfully different astro things.

[Dave In Vermont]

Nice find and information, Andy - thank you! I like "wonderfully different!"

Dave

[AndyH]

Other places to keep an eye out for 'different' stuff is http://www.surplusshed.com/

Paul Rini used to make and sell all sorts of eyepieces. Keep an eye out for them on the 2nd hand market. Here's an example of what Bill Vorce stocked of his, back in the day. The 16mm was a wee beauty. All were good and to be honest an absolute steal, nicely machined out of one piece of aluminium, annodised. http://web.archive.org/web/20060104223303/http://www.telescope-warehouse.com/products.aspx?cID=67

Sheldon Faworski, has a store in the classified section on Cloudy Nights. Often has interesting stuff and is probably best known these days as the bloke who helped us all realise what good optics Carton of Japan made. He sold them and is who I got my 60/1000 lens and tube from. Hopefully this link works.. http://www.cloudynights.com/index.php?app=core&module=search&do=user_activity&search_app=classifieds&mid=25634

 

Andy.

[cloudsweeper]

3 hours ago, nightfisher said:

I have the revelation 32mm and i have always been very happy with this plossl, a very good ep

Me too.  Just acquired the 40mm Celestron Omni - not very much difference of course, but I wanted to check out subtle differences in brightness and contrast.  Still waiting for decent conditions!

Doug.

[YKSE]

20 hours ago, John said:

We have those over here as well:

http://www.opticstar.com/Run/Astronomy/Astro-Accessories-Telescopes-Ascension.asp?p=0_10_5_1_1_5

I had the 38mm when I had a Celestron C8 and it was pretty good at F/10. Not so good at F/6.5 but for those prices you would expect some astigmatism as the focal ratio gets faster. University Optics seem to think that they are still sharp at F/4.5 !

I had this TS 38mm once, looks like the same as the Ascension, had first light in 80ED, centered Vega, focus, then moved to double-double with Vega near the edge, the FC in 80ED and astigmatism in the EP made Vega litterally a size of a Moon That 38mm went staight back to TS for exchange for 31mm Aspheric. None of my present long 2" EPs (50mm Revelation, 40mm Aero, 31mm Aspheric) has ever done the achivement on Vega remotely close to that 38mm in 80ED.

[Dave In Vermont]

So TS thinks these are Erfles, eh? That's information I can use. Thank you!

Their price though - that's the highest I've seen for these.

'ta,

Dave

[YKSE]

Yes, I think they're correct about the Erfle part. The price is high now, but it was the same price for 38mm+2" dielectric diagonal at that time

[John]

On 14/02/2016 at 02:29, Mak the Night said:

That's the thing about Mak's and SCT's, low power wide field is hard work.

It's sometimes more effective (and less expensive) to get a 2nd optical tube for low / wide viewing. I've seen the 8" F/5 chinese newtonians go around around £100.

[Mak the Night]

13 minutes ago, John said:

It's sometimes more effective (and less expensive) to get a 2nd optical tube for low / wide viewing. I've seen the 8" F/5 chinese newtonians go around around £100.

It could be a good idea. I've thought about optical reducers as well.

[cloudsweeper]

9 hours ago, John said:

It's sometimes more effective (and less expensive) to get a 2nd optical tube for low / wide viewing. I've seen the 8" F/5 chinese newtonians go around around £100.

John -  I like the sound of this!  Mine is a Celestron 127 Mak, and the points made about lack of low mag/wide angle are very valid.  The Mak won't take a focal reducer, and I don't fancy an 8 inch Dob on account of the bulk, so I've been thinking about an 8 inch Celestrron MCT (the 8SE).  

What you suggest however would give me the low mag/wide angle capability, leaving the 127 for planetary.  As well as saving many 00s of £!

What do you reckon - a good idea?  Have you any more details of the tube you mention, and would it fit on the 127 assembly?

Many thanks,

Doug.