New eyepieces.

[Garys90]

Hi everyone,

I am thinking of getting some new eyepieces in a wide of ranges. Been thinking about 6,9,15 and 32mm and a barlow lens.

However there is so much choice with the pieces I have no idea where to start, if I should buy different brands or all eyepieces the same brand.

I have been recommended a few already here but still totally unsure. I have been researching the celestron Omni plossl, Vixen NPL and BDT Explorer ED and I was looking for some more help!

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

Clear skies!

 

[Louis D]

First, start by setting a budget for all the eyepieces.  That will help narrow the suggestions.  Second, do you need to wear eyeglasses while observing due to astigmatism?  Third, do you have a preference for wider apparent fields of view?  Fourth, what is the focal ratio of your telescope(s)?  Fifth, what objects do you tend to observe most?

[Garys90]

1 minute ago, Louis D said:

First, start by setting a budget for all the eyepieces.  That will help narrow the suggestions.  Second, do you need to wear eyeglasses while observing due to astigmatism?  Third, do you have a preference for wider apparent fields of view?  Fourth, what is the focal ratio of your telescope(s)?  Fifth, what objects do you tend to observe most?

Hi mate thanks for the response.

I was looking at around £30-50 per eyepiece. Will acquire over a period of time not all at once I feel. ( I notice you are in the US so I think that's about $45-75)

No I do not need to wear glasses, I do have a slight astigmatism but not bad enough for glasses.

To be honest I do not really have a preference for apparent fields of view as of yet.

My telescope is an f/8.

I observe a variety of things, planets, moon and try to see some DSO's. Would like to be able to maybe see nebula and galaxies if possible. I also enjoy just setting my telescope up anywhere in the sky and pan across it enjoying all the stars if im honest even im not 100% sure what they are!

 

Thanks again

 

 

[Joe12345]

The NLPs and BSTs are both good eyepieces, especially when you take into their price. The omnis are probably the worst of the ones you listed. If you wear glasses, then the higher power nlps (15mm down) won't have enough eye relief, and even if you don't, won't be very comfortable. 20mm up will be fine. The BSTs have the same eye relief all the way down, so they would be better for comfort at higher mags. So maybe 30 and 20mm nlps, then 15 and 12mm BSTs. Then if you got a Barlow, that would be 30, 20, 15, 12, 10, 7.5 and 6mm effective flths.

I'm not sure which Barlow you should go for - others could offer better advice about these than me.

[Garys90]

1 minute ago, Joe12345 said:

The NLPs and BSTs are both good eyepieces, especially when you take into their price. The omnis are probably the worst of the ones you listed. If you wear glasses, then the higher power nlps (15mm down) won't have enough eye relief, and even if you don't, won't be very comfortable. 20mm up will be fine. The BSTs have the same eye relief all the way down, so they would be better for comfort at higher mags. So maybe 30 and 20mm nlps, then 15 and 12mm BSTs. Then if you got a Barlow, that would be 30, 20, 15, 12, 10, 7.5 and 6mm effective flths.

I'm not sure which Barlow you should go for - others could offer better advice about these than me.

Thanks for the advice! makes more sense to me now!!

[Knighty2112]

What telescope do you have?

[Garys90]

4 minutes ago, Knighty2112 said:

What telescope do you have?

Celestron firstscope 114 Newtonian 4.5" f/8 

[Knighty2112]

11 minutes ago, Garys90 said:

Celestron firstscope 114 Newtonian 4.5" f/8 

For the 6mm a good Planetary EP is probably best, rather than a plossl. This will give you an easier view for the x166 views of the planets and the moon that  you will get from one. My 6mm Omni plossl is OK, but the view through it is like looking through a large pin hole. For the 32mm there are lots of good ones to choose from that will be OK for DS0's really. I have a Celestron Omni 32mm plossl, which gives good views, and doesn't cost the earth. Sure, there are plenty of better ones, but it all depends on how much you want to pay. The 9mm EP won't give you much difference from your 10mm EP that came with your scope, so I wouldn't bother with that one for now. For the 15mm EP Skywatcher do some decent EPs that won't break the bank either.

[John]

For just under £50 it's very hard to beat the BST Explorers / Starguiders. Not only will they deliver optical performance as good as a decent plossl but you get a wider field of view, more comfortable viewing position because of the longer eye relief and a larger eyelens even with the short focal length models.

A good low cost barlow lens is the Revelation (made by GSO) 2.5x 3 element barlow.

 

 

[Garys90]

21 minutes ago, John said:

For just under £50 it's very hard to beat the BST Explorers / Starguiders. Not only will they deliver optical performance as good as a decent plossl but you get a wider field of view, more comfortable viewing position because of the longer eye relief and a larger eyelens even with the short focal length models.

A good low cost barlow lens is the Revelation (made by GSO) 2.5x 3 element barlow.

 

 

thanks, would you recommend the star guides over a plossl? Would you also recommend a full set of star guiders or high power eyepieces of star guiders and the low power eyepieces vixen plossls? 

Thanks

[John]

37 minutes ago, Garys90 said:

thanks, would you recommend the star guides over a plossl? Would you also recommend a full set of star guiders or high power eyepieces of star guiders and the low power eyepieces vixen plossls? 

Thanks

I don't tend to collect the whole sets of anything, just the focal lengths that are useful.

On reflection, I might be tempted to choose the 30mm Vixen NPL plossl over the 24mm BST Starguider because the latter is not the strongest in the range and the 30mm NPL is a rather nice low power eyepiece for it's cost.  The 18mm and 12mm (and the 8mm and 5mm for that matter) Starguiders are at least as good optically as the plossls you mention with the additional benefits that I outlined in my earlier post.

If you were in the market for Tele Vue plossls then optically the Starguiders would probably be slightly beaten but the short eye relief issue would still be there in the shorter focal length plossls.

Having tried a couple, I don't think the Omni plossls are as good as either the Vixen NPL's or the BST Starguiders, by the way.

 

 

 

[Mak the Night]

I often recommend the Omni Plossls as they are relatively inexpensive. You can't really compare them to TeleVue though. The Omnis are good if you're on a budget.

[faulksy]

hi and i think everyone is reading from the same hym. but just to through a spanner in the works, i would sell your scope as it is( im not knocking it it a great starter scope) and then the money you was going to spend on eps say £200 you could buy one of these or a secondhand one. this would let you see what your after

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-200p-dobsonian.html

 

[Garys90]

27 minutes ago, faulksy said:

hi and i think everyone is reading from the same hym. but just to through a spanner in the works, i would sell your scope as it is( im not knocking it it a great starter scope) and then the money you was going to spend on eps say £200 you could buy one of these or a secondhand one. this would let you see what your after

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-200p-dobsonian.html

 

Fair enough, a lot to think about! Thanks for all the advice! For talking sakes, if I went for a new telescope, I assume it would still be a good idea to get a few new eyepieces and a Barlow?

[Louis D]

Alright, I'll weigh in on this.

1. Your telescope can't use 2" eyepieces, so you're limited to a 32mm plossl or 24mm Panoptic for a widest field of view.  Given your budget, go for the GSO 32mm plossl (look for made in Taiwan rather than China).  I have one, and it is quite nice even when compared to big buck eyepieces such as the 27mm Panoptic or 30mm ES-82, just a much narrower AFOV.

2. I'm pretty sure your telescope uses a spherical rather than parabolic mirror to keep costs down, so it will never be as sharp as it could be, so don't put too much money into high end eyepieces until you've upgraded your telescope.  At f8, it's not a huge deal, but it's there none the less.

3. Choose powers that are in roughly 2x to 2.5x jumps.  Starting with the 32mm plossl, the next would be a 12mm to 16mm for medium power views.  Finally, your high power eyepiece would fall somewhere between 5mm and 8mm.  I don't find myself gradually increasing power once I find an object.  I tend to jump up in power in big steps.  You can fill in the gaps over time if you feel you're missing something.

4. Because it's an f8 scope, you can get decent performance with lower cost wide field eyepieces (not great, but not horrible, either).  Give them a try if you want a 65 to 70 degree field of view.

5. Join a local amateur astronomy club and attend club star parties with your equipment.  Look through other members' scopes and eyepieces and borrow eyepieces to use in your scope.  Ask for help using your scope and in locating celestial objects.  Doing these things will vastly improve your astronomy experience.

Above all, get out and use your scope every chance you get.  Make sure to use it all year long as different constellations come into view.  Learn the night sky.  Share your enthusiasm with family and friends, it's infectious.