Solar shoot out surprise

[Highburymark]

Had an interesting solar session this afternoon. Just bought a pair of 15mm Televue plossls for (night time) binoviewing (need a more robust mount than my current one to use binoviewers for solar), but thought I'd try out the new TV against my most used solar EP - the Pentax XF 6.5-19.5mm zoom - and a couple of other plossls (Meade 4000 and Celestron stock) on the sun. As I've noted many times on SGL over the past 18 months, the Pentax is a very capable solar EP, and its range is perfect for a little telescope like the Lunt 50. But at 15mm, it was beaten this afternoon by the TV plossl in almost every department - sharpness, surface detail, contrast - and it also spread the "sweet spot" over a much larger area. And in double stack mode, the normal dimming of the sun's disc was barely perceptable. The Pentax will remain in my EP case as a very capable and flexible mainstay, but very clear result today: 4. Celestron plossl. 3. Meade 4000 plossl. 2. Pentax XF. 1. TV plossl. Looking forward to trying them out on Jupiter tonight. 

[Pig]

Its nice when something like this happens out of the blue Mark, have you tried the Vixen SLV range? I found the 9mm to be pretty spectacular in my Lunt 60.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

TV Plossls have a good rep in solar H-alpha. I am not really surprised that a top notch zoom is bested by a top notch fixed foca length EP. My WO Zoom-II 7.5-22.5 is a capable zoom with very good eye relief, but Pentax XWs but also my Vixen SLVs are sharper and brighter

[Highburymark]

Thanks Shaun and Michael. I have been thinking about adding a couple of lightweight higher mag EPs. I can't reach focus with the Nagler zoom in the Lunt 50, so the  SLVs look very tempting for under £100.