Have you noticed, Eyepieces are good one day and not the next?

[Alan White]

A simple conversation starter really.

I have noticed my mixed eyepiece collection (more than in signature) has pleased and displeased me at varying times often when used in the same scope, so it's not change of scope.

Some days I like close up tight eye relief, some days long eye relief, often fifty degree view but sometimes 65-70 degree view.

Just as I say that's it, I will sell x and keep y, I find x comes into favour with option a.

Funny old world, I clearly am not a one maker one fov type of astronomer, means I will need a bigger eyepiece case though.

What do you find........

[Moonshane]

I agree. I think it's down to two major factors. One usually considered (seeing) and one often overlooked (observer condition I.e. how they feel).

[Floater]

52 minutes ago, Alan White said:

Some days I like ...

That says it all, Alan. I have nothing useful to add ...

Except that it might be part of the fun, the interest, the never-ending quest to see more/better. ???

p.s. 'Bigger eyepiece case'?!! Of course!

[Alan White]

26 minutes ago, Moonshane said:

I agree. I think it's down to two major factors. One usually considered (seeing) and one often overlooked (observer condition I.e. how they feel).

Shane, glad I am not going mad then, have to agree on the two factors.

12 minutes ago, Floater said:

That says it all, Alan. I have nothing useful to add ...

Except that it might be part of the fun, the interest, the never-ending quest to see more/better. ???

p.s. 'Bigger eyepiece case'?!! Of course!

Gordon, You must have more to add, surely ?

The bigger eyepiece case, perhaps more of a suitcase is needed now.

[Pig]

Ditto really..... especially as your eyepiece collection is pretty tasty ? 

[Mr niall]

I find the eyepieces that came with my scope are dreadful everyday... it's that sort of consistency that makes me happy. Or something 

[Davesellars]

I never really got on with a narrow view. I bought and sold a couple of TV Plossls even though the quality is great. 82 degree views from my ES82s were tricky at first but I got used to them although long sessions with them I found a little tiring due to limited eye relief however I've kept them which form a smaller lighter case.

So yeah I've chopped and changed a bit over the last year and a half but now have a set of Delos and a couple of Panoptics which for me have been perfect every time with all scopes I own.  Variations in the view are always due to seeing and the scope still cooling down.

Perhsps have multiple cases of different style eyepieces to suit your mood?

[swamp thing]

I find that the UK weather prevents me from using eyepieces enough to ever worry about that.  

[davehawkins]

Sometimes I like a wide fov and sometimes a narrower fov for no other reason than that's what I prefer on the night especially on globular clusters. Sometimes I Like to concentrate on the cluster other times I like to see the contrast against more of the sky even with my modest eyepiece collection.

[Charic]

I still have the original Skywatcher eyepieces in storage which will sell, if I sell the scope, but I, like many others, will upgrade their eyepiece collection, on the merits and good advice from others. I followed this advice and chose an 8mm BST ED Starguider as my first upgrade, the rest followed, and so became my first eyepiece set!

I also believed back then that I needed a Plössl set of some description? Meade being the target eyepiece! and I have also tried TeleVue Plössl's, Revelation Plössl's and even some Baader Classic Orthoscopic's as their often described as being very sharp on the Planets? 

I also discovered from the purchase of the TeleVue Delos range that brand and cost alone is not the end to a means of getting a great image?
Although the Delos is a nice eyepiece, its wasted on something like my f/6 telescope unless you  need the wider field of view or the longer eye-relief! ( I was hoping to obtain a larger telescope last year, hence buying and trialling the Delos! ) so apart from that, the difference in cost between my cheapest  Plössl and say the 6mm Delos  is enormous , but does not equate to a massive difference in image quality?
Just because its a Delos!...its still a six millimetre eyepiece, and  on axis, the image detail is still,  if not exactly the same as that provide from the less expensive brand. I sold the Delos and was able to obtain some long awaited studio monitors for another project?

Of all the Plössl's, one thing to note is the short eye-relief, especially on the shorter focal lengths, say 11mm and below, your eye could easily touch the eyepiece? The eye-relief was the main reason to discount the TeleVue Plössl range, the second decision because the TeleVue Plössl range stopped at  8mm, whereby my scope can take shorter, therefore not able to maximise anything by choosing the TV's over say another brand that go down to 6mm and shorter, but if the TV Plössl was difficult to use, how come the Revelations I now own, are just as short, yet somehow seem more useable? I've also tried a second run with  TeleVue Plössl's starting with their longer focal lengths, but no, not going any further,  its not going to improve anything over what I already have, so yet again discounted the TeleVue's for the duration of this f/6 telescope. 

I also believed that having plenty of eyepieces,  covering all avenues was the way to go, ie. magnification , field of view, eye-relief ( even as low as 1mm can make a difference  in any of  these fields).
I was also graced with the fact that at any one time during my session, at least one of the eyepieces would favour the situation, providing the sharpest, best framed image, under the conditions that prevailed. 

I'm happy with the eyepieces in my signature, the only regret, BST did not produce a 6mm ED Starguider, if that were the case, I would not have had to buy an alternative brand to fill the 6mm slot to match the focal ratio of my scope, that said, absolutely nothing wrong with the brand, William Optics 6mm SPL eyepiece, even managed to buy the remainder of the set, should BST produce the goods? The SPL set could become surplus at a bargain price?

As for the original question? For me, its all dependent of the  seeing conditions, I have no other issues with the present eyepieces, on my scope ( and how its setup) and at the end of the day, mine and my eyes only.

[Louis D]

On 6/16/2017 at 13:25, Alan White said:

The bigger eyepiece case, perhaps more of a suitcase is needed now.

There's no point really in keeping all your eggs in one basket.  I have 5 eyepiece cases now devoted to different tasks.  My big case is full of my A-team eyepieces like Naglers, Panoptics, ES-92s, Delos, Pentax XLs and XWs, TV 1.25" 2x barlow, etc.  My next biggest case is full of B-team eyepieces like Astro Tech AF-70, 30mm 80 degree Wide-Scan clone, coma corrector, 2" barlow and TV PBI.  My third case is full of my binoviewer, 1.25" diagonal, and eyepiece pairs.  My fourth case is full of C-team eyepieces like Edmunds RKE, Kellners, Huygens, reticle eyepiece, Rini eyepieces, etc.  My fifth case is a full set of Meade HD-60 eyepieces.  Depending my mood, telescope choice, observing conditions, and target choice, I'll generally bring out 2 to 3 eyepiece cases to "play" with that evening.

[cloudsweeper]

Mine are all in a great, strong, shiny black cardboard box from Wilko's.  I use card separators, and bubblewrap packing.  The zoom I keep in a pouch, and the huge ES 30/82 in its original box.

But back to the original question - Yes!  The expensive ES EP referred to above did not initially seem much better than the Revelation, but recently it proved its worth with a crisper, clearer, wider, immersive view.  

Quality has the edge, but economy EPs can still perform well.

Doug.

[Moonshane]

I find narrow fields make sketching easier!

[Louis D]

6 hours ago, cloudsweeper said:

Mine are all in a great, strong, shiny black cardboard box from Wilko's.  I use card separators, and bubblewrap packing.  The zoom I keep in a pouch, and the huge ES 30/82 in its original box.

I use the $10 Plano Protector Series Four Pistol Case for my C-team and binoviewer sets.  It's not waterproof or particularly rugged, but it's better than having them rolling around loose in a converted toolbox I was using or constantly pulling them out of boxes and plastic wrap.  It has low density pick-n-pluck foam which is no where near as nice as the Pelican-class high density foam; but hey, it's only $10!  I don't know if it's available in the UK, but there's probably something equivalent there.

[Moonshane]

We have them here only £35. LOL

might have a mooch about for this sort of thing though as it's good to have a small case for eyepieces when I travel.