Show me your eyepiece/accessories case, please.

[Mr Bond]

i miss her dearly. Not sure I will ever have another so special, although I have got my eye on a shapely little 55mm Plossl that could fill the void [emoji7]

I missed my 41 Pan in the same way Derek, this has nicely filled that urge. Not sure I could resist another Panoptic though. That 55 Plossl will have about a fortnights eye relief! You'll heve to update us on how you get on with it.

Just for info, the "grenade" is an oversised plasic container that looks the part. An actual grenade is smaller and the modern ones are made without the fragmentation grooves, ie, snooth.

[DRT]

That 55 Plossl will have about a fortnights eye relief! You'll heve to update us on how you get on with it.

Just checked the Televue EP calculator and the eye relief on the 55mm is 38mm   - but I think the killer is the exit pupil, which is 5.5mm in my CPC, 9.5 in the dob and a whacking 11.5 in the small frac I have my eye on. That just isn't going to work so I will re-think the plan. Thanks for the hint

[Mr Bond]

Wow, 38mm!! On the plus side, you can stay warm and watch through your EP from the kitchen window then!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Floater]

Mr Bond, it's scary that you know so much about grenades - not the EP kind, the ones with 'fragmentation grooves', no less!

Now, must get back to being scared about slavering over pics of green and black things for sale ...

[Mr Bond]

Mr Bond, it's scary that you know so much about grenades - not the EP kind, the ones with 'fragmentation grooves', no less!

Now, must get back to being scared about slavering over pics of green and black things for sale ...

I was in HM forces, don't fret Floater, I was on the right side!!!

Most interesting optical things we had to play with at that time was IR scopes (heat signitures) and Starlight rifle scopes (these would have made a Televue 85 on top of a rifle look tidy and nicely compact!!!).

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Just checked the Televue EP calculator and the eye relief on the 55mm is 38mm   - but I think the killer is the exit pupil, which is 5.5mm in my CPC, 9.5 in the dob and a whacking 11.5 in the small frac I have my eye on. That just isn't going to work so I will re-think the plan. Thanks for the hint

Even n my C8, I prefer the 31mm T5 (Panzerfaust, because it dwarfs a hand grenade and has the right tapered shape) to the LVW42 becaus the exit pupil is 3.1 rather than 4.2. In my short frac I get 5.17 with the 31T5 and 7 with the 42mm. The latter is OK in very dark sites, but I still prefer the 31T5 in most cases. It gives 5.3 deg FOV (5.7 or so with the LVW42) so it is perfect for wide-field sweeping.

[John]

Even n my C8, I prefer the 31mm T5 (Panzerfaust, because it dwarfs a hand grenade and has the right tapered shape) to the LVW42 becaus the exit pupil is 3.1 rather than 4.2. In my short frac I get 5.17 with the 31T5 and 7 with the 42mm. The latter is OK in very dark sites, but I still prefer the 31T5 in most cases. It gives 5.3 deg FOV (5.7 or so with the LVW42) so it is perfect for wide-field sweeping.

The 31mm T5's are expensive Michael but I agree that they are wonderful eyepieces. I get more of a "sense of occasion" when I put my 31mm Nagler in the scope than I do any other eyepiece

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

The 31mm T5's are expensive Michael but I agree that they are wonderful eyepieces. I get more of a "sense of occasion" when I put my 31mm Nagler in the scope than I do any other eyepiece

The 31T5 is very expensive, but there are good alternatives, like the MaxVision 24mm 82 deg (bit shorter, not sure there is a 30mm) and the 28mm Nirvana, for a more reasonable price (still not cheap). The 30mm Luminos from Celestron might be worth a punt too

[John]

The 31T5 is very expensive, but there are good alternatives, like the MaxVision 24mm 82 deg (bit shorter, not sure there is a 30mm) and the 28mm Nirvana, for a more reasonable price (still not cheap). The 30mm Luminos from Celestron might be worth a punt too

I believe the 30mm ES 82 is very, very close to Nagler performance too.

[Dude_with_the_tube]

I believe the 30mm ES 82 is very, very close to Nagler performance too.

yep,apart of ES being 30mm and 31t5 being 31 and ES being 2 times cheaper there is very little to none difference optically.Performs very well in all focal length scopes.Had it in 4.7 ;4.6 and 14,4 focal length scopes and had no issues at all.Obviously there is a coma in faster scopes,but unfortunately also Nagler cant do anything about it.Coma corrector will be required.If you dont have the funds for the granade from nagler,get the grenade from ES and be a happy camper I have one and its not going anywhere unless something substantially better is found ( dont know anything better as of yet lol)

[John]

With all these excellent and lower cost alternatives available it makes you wonder why so many folks are prepared to spend their hard earned £'s / $'s / Euros on Tele Vue, Pentax, Zeiss, Leica, Nikon, Takahashi etc ?

[cutepetgroomer]

My current ep case is literally a small cardboard box. It's temporary for now. But it works for where I put it in when not using.

[cutepetgroomer]

With all these excellent and lower cost alternatives available it makes you wonder why so many folks are prepared to spend their hard earned £'s / $'s / Euros on Tele Vue, Pentax, Zeiss, Leica, Nikon, Takahashi etc ?

I think it is because most of the time the thought of higher price equals higher quality is true. However it is possible to get high quality for not too high of price.

[nightfisher]

I've found TV plossls very good all round eyepieces with high transmission levels. I've read that their "tone" particularly suits some objects such as Jupiter although I've never been particularly aware of this "tone" personally. They do seem to be slightly "warmer" than some eyepieces such as Baader GO's and Pentax XW's so that must be it.

Of course it raises the spectre of the really keen eyepiece collector having not only a wide set and a low glass, narrower set but also a Jupiter set, Mars set, Saturn set, Lunar set etc, etc. I see that solar sets are creeping in as well - where will it all end ?  

I have to agree with the Plossl having a warmer tone, i predominantly use VT ortho ep`s but i have been using some plossl`s, just skywatcher silver tops but rather enjoying them 

[DRT]

I think it is because most of the time the thought of higher price equals higher quality is true. However it is possible to get high quality for not too high of price.

I think that is part of it, but for me there is also a certain amount of pleasure taken from owning something that is beautifully designed, engineered and produced and that will last a lifetime. I admit to being lucky enough to be able to own the equipment that I do, and I do not doubt that there are cheaper alternatives that my inexperienced eye would be unable to criticise, but I trust the people here who comment on the finer details and have an ambition to one day have their skill and experience as an observer. That is why I want to buy top of the range gear - partly for the pleasure of owning something special and partly for the re-assurance that as I become better at this game I will have equipment that I can grow into.

[Chris]

After owning both TV Nagler and Panoptic and ES82's and Maxvisions I do find it diffucult to justify the extra cost of for the green and black beauties. I admit I've not done any side by side tests as I've not owned them at the same time but from memory if I compare my previously owned 14mm ES82 plus my current 11mm ES82 to my previously owned 13mm T6 Nagler, I think both makes have fantastic build quality, scatter is no problem with both, contrast and sharpness is excellent with both, the stars a good to the edge @ f/5 with both. If I had to take a punt at any difference from memory I would say the TV's had a slightly warmer feel and maybe a touch better ER and the ES had slighlty more light through put but it  would be good to have the ES and TV side by side to comfirm this as its not a massive difference from memory. Has anyone done this side by side test I wonder??

Chris

[John]

..... Has anyone done this side by side test I wonder??

Some have:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/173218-explore-scientific-82-degree-vs-televue-nagler-at-f5/

[Chris]

Some have:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/173218-explore-scientific-82-degree-vs-televue-nagler-at-f5/

Thanks I enjoyed that! So at f/5 you are hard pushed to tell the difference but if you own a very fast f/4 scope its probably worth getting TV's if edge sharpness is paramount. Thats the "in a nutshell" I took from the thread

I dislike scatter, ghosting and poor light through put even more than soft edges at 82 degrees, so considering both TV and ES seem to control these aberrations well I'll stick to ES even if I get a faster scope. Well, unless I see a TV at a very good price

Chris

Edited June 21, 2014 by starfox

[Dude_with_the_tube]

i did it too and my Ethos is gone  

At the end,it is up to each individual what eye pieces he likes or uses.every one seems to see things differently.There is nothing wrong having a top range eye pieces.As soon as it rocks your boat thats all what matters.there is a competition out there in eye piece production and that only does good to us end users as we are the ones who are hunting that better eye piece or that better image quality.

clear skies

[John]

.....there is a competition out there in eye piece production and that only does good to us end users as we are the ones who are hunting that better eye piece or that better image quality.

Yep - great choices available today   

[DRT]

I picked up this lovely set of TV 8mm - 25mm Plossls on Ebay last week and added the 40mm. The light weight case is ideal and was bought from here.

I intend to use these with my yet to be purchased travel scope...

There just might be room in there for a 3-6mm Zoom and a Barlow or Powermate

Edited June 27, 2014 by DRT

[Floater]

Looks great, Derek.

But who are you kidding with 'just might be room'?!

Looks to me like youve deliberately LEFT room ...!!

[DRT]

Looks great, Derek.

But who are you kidding with 'just might be room'?!

Looks to me like youve deliberately LEFT room ...!!

Rumbled ...

[cutepetgroomer]

I think that is part of it, but for me there is also a certain amount of pleasure taken from owning something that is beautifully designed, engineered and produced and that will last a lifetime. I admit to being lucky enough to be able to own the equipment that I do, and I do not doubt that there are cheaper alternatives that my inexperienced eye would be unable to criticise, but I trust the people here who comment on the finer details and have an ambition to one day have their skill and experience as an observer. That is why I want to buy top of the range gear - partly for the pleasure of owning something special and partly for the re-assurance that as I become better at this game I will have equipment that I can grow into.

well, I have discovered that some eps I own while considered cheap, are well crafted and even if I part with a scope, I wouldn't part with a good ep, unless I have another one of equal quality. I have upgraded from the cardboard box, to a baby wipe box for my eps, works we'll for home use. Keeps them together and not scattered about.

[Digger1895]

I bought my case on Saturday and put my EPs in it yesterday after first reading this post. I've never really been a collector of anything so my EPs are always going to be odds 'n' sods. I'm not so much worried about the empty spaces, more about replacing the MAs that came with the scope (photo cropped to minimise size).