Reflections in Vixen SLV EPs?

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

After a quick lunar imaging stint with the APM 80 mm F/6 triplet, I had a quick look at the Moon with my 3 Vixen SLV eyepieces (5, 9 and 15 mm, for 96x, 53.3x and 32x). The views were really crisp, and very pleasing indeed. 

I then decided to move the scope around to see whether I could spot the reflections that some have seen in these EPs. Curiously, I couldn't spot these at all. I do not doubt the reports, but given my inability to replicate these observations, I wonder if there are different production runs of Vixen SLVs. 

[John]

I could not see such reflections when I tested the SLV's Michael but Don Pensack (who posts here from time to time and has a lot of experience) has mentioned them quite often

I felt that the ones I used were really nice eyepieces. The 6mm in particular I compared at some length to the 6mm Baader Genuine Ortho and found the performance very closely matched, which is high praise for the more complex SLV. I like to think that I would have noticed stray light or reflection within the SLV during those comparisons.

Maybe there are a couple of different runs out there ?

 

[Alan White]

When I had SLV’s the only reflections I saw were from my own eye ball.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I know Don Pensack regularly mentions these reflections, and I do not doubt his report, but I see nothing of the kind. I can only explain this conflicting observations by differences between production runs. 

[Gabby76]

I have a few bought in 2017 and any reflection I have seen has been reflected from my eye. 

I did find this comment from Don so maybe it has been fixed?

 

They have a shiny internal spacer that reflects light.  That means in daytime use, or with the Moon, you'll see a reverse image on the side

moving the opposite way as whatever is in the field.  It doesn't seem to affect nighttime views of the sky (though it might be seen with a planet

if the planet drifts across the field.

That doesn't mean they can't be used on the Moon, but usually the Moon fills the field (or occupies most of it) and the spacer reflection is noticeable.

At least it was for me.

[John]

I've read that from Don a few times since I last tried them.

It would seem odd to me for a brand like Vixen to overlook something like a shiny internal spacer in what was intended to be a high quality eyepiece but I do have respect for Don's views so I'm sure that he did see this in the examples he has tried.

Maybe there is, or has been, some variation in the production runs ?

[Fozzie]

The SLV's are my ep of choice normally, I have the 5mm to 25mm, and have spent a good many hours on lunar with them. I've never seen a mirror image reflection or anything of that kind.  The only issues I've ever had was a ghosting caused by two stacked filters, I believe condensation between the filters caused a halo around Jupiter, and my 12 mm eye cup has a little rattle and is a little loose.. it was second hand and came like that.

This evening I pushed my achro to x500 with a 5mm SLV and 2.25x baaderBarlow on a telegraph pole about a mile away.. again no reflection.. lots of ca but, with a filter in place the image was still reasonably sharp.. I could make out a number of bolts holding a bar in place..

Fine ep's the SLV..

[DeanCJ]

At the end of January this year My wife and I bought a much cared for, used Celestron 8se, not long after I read John’s review of the 6, 12, and 20mm slv eyepieces, I decided that to get the best performance from this scope we should buy the best quality eyepieces that we could afford. Since February we have purchased the 25, 20, 15, 12, 10, and 9mm slv’s. I should say that I am still very much a beginner, and am not as experienced at noticing small, detailed, faults etc with equipment as more experienced people, but having read about this reflection issue I have purposely tried to find it, and can honestly say that I have not been able to, in any of the above focal lengths. 
We like the Vixen slv eyepieces so much, to fill in the gaps, we have bought the Vixen npl 30, and 8mm eyepieces, and for high power lunar use, we have also managed to buy the Vixen lv range in 7, 6, and 5mm. 
As I have said, we are still very new to this fantastic hobby, and genuinely cannot find any issues with the slv range, and would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone. 
I should just say a big thank you to John for all the detailed reviews he takes so much time to put together, as we could have spent a lot of money on eyepieces that weren’t suitable, instead we have spent quite a bit of money on something which is perfect first time, so for us, this is money well spent.

[Don Pensack]

It sounds like perhaps the issue has been addressed with current batches.  If so, when buying used, caveat emptor.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

It seems to have been solved a while ago, as I have had these for quite a while already. Maybe it's only earlier runs that suffered from this. 

[fate187]

Four weeks ago I got a new 6mm SLV to accompany another 6mm SLV I already have for some time now. I also asked Don very recently via PM on Cloudynights with pictures regarding shiny spacers in the eyepieces. See this picture: This is what you see after unthreading the bottom 1.25" barrel. The top arrow marks one small very thin shiny edge. Worse is below marked with two arrows, which is the space directly below the eyelens and is easily seen looking from top, sightly sideways.

 

[John]

52 minutes ago, fate187 said:

Four weeks ago I got a new 6mm SLV to accompany another 6mm SLV I already have for some time now. I also asked Don very recently via PM on Cloudynights with pictures regarding shiny spacers in the eyepieces. See this picture: This is what you see after unthreading the bottom 1.25" barrel. The top arrow marks one small very thin shiny edge. Worse is below marked with two arrows, which is the space directly below the eyelens and is easily seen looking from top, sightly sideways.

 

Do both the 6mm SLV's you have show this or is it just the newer one ?

 

[Geoff Barnes]

I've just taken my 4mm SLV apart and held each half up to the standard lamp on my desk (it's night time here) and saw no shiny reflections at all.

I shall make a point of using the 4mm and my new 2.4mm SLV's next time I'm out with the Dob on the moon or Sirius and see what happens. Haven't had a clear night for weeks here, winter has set in very early again this year.  

 

[fate187]

54 minutes ago, John said:

Do both the 6mm SLV's you have show this or is it just the newer one ?

 

John, I will check that later. I also have the 4mm, which is the same age as my first 6mm SLV. On a side note: I tried both 6mm SLVs in my bino with a Tak FC100DC. Very good ergonomics! No problem with eye placement. However, not as sharp and probably a little less contrast compared to 2x6.5mm Morpheus, which I tried as well. But the 6.5 mm Morpheus are not useable in bino mode for me due to eyeplacement/IPD. I ordered Delites now, problem with those might be undercut :(.

 

 

[Fozzie]

If it's ok i'm not going to take apart any of my set, as when ever i do exploratory investigative works like that on anything, there's always a bit left over that i just can't place!

Actually thinking about it might do the 12mm to see whats wrong with the twist up eye cup.

[fate187]

Silly me. I forgot, that I have already sent back the new 6mm SLV. I can only show you pictures of my older 6 and 4mm. You see below the bacl ring on top of the lens first a metallic thin spacer followed below by a thicker gray spacer, and again followed by another metallic thin spacer.

I can't remember if the newer 6mm had the same configuration, but I would tend to say yes 60/40

Oh and btw a clarification: I don't want to diminish the SLV. I like those eyepieces a lot. Its just, that with direct comparison I was able to discern visual differences in favor of a (more expensive) morpheus. This lead me to research further for another brand/type of eyepieces for my purposes

[John]

3 hours ago, fate187 said:

Oh and btw a clarification: I don't want to diminish the SLV. I like those eyepieces a lot. Its just, that with direct comparison I was able to discern visual differences in favor of a (more expensive) morpheus. This lead me to research further for another brand/type of eyepieces for my purposes

Have you tried a Pentax XW ?

 

[fate187]

I had a Pentax XW 14 once. I wasn't observing much back then. I think they could work too, but want to try something different/smaller for the shorter focal lengths. They are quite clumsy around the upper part.

[chiltonstar]

Just a comment. I have a 15mm SLV which I bought (partly on advice from @John) for my Mak 180, mainly for planetary viewing as it gives about x190 - ideal for me usually for Saturn and Jupiter.

I have not seen any obvious reflections with it although I've not used it for Venus (a cheaper well-known planetary EP I have does have objectionable reflections from the brighter planets, and gives visibly less detail). The SLV gives superb detail in the centre of the field and a wonderful colour rendition, showing the warm peach colours of Saturn very well. Eye relief is good and it is nearly parfocal with some orthos I use. The only optical failing I've found is slight CA in the outer part of the field - very obvious if a double star is allowed to drift across the field. A small failing though.

Chris

[Don Pensack]

7 hours ago, chiltonstar said:

Just a comment. I have a 15mm SLV which I bought (partly on advice from @John) for my Mak 180, mainly for planetary viewing as it gives about x190 - ideal for me usually for Saturn and Jupiter.

I have not seen any obvious reflections with it although I've not used it for Venus (a cheaper well-known planetary EP I have does have objectionable reflections from the brighter planets, and gives visibly less detail). The SLV gives superb detail in the centre of the field and a wonderful colour rendition, showing the warm peach colours of Saturn very well. Eye relief is good and it is nearly parfocal with some orthos I use. The only optical failing I've found is slight CA in the outer part of the field - very obvious if a double star is allowed to drift across the field. A small failing though.

Chris

and it's a rare eyepiece that doesn't have some chromatic aberration in the outer field.

[chiltonstar]

1 hour ago, Don Pensack said:

and it's a rare eyepiece that doesn't have some chromatic aberration in the outer field.

Maybe, although I am a little spoilt by using Orthos which have less in my experience.

Chris

[John]

When I was testing the SLV 6mm for the forum a few years back I compared it extensively with the Baader Genuine Ortho 6mm which FLO had loaned me for the purposes. Over several sessions I could see no differences at all in the performance of these two excellent eyepieces. With the additional eye relief of the SLV and it's larger eye lens it was more relaxing to use so I would have happily chosen it over the ortho on that occasion. I was rather taken aback by the SLV 6mm as I posted at the time:

 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

11 minutes ago, chiltonstar said:

Maybe, although I am a little spoilt by using Orthos which have less in my experience.

Chris

But then orthos have a narrower FOV (42 deg typically). I used to have an ortho or two (way back in 1979, when I built my first scope as a teenager). Both had 0.965" barrels. I absolutely loved the Circle-T 25 mm, which was so sharp in my 6" F/8 (small CO, good mirrors, a real planet scope, but also awesome on DSOs). Of course, the 25 mm had 20 mm eye relief, so that was fine. I also had a volcano-top 5 mm, and a symmetric achromat 9 mm. I found the latter just about usable, but  the 5 mm ortho just didn't work for me. Eye relief was way too short at about 4 mm, even without glasses I tended to bang in to the EP, making the image shake terribly. The coatings of the EPs in those days were of course not as good as the ones you can get now, so the extra glass-air interfaces don't impact as much on image quality as they used to.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Just compared the look of my EPs to the ones shown here. It looks like the light grey ring shown in the images above is black in mine (all three) 

[fate187]

In fact it looks black compared to mine in the 6 and 4mm 🤔. And are the thinner spacers that sandwich the black ring metallic or not? At least they look less reflective than mine...