24mm Panoptic vs 24mm ES 68 degree series

[bomberbaz]

Don, I notice the APM has a lip when the eyeguard is removed. What is the diameter of the top with guard removed please?  I am wondering if it is the same size at a panoptic 24mm and therefore compatible with a dioptrix!

Steve

Edited May 21, 2020 by bomberbaz

[Louis D]

4 hours ago, bomberbaz said:

Don, I notice the APM has a lip when the eyeguard is removed. What is the diameter of the top with guard removed please?  I am wondering if it is the same size at a panoptic 24mm and therefore compatible with a dioptrix!

Steve

It is an M43 thread for use in digiscoping.  As such, I believe a Dioptrx can be attached to it.

[bomberbaz]

OK I have pushed the button for a APM 24mm.

Read a lot of reports on various forums and got a lot of mixed review information on both this and the TV panoptic 24mm but when you cut through it the end results appear the same.

It appears to me that the panoptic has the edge in some areas but not all. In the areas it does perform better it is only just, barely discernible by many and certainly not enough to persuade that it's more than double the price tag of the APM is worth me paying.

Hopefully a star party in the future will allow me to compare results. 

@rwilkey the itch has been scratched 👍

[Second Time Around]

Like many of their eyepieces the Baader zoom also has a 43mm thread.  Mine takes a Dioptrx, but to make it more secure I add an O-ring or elastic band on the threads.  Then I can pick it up by the Dioptrx.

Note that a Dioptrx reduces the eye relief by roughly the same amount as many pairs of glasses.  So the APM you've bought is a good choice.  In fact, I'm tempted to buy one and compare it with my discontinued 22mm Vixen LVW.

[bomberbaz]

1 hour ago, Second Time Around said:

Like many of their eyepieces the Baader zoom also has a 43mm thread.  Mine takes a Dioptrx, but to make it more secure I add an O-ring or elastic band on the threads.  Then I can pick it up by the Dioptrx.

Note that a Dioptrx reduces the eye relief by roughly the same amount as many pairs of glasses.  So the APM you've bought is a good choice.  In fact, I'm tempted to buy one and compare it with my discontinued 22mm Vixen LVW.

Yes on wednesday I was trying out my 12.5mm Nikon with and without dioptrix to see if I really needed it on a 2.5mm exit pupil and found I definately didn't. The difference was hardly noticeable and certainly didn't detract from the views. M39 being a perfect object to assess this.

What I did prefer was getting my eye that few mm further in to drink in that immersive 102 degree fov. Don't get me wrong, dioptrix viewing is much easier and more comfortable than using glass imho, just prefer to not use if I can get away with it.

Overall though I have worked out dioptrix over glasses difference is 3-4 mm gain, so still fantastic bit of kit.

Steve 

[Louis D]

2 hours ago, bomberbaz said:

Yes on wednesday I was trying out my 12.5mm Nikon with and without dioptrix to see if I really needed it on a 2.5mm exit pupil and found I definately didn't. The difference was hardly noticeable and certainly didn't detract from the views. M39 being a perfect object to assess this.

If you don't mind disclosing your observing eye prescription, how many diopters of cylinder (astigmatism) correction are you dealing with in that eye?  I've got 2 diopters CYL in my observing eye and notice improvement down to about 1mm, although it is subtle at that point, with eyeglasses.

[bomberbaz]

1.5 Louis, according to televue's chart I should be needing the dioptrix right down to a 7mm eyepiece but that isn't the case.

Perhaps some additional checking needs doing on brighter objects, so will try again when the moon is up and around for viewing.