Show us your bino pairs

[Moonshane]

This thread will hopefully reveal what you chose and why, what correctors / barlows you use, what scopes you use, what magnifications are usable, and what your main targets are. Or any part thereof.

[Moonshane]

Here's my current set.

I have 25mm Televue Plossls, 18mm Baader Classic Orthos and 15mm Televue Plossls. I have just bought a pair of 12.5mm Celestron Omni Plossls and have a single 10mm Baader Classic Ortho looking for a mate. I am still assessing the value of 32mm Plossls (maybe Celestron OMNIs) and may add these too.

I use BVs for anything solar system and find them sensational on white light solar and the moon in particular. I use Baader maxbrights and 1.7x / 2.6x GPCs and intend adding a 1.25x dedicated for Ha in the pst mod diagonal plus a 1.7x Newtonian version in due course.

My scopes are 102mm F7 and 120mm f7.5 ED fracs, a 100mm f10 PST mod, a 6" f11 newt and a 12" f4 and 16" f4 dobs. I can get anything from 40x - 410x with my various scopes and therefore have pretty much everything covered.

My logic for eyepieces is that I wanted pairs to be simple and light. I prefer simple as I get on with the 50-70 degree field and find them best on the moon, and light as I like the balance to remain pretty stable. Plus these whilst not the cheapest options are certainly cheaper than widefield pairs! Plus+ widefield pairs might actually be vignette by the prisms in my BVs anyhow.

 

[jetstream]

We have very similar tastes in binoviewer eyepieces Shane.

[Moonshane]

I thought that would be the case. In fact I think you were instrumental in my choices, especially of the BCOs.

[Ruud]

Nice bino pairs, Shane. Unfortunately I only have half pairs. 

[John]

Nice set Shane

An eyepiece thread that I can't contribute to otherwise though

 

[YKSE]

20 minutes ago, John said:

Nice set Shane

An eyepiece thread that I can't contribute to otherwise though

 

Never say never

[John]

11 minutes ago, YKSE said:

Never say never

I've bought and then sold binoviewers 3 times now over the past few years. I just don't get on with them I'm afraid

[jetstream]

John, if I might ask- what is the biggest binoviewer drawback for you?

[John]

34 minutes ago, jetstream said:

John, if I might ask- what is the biggest binoviewer drawback for you?

I just don't feel comfortable or natural using them. When the binoviewers were in place I found that observing was an effort and far more frustrating than enjoyable. I've tried them with fracs and my 12" dob. I just don't get along with them. I'm not a great fan of observing astronomically with binoculars either really. I have a pair of nice Opticron Japanese 11x70's but I don't use those much. 

Strangely, I'm happier with binos for birding but don't get along with a spotting scope for that purpose.

I'm sure binoviewing has all the advantages that I see folks expressing and it's a bit frustrating that I find them so awkward but there you go

I hope others contribute more photos of their bino eyepieces to this thread though - thats what it's for

 

[Chris]

I'm liking this thread Shane, and your BV pairs look great. I don't currently have BV's, but when I did I also used simple Plossls in 15,20 and 25mm.

Got to agree with the solar and lunar, even with my little skylight 60mm, wedge, and BV's the view's were really fantastic.

I'll be getting a pair of BV's again at some point, still trying to recover my kit after last years house move, but I do have low power covered at least with my bins   

[Stu]

Good plan Shane. I now have two pairs of binos and four eyepiece pairs.

Like John I have struggled with BVs and these are now my fifth and sixth pairs! I've had William Optics, Baader Maxbright, TS and Denkmeier previously. The first two I did not get on with, largely because I found the collimation to be too fiddly with the adjustment on the eyepiece holders. The TS and Denks were both fine. The TS I always thought were amazing for the price, very good quality and easy to use. Both these were sold because I did not use them enough and needed funds.

I enjoy using the Mark IVs mainly for solar and lunar observing where they really enhance the view. I've yet to be comfortable with them for planetary or deep sky observing, I think my eyes are just too different on dimmer objects.

So, this is what I have:

Baader Zeiss Mark IVs with Zeiss 25mm 'ortho' ex microscope eyepieces. The Zeiss Orthos are the sharpest eps I've used, with very low scatter and they seem to Barlow with no limit! For white light solar in the summer with good seeing, I have regularly used them with a x1.7 GPC and an AP Barcon with two extension tubes which I THINK gives just over x200 mag in my Tak. The views of granulation cells changing slowly are quite amazing, as are the penumbral petal structures. I also have a pair of Nikon 16mm microscope eyepieces which are very good but I would not put them in the same class as the Zeiss. An example of this is that I would rather Barlow the Zeiss more than use the Nikons with a lower power Barlow. I actually think my enjoyment of BVs increased dramatically when I found I could just leave those eyepieces in place, and change the mag by adding or subtracting extension tubes, with T2 quick changers making it a very simple task.

I do use them for lunar observing too, and find that they really help reduce the visibility of floaters that I have at high power/small exit pupils. For planetary observing I remain to be convinced. The views have more colour saturation, but it's like the detail has been smoothed out, so cyclops is still my preferred method for this.

The other pair of BVs I have just acquired and have yet to use. They are a nice pair of used Antares which look very similar to the TS ones I stupidly sold, so I'm hopeful they will perform as well. These will be used with a PST mod I am in the process of acquiring for high power Ha views. I acquired a pair of Revelation 12.5mm Plossls with the Antares so will be interested to see how I get on with these.

Separately I bought two pairs of Celestron Omni Plossls in 32mm and 40mm to use with the PST mod which needs a x2 Barlow to focus.  I have yet to have a decent day to try this lot out, this weekend looks cloudy again .

My goal is to have the two bino pairs side by side in the Vixen Fluorite and Vixen 102mm PST Mod on the AZEQ5, tracking away nicely for some perfect solar observing this summer. It seems a long way off at the moment with the weather as it is, but I will soon get there I'm sure.

I know this is a 'Show us your.....', not a 'Ramble on about your.....' thread, so I will post some pictures tomorrow  

[Moonshane]

 Ramble on buddy. 

[Stu]

Cheers Shane, some pics now added, more to come  

[Highburymark]

Apart from the two 20mm eps that come with the WO binoviewer, I just use 15mm plossls - like everyone else, predominantly for lunar and white light solar. But I also enjoy using the binoviewer with my Equinox as a daytime spotting scope - to check out what the ant colony in the next street is up to

[Timebandit]

 

 

 These are my binoviewing pairs. The the scope is a SW equinox 120ed Apo. And the Binoviewers are TS , purchased used from another member on SGL. It is run on an AZ4. Initially I was not sure if the binoviewing experience would suit both my scope and my particular eyes and viewing choice experience. But I have found binoviewing a positive experience and another tool in the armoury of the amateur astronomer. The binoviewing experience i find most useful on planetary and especially  lunar . 

 

 

 

The straight through set up , used for low level viewing 

 

 

The TS in the diagonal, ideal for objects higher up in the sky' and especially at zenith.

 

 

SW super. These were my first Binoviewing Pair's, a cheap and effective way to get into binoviewing, to see if it was beneficial to my eyes.

 

 

I already had a TV 32 for Cyclops, so doubled it up, very nice quality for lower power viewing 

 

 

Already had a TV 8mm plossl, so doubled this up when a great used example became available.

 

 

Have been getting into the Orthos, so doubled these up .

 

 

Again doubled my existing Ortho when another became available in excellent used condition.

 

 

 

 

[GavStar]

Here is my binoviewing kit:

Baader mark v binoviewer with baader t2 Zeiss prism diagonal

2 x 8.5mm Pentax xf

2 x 24mm televue panoptic 

baader 1.25x, 1.7x (which is actually 1.5x!) 1.8x, and 2.6x Glasspath correctors

On my scopes these give magnifications from 40x to 200x. The key aspect I like about binoviewing is the comfort of viewing through two eyes rather than one (but I need to use rubber winged eye shields to cut out light glare) - once set up the views are really immersive. They are a bit fiddly to set up well ensuring that each eye is focused properly. I had a set of WO binoviewers and didn't get on with them - I think the collimation wasn't as good as the baader mark v.

[Space Hopper]

Heres my collection :

Not shown are my new zooms. (Baader Mk 4s     8-24mm)

My favourites are my Panoptic 24s and 19s.  A perfect binoviewing match. I can't fault them in any way.

I've never been so keen on the Nagler 13s.  They are good when the seeing is there, but i prefer the Pans.

 

There are two other pairs i long for : the Edmund RKE 28s and the Docter UWA 12.5s

I realise the Docs are crazy money, but i MUST have a pair SOMEDAY......

[jetstream]

My current pairs- more on the way

 

[Stu]

2 hours ago, jetstream said:

My current pairs- more on the way

 

Gerry, you sly old fox, when did you slip a second Docter into the house???

Bet they are amazing!!

[jetstream]

7 hours ago, Stu said:

when did you slip a second Docter into the house???

A few months ago and yes they do work well!

I enjoy lower mag than they give in the 15" most of the time and I'm thinking the 18mm Tak orthos will be a nice option for the powerswitch. The 32mm TV's and 25mm TV's give outstanding views and are sharper than unbarlowed or powerswitched- they are a really nice combo for my set up.
 

 

[John]

I reckon you are all wasting your money on these premium eyepieces for binoviewing after reading this

Why bother with £300+ eyepieces when a £29 ortho will do the trick ?

[Moonshane]

I must admit that I recently bought a new pair of 12mm OMNI plossls for 2/3 the price of one used TV Plossl as in all honesty I cannot see any difference between top quality (e.g. Delite) and average (e.g. Celestron X Cell LX) in the BVs others than an ever so slightly better across the field focus in the former. Plossls though and orthos do seem well match for BVs.

[John]

Binoviewers = "The eyepiece equaliser"

[Moonshane]

Maybe Bruce Lee used BVs? Although I think they accidentally used the word finger instead of binoviewers.

“Don’t think. FEEL. It’s like a finger pointing at the moon. Do not concentrate on the finger, or you will miss all of the heavenly glory.”