Burgess Paragon 2" eyepieces

[jamieren]

I'm sure plenty of you guys out there have had a chance to try out these babies. I had a suggestion from Rus to check them out as an economical alternative to the TV naglers at $600 (these weigh in at less than half the price). The most notable difference I've seen is the field of view, 82* as opposed to 69* for the paragon. I would be most likely looking at the 40mm, as I don't have a decent lower mag wide angle eyepiece. This would equate to 38x magnification.. or would it be better to go a little higher mag with the 30mm ~ 50x mag, a bit more definition on the nebulae etc? Is the extra 13* of view really worth the extra $$? What does your experience tell me? I'm working with a 12" F5 dob, I've also heard that a "faster" scope (<F6) will benefit more from one of these wider angle eyepieces.

I humbly await the opinions of those more knowledgeable than myself.

[Andrew*]

Hi Jamie,

I have been led to believe that the Paragons are an excellent choice for wide fields in fast scopes because as you say, you save a lot against the larger f/l Televue equivalents.

It depends a lot on who you are, but you may be disturbed if you exceed a 7mm exit pupil, which is given by a 35mm eyepiece in an f/5 scope. The 40mm is 8mm and the 30 is 6mm. You might notice the central obstruction as a dark patch in teh centre of the FOV which is rather irritating.

If you consider that a low-power eyepiece in your dob will get used a lot as a finder eyepiece, you may find that a wide FOV (82°) will be too large an area to scan quickly for your target. Some may disagree with me, but that's what I find sometimes.

Taking all that into account, my recommendation would be something under 35mm with a smaller FOV than 70°. I bet you would just LOVE 35mm Panoptic, for example!

Andrew

[John]

Hi Jamie,

I've not tried a 40mm Paragon (or the newer 30mm either) but here is a review from the Cloudynights website that pits the Paragon 40 agains the 31mm Nagler and the 41mm Panoptic. The Paragon comes out of it very well at the end of the day:

http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=1679

I have owned a 38mm SWA (~70 deg FoV) which is lower cost again than the Paragon - that was good at Focal Ratios of F/7 and above but not nearly so satisfactory at F/5. Until recently I had been using a Widescan III 30mm (84 deg Fov) which was pretty good in my F/6-ish scopes.

Personally I find that the slightly higer mag / ultra wide field works for me and I was lucky enough to pick up a used 31mm T5 Nagler recently - as Tom Trusock says in the review "It's simply a superb eyepiece"

John

[russ]

Jamie,

The 30mm paragon should be readily available in the states. As Andrew says, it gives a 6mm exit pupil in your scope which should be okay. And the 69° AFOV should make viewing a pleasure in the dob. Price wise it's pitched very nicely indeed. Almost midway between cheap canon fodder (not ideal in an f5 scope) and the pricey Premium brand eyepieces.

I've never used one myself but as John says, the reviews are very good.

Russ

[jamieren]

As I hinted, and with a little help from my friends... I'm leaning a little more toward the 30mm. At present I have a GSO plossl 32mm (52* afov 1.25") which came with the scope. It's really no slouch (though the only quality eyepiece I have to compare is the 10mm antares SWA I recently aquired), but I'm just aching to find out what the difference is in a high quality eyepiece. Finally got that sucker swung toward the moon tonight from in my garage tonight and it's definitely a step above the 8" dob that got replaced. Looking forward to those clear, dark skies...