APM UFF 30mm

[Piero]

Has someone tried this eyepiece? 

I find some of the specs very attractive, but would like to hear more about its contrast at the edge and transmission for the 3 colours. 

[Littleguy80]

I know @DRT just got one of these. I think there’s a few people waiting for his verdict  

[DRT]

I’ve only tried is in white light with the Baader wedge and it was superb. I’m away for a few days but will hopefully get to try for night observing and will report back. 

[Louis D]

See my posting from last night comparing the 30mm APM UFF to several other eyepieces.

I will add that the 30mm APM UFF is very comfortable to use with eyeglasses.  I had no problem taking in the entire field without pushing in with the eyecup flipped down.  I could even scan around the field without losing the view with minimal head repositioning.  Had this been available 20 years ago, I would have never bought the 27mm Panoptic.

[Piero]

5 minutes ago, Louis D said:

See my posting from last night comparing the 30mm APM UFF to several other eyepieces.

I will add that the 30mm APM UFF is very comfortable to use with eyeglasses.  I had no problem taking in the entire field without pushing in with the eyecup flipped down.  I could even scan around the field without losing the view with minimal head repositioning.  Had this been available 20 years ago, I would have never bought the 27mm Panoptic.

Thanks Louis for your very interesting post. I think I'll get one. 

[Littleguy80]

9 minutes ago, Louis D said:

See my posting from last night comparing the 30mm APM UFF to several other eyepieces.

I will add that the 30mm APM UFF is very comfortable to use with eyeglasses.  I had no problem taking in the entire field without pushing in with the eyecup flipped down.  I could even scan around the field without losing the view with minimal head repositioning.  Had this been available 20 years ago, I would have never bought the 27mm Panoptic.

Excellent post, Louis. I’d been leaning towards the ES82 30mm over the APM for the extra TFOV. Will I gain anything in reality given the edge issues you mentioned? Do you know if the newer ES82 30mms are better corrected at the edge?

[Piero]

it depends on the scope I feel. On my 8" dob F6, the ES 30mm 82 was quite good. For me the issue with those 82 deg 30mm-ish eyepiece is weight. the 30mm APM-UFF is about half the weight.

Of course, one can balance the scope. Personally, I like medium or light weight eyepieces, not "king kong" ones.

 

Anyway, I ordered one. My ~30mm long term plan is coming to light! 

[Stargazer McCabe]

12 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

Excellent post, Louis. I’d been leaning towards the ES82 30mm over the APM for the extra TFOV. Will I gain anything in reality given the edge issues you mentioned? Do you know if the newer ES82 30mms are better corrected at the edge?

Neil, while I’m possibly not as experienced as Louis (or as discerning / observant perhaps) I haven’t noticed quite the level of edge issues in my ES82* 30mm bought from FLO a few months back. It’s been used in our F4.57 Dob with an ES Coma Corrector and without. And in our refractors...

I like it. But maybe I’m still looking at targets rather than being overly focused on my eyepieces..? But this one has done nothing to cause me to question whether it was money well spent or whether it’s detracting from the views...

[Piero]

5 minutes ago, Stargazer McCabe said:

Neil, while I’m possibly not as experienced as Louis (or as discerning / observant perhaps) I haven’t noticed quite the level of edge issues in my ES82* 30mm bought from FLO a few months back. It’s been used in our F4.57 Dob with an ES Coma Corrector and without. And in our refractors...

I like it. But maybe I’m still looking at targets rather than being overly focused on my eyepieces..? But this one has done nothing to cause me to question whether it was money well spent or whether it’s detracting from the views...

 

if you like the eyepiece and your eyes don't seem to be too picky, then just enjoy it and don't worry about our comments!   we all have different tastes. ?

[Stargazer McCabe]

5 minutes ago, Piero said:

 

if you like the eyepiece and your eyes don't seem to be too picky, then just enjoy it and don't worry about our comments!   we all have different tastes. ?

I don’t worry at all @Piero... ?

I was merely commenting, as Neil asked, that a newer version doesn’t appear to show the same degree of edge issues as Louis described. Albeit with a disclaimer to put my comments in context...

[Piero]

2 minutes ago, Stargazer McCabe said:

I don’t worry at all @Piero... ?

I was merely commenting, as Neil asked, that a newer version doesn’t appear to show the same degree of edge issues as Louis described. Albeit with a disclaimer to put my comments in context...

no problem!  

I found the ES 30 quite good and comfortable. It's a big eyepiece though. 

[Stargazer McCabe]

51 minutes ago, Piero said:

no problem!  

I found the ES 30 quite good and comfortable. It's a big eyepiece though. 

Ha ha... That I can corroborate... 

But if the Dob or Refractor is balanced for our Lunt  / APM 100* eyepieces, we're not a million miles out if the 30mm gets reached for...

It's when we're switching from the Nag Zoom that things get "hairy" ?

[Littleguy80]

1 hour ago, Stargazer McCabe said:

Neil, while I’m possibly not as experienced as Louis (or as discerning / observant perhaps) I haven’t noticed quite the level of edge issues in my ES82* 30mm bought from FLO a few months back. It’s been used in our F4.57 Dob with an ES Coma Corrector and without. And in our refractors...

I like it. But maybe I’m still looking at targets rather than being overly focused on my eyepieces..? But this one has done nothing to cause me to question whether it was money well spent or whether it’s detracting from the views...

Similar to my F4.7 dob. I’m not using a coma corrector currently. Do you notice a big difference with the coma corrector? I go back and forth on whether it bothers me enough to get one. 

Apologies to @Piero for dragging your thread off topic!

[Stargazer McCabe]

@Littleguy80 I’ll share thoughts on that via a PM Neil.

(I wouldn’t want to fall into  @Piero‘s bad books as I’ve noted his displeasure previously when an eyepiece thread took a twist away from the original topic... ?)

?

[Piero]

26 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

Similar to my F4.7 dob. I’m not using a coma corrector currently. Do you notice a big difference with the coma corrector? I go back and forth on whether it bothers me enough to get one. 

Apologies to @Piero for dragging your thread off topic!

 

18 minutes ago, Stargazer McCabe said:

@Littleguy80 I’ll share thoughts on that via a PM Neil.

(I wouldn’t want to fall into  @Piero‘s bad books as I’ve noted his displeasure previously when an eyepiece thread took a twist away from the original topic... ?)

?

Hey guys, okay, that time I was a bit too harsh and I promise I won't do it again.  

Feel free to discuss what you feel.  

Piero

[Stargazer McCabe]

@Piero No worries ? 

I managed to get a PM to @Littleguy80 before kickoff ?

[Louis D]

41 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

Do you notice a big difference with the coma corrector?

Based on my experience last night, the CC is important if you plan to allow an object to transit from edge to edge in the field of view of a wide field eyepiece.  If you plan to keep it centered, and it's small like a planet, the view on axis is actually sharper without the CC.  This was especially evident at exit pupils below 1mm where Jupiter went from mushy to much sharper with the removal of the CC.  My understanding is that many CCs introduce on axis spherical aberration which is especially noticeable at higher powers.

[Louis D]

1 hour ago, Piero said:

no problem!  

I found the ES 30 quite good and comfortable. It's a big eyepiece though. 

My problem with the current incarnation of the 30m ES-82 is the recessed eye lens.  I have 2 diopters of astigmatism in my observing eye, so at 30mm, it's imperative that I have my glasses on when viewing.  So even if they cleaned up the chromatic aberrations I'm seeing, I wouldn't be able to get a sharp focus and be able to take in the entire 82 degree field at once.  I'm sorely tempted to plunk down big money to try the 31mm Nagler T5.

Could someone focus on one of Jupiter's moons with the newer 30mm ES-82 and rack focus on both sides of best focus to see if the out of focus image remains color neutral?  For my 30mm ES-82, the moons are bluish on one side and reddish on the other side.  At best focus, it's an odd mix of both red and blue as I said in my review yielding a pseudo neutral color with hints of magenta at the edges where they don't fully overlap due to atmospheric distortion.  The Panoptic and APM UFF have nice, neutral colored out of focus images by comparison.  This is all on axis where there shouldn't be any chromatic aberration in any eyepiece.

[Littleguy80]

2 hours ago, Piero said:

 

Hey guys, okay, that time I was a bit too harsh and I promise I won't do it again.  

Feel free to discuss what you feel.  

Piero

Thanks all for all the great info!

I’m going to swing it back on topic now. @Piero what’s the long term plan for this focal length that you mentioned? You’ve piqued my curiosity

[Piero]

10 hours ago, Littleguy80 said:

Thanks all for all the great info!

I’m going to swing it back on topic now. @Piero what’s the long term plan for this focal length that you mentioned? You’ve piqued my curiosity

I just want to sort out the long focal lengths for my 2 sets.

For the 2" set, I've had a long journey: ES30, 35pan, max vision 40 (also modded), Vixen lvw 42 (now), and this 30mm (soon). Essentially I want something that is almost aberration free with my scopes but medium weight. 

For the 1.25" I have the 24 pan but this could be replaced by the 32 plossl as the this one offers more gap from the 21mm Nikon zoom. The 32 will work with the Quark (which I plan to get). I also have a ~25mm Leica microscope eyepiece.

After a bit of testing I'll sell a few things.

[Littleguy80]

3 hours ago, Piero said:

I just want to sort out the long focal lengths for my 2 sets.

For the 2" set, I've had a long journey: ES30, 35pan, max vision 40 (also modded), Vixen lvw 42 (now), and this 30mm (soon). Essentially I want something that is almost aberration free with my scopes but medium weight. 

For the 1.25" I have the 24 pan but this could be replaced by the 32 plossl as the this one offers more gap from the 21mm Nikon zoom. The 32 will work with the Quark (which I plan to get). I also have a ~25mm Leica microscope eyepiece.

After a bit of testing I'll sell a few things.

That’s a great selection of eyepieces in that range. I’d be very keen to hear your conclusions!

[Piero]

40 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

That’s a great selection of eyepieces in that range. I’d be very keen to hear your conclusions!

Neil, the conclusions are very personal here. I feel that if someone else tried them, s/he would probably have a different opinion. For what is worth, 

- ES30: a good eyepiece for a good price (mine was bought s/h - a great deal). Issues (for me!? weight and size.

- 35 Pan: even cleaner edge than the ES30 (bought s/h). Issues (for me!? still rather heavy, less fov than the ES30, lot's of RD. 

- MV 40: another good eyepiece (bought s/h). Issues (for me!): weight and size (even decloacked).

- Vixen 42 LWV: size/weight are perfect. Issues (for me!): in my opinion this eyepiece works better with telescopes slower than mine.

This new APM-UFF 30mm has the right size/weight for my tastes. The field is clean, not too much RD. It sacrifices a bit of FOV, but it will work well with all my current telescopes (excluding the TV60 due to its 1.25" focuser). 

[Littleguy80]

7 minutes ago, Piero said:

Neil, the conclusions are very personal here. I feel that if someone else tried them, s/he would probably have a different opinion. For what is worth, 

- ES30: a good eyepiece for a good price (mine was bought s/h - a great deal). Issues (for me!? weight and size.

- 35 Pan: even cleaner edge than the ES30 (bought s/h). Issues (for me!? still rather heavy, less fov than the ES30, lot's of RD. 

- MV 40: another good eyepiece (bought s/h). Issues (for me!): weight and size (even decloacked).

- Vixen 42 LWV: size/weight are perfect. Issues (for me!): in my opinion this eyepiece works better with telescopes slower than mine.

This new APM-UFF 30mm has the right size/weight for my tastes. The field is clean, not too much RD. It sacrifices a bit of FOV, but it will work well with all my current telescopes (excluding the TV60 due to its 1.25" focuser). 

Thanks Piero. Completely understand the comments on personal taste. You don't have to read too many threads on eyepieces to see how varied opinions can be!

It feels like a two horse race for me between the ES30 and the APM-UFF 30mm. I'm drawn to the ES30 because of the extra FOV but given the often mentioned issues with the edge on the ES30 there may be little real gain. In which case, perhaps the lighter and slightly cheaper APM may be the way to go!

[Piero]

35 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

Thanks Piero. Completely understand the comments on personal taste. You don't have to read too many threads on eyepieces to see how varied opinions can be!

It feels like a two horse race for me between the ES30 and the APM-UFF 30mm. I'm drawn to the ES30 because of the extra FOV but given the often mentioned issues with the edge on the ES30 there may be little real gain. In which case, perhaps the lighter and slightly cheaper APM may be the way to go!

 

They are two very different eyepieces in terms of ergonomics. Yes, the ES 30 will give you some extra FOV compared to your Lunt 20mm, but it also weighs almost 0.5kg more which will require some rebalancing. The APM-UFF shows about the same FOV as your Lunt 20mm, but the weight is quite close, so no rebalancing is required.

Said this, how often will you use a 30mm eyepiece on a 10" f4.7 dobson? I feel that on such a telescope, your 20mm is the main low power eyepiece and a 30mm would only be used on very specific targets like very large emission nebulae under dark skies. 

[Littleguy80]

34 minutes ago, Piero said:

 

They are two very different eyepieces in terms of ergonomics. Yes, the ES 30 will give you some extra FOV compared to your Lunt 20mm, but it also weighs almost 0.5kg more which will require some rebalancing. The APM-UFF shows about the same FOV as your Lunt 20mm, but the weight is quite close, so no rebalancing is required.

Said this, how often will you use a 30mm eyepiece on a 10" f4.7 dobson? I feel that on such a telescope, your 20mm is the main low power eyepiece and a 30mm would only be used on very specific targets like very large emission nebulae under dark skies. 

I certainly want to get the 13mm APM before anything else. Perhaps, as you suggest, a 30mm eyepiece is going to be a lot more specialised than I think. I kept thinking about the larger exit pupil (6.35mm) with filters and fainter large nebulae. It’s a 4.23mm exit pupil with the 20mm though. That feels like it should be large enough for most targets.