Turning Full Circle.....

[cloudsweeper]

Stock EPs > Plossls > cue FOV Fever > 82 (and even 100) deg models > see the value of decent Plossls (sharpness, contrast - for lunar, doubles, etc.) > bought a TV 20mm Plossl > just bought a Meade 4000 32mm Super Plossl secondhand > more similar purchases planned.  

At this rate, I should have all bases covered!

Doug.

[John]

The eyepiece is pretty low down in the "wobbly stack" as Richard Suiter described in "Star Testing Astronomical Telescopes" the filters that affect the quality of the view we actually see. The top 8 from that list are:

1         Seeing (not transparency, but the level of atmospheric disturbance which distorts the image moment to moment).

2    Quality of the primary optics.

3     Central obstruction size.

4     Alignment of the optics (collimation).

5     The diagonal being used.

6     The ability of the focuser to deliver critical fine focus.

7       The eyepiece.

8       The skill and fatigue level of the observer and their eyes.

Amazing that there is so much discussion of them really !

 

[cloudsweeper]

John - Yes, I've seen this list; very interesting.  Wonder where you with your expertise would place EPs?  Getting worried now, maybe I'm developing a fetish for these lovely little glass-filled tubes!!  😉

Doug.

[vlaiv]

I think that EPs get so much "chatter" coming their way for a reason. Just look at that list and name any other item on that list that you can vastly improve upon by spending only a few dozen of monetary units more over "stock" items . Well apart from collimation - that can cost nothing if you have certain model of scope (on the other hand, I guess it can cost quite a bit to have triplet collimated by professional?).

[cloudsweeper]

10 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

I think that EPs get so much "chatter" coming their way for a reason. Just look at that list and name any other item on that list that you can vastly improve upon by spending only a few dozen of monetary units more over "stock" items . Well apart from collimation - that can cost nothing if you have certain model of scope (on the other hand, I guess it can cost quite a bit to have triplet collimated by professional?).

True.  As for collimation, Yes - it only cost me a cap.  Never bothered with a Cheshire or a laser.  😉

Doug.

[Ruud]

Suiter must be wrong. How does the diagonal matter more than the eyepiece? I can easily see an IQ difference between eyepieces, but find the difference between diagonals is very hard to see if at all.

Also, Suiter splits up the telescope in component parts and gives them all a place in the list, yet he completely forgets aperture.

There's more that's wrong with his list: Points 1 and 8 are irrelevant to the quality of any setup.

Eyepieces matter, I use mine in three telescopes and if they weren't any good I'd notice that in all of them. 

[John]

20 minutes ago, Ruud said:

Suiter must be wrong.....

Thats a brave statement  - many observational astronomers far more experienced than myself seem to place a lot of store in his work.

Not you though, obviously.

 

[John]

1 hour ago, cloudsweeper said:

Wonder where you with your expertise would place EPs? .......

I'm probably not the best person to ask Doug - I'm a confirmed "occularholic"

 

[cloudsweeper]

15 minutes ago, John said:

I'm probably not the best person to ask Doug - I'm a confirmed "occularholic"

 

Think I'm going that way myself, John.  But it seems that as long as you have good, well collimated optics, then the EP quality is undeniably significant, taking into account the balance between contrast, FOV, eye relief, etc..  

All good stuff - challenging, interesting.  Not to mention expensive!  😉

Doug.

[Littleguy80]

Variety is the spice of life. Each eyepiece seems to have its own personality. I really like to experiment with finding the right eyepiece for the object. It’s amazing how much difference getting the right magnification/exit pupil with the right  FOV makes to what you’re observing. Plus the different views give a different experience of the object. Doesn’t have to be expensive either. My 9mm BGO cost £50 and has shown me fainter objects than any of my more expensive eyepieces have been able to. 

[cloudsweeper]

9 hours ago, Littleguy80 said:

Variety is the spice of life. Each eyepiece seems to have its own personality. I really like to experiment with finding the right eyepiece for the object. It’s amazing how much difference getting the right magnification/exit pupil with the right  FOV makes to what you’re observing. Plus the different views give a different experience of the object. Doesn’t have to be expensive either. My 9mm BGO cost £50 and has shown me fainter objects than any of my more expensive eyepieces have been able to. 

True.  For me, the cost relates more to the amount of EPs than individual prices.  (Even the TVs I have are at the cheaper end!)  I like to have a good range of EPs at my disposal to hopefully spot subtle (or occasionally larger) changes in the view, so I do use several of them every session.  That's part of the pleasure for me, I suppose!

Doug.