Should I swap my 3 mid-power EP's for a zoom ?

[John]

Sounds like a great line up James

My 1.25" line up is 24 Pan, 17.3 Delos, 13 NT6, 10, 7, 5, 3.5 XW's and 4-2 Nagler zoom.

Not really minimalist though, is it ?

Thats the problem with being afflicted with "Occularholism" - difficult to pass a little gem by

 

[Paul73]

I looked at the TV weighted adapter and decided than they were really really taking the mickey on the price. I hang a small hammer off the front end of the OTA when using light eyepieces. And. I can hit things with it too! 

Re. The original question. No.

OK for travel gear. Quality of image isn't good enough for fastish scopes (f5 ish). The Fov is way too restricted for wide views. Unless you spend big!!!

However, I was comparing a Baader MK111 with a box full of fixed length TeleVue. Fair comparison???? 

Beer does stay nicely chilled on the eyepiece tray. But, having atemped to inset a bottle of Stella into the focuser......

Paul

[DRT]

23 minutes ago, Paul73 said:

I looked at the TV weighted adapter and decided than they were really really taking the (insert expletive of your choice) on the price. I hang a small hammer off the front end of the OTA when using light eyepieces. And. I can hit things with it too! 

You can hit things with an Equalizer too, and from quite some distance if you have a good throwing arm 

[John]

23 minutes ago, DRT said:

You can hit things with an Equalizer too, and from quite some distance if you have a good throwing arm 

Theres a competition idea for the next star party !

"Nagler Wanging"

(sounds like a Rambling Syd Rumpo song !)

 

[Stu]

I quite fancy something a little wider field in the middle of my 1.25" eyepieces too.

Something around 12mm.....

[Paul73]

53 minutes ago, DRT said:

You can hit things with an Equalizer too, and from quite some distance if you have a good throwing arm 

Not at that price!!!!!

Quite like John's Nagler Wanging idea...

Takahashi Javlin? Misbehaving Laptop Discus? Dob Vaulting?

Astro Olympics!!

Sorry. Derailing a perfectably sensible tread.

Paul

[jabeoo1]

9 hours ago, Stu said:

I quite fancy something a little wider field in the middle of my 1.25" eyepieces too.

Something around 12mm.....

Apologies this thread raised this issue with you Stu ! 

 

[Stu]

Just now, jabeoo1 said:

Apologies this thread raised this issue with you Stu ! 

 

No problem  Can't afford it currently anyway so it is just planning for the future. My Docter 12.5mm used to be in this slot, although not lightweight it was a great ep.

[Piero]

2 hours ago, Stu said:

My Docter 12.5mm used to be in this slot, although not lightweight it was a great ep.

I totally agree!  

[jabeoo1]

22 hours ago, jabeoo1 said:

I am grabbing a 10mm Pentax XW

So the line up is:

22mm LVW

10mm XW

Nagler Zoom 3-6mm

Minimal and all quality

Mmmmm, there are some second thoughts here on this.  A 10mm will give x74 which for Jupiter (one of my main targets) is a little low on magnification for seeing some of the smaller details.  The jump up to 6mm end of the zoom at x123 is not always easy viewing due to seeing conditions.  If my memory serves me right I spend a long time looking at jupiter & the Moon through the 8mm at x90 ish.  

[jabeoo1]

On 4/16/2017 at 12:11, swamp thing said:

8mm Ethos? Wider field than your 15mm and as much power as your 8mm  

I have to admit Swamp thing,  weight aside this may be the best solution after all. After eyeing the 8mm Delos for the job, I realised the weight of the 8mm Ethos is pretty much the same.  

Shame there is no 8mm Pentax XW. 

I think I will have to manage the clutches on the mount carefully.

[John]

I've found the 7mm XW is getting a lot of use on Jupiter with my Tak FC100DL. Thats 129x and is often what I start out with on Jupiter. I go higher if the seeing co-operates

The 6mm and 8mm Ethos are actually a little bit lighter than the Delos equivalents.

[Timebandit]

6 hours ago, jabeoo1 said:

I have to admit Swamp thing,  weight aside this may be the best solution after all. After eyeing the 8mm Delos for the job, I realised the weight of the 8mm Ethos is pretty much the same.  

Shame there is no 8mm Pentax XW. 

I think I will have to manage the clutches on the mount carefully.

 

For the price of one 8mm Ethos you could get a 7mm Pentax XW and a Pentax 10mm XW and change to spare , Bargain?.  I use both these on Jupiter and great eyepieces fov of around 70d is nice for planetary  .  A 100d fov may be great for DSO , but IMO not as important on planetary targets.   

 

 

[jabeoo1]

58 minutes ago, John said:

I've found the 7mm XW is getting a lot of use on Jupiter with my Tak FC100DL. Thats 129x and is often what I start out with on Jupiter. I go higher if the seeing co-operates

The 6mm and 8mm Ethos are actually a little bit lighter than the Delos equivalents.

I seem to view Jupiter at lower magnification than most.  I hear people saying >100x a lot, for me the contrast and details really come out with a squeezed image scale of <100.  Rarely do I go above x125 on the big lad of the planets. 

 

[jabeoo1]

2 minutes ago, Timebandit said:

 

For the price of one 8mm Ethos you could get a 7mm Pentax XW and a Pentax 10mm XW and change to spare , Bargain?.  I use both these on Jupiter and great eyepieces fov of around 70d is nice for planetary  .  A 100d fov may be great for DSO , but IMO not as important on planetary targets. These would complement you 3/ 6 Nagler zoom.

 

 

That is also an excellent idea sir !

[swamp thing]

2 minutes ago, Timebandit said:

 

For the price of one 8mm Ethos you could get a 7mm Pentax XW and a Pentax 10mm XW and change to spare , Bargain?.  I use both these on Jupiter and great eyepieces fov of around 70d is nice for planetary  .  A 100d fov may be great for DSO , but IMO not as important on planetary targets. These would complement you 3/ 6 Nagler zoom.

 

 

That's fine, but you are still then swapping between eyepieces again............   

Kinda puts you back to square one. IOW might as well keep the plossls as that would be cheaper still  

[jabeoo1]

My main issue is that the 8mm Ethos also has a 2" adaptor as a permanent fixture to the barrel.  This is a bit of an issue as I use a 1.25" Tak Prism Diagonal and this makes it difficult to access the tightening mechanism on the diagonal. 

 https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/502201-ethos-and-tak-1-14-prism-diagonal-compatible/

[John]

4 minutes ago, swamp thing said:

That's fine, but you are still then swapping between eyepieces again............   

Kinda puts you back to square one. IOW might as well keep the plossls as that would be cheaper still  

Steve makes a good point. When I started to use Ethos eyepieces I found that I needed less focal lengths. The 8mm is a really superb eyepiece for Jupiter with my 12" dob

Rather good for globular clusters and planetary nebulae as well.

It works easily in 1.25" mode BTW - I was using the 6mm Ethos just the other night with my Tak FC100DL and that has the Baader 1.25" barrel fitted to the diagonal ATM.

[jabeoo1]

1 minute ago, swamp thing said:

That's fine, but you are still then swapping between eyepieces again............   

Kinda puts you back to square one. IOW might as well keep the plossls as that would be cheaper still  

It is a vicious circle!  I do just want one EP to cover the posts, and the FOV & Magnification of the ethos ticks all boxes.  Shame the 8mm Ethos does not come with the same barrel design as the SX Ethos series. 

[iPeace]

13 minutes ago, jabeoo1 said:

It is a vicious circle!  I do just want one EP to cover the posts, and the FOV & Magnification of the ethos ticks all boxes.  Shame the 8mm Ethos does not come with the same barrel design as the SX Ethos series. 

James, didn't you recently post a picture of the extension you use in the Tak diagonal for quick changes? That should hold a 8mm Ethos just fine.

[jabeoo1]

1 minute ago, iPeace said:

James, didn't you recently post a picture of the extension you use in the Tak diagonal for quick changes? That should hold a 8mm Ethos just fine.

It should shouldn't it?  Its the 2" skirt around the edge that makes me wonder if it will block access to the tightening screw.  Not sure without trying I suppose! 

[iPeace]

Just now, jabeoo1 said:

It should shouldn't it?  Its the 2" skirt around the edge that makes me wonder if it will block access to the tightening screw.  Not sure without trying I suppose! 

I have used it in 1.25" mode just fine. Both with a Baader Clicklock, and with the more traditional compression ring jobs, and access to the tightening screw was no problem. After all, that's the configuration on TeleVue's own diagonals / 1.25" reducers...

[jabeoo1]

Guess I will have to try one of these Ethos EP's.  May have to wait for a used one to come up ! £500+ new...... eeek. 

[iPeace]

1 minute ago, jabeoo1 said:

Guess I will have to try one of these Ethos EP's.  May have to wait for a used one to come up ! £500+ new...... eeek. 

Mine is spoken for, so I can't offer it to you unless that should fall through for whatever reason. But I'll let you know.

[DRT]

2 hours ago, jabeoo1 said:

Guess I will have to try one of these Ethos EP's.  May have to wait for a used one to come up ! £500+ new...... eeek. 

Just send your Tak for a holiday at my place and I'll stick the Ethos 8mm in it and let you know if it works!