TV Plossl 11mm - opinions

[estwing]

I have a set of the old Meade 3000 plossls the Japanese version...shockingly good value if you can pick them up.

[John]

I've owned a few Meade 3000's and thought them great as well. Better than the 4000's IMHO, I've had a couple of mediocre 4000s over the years.

Piero mentions using a 2.25x barlow with the 11mm TV plossl. That will have the effect of increasing the eye relief a bit of course.

[rwilkey]

On 25/09/2019 at 16:09, alan potts said:

More expensive Piero but would a De-lite not fit the bill or even an older Radian if you can find one, i use to like Radians, still a 4mm, never believed all this colour caste talk.

Hi Alan, I bought a couple of Radians s/h about a year ago and would agree with your observations.

[NGC 1502]

On 27/09/2019 at 15:55, rwilkey said:

Hi Alan, I bought a couple of Radians s/h about a year ago and would agree with your observations.

 

Indeed, the Radian colour cast issue is something I could never detect myself.  The other issue often raised with Radians was blackouts.  But all the long eye relief eyepieces I’ve ever tried could be made to blackout if my eye was too close to the eyelens.  If the Radian eyeguard is correctly deployed, zero problem, just a sharp comfortable view......

Ed.

[Louis D]

2 hours ago, NGC 1502 said:

 

Indeed, the Radian colour cast issue is something I could never detect myself.  The other issue often raised with Radians was blackouts.  But all the long eye relief eyepieces I’ve ever tried could be made to blackout if my eye was too close to the eyelens.  If the Radian eyeguard is correctly deployed, zero problem, just a sharp comfortable view......

Ed.

It was daytime blackouts due to massive SAEP.  I compared them side-by-side with Pentax XLs in an astro shop when they first came out in 1998.  I could not find any position to avoid kidney-beaning with the Radians, but no issues at all for the XLs.  I bought the 14mm and 5.2mm XLs and have never regretted that decision.  I gave Al another chance with the Delos line 13 years later, and with Paul D.'s help, he got long eye relief right that time, so I own a 10mm version now.

[NGC 1502]

1 hour ago, Louis D said:

It was daytime blackouts due to massive SAEP.  I compared them side-by-side with Pentax XLs in an astro shop when they first came out in 1998.  I could not find any position to avoid kidney-beaning with the Radians, but no issues at all for the XLs.

 

Yes, I’ve noted a Radian problem in daytime too, but they were designed for nighttime astronomy where I don’t have any issues.  I think that in daytime when the eye’s pupil is tiny, it can lead to blackouts.  Fully agreed the Pentax XLs and later XWs were / are great eyepieces.   As always, different folk can quite genuinely find what suits them doesn’t work for someone else.    

It’s been a long journey for me to finally arrive at an eyepiece set I’m happy with - Panoptic 27mm, Radians 14/8/5mm.

Ed.

 

 

 

[Louis D]

16 minutes ago, NGC 1502 said:

Yes, I’ve noted a Radian problem in daytime too, but they were designed for nighttime astronomy where I don’t have any issues.

It can still be an issue for solar and lunar observing due to the brightness of the object causing one's iris to constrict.