First light 41mm Panoptic

[Pig]

I have always experienced difficulties when trying to view crisp stars through an SCT (I didn't realise this lack of star crispness with my previous SCT's as I hadn't tried a refractor back then ) any how this changed last night when I used the 41 mm Panoptic.
I didn't get a lot of time with it due to the clouds and some messing about with a spectroscope grating so I only tinkered in the vicinity of Orion. However, it was great to see some pinpoint stars popping through the eyepiece. This means that I can now see decent enough stars and some nice cloudy nebula using a single eyepiece. There was also a bit of unexpected colour to be seen with Betelgeuse so all in all a very good session.

I was pleasantly surprised by the eyepiece as I was expecting to see some washed out background due to the 4mm exit pupil but in reality I didn't even notice it.

I can only imagine what the size of the FOV will be when I use it in my refractor

 

[DRT]

I'm glad the first impression was favourable, Shaun.

You now need to buy a Baader CoolCeramic Herschel Wedge for your 110ED and see the wonderful detail the Pan 41 can show in white light

[Pig]

It fits the bill completely Derek and thank you for keeping it in mint condition.
To be honest I don't know why I sold the wedge I had before  but we do these silly things from time to time.

[John]

I've not looked through a Pan 41 yet - it sounds excellent in the SCT

[Pig]

26 minutes ago, John said:

I've not looked through a Pan 41 yet - it sounds excellent in the SCT

John I tried one of my 35mm solar eyepieces in the SCT last week and FOV apart I was surprised with the clarity of the stars, so when Derek's came up for sale I had to give it a whirl.... There is a about a 30% increase on the FOV over the 21mm Ethos without the magnification

[Stu]

Title changed to save the innocent  

Sounds great Shaun. I enjoyed my 41mm Pan, I just have a cheap replacement at the moment, Burgess Optical 40mm which does a great job in the 925

[DRT]

15 minutes ago, Stu said:

Title changed to save the innocent

Changed to "Panaoptic"?

 

[Pig]

What title did I put ?  I guess in an F10 at low power most eyepieces will be ok.

So you get an "A" for free 

[Stu]

Just now, DRT said:

Changed to "Panaoptic"?

 

No Derek, didn't see that. The first word was missing an r........  

[Pig]

Oh lord a complete hash up.... It must be my keyboard playing up

[DRT]

Shaun, were you looking through your 41mm when you created this thread?

 

[Pig]

That's the last time I let the wife post a topic for me

I must have been Derek !!!!

[jetstream]

Congrats for the 41 Pan Shaun! It will serve you well.

[alan potts]

Though I have one Shaun it is not my favourite eyepiece. I find it vignettes slightly at the very outer edge which my 40mm Meade SWA did not using the same scopes and diagonals. As I use this mainly with the SC 12 inch and the Meade performed very well I sometimes wish I had saved my money, it is sharp though.

I would be interested to know when you get a better chance to use it, if you see the same on your set-up.

Alan

[Pig]

3 hours ago, jetstream said:

Congrats for the 41 Pan Shaun! It will serve you well.

Thank you young Gerry

46 minutes ago, alan potts said:

Though I have one Shaun it is not my favourite eyepiece. I find it vignettes slightly at the very outer edge which my 40mm Meade SWA did not using the same scopes and diagonals. As I use this mainly with the SC 12 inch and the Meade performed very well I sometimes wish I had saved my money, it is sharp though.

I would be interested to know when you get a better chance to use it, if you see the same on your set-up.

Alan

I didn't notice ant whilst viewing the Moon Alan, but I wasn't really expecting to. I will have a look the next time out

[Louis D]

11 hours ago, alan potts said:

Though I have one Shaun it is not my favourite eyepiece. I find it vignettes slightly at the very outer edge which my 40mm Meade SWA did not using the same scopes and diagonals. As I use this mainly with the SC 12 inch and the Meade performed very well I sometimes wish I had saved my money, it is sharp though.

I would be interested to know when you get a better chance to use it, if you see the same on your set-up.

Alan

I love my decloaked 40mm Meade 5000 SWA.  Basically sharp to the edge, easy to view through with eyeglasses, no noticeable vignetting, and a sharp fieldstop.

I have zero desire to try the 41mm Pan.  I do have some desire to try the 31mm Nagler T5 since the 30mm ES-82 is not sharp to the edge.

[Pig]

9 minutes ago, Louis D said:

I love my decloaked 40mm Meade 5000 SWA.  Basically sharp to the edge, easy to view through with eyeglasses, no noticeable vignetting, and a sharp fieldstop.

I have zero desire to try the 41mm Pan.  I do have some desire to try the 31mm Nagler T5 since the 30mm ES-82 is not sharp to the edge.

Having previously owned the T31 I can truly say it is a great eyepiece. However, for me it falls into the category of being to high powered to show beautifully crisp stars through my 8" SCT.
The 41mm Panoptic is a light-weight compared to the T31 (A whopping 0.4 oz !!!)

[Ben the Ignorant]

I looked it up, the 41mm Panoptic is tagged with a big-number price; Explore will soon issue a 40mm/62° that is advertised as very usable for eyeglass wearers, and quite sharp and flat across the whole window (they also produce a 40mm/68° with an intermediate price).

https://www.explorescientific.co.uk/en/Eyepieces/62-LER-Eyepiece-40mm-Ar.html?force_sid=36dd7175f88c34d8ea1f6acb452992f8&_ga=1.174809250.1805249770.1484128014

[Pig]

8 minutes ago, Ben the Ignorant said:

I looked it up, the 41mm Panoptic is tagged with a big-number price; Explore will soon issue a 40mm/62° that is advertised as very usable for eyeglass wearers, and quite sharp and flat across the whole window (they also produce a 40mm/68° with an intermediate price).

https://www.explorescientific.co.uk/en/Eyepieces/62-LER-Eyepiece-40mm-Ar.html?force_sid=36dd7175f88c34d8ea1f6acb452992f8&_ga=1.174809250.1805249770.1484128014

I am not sure of your point Ben  Is it cost ?

[Louis D]

9 minutes ago, Ben the Ignorant said:

I looked it up, the 41mm Panoptic is tagged with a big-number price; Explore will soon issue a 40mm/62° that is advertised as very usable for eyeglass wearers, and quite sharp and flat across the whole window (they also produce a 40mm/68° with an intermediate price).

https://www.explorescientific.co.uk/en/Eyepieces/62-LER-Eyepiece-40mm-Ar.html?force_sid=36dd7175f88c34d8ea1f6acb452992f8&_ga=1.174809250.1805249770.1484128014

I also have the 40mm Meade 5000 plossl in addition to the SWA.  It has a 60 degree field, is easy to use with eyeglasses, and has only moderate astigmatism at the edge.  While it is much lighter than the 40mm SWA, it is still no lightweight, though decloaking it helps reduce the weight.  Optically, it looks very similar to the SWA aside from AFOV and edge correction.  I picked it up used for cheap to have as a low power outreach eyepiece.  They are still available new from Telescope Warehouse (or on ebay).

[Pig]

Cough cough

[John]

Why do we always drag money into it ?

These things are wonderfully well made and great to look through

A great design from a great company with a long and proud history of innovation.

 

[Pig]

1 minute ago, John said:

Why do we always drag money into it ?

These things are wonderfully well made and great to look through

 

LoL John, I don't really know how it happens, but Hey Ho. I guess we cant help ourselves

Well it sure does the job with the SCT.

[Louis D]

1 hour ago, Ben the Ignorant said:

I looked it up, the 41mm Panoptic is tagged with a big-number price

Well, for less than the price of either the 41mm Panoptic or the 40mm ES-68, you can pick up the Explore Scientific Maxvision 2", 68° 40mm eyepiece.  It's the same as the 40mm Meade 5000 SWA which is optically the same as the current ES-68, minus Ar purging.  Decloak it and you'll be at about the same weight as the ES-68.

[Highburymark]

55 minutes ago, Pig said:

LoL John, I don't really know how it happens, but Hey Ho. I guess we cant help ourselves

Well it sure does the job with the SCT.

Glad to hear you're enjoying the new EP  Shaun. I love the views with the Pan 35 in my SCT. SCTs are often dismissed as delivering mushy stars, but when paired with the right eyepieces (and compared at equal magnifications to other scopes) they can deliver great sharpness. For me, the low power Panoptics and C8s were made for each other.