New Vixen Ultra-High Power Eyepieces

[John]

It looks like Vixen are about to launch a new range of ultra-high magnification eyepieces. They are apparently a 3 element design with 10mm of eye relief and a 42 degree AFoV. The focal lengths are 2.4mm, 2.0mm and 1.6mm so only those with short focal length scopes need apply !

At around $250 a throw I suspect these might not fly off the shelves ....

Sorry about the Japanese web page - the English translation button does not seem to work on this bit of the Vixen website:

http://www.vixen.co.jp/product/at/acc/hr.html

[Mrbloke]

Will you be able to see anything at all through that tiny lens though?

[Piero]

On my tv60, which IS short - 360mm -, those three eps give the magnifications of: 150x, 180x, and 225x! 

225x is definitely beyond the limits of what one would consider acceptable image brightness.. It seems a crazy plan to me.. 

What I don't understand is why they produce eyepieces like these or the Vixen SLV 2.5mm and discard completely the 3.5mm and 3mm ep focal lengths which are way more useful for short telescopes in the range between 360mm and 650mm focal length. Plus not many companies make good eps between 3 and 4mm, so it would potentially be a good business.

[SilverAstro]

 " tiny lens"

Anyone know the japanese for microscope ? Shame the translation is not working, because it leads to a page that says " Little sparkles in the sky ,,, are tens of thousands of light years away" which will come as a bit of a surprise to E. von Daniken's pals over at alpha centaurus

28000 yen at todays rate is about £148 on the markets and home delivery can be had from HSBC for £200, all we need then is a plane ticket !

 

[Mak the Night]

19 minutes ago, SilverAstro said:

 " tiny lens"

Anyone know the japanese for microscope ?

 

'Kenbikyō' I believe lol.

[Mak the Night]

Me-shi-yō ni toku-ka shi sekkei shita, bairitsu no jōshikiwokutsugaesu shingata setsugan renzudesu. Kaizōdo to tōka-ritsu o kyokugen made tsuikyū suru koto de, kore made" kajō bairitsu" to sa rete ita chō kō bairitsu-iki ni oite mo kaitekina kansatsu ga kanō. Wakusei ya getsumen no me-shi kansatsu no sai, i jigen no pafōmansu o hakki shimasu.

Specialised designed for eye view, it is a new type eyepiece to overturn the common sense of magnification. By pursuing the resolution and the transmittance to the limit, so far "over-magnification" and is also a comfortable observed in ultra-high magnification range it was. During eye view observation of planets and the moon, and then demonstrate the different dimension of performance.

HR shirīzu no seinō no taka-sa wa supekku dakede wa katari kiremasen. Sokode `nozoite koso tsutawaru pafōmansu' o otsutae suru tame ni, seihin kaihatsu ni tazusawatta-sha-tachi ga taiken-kai o kaisai itashimasu.

The height of the HR series performance of I can not talk about the only spec. Therefore, in order to convey the "except what travelling performance", those who were involved in product development will be held experience meeting.

Well, according to K-Meleon's Google translator ...

 

[John]

The eye lenses look quite large compared with, say, a 5mm orthoscopic or a 5mm Supermonocentric:

 

 

[alan potts]

I am sure floater will be a problem for many people using focal lengths this short. I agree with Piero a selection starting below 4mm would have been more use, I mean 1.6mm that may be a first.

[Dave In Vermont]

They've certainly lost me as a potential customer. I'm looking for longer FL's, not ridiculously short FL's. I would suggest that one try a good Barlow or PowerMate in a more forgiving eyepiece instead. 3 lens elements??

Yikes!

Dave

[Mr Spock]

The MTF graph looks interesting. These look as though they are designed for high contrast planetary views using short focal length apo's.

I can't imagine anyone using focal lengths this short though.

[Chris]

I can't imagine a situation where I would want these EP's? 

If I was Vixen I wouldn't bother manufacturing too many of the 1.6mm 

 

[Stu]

Interesting choices! I could see the 2.4 and 2mm being useful in something like a TV NP101 for high power, but it's a pretty niche market. The 1.6mm seems fairly pointless, although in a TV NP127 it would give x375, possibly useful for planetary observing under pristine skies?

[Pig]

The 2.5mm SLV was my highest power eyepiece and when used in conjunction with a 400mm x 80 mm frac triplet it did deliver surprisingly bright lunar views   I would like to try one of the offerings though as they do make good eyepieces 

[Dave In Vermont]

1 hour ago, Chris Lock said:

I can't imagine a situation where I would want these EP's? 

If I was Vixen I wouldn't bother manufacturing too many of the 1.6mm 

 

You know something, Chris? Maybe buying these would make for a shrewd investment. You'd need to wait awhile to cash in though. I doubt there will be many of these sold, so they could become a world-class rarity!

Dave

[John]

I think folks might be prepared to splash out, say, £50 or so on a very short focal length eyepiece which might only get used occasionally but not the price of these.

Floaters would definitely be an issue for me - I had a 2.5mm Nagler for a short while. Fine eyepiece but "floater hell" when I used it to view the Moon

 

[Stu]

31 minutes ago, John said:

I think folks might be prepared to splash out, say, £50 or so on a very short focal length eyepiece which might only get used occasionally but not the price of these.

Floaters would definitely be an issue for me - I had a 2.5mm Nagler for a short while. Fine eyepiece but "floater hell" when I used it to view the Moon

 

Yes, I agree. A 7, 6 or 5mm Ortho in a x2.5 PowerMate would get you short focal lengths and not too much weight if you can handle the eye relief, which I find ok.

[Piero]

mm.. I think I know the truth behind this.. These eyepieces will be successfully used in the next generation of wide field refractors: 100mm F2/F3. With their new 3-lenses eyepiece technology, aberrations won't be an issue! 

 

Seriously thought.. A Nagler zoom 2-4mm would be much more useful and even tele vue is dismissing it..

[alan potts]

The plot thickens.

[AnakChan]

I was in CP+ 2016 Yokohama this past weekend and had a chance to take a look at these eyepieces (well actually only looked through the 1.6mm). I have to admit I didn't give them too much attention I didn't think they'd be of much use for me (2500mm/F10). My friend & I did talk to the rep though and Vixen has released this in prep for the Mars opposition in May. I looked through the 1.6mm and it was rather "dark" (sorry, I don't know how else to describe it). On the Vixen page, it seems it's targeted for their AX103S/R200SS scopes.

[Don Pensack]

I believe these are 5-element eyepieces, i.e. a 3-element design with a built in negative pair in the bottom.  The negative pair would shorten the focal length

without shortening the eye relief of 10mm, and also help control aberrations in the 42° fields.

One should think of these more as an extension to the Takahashi Hi-LE for very short focal length scopes.

As for price?  Well, didn't the TMB Super Monocentric series sell for about this price?  And aren't used Zeiss orthos a lot more?

The thing that I see that is a negative is the conical undercut groove on these (the SLVs have smooth barrels).  In a telescope with a brass ring binder, the brass ring will

distort and likely stay distorted if tightened on the angled surfaces.  Explore Scientific at least uses stainless steel binder rings to prevent the permanent deformation

when tightening down on the eyepieces.  Even though many observers would be aghast to leave a mark on the eyepieces, I'd recommend a simple set screw binding on one of these.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I might find the 1.6mm useful if I ever decide to use my Zeiss Planar 85mm F/1.4 lens as a mini telescope. I doubt the astigmatism will be fully controlled at that focal ratio, however.