TeleVue - a VERY brief first light

[parallaxerr]

After a few very satisfying sessions hunting DSO's recently, I've been questioning if I can improve my views with better eyepieces that may have better transmission. I am currently only using a MkIV Baader Zoom and Celestron Omni 32mm Plossl in my one and only 4" F7 refractor. The Baader zoom has really helped me identify what EP FL's work on what DSO's from my bortle 5 skies and the following are my observations on common/favourite targets.

- 16mm is by far the most used setting and works very well on the Dumbell & Omega nebulae with UHC/OIII filters for example. 16mm also frames a lot of open clusters quite nicely.

- For the Ring Nebula I find no filter and more power works, I often use between 10-12mm. This range also works well for the Double Cluster in Perseus.

- For globs I frequently wind the zoom down to the 8mm setting.

- I had my very first view of the Veil Nebula recently, for this I used the 32mm plossl to bump up the exit pupil combined with the OIII filter. I have read that the Veil may respond to a little more power by increasing contrast, so I plan to try out ~24mm with the OIII next time out.

- When it comes to planetary, the maximum mag my skies have allowed on Jupiter reently has been around x134 which is the 12mm setting on the zoom combined with the x2.25 barlow. Effectively a 5.5mm EP.

So, the following focal lengths are set in my sights - 11mm, 16mm, 24mm. I will keep the 32mm plossl and I have just acquired a "new in box" Orion Shorty Plus barlow (same as Celestron Ultima), which I read is a great performer and will give me the 5.5mm FL for planetary work when combined with an 11mm EP. There are two EP brands that offer these FL's - Explore Scientific and Televue with ES82° 11mm, ES68° 16mm, ES68° 24mm or Nagler 11mm T6, Nagler 16mmT5 and Panoptic 24mm respectively. Low level OCD (not really) dictates I MUST stick to one brand!

Given that I am now starting to properly observe and not just look and I am attempting to tease out finer details, I can't help thinking TV is the way to go. I imagine TV EP's combined with my Tak prism will offer the peace of mind that the 4" cannot transmit many more photons to my eye! Also, I am far more aware of edge abberations and they're starting to bother me in the zoom!

But, which EP first? The zoom, plossl and barlow combo cover all focal lengths so I'm struggling to rationalise which FL should come first. The Veil is high on my observing list and of all the DSO's I've viewed, it appears to need the most help to be seen, so I think the 24mm should come first. But the 24mm may be used infrequently and I use 16mm quite a lot, so should that come first? But, Jupiter and Saturn are still viewable and the 11mm barlowed would suit.........see what I mean!

Final note, manual alt az tracking only, so I have pretty much discounted smaller FoV EPs. If you've got this far, apologies for the long post and thanks for persevering! Any and all rational or irrational guidance welcome!

Edited August 29, 2019 by parallaxerr

[Ricochet]

I think your most expensive eyepiece should probably be the one you use the most, so I would start with the 16mm. 

[Craney]

Look in todays   'For Sale' .....   that'll get you started

[bingevader]

A frac and his money are soon parted!

If the 16mm is your most used, I'd start with that too.

From what I've read, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

[Helen]

One more thing to think about is field of view.  The eyepieces you have are all relatively narrow field.  So you may be able to still get the framing you like but at higher magnification with a higher power, wider field eyepiece.  And for manual then as you say wider is easier.

I love my 24 Panoptic in all my scopes.  

My favourite 16mm is the William Optic/Nirvana UWAN.  I also like the 13 Nagler.

May be an idea to play around with FLO's five calculator.

Enjoy the hunt!

Helen

[parallaxerr]

39 minutes ago, Craney said:

Look in todays   'For Sale' .....   that'll get you started

I may or may not have been in touch with a certain seller who recently posted in the for sale section. This thread may come to a close imminently!

[parallaxerr]

1 minute ago, Helen said:

May be an idea to play around with FLO's five calculator.

Aah the tool I frequently use to paralyse myself with excessive FoV analysis 🤣

[Helen]

Just now, parallaxerr said:

Aah the tool I frequently use to paralyse myself with excessive FoV analysis 🤣

Sponsored by our significant others 🤣

[parallaxerr]

Well that was short lived. 11mm & 16mm acquired, profuse sweating initiated! Thanks to @David Hardie

Just a 24 pan to go, that's going to have to wait a few months now though!

Edited August 29, 2019 by parallaxerr

[Ruud]

Instead of the 24mm Panoptic I'd choose the 24mm ES 68°. Performance seems identical to me. (My fastest scope is an f/5, there might be a difference between these two at f/4.5. Don't know.)

 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2019 by Ruud

[John]

I had the ES 24m 68 and it was very nice. I did eventually move to the 24mm Panoptic though, which IMHO is slightly better optically, is more compact and is just a wonderful little eyepiece . Was it worth the additional £'s ???. Well to me, yes but then I'm easily pursuaded when it comes to Tele Vue.

If you have OCD getting involved with Tele Vue can be a very expensive past time though

[parallaxerr]

I too had the ES68° 24mm previously and found it to be nice eyepiece. I sold it on because it wasn't a suitable FL for the scope I had at the time and didn't get used.

I'll have to evaluate the effect of exit pupil on the Veil more using the Baader Zoom and will then select a 68° to suit, but I suspect it will be a TV given that I now have 2 Naglers on the way.

Of course, I may find 32mm to be the best, in which case I'll stick with a plossl as I don't want to consider the even slipperier 2" route!

Edited August 29, 2019 by parallaxerr

[carastro]

Quote

Green & Black club

Sorry, but what on Earth (or sky) is the Green and Black club.

Carole

[johninderby]

Could be this I suppose. 🤔

Edited August 29, 2019 by johninderby

[R26 oldtimer]

33 minutes ago, parallaxerr said:

given that I now have 2 Naglers on the way.

If that's the ad you're referring to...

...then you are in for a very nice surprise 😁

[Thalestris24]

https://www.greenandblacks.co.uk/

[parallaxerr]

1 hour ago, R26 oldtimer said:

If that's the ad you're referring to...

...then you are in for a very nice surprise 😁

Same seller, different EP's! Just Naglers (he says) coming my way. Ethoi, well they're for another life!

[parallaxerr]

2 hours ago, carastro said:

Sorry, but what on Earth (or sky) is the Green and Black club.

Carole

 

2 hours ago, johninderby said:

Could be this I suppose. 🤔

 

1 hour ago, Thalestris24 said:

https://www.greenandblacks.co.uk/

First rule of Green & Black club - don't talk about Green & Black club 🤣

[John]

3 hours ago, parallaxerr said:

I too had the ES68° 24mm previously and found it to be nice eyepiece. I sold it on because it wasn't a suitable FL for the scope I had at the time and didn't get used.

I'll have to evaluate the effect of exit pupil on the Veil more using the Baader Zoom and will then select a 68° to suit, but I suspect it will be a TV given that I now have 2 Naglers on the way.

Of course, I may find 32mm to be the best, in which case I'll stick with a plossl as I don't want to consider the even slipperier 2" route!

I can understand why you might want to avoid 2 inch eyepieces so I wont bore you with just how wonderful the Veil looks with them, especially with the 21mm Ethos

[Davey-T]

16 minutes ago, John said:

I can understand why you might want to avoid 2 inch eyepieces so I wont bore you with just how wonderful the Veil looks with them, especially with the 21mm Ethos

Then you also need a 31mm T5 to try and decide which is best, only one way to find out 😂

Dave

[parallaxerr]

Stop it now gents. At least let me ride the 82° wave before you drag me deeper!

[Louis D]

6 minutes ago, parallaxerr said:

Stop it now gents. At least let me ride the 82° wave before you drag me deeper!

You don't know the power of the Green & Black side:

Resistance is futile:

[Raph-in-the-sky]

4 hours ago, John said:

I had the ES 24m 68 and it was very nice. I did eventually move to the 24mm Panoptic though, which IMHO is slightly better optically, is more compact and is just a wonderful little eyepiece . Was it worth the additional £'s ???. Well to me, yes but then I'm easily pursuaded when it comes to Tele Vue.

If you have OCD getting involved with Tele Vue can be a very expensive past time though

Have you had any of the ES 82° range? How do you think they would perform in a 10'' F4.7 dob?

[John]

1 hour ago, Davey-T said:

Then you also need a 31mm T5 to try and decide which is best, only one way to find out 😂

Dave

I'm very lucky that I have both. I thought that I might not need the 31mm Nagler once I got the Ethos 21 but I've found that I use it enough to hang onto it. With my 12 inch dob the 21mm Ethos gets a lot more "air time" because the higher magnfication and smaller exit pupil are more beneficial when observing faint fuzzies from my moderately light polluted garden.

 

[John]

47 minutes ago, Raph-in-the-sky said:

Have you had any of the ES 82° range? How do you think they would perform in a 10'' F4.7 dob?

No. The ES that I've used and owned were the 24mm 68 degree and the 20mm 100 degree. They were both very nice eyepieces.

I've read enough reports on the 82 degree ES eyepieces to realise that you get 90% or even 95% of the performance of a Nagler in scopes down to F/5. Below that I rekcon the Naglers will be better corrected at the edges of the field of view but the ES 82's will still be doing a good job.