My eyepieces from 11 years ago

[John]

I came across this photo of the eyepiece set that I had back in October 2009. There is a theme there

 

[JeremyS]

That would still be a wonderful set in October 2020 John. I wonder how many you still have.

[John]

21 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

That would still be a wonderful set in October 2020 John. I wonder how many you still have.

I still have the 31mm Nagler and the 13mm Ethos.

 

[Louis D]

I have the 22mm Nagler T4 now.  Does the 31mm Nagler have the same usable eye relief as the 22mm NT4?  I'm using the 30mm ES-82 mushroom top right now because the eye lens is basically flush with the top and I can just take in the full FOV with eyeglasses.  I've wondered over the years if it is worth upgrading to the 31mm NT5 for its better correction.  Although I wouldn't do it if it doesn't have at least as much usable eye relief as the ES.

My TV gear includes all the NT4s, 27mm Panoptic, 10mm Delos, 2x 1.25" Barlow, and PBI.  They're all fantastic.

Adding @Don Pensack re: 31mm vs 22mm Nagler usable eye relief question.

Edited October 30, 2020 by Louis D

[John]

4 hours ago, Louis D said:

.... Does the 31mm Nagler have the same usable eye relief as the 22mm NT4? .....

 

It's been a long time since I owned the 22mm T4 but I seem to recall that it was an easy eyepiece to see the full field with, maybe a touch easier than the 31mm T5 ?

Don Pensack might see this and comment - he probably has more recent experience of these two eyepieces than I do.

I believe that Don now uses the 22 T4 Nagler rather than the 21mm Ethos because he now finds the eye relief more comfortable and the optical quality comparable.

 

[RickEm]

6 hours ago, John said:

I came across this photo of the eyepiece set that I had back in October 2009. There is a theme there

 

John, that Ethos has proven to be a cuckoo in the nest.  It has driven out everyone except the grenade.

Edited October 30, 2020 by RickEm

[Ken82]

6 hours ago, John said:

I came across this photo of the eyepiece set that I had back in October 2009. There is a theme there

 

I like it John ! 
 

Have you an updated image from recent years ? What are you using now ? 
 

ken 

[Timebandit]

 

 

 A nice quality set of eyepiece in green and black .

An eyepiece set like that would keep many of us happy for many years, probably a lifetime ,and a great investment I should of imagine if you compared the price in 2009 to 2020

 

, 

[John]

1 hour ago, Ken82 said:

I like it John ! 
 

Have you an updated image from recent years ? What are you using now ? 
 

ken 

Thanks

I don't have a recent image but Tele Vue and Pentax are the mainstay of my eyepiece sets now.

 

[Don Pensack]

On 30/10/2020 at 10:57, John said:

It's been a long time since I owned the 22mm T4 but I seem to recall that it was an easy eyepiece to see the full field with, maybe a touch easier than the 31mm T5 ?

Don Pensack might see this and comment - he probably has more recent experience of these two eyepieces than I do.

I believe that Don now uses the 22 T4 Nagler rather than the 21mm Ethos because he now finds the eye relief more comfortable and the optical quality comparable.

 

Basically because from 11mm up, I have to use glasses to eliminate visible astigmatism.

I recently sold my 21 Ethos and went back to a 22mm T4 Nagler.  It works well for me with glasses, and I have fairly deep-set eyes.

I find it sharper than I remembered from 1998-2010, probably because I had some uncorrected astigmatism then and viewed without glasses.

Now I have fully-corrected vision and find the star images tiny little points.  Amazing what you see when your eye's aberrations are corrected.

I always loved the 22mm, but never thought it was as sharp as some other eyepieces, thinking that was in the eyepiece.  Oops.  Well, live and learn.

Did I mention it's a comfortable eyepiece to use.  I experience no finicky eye positioning, either.

 

The 31mm is also usable with glasses, but it's a little harder with glasses on.  It might have less eye relief, but I can't be certain.  Sometimes, it's just the design of the eyepiece.

On paper, the 11mm Apollo 11 eyepiece, at 85°, has even less eye relief than the 31mm Nagler, yet the 11mm is much easier to use with glasses.  Sometimes you just have to try

an eyepiece to know.

 

One thing I might mention about glasses and an eyepiece with such a large eye lens: you might see the rims of your glasses in the field, and bifocals don't work if you ever look down at the bottom of the field.

Long eye relief eyepieces with large eye lenses, used with glasses, sort of require very large-lensed eyeglasses (as were really popular in the '80s).

Fortunately, there are a lot of makers of just that kind of eyeglasses.

That would put the frames outside the field of view, and allow bifocals to be used (as you might need them to read your notes, star atlas, or tablet).

Edited October 31, 2020 by Don Pensack

[Mr Spock]

I used to have a 22mm T4 Nagler, I can testify to its quality. An easy eyepiece to look through too. 

I only sold that and the 17mm T4 because I like the extra 'comfort' offered by the LVW 22mm and 17mm I bought to replace them.

[John]

I have owned the Vixen LVW 22mm and it is a very comfortable eyepiece to use and also a top perfomer.

The other Vixen LVW's are pretty good as well. One of my early reports for the fourum:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/blog/vixen-lvw-vs-baader-hyperion-review.html

 

 

[Paz]

On 30/10/2020 at 13:39, Louis D said:

I have the 22mm Nagler T4 now.  Does the 31mm Nagler have the same usable eye relief as the 22mm NT4?  I'm using the 30mm ES-82 mushroom top right now because the eye lens is basically flush with the top and I can just take in the full FOV with eyeglasses.  I've wondered over the years if it is worth upgrading to the 31mm NT5 for its better correction.  Although I wouldn't do it if it doesn't have at least as much usable eye relief as the ES.

My TV gear includes all the NT4s, 27mm Panoptic, 10mm Delos, 2x 1.25" Barlow, and PBI.  They're all fantastic.

Adding @Don Pensack re: 31mm vs 22mm Nagler usable eye relief question.

I have 31mm and 22mm Naglers in my set up so that I can observe with glasses, and I find both are fine for me.