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Show me your eyepiece/accessories case, please.


Leegsi

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4 hours ago, Stardaze said:

No, I haven't really considered it but it is a good valid point. Which one are you using?

Just for the record, whilst I am sitting on the GAS at the moment, rest assured, I will have an EP collection like Dale's some time in the not-so-distant-future.. 🤣

I’ve tried a lot of eyepieces to get to the sum total of only 6.  
 

Here is my journey 

I’ve been through Es 82’s from 14mm to 4.7mm with the 24/68 as the widest. That’s a real peach. My favourites were the 14 & 8.8.

I got the Es 12/92 and this blew me away if I’m honest so got the 17/92 as well followed by the Es 5.5/100. This was my first experience of the heavyweight wide views  and in the end I found balance issues were taking the fun out of things.

Next I popped in a Delos 8mm then a 14mm which were very pure.

I ordered a 4.5 & 3.5 followed by a 6. The 4.5 was too long a wait so o ordered a 4.7 ethos from Germany, replaced the order for the 4.5 with a 10.

Once the 4.7 ethos came I liked it so much I went for a 6 & 8 ethos and loved them so much I ordered a 13e. This was definitely the best thing I did as it’s just so good.

A panoptic 27mm was used as my widest to go with the ethos, a fantastic eyepiece but didn’t do it for me matched up with the ethos. I changed it for an APM 20/100 and added the 3.7ethos as my high power.

My last and final addition was after extensive reading about the nagler 22t4. This seemed to tick all the boxes for me and is a very immersive and comfortable to use 82 degrees which in used is very close to the views from my ethos. 

Sorry if this has been boring but hopefully it will be of some use to someone... maybe. 

It’s been expensive but I’ve enjoyed trying them all and learning about their capabilities. 

I now have a small set of 6 that I believe is future proof for any telescope. 

Its been a crazy year and this experimentation has kept me sane (ish) 🤪

Dale. 

A26D1BFE-7146-4D15-BF48-969E152B9487.jpeg

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36 minutes ago, Dantooine said:

I’ve tried a lot of eyepieces to get to the sum total of only 6.  
 

Here is my journey 

I’ve been through Es 82’s from 14mm to 4.7mm with the 24/68 as the widest. That’s a real peach. My favourites were the 14 & 8.8.

I got the Es 12/92 and this blew me away if I’m honest so got the 17/92 as well followed by the Es 5.5/100. This was my first experience of the heavyweight wide views  and in the end I found balance issues were taking the fun out of things.

Next I popped in a Delos 8mm then a 14mm which were very pure.

I ordered a 4.5 & 3.5 followed by a 6. The 4.5 was too long a wait so o ordered a 4.7 ethos from Germany, replaced the order for the 4.5 with a 10.

Once the 4.7 ethos came I liked it so much I went for a 6 & 8 ethos and loved them so much I ordered a 13e. This was definitely the best thing I did as it’s just so good.

A panoptic 27mm was used as my widest to go with the ethos, a fantastic eyepiece but didn’t do it for me matched up with the ethos. I changed it for an APM 20/100 and added the 3.7ethos as my high power.

My last and final addition was after extensive reading about the nagler 22t4. This seemed to tick all the boxes for me and is a very immersive and comfortable to use 82 degrees which in used is very close to the views from my ethos. 

Sorry if this has been boring but hopefully it will be of some use to someone... maybe. 

It’s been expensive but I’ve enjoyed trying them all and learning about their capabilities. 

I now have a small set of 6 that I believe is future proof for any telescope. 

Its been a crazy year and this experimentation has kept me sane (ish) 🤪

Dale. 

A26D1BFE-7146-4D15-BF48-969E152B9487.jpeg

Wow, all in a year? I think you raise a very valid point though in that it can be costly going through the incremental upgrade path. I like to future proof too, having a core set is certainly the eventual goal that will work well in anything, but I’m not far away really. Probably won’t quite attain your perfect collection but do fancy the E6 and E13.

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34 minutes ago, Stardaze said:

Wow, all in a year? I think you raise a very valid point though in that it can be costly going through the incremental upgrade path. I like to future proof too, having a core set is certainly the eventual goal that will work well in anything, but I’m not far away really. Probably won’t quite attain your perfect collection but do fancy the E6 and E13.

It's a fair point but it's also difficult to explain to someone new to the hobby why they should spend £3K on an eyepiece set for the £1K scope that they have just bought :wink:

Sometimes a journey is the way .....

 

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11 hours ago, John said:

It's a fair point but it's also difficult to explain to someone new to the hobby why they should spend £3K on an eyepiece set for the £1K scope that they have just bought :wink:

Sometimes a journey is the way .....

 

Didn't you say that if you had one set, it would be the XW's John? I know you love the Ethos FOV in your dob though? I keep thinking every time I carry my dob from the house to the observing area, how my back will feel about that in 10 years time. Definitely a lighter setup when I get older! 

It's always nice to want a few new toys, sometimes that's the best part. My ideal set will be APM20 (not too fussed about the Ethos) Ethos 13/8/6 then I might add the XW 3.5 to the XW 5 that I have, those two are least used so couldn't justify the expense of the Ethos versions for me. Will futureproof and work well in whatever frac I buy too. Hope to sort that by the end of the year, a nice goal to work towards. And to keep this thread on track, I'd need a new case for them too 😂 

Edited by Stardaze
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My eyepiece case has been through several iterations since I first bought a case in 2017. The first iteration had space for my Telrad alongside an ES68 24mm, some BST Starguiders and a couple of orthos. They worked wonderfully with 130mm reflector. Then came the 10" dob and I entered the world of Hyperwides. APM/Lunt 100 degree eyepieces became my main eyepieces alongside an expanded ortho collection. One thing that I couldn't escape was  the fact that the orthos gave noticeably more contrast and sharper views than the 100 degree eyepieces. The latest update to my eyepiece collection reflects a desire to balance FOV with contrast/sharpness. There's still a place for hyperwides at the longer focal lengths. The TFOV and large exit pupil are a must when using filters on large nebulae. This is why the Aero 40mm has a place in my eyepiece case. The 25mm TV Plossl is my Horse Head eyepiece. 

Time will tell if this proves to be the final update to my eyepiece case. I have used John's technique of pushing the foam down rather than cutting it....just in case :D 

Top row: ES82 30mm, APM HDC 20mm, Noblex (Docter) 12.5mm with Baader Pushfix adapter fitted (Badder VIP below, modded as a 2" barlow. Used with the Noblex to fill the 7mm slow. I have extra T2 spacers to allow use at different focal lengths), Delos 10mm, 9mm BGO (beneath Delos), Pentax XW 5mm.

Bottom row: Aero 40mm, TV Plossl 25mm, TV Nagler Zoom 3-6mm, Vixen HR 3.4mm, Filters (Baader ND, TV Bandmate II OIII, Lumicon UHC, Astronomic HB)

IMG_5180.thumb.jpeg.bc7a66db475141a49bb8d186c57d1a51.jpeg

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5 hours ago, Littleguy80 said:

My eyepiece case has been through several iterations since I first bought a case in 2017. The first iteration had space for my Telrad alongside an ES68 24mm, some BST Starguiders and a couple of orthos. They worked wonderfully with 130mm reflector. Then came the 10" dob and I entered the world of Hyperwides. APM/Lunt 100 degree eyepieces became my main eyepieces alongside an expanded ortho collection. One thing that I couldn't escape was  the fact that the orthos gave noticeably more contrast and sharper views than the 100 degree eyepieces. The latest update to my eyepiece collection reflects a desire to balance FOV with contrast/sharpness. There's still a place for hyperwides at the longer focal lengths. The TFOV and large exit pupil are a must when using filters on large nebulae. This is why the Aero 40mm has a place in my eyepiece case. The 25mm TV Plossl is my Horse Head eyepiece. 

Time will tell if this proves to be the final update to my eyepiece case. I have used John's technique of pushing the foam down rather than cutting it....just in case :D 

Top row: ES82 30mm, APM HDC 20mm, Noblex (Docter) 12.5mm with Baader Pushfix adapter fitted (Badder VIP below, modded as a 2" barlow. Used with the Noblex to fill the 7mm slow. I have extra T2 spacers to allow use at different focal lengths), Delos 10mm, 9mm BGO (beneath Delos), Pentax XW 5mm.

Bottom row: Aero 40mm, TV Plossl 25mm, TV Nagler Zoom 3-6mm, Vixen HR 3.4mm, Filters (Baader ND, TV Bandmate II OIII, Lumicon UHC, Astronomic HB)

IMG_5180.thumb.jpeg.bc7a66db475141a49bb8d186c57d1a51.jpeg

Very nice collection. It’s good to read about these “journeys”, and comforting to know somewhere along the line somebody else can continue their journey with the pieces we move along. Long may it continue, especially as the prices are going up rapidly. 

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6 hours ago, Littleguy80 said:

My eyepiece case has been through several iterations since I first bought a case in 2017. The first iteration had space for my Telrad alongside an ES68 24mm, some BST Starguiders and a couple of orthos. They worked wonderfully with 130mm reflector. Then came the 10" dob and I entered the world of Hyperwides. APM/Lunt 100 degree eyepieces became my main eyepieces alongside an expanded ortho collection. One thing that I couldn't escape was  the fact that the orthos gave noticeably more contrast and sharper views than the 100 degree eyepieces. The latest update to my eyepiece collection reflects a desire to balance FOV with contrast/sharpness. There's still a place for hyperwides at the longer focal lengths. The TFOV and large exit pupil are a must when using filters on large nebulae. This is why the Aero 40mm has a place in my eyepiece case. The 25mm TV Plossl is my Horse Head eyepiece. 

Time will tell if this proves to be the final update to my eyepiece case. I have used John's technique of pushing the foam down rather than cutting it....just in case :D 

Top row: ES82 30mm, APM HDC 20mm, Noblex (Docter) 12.5mm with Baader Pushfix adapter fitted (Badder VIP below, modded as a 2" barlow. Used with the Noblex to fill the 7mm slow. I have extra T2 spacers to allow use at different focal lengths), Delos 10mm, 9mm BGO (beneath Delos), Pentax XW 5mm.

Bottom row: Aero 40mm, TV Plossl 25mm, TV Nagler Zoom 3-6mm, Vixen HR 3.4mm, Filters (Baader ND, TV Bandmate II OIII, Lumicon UHC, Astronomic HB)

IMG_5180.thumb.jpeg.bc7a66db475141a49bb8d186c57d1a51.jpeg

What a great set of eyepieces. Clearly the result of lots of homework and experimenting - and cherry picking the best for every occasion

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On 14/02/2021 at 13:02, Littleguy80 said:

My eyepiece case has been through several iterations since I first bought a case in 2017. The first iteration had space for my Telrad alongside an ES68 24mm, some BST Starguiders and a couple of orthos. They worked wonderfully with 130mm reflector. Then came the 10" dob and I entered the world of Hyperwides. APM/Lunt 100 degree eyepieces became my main eyepieces alongside an expanded ortho collection. One thing that I couldn't escape was  the fact that the orthos gave noticeably more contrast and sharper views than the 100 degree eyepieces. The latest update to my eyepiece collection reflects a desire to balance FOV with contrast/sharpness. There's still a place for hyperwides at the longer focal lengths. The TFOV and large exit pupil are a must when using filters on large nebulae. This is why the Aero 40mm has a place in my eyepiece case. The 25mm TV Plossl is my Horse Head eyepiece. 

Time will tell if this proves to be the final update to my eyepiece case. I have used John's technique of pushing the foam down rather than cutting it....just in case :D 

Top row: ES82 30mm, APM HDC 20mm, Noblex (Docter) 12.5mm with Baader Pushfix adapter fitted (Badder VIP below, modded as a 2" barlow. Used with the Noblex to fill the 7mm slow. I have extra T2 spacers to allow use at different focal lengths), Delos 10mm, 9mm BGO (beneath Delos), Pentax XW 5mm.

Bottom row: Aero 40mm, TV Plossl 25mm, TV Nagler Zoom 3-6mm, Vixen HR 3.4mm, Filters (Baader ND, TV Bandmate II OIII, Lumicon UHC, Astronomic HB)

IMG_5180.thumb.jpeg.bc7a66db475141a49bb8d186c57d1a51.jpeg

You certainly have all bases covered, it’s great to see the diversity here with an eye for detail, you have a great collection there. I’m a little intrigued with orthos, something I must try and pick up sometime. On the very bottom of my list is possibly an APM 30, but interested to note your 40 and the reasoning behind that. I had been thinking that 30 would be the widest for my 10” given the exit pupil calc, but some of these large nebula have been a struggle for me to date.

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Here’s my entry for the smallest eyepiece case. I’ve had some of my best planetary views with these orthos. In main eyepiece case, I’ve got some nice widefields (Delos, XW) which get close enough to Ortho performance to keep me happy. I can’t quite bring myself to part with these though. BGOs (5mm and 6mm) and the 7mm Meade Research Grade Ortho don’t come up often. I’ve given them their own little case that I can quickly grab when I went that extra edge when observing. 
 

B02ED46B-24D4-4388-946E-2246D9D481F2.thumb.jpeg.85b321aed0268682a645507c01c90a31.jpeg

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5 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

I wish you hadn’t mentioned the 7mm 🤣🤣🤣

The 7mm Nagler was one of my favourites, although my prefered version was the 7mm smoothy.  I made all my observations of Mars in 2003 using my FS128 and a 7mm Nagler, so I have fond memories of it. ☺

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3 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

The 7mm Nagler was one of my favourites, although my prefered version was the 7mm smoothy.  I made all my observations of Mars in 2003 using my FS128 and a 7mm Nagler, so I have fond memories of it. ☺

 

13 minutes ago, Dantooine said:

Very nice selection. Can do a lot with those. For some reason I like the idea of a 7mm nagler. 

Well in my Pentax set I do have an XL7 which is a lovely eyepiece. But let’s see if my OCD prevails 😊

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22 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Current embodiment of the TeleVue case

That's a lovely selection of eyepieces Jeremy 😀

If you didn't already have a Nagler 16 and needed to keep those Panoptics company, I'd be suggesting looking at the classifieds right now, as someone not a million miles away is finally selling one of their Panoptic 15mm... is this blatant advertising or what 🤣

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3 minutes ago, HollyHound said:

That's a lovely selection of eyepieces Jeremy 😀

If you didn't already have a Nagler 16 and needed to keep those Panoptics company, I'd be suggesting looking at the classifieds right now, as someone not a million miles away is finally selling one of their Panoptic 15mm... is this blatant advertising or what 🤣

No problem with blatant advertising.🤣🤣🤣

You are brave selling your surplus eyepieces off. I should take a leaf out of your book and do the same, but can never bring myself to do it. Same for telescopes 🤣

 

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6 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

No problem with blatant advertising.🤣🤣🤣

You are brave selling your surplus eyepieces off. I should take a leaf out of your book and do the same, but can never bring myself to do it. Same for telescopes 🤣

 

It's not bravery... my eyepiece case is now going to become two eyepiece cases very shortly, and I have loads that still won't be able to fit in those... so it's a necessary pruning for my own sanity 🤣

I just want to reach for one of two(ish) options now depending on what I'm viewing and the scope 🤣

Have to say though, it's been (and still is) a load of fun trying a variety of eyepieces across a wide range of manufacturers, FoV, type and quality... although admittedly I can't say that I've used a single bad eyepiece, with the possible exception of the one that first came with my first scope... they've all had their moments 👍

Edited by HollyHound
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6 minutes ago, HollyHound said:

It's not bravery... my eyepiece case is now going to become two eyepiece cases very shortly, and I have loads that still won't be able to fit in those... so it's a necessary pruning for my own sanity 🤣

I just want to reach for one of two(ish) options now depending on what I'm viewing and the scope 🤣

Have to say though, it's been (and still is) a load of fun trying a variety of eyepieces across a wide range of manufacturers, FoV, type and quality... although admittedly I can't say that I've used a single bad eyepiece, with the possible exception of the one that first came with my first scope... they've all had their moments 👍

Yes, there’s a lot of pleasure to be had in trying and testing. So many eyepieces are of such good quality, I find I’m now looking for an eyepiece nirvana which probably doesn’t exist - or I’ve achieved already 😊

The biggest relegation for me was many years ago when I started collecting Pentax XL eyepieces. They are still superb. The only only significant step forward was the Vixen HRs, which meant I had to get the set (with some egging on from @mikeDnight🤣). 
On and then there’s the 2-inch slippery slope......

That eyepiece spot is just so itchy.... 🤣

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22 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

No problem with blatant advertising.🤣🤣🤣

You are brave selling your surplus eyepieces off. I should take a leaf out of your book and do the same, but can never bring myself to do it. Same for telescopes 🤣

 

You could always donate them Jeremy. If you need any suggestions as to whom to donate them to, just pm me. 😆

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48 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Yes, there’s a lot of pleasure to be had in trying and testing. So many eyepieces are of such good quality, I find I’m now looking for an eyepiece nirvana which probably doesn’t exist - or I’ve achieved already 😊

The biggest relegation for me was many years ago when I started collecting Pentax XL eyepieces. They are still superb. The only only significant step forward was the Vixen HRs, which meant I had to get the set (with some egging on from @mikeDnight🤣). 
On and then there’s the 2-inch slippery slope......

That eyepiece spot is just so itchy.... 🤣

well I reckons if I got the 100 deg stuff finalised if I chose to get a set of 70ish deg they would seem so much cheaper 😉

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