New eye piece for impending new scope

[CedricTheBrave]

I have very few eye pieces most were supplied with my 200PDS many years ago but rarely used as I have mainly  been imaging.

they include

Skywatcher 28mm

10mm super plossl 52deg

meade super plossl 6.4mm

and a 40mm Plossl

I also have a SW 2 x Barlow and a Televu powermate x 4

in the new year I will be taking delivery of a new VX14 14" F4.6 monster from Orion Optics! (very weak moment) and my beloved has asked what I want for Xmas so i am thinking of improving my eye piece collection. Still keeping the 200PDS for imaging.

I was thinking maybe a good quality 8mm but looking for recommendations that would suit the new scope.

budget isn't huge but I can pad it out a little

what would you guys recommend please?

[CedricTheBrave]

just to add my garden is north facing so planets are difficult with the house in the way so looking at dso and nebula

[SMF]

Hi, I can’t talk tech spec much I’m afraid though but I’ve got the VX12L on a dob mount and a 200p EQ and absolutely love my Pentax XWs with them.

The 5 and 7 for planets but for DSOs the 10 and 20 get used a lot. Actually they all get used loads right up to the 40mm.

They’re not to everyone’s taste I hear but they are my ‘life time’ set.

Very comfortable to use for long periods. I like the eyecup design, eyerelief and are easy going with or without glasses.

I think the view they give is awesome, widefield, sharp and to me contrast is excellent. I’d not part with them, scopes might come and go but decent eps will stay with you forever.

The VX12L was my first ‘large’ scope and it blew me away, I think you’re in for a real treat with the VX14 🙂

[Zermelo]

How huge is huge?

I'll say it before anyone else does:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bst-starguider-eyepieces/bst-starguider-60-8mm-ed-eyepiece.html

[CedricTheBrave]

quite a cost difference between those two!

[Tiago Ferreira]

I love my ES 9mm 100º and with a 2xES barlow i get 333x

It's an heavy setup but very effective. Had to add more counterweight to see jupiter and saturn at this altitude now.

[SMF]

You’ve just dobbed in over 2.5k on a first class scope. It deserves a couple of high end eyepieces whatever the make. It’s taken me an age to get my set of XWs. I went through loads of others getting here but I’ve a lot of grey hairs and all the kids have flown so easier for me to be a little frivolous. In the real world we watch the pennies but it’s a hobby after all and at my age not meant to be rational. I’m not Televue frivolous though. That’s an expense and rationale to far 😉 Sorry to all you TV fans. 

[John]

16 minutes ago, SMF said:

You’ve just dobbed in over 2.5k on a first class scope. It deserves a couple of high end eyepieces whatever the make. It’s taken me an age to get my set of XWs. I went through loads of others getting here but I’ve a lot of grey hairs and all the kids have flown so easier for me to be a little frivolous. In the real world we watch the pennies but it’s a hobby after all and at my age not meant to be rational. I’m not Televue frivolous though. That’s an expense and rationale to far 😉 Sorry to all you TV fans. 

The XW's do work very well in a big dobsonian.

I'm even more irrational / frivolous than you though - I use a Panoptic / Delos / Pentax XW / Nagler zoom set for my refractors and have a Nagler / Ethos / ES 92 set for my 12 inch dob

I guess a lot hinges on the budget that @CedricTheBrave has for eyepieces though. At £250 a pop the XW's are not exactly cheapies.

At the other end of the scale, the 8mm BST Starguider suggested by @Zermelo is actually a pretty good eyepiece for it's < £50 price tag. On a tight budget it would do a decent job and is not so wide that it makes a coma corrector mandatory.

There are lots of options in between as well these days: Explore Scientific 68's or 82's, Baader Morpheus etc, etc. 

 

 

 

Edited December 6, 2020 by John

[banjaxed]

I recently added a 16 mm Skywatcher Nirvana 82 degree to my collection an am very pleased with it. The wide angle really is a treat for £69.00.

[SMF]

Completely agree Neutron and the Morpheus range is very nice and those ES are incredible value!

As the cost goes up the difference in performance gets ever smaller.

I was happy to stop at the XWs and being ocd needed a matching set so went on the long journey to collect them all. Mostly second hand or occasionally when on offer or after selling other items to finance them I bought new.

Second hand is a sure bet for any eyepiece if you can find them particularly on this forum. I saw a 14XW on ABS recently for 195 and I paid between 165 and 195 for most of mine. The 30 and 40 being released helped.

I love them for no rational reason I can put my finger on. Just so comfortable to use.

To be honest  found that whatever suited someone else didn’t necessarily suit me so buying second hand meant selling on at no cost if I wasn’t happy.

 

 

 

[CedricTheBrave]

29 minutes ago, SMF said:

You’ve just dobbed in over 2.5k on a first class scope. It deserves a couple of high end eyepieces whatever the make. It’s taken me an age to get my set of XWs. I went through loads of others getting here but I’ve a lot of grey hairs and all the kids have flown so easier for me to be a little frivolous. In the real world we watch the pennies but it’s a hobby after all and at my age not meant to be rational. I’m not Televue frivolous though. That’s an expense and rationale to far 😉 Sorry to all you TV fans. 

yeah i know hence the question really as i want to make the most of what it can deliver.

the statement ref cost difference was purely that there is quite a difference! are the less pricy ones less so in quality etc.

i am leaning towards the Baader starter set atm I think it looks like a good medium at £375 for 4 

but then there is the zoom!

[faulksy]

4 hours ago, CedricTheBrave said:

I have very few eye pieces most were supplied with my 200PDS many years ago but rarely used as I have mainly  been imaging.

they include

Skywatcher 28mm

10mm super plossl 52deg

meade super plossl 6.4mm

and a 40mm Plossl

I also have a SW 2 x Barlow and a Televu powermate x 4

in the new year I will be taking delivery of a new VX14 14" F4.6 monster from Orion Optics! (very weak moment) and my beloved has asked what I want for Xmas so i am thinking of improving my eye piece collection. Still keeping the 200PDS for imaging.

I was thinking maybe a good quality 8mm but looking for recommendations that would suit the new scope.

budget isn't huge but I can pad it out a little

what would you guys recommend please?

same dob i used to have, sold it to a member on here.delos were very good and pentax. had a few naglers all were sharp as a sharp thing.

if your budget will stretch ethos , consider apm 100* as well, here is the link. love my 20mm https://www.apm-telescopes.de/en/optical-accessories/eyepieces/more-74-ultra-wide-angle/apm-lunt-eyepieces.html

Edited December 6, 2020 by faulksy

[John]

15 minutes ago, CedricTheBrave said:

yeah i know hence the question really as i want to make the most of what it can deliver.

the statement ref cost difference was purely that there is quite a difference! are the less pricy ones less so in quality etc.

i am leaning towards the Baader starter set atm I think it looks like a good medium at £375 for 4 

but then there is the zoom!

The Baader Hyperions don't do so well in an F/4.5 scope. They show quite a lot of astigmatism (distorted stars) in the outer half of the field of view.

The Morpheus is a much better range for such scopes.

The zoom is not bad but it's field of view at the 24mm end is quite narrow at 46 degrees. You will want at least one other low power / wide field eyepiece, ideally in the 2 inch format to make the most of the scopes potential.

This is the challenge with a big aperture and reasonably fast scope - you think the purchase price of the scope is quite high and then find out that you can spend as much again or even more on eyepieces plus a coma corrector to get the best out of it

And we have not even started on filters for deep sky observing ......

Edited December 6, 2020 by John

[CedricTheBrave]

37 minutes ago, John said:

The Baader Hyperions don't do so well in an F/4.5 scope. They show quite a lot of astigmatism (distorted stars) in the outer half of the field of view.

The Morpheus is a much better range for such scopes.

The zoom is not bad but it's field of view at the 24mm end is quite narrow at 46 degrees. You will want at least one other low power / wide field eyepiece, ideally in the 2 inch format to make the most of the scopes potential.

This is the challenge with a big aperture and reasonably fast scope - you think the purchase price of the scope is quite high and then find out that you can spend as much again or even more on eyepieces plus a coma corrector to get the best out of it

And we have not even started on filters for deep sky observing ......

thanks John that really helps

 

[Ships and Stars]

Sounds like a superb scope Cedric!

I've a 300p f4.9 dob and a 500p f3.95 dob, I had a couple of Ethos but sold them along the way and replaced them with 9/13/20mm APM XWAs 100 deg EPs which are pretty close to Ethos spec in my humble opinion.

APM Germany is selling a set of 3 on a good discount, but even on their own, I consider them an absolute bargain. If interested, I'd jump on that before we leave the EU come January 1.

I also use a 17.5 Morpheus which is excellent in fast scopes and gives plenty of eye relief.

So that's the 9/13/20 100deg APMs, a 17.5 Morpheus and lastly, a 10mm Baader Classic Ortho (BCO) for small galaxies, plus a 2x TV powermate. That's all I use, but I'd like a widefield 30mm EP for the slower dob and a widefield 24-25mm EP for max exit pupil in the fast dob.

Haven't used the Delos or Pentax XWs, but they both receive excellent reviews.

On a budget but still requiring high quality, I'd look at APM or Morpheus. The APM Ultra Flat Field EPs also seem to garner praise. 

Televue filters aren't cheap, but the Nebustar is just awesome! I use that and Astronomik filters. Insanely expensive for small pieces of glass, but they just work and have tight quality control.

Have fun!

PS I've had a couple of Hyperions as well, and as John says, they don't like fast scopes, so I'd avoid those but the Morpheus are fine. The XWAs are brilliant though!

 

Edited December 6, 2020 by Ships and Stars

[Zermelo]

1 hour ago, CedricTheBrave said:

yeah i know hence the question really as i want to make the most of what it can deliver.

the statement ref cost difference was purely that there is quite a difference! are the less pricy ones less so in quality etc.

i am leaning towards the Baader starter set atm I think it looks like a good medium at £375 for 4 

but then there is the zoom!

ah, then I misunderstood your "not huge" 😉
I'll leave you to talk serious money with the other folk

[Paz]

I have a vx14 and it is a fine scope, the best I've owned so far and still my favourite.

I don't have anything to add to the eyepiece discussion but if your wife's question as to what you want for Christmas still stands, I recommend you ask for some dumbbells/barbells and weights so you can get/stay strong enough to lug the VX14 out, or alternatively ask for an observatory... it's only asking, what's the worst that could happen?! 😀

[CedricTheBrave]

thanks everyone for the input

I have decided to go for a couple of the Morpheus ones to start and see how I get on with them

 

[CedricTheBrave]

I already have a pier so hopefully it shouldnt need moving often!

weatabix also on order

[John]

5 minutes ago, CedricTheBrave said:

I already have a pier so hopefully it shouldnt need moving often!

weatabix also on order

Ahh - so you have bought a 14 inch optical tube ?

I assumed that you had bought the full dobsonian scope

The eyepiece advice is all still valid of course !

Will you be putting the 14 inch on the NEQ6 ?

 

[Ships and Stars]

5 hours ago, CedricTheBrave said:

thanks everyone for the input

I have decided to go for a couple of the Morpheus ones to start and see how I get on with them

 

The Morpheus are really good, but my one reservation about them is the max focal length of 17.5mm which only gives you a 3.8mm exit pupil, not fully optimal for fainter nebula and galaxies. If you are mainly observing planets, then that's something else - higher mag is the order of the day of course.

I don't know how well your eyes dark adapt in your usual viewing spot due to ambient background light nearby, or what size they might dilate to (depends mainly on age but can vary widely), but in a nice f4.6 scope like yours, to get a 5mm exit pupil you'd want something around 23mm. If you have excellent dark adapted eyesight with a 7mm exit pupil, you could fully benefit from a 32mm eyepiece, while a 27 or 28mm eyepiece would give you a 6mm exit pupil. The 2" SW 28mm LER eyepiece is actually ok for the money and very comfortable to use.

The 20mm APM still gives a 4.34mm exit pupil and 100 deg FOV for 269EUR plus shipping, an awesome eyepiece for the money and a great all-rounder. It's a lot lighter than the 21mm Ethos as well (and about 1/4th the price) but not tiny by any stretch.

I checked the APM website, think they have stopped doing the discount on the 9/13/20mm XWA set. It's still a good deal in the grand scheme of things.

If I could only buy one eyepiece though, it would be the 20mm XWA. Not sure on shipping times though, don't think they are back in stock until Dec 18th. On the other hand, you could always fill in the gaps with a 25mm plossl for not a lot. I have a couple of dirt cheap Revelation plossls now at £12.50 a pop from Telescope House (I bought 25/32/40mm sets for my binoviewers) and on occasion, I'll use the 25 or 32mm plossl for small, faint stuff. They work surprisingly well in both my scopes.

Anyway, something to think about. Sorry to add to the indecision around eyepieces! 😉

Edited December 7, 2020 by Ships and Stars

[CedricTheBrave]

3 hours ago, John said:

Ahh - so you have bought a 14 inch optical tube ?

I assumed that you had bought the full dobsonian scope

The eyepiece advice is all still valid of course !

Will you be putting the 14 inch on the NEQ6 ?

 

it will go on the neq6 for now until I have saved up enough for the cem70

it will also be going in an obsy when I get the time to build it

 

[John]

43 minutes ago, CedricTheBrave said:

it will go on the neq6 for now until I have saved up enough for the cem70

it will also be going in an obsy when I get the time to build it

 

On an EQ mount that will be a pretty huge setup. Hope you have fun with it

 

[Barry-W-Fenner]

19 hours ago, CedricTheBrave said:

thanks everyone for the input

I have decided to go for a couple of the Morpheus ones to start and see how I get on with them

 

Morning Cedric,

Which FL Morpheus eye pieces did you purchase in the end?

Baz

[CedricTheBrave]

19 hours ago, John said:

On an EQ mount that will be a pretty huge setup. Hope you have fun with it

 

i was looking at the VX12 and ended up with the 14 I may live to regret that decision!