Any comments on the 27mm Panaoptic

[Pig]

Hi all, I am thinking of buying a 27mm panoptic for use in a F7 110mm frac, are there any better options about ? Circa 70 degree FOV ?

I want to try and avoid PC distortion in the main, budget available is approx £300 with some flexibility.

[DRT]

I have had one of these since March and have been very pleased with it. It shows excellent surface detail and is very comfortable to use.

I have mainly used it in my ED120 with a Herchel Wedge for solar viewing and honestly can't remember if I have had it in a frac at night. If the sky ever clears I will do so and let you know

 

[Pig]

Cheers Derek, a lot of reviews I have read about them seem very positive

Do you have a favourite low power eyepiece ?

[DRT]

I have the 27mm, 35mm and 41mm Panoptics and love all of them. When looking for low power I tend to use whichever one gives the best contrast in the scope I am using. The 41mm can become a bit washed out sometimes so the 35mm and 27mm are great options to have in situations where a bit more mag is required to give a nice dark sky.

Believe it or not I enjoy these three so much that I decided to sell my 31mm T5 Nagler as it wasn't getting used

 

[Pig]

Ok Derek that's great, I was also looking at the 35mm. I also sold my T31 for the same reason.

I am considering the Baader Hyperion 31mm Aspheric, but I have not heard much about them apart from their performance is not so good in faster scopes. I don't think F7 is considered fast.

I did purchase the Baader Eudiascopic 35mm for solar use and it is fantastic, as a result I have had my head turned a little by Baaader.

[YKSE]

44 minutes ago, DRT said:

I have had one of these since March and have been very pleased with it. It shows excellent surface detail and is very comfortable to use.

I have mainly used it in my ED120 with a Herchel Wedge for solar viewing and honestly can't remember if I have had it in a frac at night. If the sky ever clears I will do so and let you know

 

Derek,

You don't need to wait for a clear night Actually, Pincushion distortion and Barrel distortion are easiest seen during day time. Just pointing you scope at a straight target (a telepost e.g.), see how straight it is closer to edge compare to in the center. Pincushion will look like  ) | (   , and barrel will look like  ( | ).

[Pig]

8 minutes ago, YKSE said:

Derek,

You don't need to wait for a clear night Actually, Pincushion distortion and Barrel distortion are easiest seen during day time. Just pointing you scope at a straight target (a telepost e.g.), see how straight it is closer to edge compare to in the center. Pincushion will look like  ) | (   , and barrel will look like  ( | ).

Yong do you have a Baader 31mm Aspheric... I remember reading a post some time ago where you mentioned one, if so how did you like it ?

[DRT]

21 minutes ago, YKSE said:

Derek,

You don't need to wait for a clear night Actually, Pincushion distortion and Barrel distortion are easiest seen during day time. Just pointing you scope at a straight target (a telepost e.g.), see how straight it is closer to edge compare to in the center. Pincushion will look like  ) | (   , and barrel will look like  ( | ).

I will give it a go if it stops raining today but another problem I have is that from by garden I cannot point a telescope at any object that is more than just a few meters away so it is not possible to reach focus

[alan potts]

It is the one I don't have but those that do speak very highly of it. It has been on my buy list for a long time. As a point of interest it is the maximum sized 2 inch eyepiece you can use with a F 6.3 focal reducer when using an SC scope, bigger than this vignettes.

Alan.

[Pig]

Thank you Derek, it would be very useful to know  Mind you now my mount is GoTo I wouldn't be "star hopping" with my eye at the eyepiece so maybe the PC effect would not be so obvious.

[Pig]

2 minutes ago, alan potts said:

It is the one I don't have but those that do speak very highly of it. It has been on my buy list for a long time. As a point of interest it is the maximum sized 2 inch eyepiece you can use with a F 6.3 focal reducer when using an SC scope, bigger than this vignettes.

Alan.

Alan I am not sure as I have never used any focal reducers.

[YKSE]

31 minutes ago, Pig said:

Yong do you have a Baader 31mm Aspheric... I remember reading a post some time ago where you mentioned one, if so how did you like it ?

Shaun,

I like it. For the light-weight and compact size, it's my default starting EP in all my scopes(except PST). Very sharp on-axis, very good transmision. it's not very sharp off-axis, astigmatism starts to show around 20% near the edge in 120ED. It has slight pincushion distortion, about in level with 40mm Aero, less than BCOs, much less than Maxvisions.

[Pig]

Thank you Yong...Most useful

[DRT]

Shaun,

I have just managed to take a look through my ED120 (the closest I have to your 110/F7) and there is pincushion distortion as described by Yonk above. I also lookd through the Pan 35 & 41 and my Ethos 21 and all had very similar results.

As an aside, my wife was quite concerned when she stumbled across the sight of me holding an ED120 like a pirate looking out our bedroom window and thought I was trying to spy on our new neighbours who moved in yesterday

I then hooked up my TV Pronto (70/F6.8) to a photo tripod, my Fonemate and iPhone and took these snaps so that you can see the effect on the Pan 27 and Ethos 21...

 

Panoptic 27mm

 

Ethos 21mm

 

I hope that helps.

Derek

[DirkSteele]

I just spent the last week in Namibia using a 27mm Panoptic and was quite impressed. I did not do a critical analysis as I was too busy enjoying the view under some incredibly dark skies but I was more than happy with view it was giving.

[Pig]

I am not sure which way to go on this now.... a rethink is needed. It sounds like pin cushion is almost unavoidable. Maybe the 17/21mm Ethos is the way to go after all.

[Pig]

Thank you Derek I guess most eyepieces will have similar effects as there a curved surfaces within the elements.

[DRT]

1 minute ago, Pig said:

I am not sure which way to go on this now.... a rethink is needed. It sounds like pin cushion is almost unavoidable. Maybe the 17/21mm Ethos is the way to go after all.

I don't think that could ever be consider a bad direction to go

 

1 minute ago, Pig said:

Thank you Derek I guess most eyepieces will have similar effects as there a curved surfaces within the elements.

No problem, Shaun - it's the only chance I will get to look through an eyepiece this week!

[Pig]

43 minutes ago, DirkSteele said:

I just spent the last week in Namibia using a 27mm Panoptic and was quite impressed. I did not do a critical analysis as I was too busy enjoying the view under some incredibly dark skies but I was more than happy with view it was giving.

This has to be a plus Matthew as you didn't notice any ill effects

[Pig]

4 minutes ago, DRT said:

I don't think that could ever be consider a bad direction to go

 

No problem, Shaun - it's the only chance I will get to look through an eyepiece this week!

My finger has hovered over the "checkout button" this morning on quite a few eyepieces. I will go to the steam room then come home and have some wine, and then decide

[YKSE]

1 hour ago, DRT said:

Shaun,

I have just managed to take a look through my ED120 (the closest I have to your 110/F7) and there is pincushion distortion as described by Yonk above. I also lookd through the Pan 35 & 41 and my Ethos 21 and all had very similar results.

As an aside, my wife was quite concerned when she stumbled across the sight of me holding an ED120 like a pirate looking out our bedroom window and thought I was trying to spy on our new neighbours who moved in yesterday

I then hooked up my TV Pronto (70/F6.8) to a photo tripod, my Fonemate and iPhone and took these snaps so that you can see the effect on the Pan 27 and Ethos 21...

 

Panoptic 27mm

 

Ethos 21mm

 

I hope that helps.

Derek

Nice pictures Derek. 

The edge pictures for 27Pan looks like about 30% to the edge. Daytime view is also very easy to evaluation lateral colours, as seen the seperated purple and blue/green colours on sides of the post.

[DRT]

10 minutes ago, YKSE said:

Nice pictures Derek. 

The edge pictures for 27Pan looks like about 30% to the edge. Daytime view is also very easy to evaluation lateral colours, as seen the seperated purple and blue/green colours on sides of the post.

I wouldn't read too much into these pictures as I suspect the dark curved edge in the top right corner is the edge of the FOV of the iPhone/Fonemate rather than the eyepiece as it appears in the same place for both the Pan and the Ethos.

The focusing was also a bit rough and ready as I was mainly just trying to show the curvature rather than spending time getting a really sharp focus.

[swamp thing]

I had the 27mm Pan and sold it. Regretted doing that  Great eyepiece. 
Sadly I have no real use for one now and I'm a great believer in not having kit you don't use.

[scarp15]

Nice eyepiece and became a well used match and very good performer (along with a 35 Pan) with an 8" F10 SCT I was using at the time. Trumped though when I switched to a 26T5, which in turn made way for a 21E.

[YKSE]

1 hour ago, DRT said:

I wouldn't read too much into these pictures as I suspect the dark curved edge in the top right corner is the edge of the FOV of the iPhone/Fonemate rather than the eyepiece as it appears in the same place for both the Pan and the Ethos.

The focusing was also a bit rough and ready as I was mainly just trying to show the curvature rather than spending time getting a really sharp focus.

Derek,

The dark curved edge is the way that I judged the post is about 30% to the edge

That focus is not exact is easily seen, you can try to get better focus to see if lateral colours get any better. To my understanding, almost all wide angle EPs shows lateral colours, some more than others.