Eyepieces

[Mak the Night]

1 hour ago, Dave In Vermont said:

Okay - if it's 'Show & Tell Time' - I'll play!

I went and dredged-up the Beast Itself - the Infamous Celestron 5mm X-Cel.

And it is a silver-tube and it's got filter-threads in it. So without further ado, here's it is in all it's glory:

 

 

 

So MTN - would you like to buy it from me?

E'gads!

Dave

 

Think I'll pass on that Dave lol. It looks so innocuous as well, who'd have thunk it was such a turkey? Many people have similar views on the Luminos range, but I don't think they're that bad.

[Sanj Ara]

Dave, you mentioned fast v slow in a previous post. I kind of get it but don't fully understand yet. Need to read up on it. Given that I got a 8' Skywatcher Dob, will 9mm Meade 5000 series be a good fit. 

[Dave In Vermont]

Sorry to say - but I have no knowledge about these EP's. But I'm certain someone will come along and tell us about them. But I have managed to find some information that may help you:

http://www.astronomy.com/~/media/import/files/pdf/f/8/2/1007_meade_series_5000_eyepieces.pdf

Enjoy!

Dave

[Sanj Ara]

Good info. I will order it tonight. Once received I  will share a comparison between the Meade 9mm and the 10mm that came with the Skywatcher. 

[Riemann]

20 hours ago, Mak the Night said:

I even like the twist-up eyecup, usually I'm not a great fan of eyecups under around a 30mm f/l, and the supplied bolt case is useful. It's rare I get so enthusiastic about something that doesn't have TeleVue or Baader written on it lol.

I too really like the twist eyecup.... when it stays on.   I have 4 of the X-Cel LX's and am overall very pleased with them (especially the 9mm and 25mm) but my one major bugbear is that the eyecup has come off on 2 of them and is partially unglued  on another.   Yes, they can be glued back on but having tried two different very strong glues I can say it is a bit harder than you might expect to get them to stay back on if you are frequently swapping eyepieces and re-capping them every time.   My advice to anyone buying these is to stretch the caps thoroughly before use so they do not grip the eyecups so tightly.

Despite that gripe, the X-Cel LX is a sensible option and an alternative to the BSTs.   The 9mm X-Cel LX blows the stock 10mm Skywatcher away and would be an excellent upgrade.   

As per Mak's earlier post, getting eyepieces that give you around x150, x200 and x250 is a good idea for planetary work.   Not sure what the atmospheric conditions are like in Irvine CA but in the UK I find x200 a good starting magnification for planets.   x200 gives you decent size views and the seeing here is often good enough to support it - if it isn't then I drop down to x150.   So something around the 6mm mark might be a good option with the 8" dob.  

 

[Mak the Night]

6 hours ago, Riemann said:

I too really like the twist eyecup.... when it stays on.   I have 4 of the X-Cel LX's and am overall very pleased with them (especially the 9mm and 25mm) but my one major bugbear is that the eyecup has come off on 2 of them and is partially unglued  on another.   Yes, they can be glued back on but having tried two different very strong glues I can say it is a bit harder than you might expect to get them to stay back on if you are frequently swapping eyepieces and re-capping them every time.   My advice to anyone buying these is to stretch the caps thoroughly before use so they do not grip the eyecups so tightly.

Despite that gripe, the X-Cel LX is a sensible option and an alternative to the BSTs.   The 9mm X-Cel LX blows the stock 10mm Skywatcher away and would be an excellent upgrade.   

As per Mak's earlier post, getting eyepieces that give you around x150, x200 and x250 is a good idea for planetary work.   Not sure what the atmospheric conditions are like in Irvine CA but in the UK I find x200 a good starting magnification for planets.   x200 gives you decent size views and the seeing here is often good enough to support it - if it isn't then I drop down to x150.   So something around the 6mm mark might be a good option with the 8" dob.  

 

I've read about the tight lens caps, from what I can see it tends to affect some focal lengths more than others. I find it is a tad tight on my 9mm, and I'm partially paralysed in the right arm and hand, so I have to use my left hand to facilitate lenscap removal predominantly, but so far, touch wood, I've had no problems. It would be interesting to know who the OEM of the optics is, as I believe the same optical unit is employed in the Meade 5000 series. As both of these are often favourably compared to the Barsta made (BST, Paradigm, Starguider etc) series.

What surprised me about the X-CEL LX was the ease I achieved 250x with, what is to me, a comparatively inexpensive eyepiece. Although, I do live in the greenbelt and magnifications of 250x aren't difficult to achieve even with a 130mm scope, it was a very pleasant surprise.

[Mak the Night]

7 hours ago, Sanj Ara said:

Good info. I will order it tonight. Once received I  will share a comparison between the Meade 9mm and the 10mm that came with the Skywatcher. 

I'm pretty sure the Meade 5000 Series use the same optics as the Celestron X-CEL LX. Oddly, the Meade Instruments Corporation is based in your neck of the woods in Irvine, California. Ultimately owned by the Chinese Ningbo Sunny Electronic Co Ltd. As Ningbo Sunny often have a lot of shared components with many of the Synta Technology Corporation of Taiwan's products (Celestron, Sky-Watcher) it stands a fair chance that the X-CEL LX and Meade 5000 optics come from the same Kunming factory.

[Dave In Vermont]

Indeed, MTN - Irvine, CA is the headquarters of Meade Instruments.

I am utterly amused by Sanj Ara owning a Skywatcher! Pure irony - as well as 'poetic-justice!' I couldn't have done it better! LOL!

That was the first thing I noted about this thread.

Wonderful, Sanj - I love it!

Dave

[Sanj Ara]

MTN is spot on. Both Meade 5000 series and X Cel LX are in the same price range, both have 6 eliments, 60' AFV, etc. 

As to why I chose Skywatcher...... Usually if I start something I follow it through. So rather than getting a smaller more beginner unit and later spending more to upgrade, I wanted to get a good unit straight away. So far I'm loving the views. I get good magnification on the moon with the supplied 10mm but not very crisp images. At first I thought it had something to do with collamation. I fixed that by getting a laser collamator.  Next step is getting a better EP. 

[marsdar]

I have just received my "Astromania" 8mm lens that stated that it is designed for planetary observations. I have a Meade Polaris 114 EQ-D. I only have the case candy lenses but I still like the telescope. Just my luck, it is cloudy for a couple of days right when Saturn rises at dusk, so I don't have the opportunity to try it out. I don't hear about anyone talkin bout this lens. Has anyone had experience with Astromania?

 

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[Mak the Night]

16 hours ago, marsdar said:

I have just received my "Astromania" 8mm lens that stated that it is designed for planetary observations. I have a Meade Polaris 114 EQ-D. I only have the case candy lenses but I still like the telescope. Just my luck, it is cloudy for a couple of days right when Saturn rises at dusk, so I don't have the opportunity to try it out. I don't hear about anyone talkin bout this lens. Has anyone had experience with Astromania?

 

From what I can see 'Astromania' is an import name for a whole range of rebadged GSO, Synta and Barsta products. I think the GSO 15mm Plossl is easily spotted and the '66-degree Ultra Wide Angle for Telescope' look like Barsta made EP's. They're all marketed under a plethora of different names around the world. Mainly Celestron, Sky-Watcher, Omegon  and TS Optics in Europe I believe. There's nothing wrong with them.

I've heard rumours that these Astromania eyepieces (below) are actually de-shrouded and rehoused Celestron Luminos EP's. The similarities between the eye and field lens dust caps of the Luminos and these seems to be too much of a coincidence.

10mm Celestron Luninos

[marsdar]

thank you sub dwarf ! That is nice to know cause I will be getting more lenses in the future. the Polaris is a .96 lens focuser, and does not have enough depth to focus a 1.25 lens, but I have the adapter to 1.25" and unscrewed the lens mount and removed 3/4" of the lens tube. If this does not work, I will be replacing the focuser with a Jupiter 114 EQ focuser which is 1.25".

[Mak the Night]

37 minutes ago, marsdar said:

thank you sub dwarf ! That is nice to know cause I will be getting more lenses in the future. the Polaris is a .96 lens focuser, and does not have enough depth to focus a 1.25 lens, but I have the adapter to 1.25" and unscrewed the lens mount and removed 3/4" of the lens tube. If this does not work, I will be replacing the focuser with a Jupiter 114 EQ focuser which is 1.25".

Is it this telescope?

I had no idea Meade still distributed scopes with 0.965 inch (24.5 mm) focusers. It would probably be more practical if you replaced it with a 1¼ inches (31.7 millimetre) focuser.

[Dave In Vermont]

8 hours ago, marsdar said:

thank you sub dwarf ! That is nice to know cause I will be getting more lenses in the future. the Polaris is a .96 lens focuser, and does not have enough depth to focus a 1.25 lens, but I have the adapter to 1.25" and unscrewed the lens mount and removed 3/4" of the lens tube. If this does not work, I will be replacing the focuser with a Jupiter 114 EQ focuser which is 1.25".

marsdar -

This issue is user-names in SGL. A person's name is above where you see 'sub dwarf.' So he is actually 'Mak the Night.' Your name is 'marsdar' - not 'vacuum.' Mine is 'Dave In Vermont' and not Little Green Man. These names are our current rank in SGL, which is determined by the number of posts a person has made - and changes as we write more and more posts.

Okay? No problem, this is always happening here!

Feel free to ask any questions you may have, we're here to help each other by trading knowledge.

Enjoy!

Dave

[Louis D]

Speaking of odd SGL forum behavior, why doesn't it take you to the first post after the last one you read the last time you logged in like Cloudy Nights does?

[Mak the Night]

My guess; someone's been feeding the SGL forum gremlins after midnight lol.

[Sanj Ara]

Telescope.com has this ad on Zhumell eyepieces. I have heard Zhumells are generally good. But the $89 price tag on 4 eyepieces, a Barlow, several filters and a case makes me think they might not be of good quality. You know...  you get what you paid for argument... What do you guys think?  

https://www.telescopes.com/products/zhumell-telescope-1-25-inch-eyepiece-and-filter-kit?utm_source=criteo&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=201508

[jetstream]

Sanj, I have a Stellarvue branded Long Perng eyepiece, the 4.9mm and it is actually really good, Zhumell markets the same eyepiece series - the "Z" series and I have heard good things about them. 20mm eyerelief and about a 55 deg fov if I remember. Orion USA also sells them as the Edge On series at a higher price.

I'm not sure if I would buy that eyepiece set... actually I know I wouldn't.

https://www.telescopes.com/collections/telescope-eyepieces/products/zhumell-z-series-planetary-telescope-eyepieces?variant=1962404484

http://www.telescope.com/Accessories/Telescope-Eyepieces/9mm-Orion-Edge-On-Planetary-Eyepiece/c/3/sc/47/p/8886.uts?ensembleId=68

Of course you could buy a nice ortho or plossl.....

[Sanj Ara]

Thanks Gerry. That's what I suspected. Price is too low for the product to be of good quality.

 

[Mak the Night]

20 minutes ago, Sanj Ara said:

Telescope.com has this ad on Zhumell eyepieces. I have heard Zhumells are generally good. But the $89 price tag on 4 eyepieces, a Barlow, several filters and a case makes me think they might not be of good quality. You know...  you get what you paid for argument... What do you guys think?  

https://www.telescopes.com/products/zhumell-telescope-1-25-inch-eyepiece-and-filter-kit?utm_source=criteo&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=201508

Not sure what $89 equates to in Sterling. I've seen similar kits. The case looks useful. The only kits I'd recommend are some of the Celestron ones. The Celestron Eyeopener Kit has 6mm, 8mm, 13mm, 17mm and 32mm (GSO) Plossls which are quite decent. The 2x Barlow is only average though, basically the same as the Omni 2x Barlow (also GSO). It's a perfectly usable Barlow however. There are several filters included, they are decent quality (almost certainly GSO). The Eyeopener Kit is around 150 quid here. The AstroMaster Kit has a quality 2x achromatic (Synta) Barlow/T-Adaptor with a quite good 6mm Plossl (probably not GSO), a quite decent 15mm Kellner, two decent quality filters (Wratten 80A Blue, 25 Red) and a rubbish Moon filter (looks like it was made from an old pair of sunglasses). The plastic case it all comes in is eminently useful though.

The Zhumell is a bit like this TS Optics kit. A lot of TS Optics stuff is GSO, I'm not sure who the OEM of these kits actually are, somewhere in Kunming no doubt.

[Sanj Ara]

I really want to get a Televue Ethos 8mm or 10mm eyepiece, but my wife will surely kill me given the price tag... I did order a Meade 5000 - 9mm for $75 (roughly about 52 British pounds). I am suppose to get it in the mail today. I will check that out to see if there is a significant difference in image quality between the Meade and the 10mm that came with the Telescope.

[Mak the Night]

4 minutes ago, Sanj Ara said:

I really want to get a Televue Ethos 8mm or 10mm eyepiece, but my wife will surely kill me given the price tag... I did order a Meade 5000 - 9mm for $75 (roughly about 52 British pounds). I am suppose to get it in the mail today. I will check that out to see if there is a significant difference in image quality between the Meade and the 10mm that came with the Telescope.

You can't really go wrong with TeleVue, although the Ethos aren't cheap, around £380 here I believe. The Meade 5000 series retail at around £90 - £100 here usually (Value Added Taxation). I'm pretty sure it employs the same optical unit as the Celestron X-Cel LX series which can be acquired for a very reasonable 59 quid here. I have a 9mm X-Cel and I can't really fault it. It reminds me a bit of the TeleVue DeLite, although without the orthoscopic-like contrast. Obviously the TeleVue has a much better build quality though.

[Dave In Vermont]

I have no evidence to show if they're any good - or not. My reason for suggesting you don't buy them is that these sorts of sets of eyepieces is, good or not, you'll end up with some you'll never use. And filters that will collect dust until you get tired of finding them sitting there and collecting dust. This is what always happens when someone buys these sets of EP's and filters.

Much better idea to buy good quality EP's one at a time as you find out what you'll really want and need. Ditto on the filters. If you want a colour filter, I'd suggest a No. 80A Blue. These work well on improving contrast on the most objects out there, as well as highlighting the surface-markings on Jupiter and Mars - for a start.

Everyone here probably was faced with questions on these eyepiece-sets when we started out. And many of us could have used the responses you'll find here. Good job asking!

Have fun -

Dave

[Charic]

On 6/10/2016 at 19:06, Sanj Ara said:

......... It's a 25mm plossl not 15mm as the post says.

Hi there Sanj Ara, welcome to the SGL.

Its unlikely that Skywatcher have supplied you with any  Plossl type eyepieces, more likely, their skywatcher eyepieces are the  modified acromats,  similar to a kellner type eyepiece design.

For guidance, any  6mm eyepiece with good eye-relief and a decent apparent field of view,  will match the f/6 focal ratio of your telescope, providing a practical 200x power  under the right conditions. This 6mm would be regarded as your high powered eyepiece. That said, its finding the right brand  to suit your own eyes?

Of all the eyepieces I own, I still favour my 60° BST Starguiders, ( Astrotech-Paradigms) your side of the pond! for most of my viewing needs?

Unfortunately, as good as the Skyliner is, my scope is resting (hibernating) because I have twilight conditions here at present, so it never  gets dark enough to get the best from any DSO observations. Great on the Moon though.

It just takes time to find whats suits you best. Enjoy the journey.

[Sanj Ara]

Thanks. The information on this forum is very useful for a beginner such as myself.