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100 Degree Eyepieces - How many do you need?


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fwiw, I went for a 17-10-6 set for use in my f/4.4 15" with a Paracorr2, and really like them.  Switched from Nagler / Panoptic.

I have a 2x PM for higher powers... 100°  EPs for higher powers in a manual dob is well motivated imho (as opposed to switching to narrower afov designs).

I did add an 8E which gets a lot of use, and slots in neatly in the progression.

Then I indulged in an 82° N31T5 for max tfov - a lovely EP in use.

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37 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

Thanks John. I read your review more than once whilst weighing up my 100 degree options :) If memory serves, you felt the small range of available focal lengths was a possible weakness with the Myriads? It was just 20, 9 and 5mm at that point I think. Do you think adding a 13mm, as has happened with the Lunt/APM range, gives a more complete set?

13mm is a very useful focal length indeed so I think the answer is "yes" :icon_biggrin:

As a matter of fact I'm using the 13mm Ethos tonight to get a nice dark background sky in Draco to help me pick out the 3 members of the "Draco Trio" NGC's 5981, 5982 and 5985 in the same 122x FoV at 100 million light years away. Very cool indeed :grin:

Even at this power you get a .80 degree true field which is enough to show the magnificent M13 alongside the faint galaxy NGC 6207 in the same field. Also very cool :icon_biggrin:

Good night for DSO's here tonight, as you can tell !

 

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6 minutes ago, Geoff Barnes said:

Any ideas where the Myriads are available from?

I can't find any online here in Oz or the UK suppliers.

Is it just the USA sites?

This UK supplier seems to have a couple of focal lengths:

https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/skywatcher-myriad-eyepieces.html

This German dealer has the Lunt XWA's:

http://www.apm-telescopes.de/en/eyepieces/more-74-ultra-wide-angle/other/lunt-okular-set-hdc-5mm-9-mm-20mm.html

 

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A 13mm class eyepiece can be good to have and I chose the Docter 12.5mm UWA, which is fantastic on the planets with and without a barlow and offers minimal distortion which I also like. This EP also offers very good contrast for DSO and my best view of the Eskimo neb is with it barlowed high...

I personally like low power 100 deg eyepieces and use others as the mag goes up.

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Thanks for that John, very tempting indeed!

On the same Harrison site has anyone seen this?.....https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/explore-scientific-120-degree-argon-purged-eyepiece-9mm.html#SID=1654

Good grief, where will it all end, we'll be able to see the whole sky through one eyepiece soon at this rate!

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4 hours ago, Geoff Barnes said:

Thanks for that John, very tempting indeed!

On the same Harrison site has anyone seen this?.....https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/explore-scientific-120-degree-argon-purged-eyepiece-9mm.html#SID=1654

Good grief, where will it all end, we'll be able to see the whole sky through one eyepiece soon at this rate!

That one has been around for a while now as has the ES 30mm 100 degree - and thats a 3" eyepiece !

The ES 9mm 120 degree seems to get a slightly mixed reception from those who have tried it, particularly in faster scopes.

It's worth bearing in mind that not everybody likes using 100 degree or more eyepieces. As well as the weight and cost, I've seen widely varying reports on the extent to which folks can see the full field of view. Personally I can but some feel they have to roll their eye around or tilt their head and thats not what they want to do, which is fair enough.

Another eyepiece worth considering are the ES 92 degrees which are available in 12mm and 17mm focal lengths. These are also heavy and quite expensive but they do get very positive reports from owners and provide a little more eye relief than the 100's. 

There is such a choice in the eyepiece market at the current time - it can be bewildering :icon_biggrin:

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9 hours ago, John said:

13mm is a very useful focal length indeed so I think the answer is "yes" :icon_biggrin:

As a matter of fact I'm using the 13mm Ethos tonight to get a nice dark background sky in Draco to help me pick out the 3 members of the "Draco Trio" NGC's 5981, 5982 and 5985 in the same 122x FoV at 100 million light years away. Very cool indeed :grin:

Even at this power you get a .80 degree true field which is enough to show the magnificent M13 alongside the faint galaxy NGC 6207 in the same field. Also very cool :icon_biggrin:

Good night for DSO's here tonight, as you can tell !

 

My first and only Nagler was a 13mm type 1 smoothie. It gave fantastic views for the time. Too short eye relief and exact eye positioning made it little used and I sold it last year.

Now I have 13mm Vixen LVWs. The new APM 13mm 100 deg http://apm-telescopes.shopgate.com/item/333632303932 with claimed 23mm eye relief is interesting. 

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19 minutes ago, 25585 said:

My first and only Nagler was a 13mm type 1 smoothie. It gave fantastic views for the time. Too short eye relief and exact eye positioning made it little used and I sold it last year.

Now I have 13mm Vixen LVWs. The new APM 13mm 100 deg http://apm-telescopes.shopgate.com/item/333632303932 with claimed 23mm eye relief is interesting. 

That looks identical to the Lunt XWA 13. If so it will have 13mm of eye relief which is probably 11mm-12mm of useable ER.

This new APM 12mm 84 degree seems to have decent eyerelief for the AFoV (ignore the 74 reference in the web link):

http://www.apm-telescopes.de/en/eyepieces/more-74-ultra-wide-angle/apm-lunt-eyepieces/apm-high-eyerelief-flat-wide-90-degree-12.5-mm-eyepiece

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7 minutes ago, John said:

That looks identical to the Lunt XWA 13. If so it will have 13mm of eye relief which is probably 11mm-12mm of useable ER.

This new APM 12mm 84 degree seems to have decent eyerelief for the AFoV (ignore the 74 reference in the web link):

http://www.apm-telescopes.de/en/eyepieces/more-74-ultra-wide-angle/apm-lunt-eyepieces/apm-high-eyerelief-flat-wide-90-degree-12.5-mm-eyepiece

Thanks John, I will be looking out for reviews. Interesting that, as for ES, the price is higher than their 100 deg.

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10 minutes ago, 25585 said:

Thanks John, I will be looking out for reviews. Interesting that, as for ES, the price is higher than their 100 deg.

Thats probably because APM paid for some of the R&D on the design. Copying an existing design reduces production costs markedly so the retail price can be lower. If you look at where a brand has had to do R&D on a product ( eg: the ES 9mm / 120 or 25mm / 100 ) you usually find that the retail prices are quite a lot higher than those (eg: the ES 100's) where they have basically used a design pioneered by another company (Tele Vue in that case).

 

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5 minutes ago, GordonD said:

Geoff, the Myriads are also listed on FLO here in the UK. Skywatcher and OVL are split now in the eyepiece section and the myriads are under OVL:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/ovl-eyepieces/myriad-mwa-100110-eyepieces.html

Gordon

 

Thanks Gordon - I missed those when I had a look at the FLO website :rolleyes2:

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Aah, thanks Gordon, that's why I missed them too.  I thought it a bit strange that FLO didn't t have them listed under SW.

I see Harrison don't do international deliveries so the FLO option suits me better.

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18 hours ago, iPeace said:

My own current preference is based on size and weight - you may have other considerations. If your current set is getting it done, and your OCD level is lower than mine, well...maybe you're where you need to be?

Hi iPeace, I too am finding that size and weight are having a profound effect on my ep choices, having recently bought the Pan 24 and 19mm to replace my 2" ExSc 24 and 18mm, though I never get rid of ep's, you never know when your preferences will change. 

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16 minutes ago, rwilkey said:

Hi iPeace, I too am finding that size and weight are having a profound effect on my ep choices, having recently bought the Pan 24 and 19mm to replace my 2" ExSc 24 and 18mm, though I never get rid of ep's, you never know when your preferences will change. 

As for me, it wasn't just balance issues, it was lugging the gear around. My observing was, and still mainly is, itinerant so I faced up to this and went more compact and it's been great.

I may yet re-acquire a few 100 deg eyepieces in the future (they are very nice), but for the moment I'm good.

Aren't the Panoptics great, though? :happy11:

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2 hours ago, iPeace said:

As for me, it wasn't just balance issues, it was lugging the gear around. My observing was, and still mainly is, itinerant so I faced up to this and went more compact and it's been great.

I may yet re-acquire a few 100 deg eyepieces in the future (they are very nice), but for the moment I'm good.

Aren't the Panoptics great, though? :happy11:

I ❤ Panoptics. 35mm gets used most, the 41mm is brutal on focusers but great FOV. Both better still with a Paracorr 2 (G & H settings respectively).

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On 13/05/2018 at 19:47, Littleguy80 said:

I’ve recently moved into the world of 100 degree eyepieces with a Lunt HDC 20mm and 9mm. These give me 60x and 133x respectively in my dob. There’s also a 13mm and a 5mm in that range. I was expecting that I would quickly find myself wanting the 13mm to fill the gap. So far, the 20mm and 9mm and a collection of orthos ranging from 7mm to 4mm seem to be covering my needs quite nicely. 

I’m not sure if this is reflective of the targets I’ve been going for or simply having all the eyepieces I need for this scope. What are others experiences with 100 degree eyepieces? Is this normal? 

With your scope, I would be looking at a 6mm or 4.7mm Ethos next.

At x200 and x250 (ish) they will be great high power EPs.

Good luck trying to find a 4.7mm second hand, nobody ever sells them they are that good (and 110 degrees too!)

6mm Ethos come up regular though. Lovely lightweight EP.

I am surprised that nudging has not been an issue on some of your "drinking straw" EPs :) The 100 degrees must be easier to use?

Alan

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14 minutes ago, alanjgreen said:

With your scope, I would be looking at a 6mm or 4.7mm Ethos next.

At x200 and x250 (ish) they will be great high power EPs.

Good luck trying to find a 4.7mm second hand, nobody ever sells them they are that good (and 110 degrees too!)

6mm Ethos come up regular though. Lovely lightweight EP.

I am surprised that nudging has not been an issue on some of your "drinking straw" EPs :) The 100 degrees must be easier to use?

Alan

Haha there’s a 5mm Lunt which is also 110 degrees which looks like a good option. That’ll give me 240x. I do have some tougher targets that will benefit from the wider FOV. 

I can’t deny that 100 degree eyepieces are easier to use. I don’t have much trouble nudging with the orthos though. I think the custom dob mount I have is a big help with that. I am a bit of an ortho fan. They’re very sharp. Having said that I love my new 100 degree eyepieces too :) 

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On 5/14/2018 at 04:27, John said:

This new APM 12mm 84 degree seems to have decent eyerelief for the AFoV (ignore the 74 reference in the web link):

http://www.apm-telescopes.de/en/eyepieces/more-74-ultra-wide-angle/apm-lunt-eyepieces/apm-high-eyerelief-flat-wide-90-degree-12.5-mm-eyepiece

Is that basically a copy of the Docter 12.5mm?

IMG_85342.jpg

Docter-125-mm-Astro-Linse.jpg

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On 5/13/2018 at 22:36, Geoff Barnes said:

On the same Harrison site has anyone seen this?.....https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/explore-scientific-120-degree-argon-purged-eyepiece-9mm.html#SID=1654

Good grief, where will it all end, we'll be able to see the whole sky through one eyepiece soon at this rate!

The first 10 samples of the 9mm ES-120 were lacking their field stops, so they actually yielded a 140 degree AFOV, though it reportedly got a bit fuzzy at the edge.  However, none of the new owners wanted to get them "fixed" by ES.

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On 5/14/2018 at 03:34, John said:

Another eyepiece worth considering are the ES 92 degrees which are available in 12mm and 17mm focal lengths. These are also heavy and quite expensive but they do get very positive reports from owners and provide a little more eye relief than the 100's. 

Make that a lot more eye relief.  I can easily see all 92 degrees in my 12mm and 17mm ES-92s while wearing eyeglasses, but I can only see about 70 degrees in Ethos eyepieces I've looked through at star parties while wearing eyeglasses.

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37 minutes ago, Louis D said:

Is that basically a copy of the Docter 12.5mm?

IMG_85342.jpg

Docter-125-mm-Astro-Linse.jpg

I would love to see a comparison review of these now! If the APM is even close to the Docter then it might be a better choice than the Lunt/APM HDC 13mm!

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