Decent Cheap 30mm eyepiece for well under £20

[F15Rules]

Hi,

For the foreseeable future I am on a tight budget.. but I wanted to get a pair of cheapish 30mm eyepieces for low power viewing with my Revelation binoviewer and last week I took a punt on a pair of 30mm Ostara Plossls, priced at £17.99 each with free delivery.

Well they arrived a few days ago....and I have to say that I am very pleased with them, for the money paid out. Tonight I gave one of them (cyclops viewing) a good check out versus my excellent 28mm Carton Japan eyepiece (before you ask, my chances of getting a second Carton to pair up with this one are less than extremely unlikely!). The Carton is a superb little eyepiece and gives lovely, high contrast views. At 28mm vs 30mm the two eyepieces are close enough to compare fields of view etc. 

I viewed the double double in Lyra with both eyepieces, alternating back and forth in my FS128 with both WO 2" enhanced diagonal and Baader T2 prism...and I have to say, the Ostara plossl acquitted itself quite well. It is a lightweight build, but solid enough, with a nice large eyelens (see photos) and a smooth barrel, so no undercut to foul up on diagonals' compression rings! To be sure, the Carton beat the Ostara on contrast and was slightly but definitely better on light transmission, but the cheap Ostara gave very nice, sharp views over a field I'd estimate to be c 52 degrees - ideal for binoviewing. Colour rendition was also very nice, I could clearly see that a fairly faint star (with a fainter companion) some way south of the double double (but in the same fov) was a distinct reddish hue.

I briefly tried the pair of Ostaras in my Revelation binoviewers the other night, but had to use x1.6 nosepieces to bring them to focus as I did not have enough in focus on the Tak to do without these: however, I have ordered a used Baader Ultrashort adapter which I hope will get me to native focus without the need for OCS or barlows.

I believe these Ostara eps are a generic brand, also seen under the Omegon name (and, no doubt various others), but credit where it is due, I think they represent excellent value and deliver very nice views for the price paid. They do have long eye relief, but I found that using a pair of winged rubber eyeguards made it much easier to correctly place my eye to get the best views.

Recommended!

Dave

Edited December 4, 2019 by F15Rules
Photos added

[John]

Its good to know, from a reliable and experienced observer, that you can get a decent eyepiece that will enable your scope perform well and provide enjoyable views, for under £20.00

Thanks for posting this Dave.

[F15Rules]

Thanks John.

I was pleasantly surprised by these EPs. Having more restricted funds recently has rather opened my eyes to the fact that it IS possible to get really pleasant viewing for a reasonable cost these days.. certainly, newcomers to the hobby can get good views with entry level equipment, at prices that we could only dream of 30 or 40 years ago.

Dave

[joe aguiar]

for 17 each thats a great buy and nothing wrong with plossls, there are much worse than them that get thrown in to starter scopes evem mid level scopes.

joejaguar