which 10mm eyepiece/

[Jimtheslim]

Observing Jupiter last night I realised I just cannot get on with my celestron x-cel 8mm so it is going. I have the stock 10mm that came with the scope as well as Meade 12.4 and 6.4 plossls which are good. I can see the difference in quality (just about) over the stock 10mm so I was looking to put funds from selling the celestron toward a decent 10mm. What would people recommend for a Skywatcher f/4.7 reflector with a budget of up to £50?

I hear BST's are great, but don't seem to do one in 10mm. Should I consider another plossl, or wait until I find the right Vixen SLV, Baader ortho etc? Would the difference be noticeable over a plossl? I was hoping for good things from the celestron, but it just doesn't seem to want to focus, although it briefly drifts in and out of a good image. Would all exotic step-ups from plossls likely be the same?

[John]

The Baader Classic ortho has to be the best optical quality 10mm eyepiece at <£50 new I'd say. It's actually optically better than many that cost twice or more as much.

 

 

[Jimtheslim]

Thanks, I am leaning heavily toward the classic ortho, just need to wait for one to come up at the right price. Have you used one in many scopes?

[Charic]

9 hours ago, Jimtheslim said:

I just cannot get on with my celestron x-cel .......I hear BST's are great...........

They are on  axis on my f/6 scope, so do be careful  when selecting  EP's for a faster  f/4.7 scope like yours. 
Not sure exactly what your dislike is, be that eye-relief, image quality or you just think there is something better? 
First light optics mention, on their BCO's ......... for shorter focal lengths, the Celestron XCel LX series  have greater eye relief.

Its not easy selecting eyepieces until you have tried them yourself. Of all my eyepieces, I still favour my BST's, the Revelations satisfy my need for a Plossl collection, the TV's  are  still  waiting for a proper assessment for my needs, before I buy another or sell the two I own?

[jetstream]

10 hours ago, Jimtheslim said:

Thanks, I am leaning heavily toward the classic ortho, just need to wait for one to come up at the right price. Have you used one in many scopes?

You will be very hard pressed to beat the on axis sharpness of the 10mmBCO- or the contrast-on everything. It barlows extremely well and loves to be paired with one. IMHO.

[Jimtheslim]

37 minutes ago, Charic said:

They are on  axis on my f/6 scope, so do be careful  when selecting  EP's for a faster  f/4.7 scope like yours. 
Not sure exactly what your dislike is, be that eye-relief, image quality or you just think there is something better? 
First light optics mention, on their BCO's ......... for shorter focal lengths, the Celestron XCel LX series  have greater eye relief.

Its not easy selecting eyepieces until you have tried them yourself. Of all my eyepieces, I still favour my BST's, the Revelations satisfy my need for a Plossl collection, the TV's  are  still  waiting for a proper assessment for my needs, before I buy another or sell the two I own?

It's the blacking out (I have really tried to persevere, even making a relief booster to sit my eye right where it needs to be) and the fact it just refuses to reach focus, going wildly out as soon as it goes anywhere near the outer 30% or so of the eyepiece. My 6.4 Meade plossl focuses far better and gives a much sharper image. I have tried it tonight in my f/10 refractor which is much better, but still not great 

[John]

10 hours ago, Jimtheslim said:

Thanks, I am leaning heavily toward the classic ortho, just need to wait for one to come up at the right price. Have you used one in many scopes?

When I had a set of the Baader Classics for testing I used them in my 3 scopes the fastest of which is an F/5.3 12" dobsonian. They did very well in all the scopes I used them in.

In the USA some very serious deep sky observers with large and fast dobsonians (ie: 18" F/4 etc) found the Baader Classic Ortho 10mm was slightly better than the Tele Vue Delos 10mm at picking out faint galaxies so great for deep sky too.

The eye relief is as per the abbe orthscopic design so around 80% of the focal length. Not so great if you wear glasses when observing but thats the same for all orthos and plossls apart from the longer focal length ones.

Baader have designed the Classic orthos to show a slightly wider than usual (for an otho) field of view to assist with framing objects. The last few % of the field is not quite as sharp as the rest because of this.

It's very hard though to predict how another observer will find using an eyepiece though. Ergonomics play quite a large part in this and what suits one person might not right for someone else.

Optically though, it's very hard to fault the Baader Classic Ortho for their cost.

 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Short orthoscopics are near impossible to use for me with my glasses, but the longer orthos I have used were very sharp indeed. The two SLVs I have (5 and 15mm) are very "ortho-like") in their performance (although the 15mm does have some issues with internal reflections in bright sunlight), with very comfortable eye relief. The 5mm is practically as good as my Pentax XW 5mm, except in terms of FOV. If you need eye relief, a Vixen SLV (or NLV for that matter) is certainly worth considering.

 

[Jimtheslim]

Eye relief isn't really an issue for me I don't think as I don't wear glasses. Think I will narrow it down to a 10mm SLV or Baader ortho, just have to see if either ever come up for sale at the right price. £99 for a new SLV, whilst probably worth the money is just pushing my budget a bit too much. If I haven't gone for a Baader by Christmas time maybe I could put one or the other on my list for Santa

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

If you do not wear glasses, I would go for the Ortho, I would think. They have an excellent reputation

[Mak the Night]

I have a pair of 18mm BCO's for my bino and they are indeed superb, so I would imagine the 10mm will be good. I use the 10mm Baader Eudiascopic a lot with my 90mm Mak and it is as easily as good as my 11mm TV Plossl. It is above £50 though.

[jetstream]

I must say again how much I respect the 10mm BCO, it does everything well -with a smallish eyerelief. From DSO to planets/lunar these things are great. I can barlow mine over 3x with no breakdown cause by the eyepiece- not all eyepieces will do this.

John and Mod Michael know of what they speak.....

[Dave In Vermont]

Before TeleVue® EP's rolled out, the orthoscopice was THE eyepiece of choice & legend. But these do leave eyeglass-wearers in the cold due to their inherently short field-of-view. But many of use still go for orthoscopic's for their excellent contrast and detailing they give on planets - especially the gas-giants that lack a distinct surface - as well as comets and splitting close double-stars.

I would find a local club or group that has nighttime gatherings and ask about who has some of these to get a look-through to decide for yourself. Ortho's are also very forgiving on the types of telescope they do excellent work with. With only four lens-elements, their image details are the stuff of legends. As regards brands, I have been pleased with all of them I've used. And own, for that matter.

Enjoy-

Dave

[Jimtheslim]

Baader 10mm Classic Ortho ordered. Cue the cloudiest summer on record!

[Mak the Night]

1 hour ago, Jimtheslim said:

Baader 10mm Classic Ortho ordered. Cue the cloudiest summer on record!

Nice ortho! So, all this cloud is your fault then lol.

[John]

Great choice