Show us your bino pairs

[Space Hopper]

......never take your eyes off your opponent.  Even when you bow. 

[jetstream]

9 hours ago, John said:

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

This thought has crossed my mind John But I still can't help buying eyepieces

[YKSE]

19 hours ago, John said:

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 ?

£13 for a pair of these can work too

[Highburymark]

On 12 March 2017 at 22:59, Tubby Bear said:

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......

I was in the States last week and noticed that the Docter is on sale there - still about £500 a pop though. 

[Dude_with_the_tube]

my current bino pair set up consists of 2x24mm ExSc 24mm 68deg and rest are pairs of ExSc 82 degrees 14mm 11mm and 8.8mm. 

[Saganite]

Here are my bino pairs that I use in a WO binoviewer. Having a refractor that has been shortened to allow eyepiece use at native focus is a big plus and the fact of having such a long focal length, means I don't need to spend a fortune on premium units. However I use the bino's in my OO12VXL Dob, and that is a bit more demanding of eyepieces.

All of these were very inexpensive, and for me the work extremely well.

The Astro Tech 12.5's are long eye relief with FOV of 55 deg, supremely comfortable and just work without any faffing about, sharp across the field, bright with good contrast

I am surprised that these never seem to be mentioned in eyepiece discussions.

If I had to single out the star performers it would have to be the Meade "smoothie" 26's. They are brutally sharp and bright, just superb, so long as you sit still, because they are a bit "eye sensitive".In the Dob, with its optical gearing(70mm extension on the bino nosepiece to reach focus)these give approx 145x and are my favourites for Lunar.

The little 10mm Extra WideVue units are also pin sharp and have a FOV of 84 deg, but with a small eye relief are a challenge to use particularly with the eye cups in place,but they work.

My Meade 4k 15mm Japan units again are sharp across the field, and were "cheap as chips" and in the refractor give me a superb127X.

Lastly, the WO that came with the binoviewer were made for it, and not surprisingly, work extremely well, getting focuser time at every session.

These pairs have been unchanged for the last couple of years , and probably will continue to be so, however, after much experiment and agonizing, I have decided that I am most comfortable using a binoviewer, observing and seeing much more when using two eyes,and so I intend to part with most of my premium eyepieces and upgrade my bino and atleast one or two pairs of eyepieces.

 

[alanjgreen]

Here are my pairs of eyepieces, used with binoviewers on my three scopes (CPC1100, Borg89ED and Lunt60)

- Panoptic 24mm - useful on all three scopes. Need the x1.7 GPC with the Lunt60

- Panoptic 19mm - used with the CPC1100 and the Lunt60

- Delos 17.3mm   - used with the CPC1100 and the Lunt60

- Delos 14mm      - used with the CPC1100

- Delos 10mm      - used with the Borg89

- Delite 7mm        - used with the Borg89 (not shown in the pic)

Note: If I want to use the binos with the Borg then I just need to unscrew the 205mm tube and replace it with the 150mm tube, this means that I dont have to use a GPC, which makes the magnifications more useable.

I anticipate that my new Dob (with an equivalent focal length of 3m [when used with the x1.7 newtonian GPC] will use the same eyepiece pairs as the CPC1100 which has a 2.8m focal length). But on the planets/moon it may take more...?

HTH,

Alan

[jetstream]

The flock expands...

 

[John]

Gerry,

I've often wondered about those Tak Abbe Orthos. How do they shape up against, say, Fujiyama HD orthos and similar eyepieces ?

Thanks

[Highburymark]

27 minutes ago, John said:

Gerry,

I've often wondered about those Tak Abbe Orthos. How do they shape up against, say, Fujiyama HD orthos and similar eyepieces ?

Thanks

Expensively, John, regrettably☹️

[jetstream]

35 minutes ago, Highburymark said:

Expensively, John, regrettably☹️

[jetstream]

1 hour ago, John said:

Gerry,

I've often wondered about those Tak Abbe Orthos. How do they shape up against, say, Fujiyama HD orthos and similar eyepieces ?

Thanks

My experience has been limited to a very good copy of the 12.5mm Tak so far. The eyecup is an advantage for sure, and espc with my binoviewers that pushes the exit pupil around ( 1 exception, noted below). Tonight I'm going to bino the SW120ED with both the 18's and 12.5's and compare the 18BCO/18 Tak/18 Tani in mono as well,and with the VIP.

I'm not exactly sure of the differences between the Taks and Fujis yet but there might be less sample to sample variation with the Taks, tonight should be a good test. I can say this- so far the Tanis are all very close- VG with little or no sample variation. I personally like the Baaders coatings the best but these EP's seem to vary between samples.

I'm hoping for another 18mm Circle T to binoview with- the ability to pull back from the volcano top easily and let a bit of light into my eyes can be a benefit on Jupiter for me.They add flexibilty to the situation.

The 18mm Tani bested the 18BCO in white light on faculae and plage (just). I may be reporting bits here and there as I get more time with these eyepieces.

[jetstream]

Small update- all 4 Tak orthos offer equal views, very sharp and contrasty in the binoviewers and compared directly to each other in mono. There seems to be no variation between samples and they are parfocal.

When ready I'll start a new thread to compare them further.