New EP delivered today!

[25585]

9 minutes ago, John said:

Well done for finding one !

I had one for a while before moving to a 24mm Panoptic. The 22 LVW is very good though.

Swapped a Panoptic for it with another forum member. 

 

[John]

3 minutes ago, 25585 said:

Swapped a Panoptic for it with another forum member. 

 

I don't expect the Pan had enough eye relief for you ?

[25585]

1 hour ago, John said:

I don't expect the Pan had enough eye relief for you ?

It did, the 35mm which I swapped is fine for eye relief. Might get another if I miss it too much!

LVW 22 being 1.25 is more versatile & that line are good for barlowing. 

[25585]

5mm & 8mm Vixen LVWS. 

The shorter FL need slightly more careful eye positioning. 

All LVWs owned except the 3.5 now (will swap a 25 SLV for one). 

[Timebandit]

27 minutes ago, 25585 said:

 

  .

All LVWs owned except the 3.5 now (will swap a 25 SLV for one). 

 

 

 

 

Don't you need one of these in that line up Officer??

 

 

 

[25585]

36 minutes ago, Timebandit said:

 

 

 

 

Don't you need one of these in that line up Officer??

 

 

 

Those are just my single figure eps. Have 10, 13, 15, 17, 20, 22, 25, 30 & 42 S/LV/Ws also. 

Edited December 2, 2017 by 25585

[25585]

Last of the LVWs, & set completed!

Edited December 11, 2017 by 25585

[25585]

The "full metal jacket" 30mm is 65 deg AFOV & is a LVW, though puzzling it's not got the same form factor as the 42mm. 

Edited December 11, 2017 by 25585

[John]

1 hour ago, 25585 said:

The "full metal jacket" 30mm is 65 deg AFOV & is a LVW, though puzzling it's not got the same form factor as the 42mm. 

The 42mm bodywork is in the old LV style. The 30mm seems to be a newer bodywork design. There used to be a 30mm to match the 42mm in looks I seem to recall, and a 50mm too.

 

[25585]

25 minutes ago, John said:

The 42mm bodywork is in the old LV style. The 30mm seems to be a newer bodywork design. There used to be a 30mm to match the 42mm in looks I seem to recall, and a 50mm too.

 

My 42 is a LVW not LV, so is in the main range. 30 has the jacket of Vixen's NLV range that succeeded the LVs & was superceded by their SLVs, which are still current. 

Never seen an original 42 or 50, they must be rare. There was a 50 NLV for sale in the states earlier this year I remember. 

[John]

It's all very confusing !

Vixen still list a 50mm in the same "skin" as your 30mm but that seems to be called the 50mm NLV rather than NLVW

 

[Alan White]

4 hours ago, 25585 said:

Last of the LVWs, & set completed!

Nice that you are now complete.
Looks great, perhaps the rise in LVW prices will now abate and return to pre-sudden demand level?

[25585]

1 hour ago, John said:

It's all very confusing !

Vixen still list a 50mm in the same "skin" as your 30mm but that seems to be called the 50mm NLV rather than NLVW

 

It is! I assume that as the 50 only has 45 deg AFOV, it's not a "W". 

[John]

3 minutes ago, 25585 said:

....I assume that as the 50 only has 45 deg AFOV, it's not a "W". 

I think so - the 2" barrel of the eyepiece will restrict the diameter of the field stop and therefore the AFoV.

 

[Timebandit]

 

4 hours ago, 25585 said:

Last of the LVWs, & set completed!

 

 

 

Correct me if I an wrong, but I take it judging from the photo that you are a little bit of a vixen fan?

 

You do really have a great line up there ,and the vixen can be a very underated eyepiece. From my experience they can be really good value for money.

We seem to see lots of line ups of Televue on this site. But it is nice to see something that little bit different, but still great quality.

Vixen HR range are supposed to be top quality, possibly even in the same optical quality of the king ZAO. But starting at 2.4mm just to short focal length for most scopes ,to justify the outlay. But as you have that 120ed equinox ,if you do start to collect the HR range then you will have to post your thoughts how they perform. As lots of people on SGL with 120ed would be interested?

 

 

 

   

[25585]

HR Vixen eps eye relief is too short. LV-anything are all 20mm min. W have 65 deg AFOV so suit me well

Only the 41 & 30 I bought new, rest are ebay or swapped-for pre-owned eps. I was lucky!

Well eyepiece Pokémon is over. Santa is bringing an XW 5mm. 

I think 2018 will be about mirrors...

Edited December 11, 2017 by 25585

[alanjgreen]

On 06/10/2017 at 15:45, 25585 said:

I would like to try a 31mm Nagler as it's eye relief is 19mm. Need a store with it in stock. 

Used to own one. A lovely EP. Very comfortable to use. Find a picture on here of one next to a baked bean can, they are very big ( the Terminagler)

only sold mine as the Ethos 21 was a better match to my super fast Dob. They do come up occasionally second hand.

Alan

[25585]

1 hour ago, alanjgreen said:

Used to own one. A lovely EP. Very comfortable to use. Find a picture on here of one next to a baked bean can, they are very big ( the Terminagler)

only sold mine as the Ethos 21 was a better match to my super fast Dob. They do come up occasionally second hand.

Alan

I would go for 2nd hand. The ES 40mm MaxView "Lenzilla" must outweigh both big TV eps. 

[25585]

Good ebay buy! Pentax XW 5mm

Good enough with eye cup screwed down. No need to prise off the rubber volcano top. Dark green coating. 

Competition from TV Radian & Vixen LVW. Probably sell the Radian

Completes my 1.25 inch A-Team of eps, of which the XW 10 is a member. The 7 is tempting...

Where can those screw top plastic tubes be bought? 

Edited December 13, 2017 by 25585

[Louis D]

1 hour ago, 25585 said:

Good enough with eye cup screwed down. No need to prise off the rubber volcano top. Dark green coating

No reason to do this anyway.  Do you see the seam in the eyecup about 40% of the way down from the eyelens cap?  That top part screws off from the part with nameplate to reveal M43 threads to attach a camera for afocal projection photography.  That's the max eye relief you can achieve.  Unfortunately, Pentax recessed the eye lens a couple of millimeters for no particular reason compared to their older XL line and the Delos line.  As a result, they have slightly less eye relief than either of those two.

Hold the lens under a bright light.  There are something like 4 distinct colored reflections of the light coming off the eyelens.  Multicoatings at their best.

[John]

4 hours ago, 25585 said:

Good ebay buy! Pentax XW 5mm

Good enough with eye cup screwed down. No need to prise off the rubber volcano top. Dark green coating. 

Competition from TV Radian & Vixen LVW. Probably sell the Radian

Completes my 1.25 inch A-Team of eps, of which the XW 10 is a member. The 7 is tempting...

Where can those screw top plastic tubes be bought? 

Great eyepiece, really great

The Astroboot site sells the "bolt cases" in various sizes:

http://www.astroboot.co.uk/AstroBoot

Probably available elsewhere as well.

Interesting piece on the Pentax XL & XW's here - personally I'm not going to strip mine down though !

https://www.astromart.com/reviews/article.asp?article_id=716

[25585]

1 hour ago, John said:

Great eyepiece, really great

The Astroboot site sells the "bolt cases" in various sizes:

http://www.astroboot.co.uk/AstroBoot

Probably available elsewhere as well.

Interesting piece on the Pentax XL & XW's here - personally I'm not going to strip mine down though !

https://www.astromart.com/reviews/article.asp?article_id=716

Very interesting, especially the top-down strip! I like black rubber (!). "Undressing the XW & XL good for cleaning & photos (!!), however each time makes their "clothing" a little looser & less clingy. 

*ahem*

The Pentax (& Vixen) whole FOV aesthetic mentioned appeals to me. More than TV "spacewalk" maybe because I am a photographer at heart, not a movie director, so a still picture - perceived or recorded on a media - is what I like to study & lose myself in. A still rather than a movie. Being an unguided mount viewer, bigger FOV has always had more practical than pictorial value. 

My XW 5mm will give 100x in the Genesis. About the realistic limit for both viewing unguided & for a 4 inch scope. 

[25585]

Pentax XW 7mm

Comparing my 3 XW eps (5, 7 & 10) with Vixen LVW eps (5, 8 & 11) I find the Pentax eps less comfy to hold in the cold, but their eye relief is marginally better, though both advertise as 20mm

 Pentax eye cup movement is smooth turning. An unexpected aspect of the XW eps for me is viewing eye comfort without wearing glasses, when eye cup height adjustment and feel is luxurious. Seductive - I can understand why the discontinued 30 & 40 are cherished or sell for high prices.

Hoping for a star wide field test soon.  

[Louis D]

8 minutes ago, 25585 said:

Pentax XW 7mm

Comparing my 3 XW eps (5, 7 & 10) with Vixen LVW eps (5, 8 & 11) I find the Pentax eps less comfy to hold in the cold, but their eye relief is marginally better, though both advertise as 20mm

 Pentax eye cup movement is smooth turning. An unexpected aspect of the XW eps for me is viewing eye comfort without wearing glasses, when eye cup height adjustment and feel is luxurious. Seductive - I can understand why the discontinued 30 & 40 are cherished or sell for high prices.

Hoping for a star wide field test soon.  

Yep, you can easily see the unnecessary eye lens recession in your photo as that shiny area at 2 o'clock.  I have no idea what Pentax was thinking.  Let's put a 35mm eye lens on this thing, and then recess it 2mm or 3mm for no reason.  Delos and Morpheus don't do this.

[25585]

23 hours ago, Louis D said:

Yep, you can easily see the unnecessary eye lens recession in your photo as that shiny area at 2 o'clock.  I have no idea what Pentax was thinking.  Let's put a 35mm eye lens on this thing, and then recess it 2mm or 3mm for no reason.  Delos and Morpheus don't do this.

XW are designed for Pentax spotting scopes initially (as were XF & XL). Not sure if that had a bearing on the optics placing. I am sure though it had on XW eye cups. They seem made for eye socket rim comfort as much as distance ease. Vixen SLV & Plossls are probably spotting scope user targetted for comfort too. 

I like the eye placement guide TV include with some eps. 

Edited December 16, 2017 by 25585