Favourite eyepiece?

[Dantooine]

58 minutes ago, John said:

12mm / 13mm is a very useful focal length for eyepieces and in a wide range of scope specs as well. It was no accident that 13mm was the first focal length that Al Nagler produced his Nagler in and also the 1st focal length that the Ethos came in.

 

 

I sometimes look at planets with it at low magnification. They are small but it just paints such a nice picture. My favourite used to be the 14 Es/82 then the 14 Delos, they gave me 51x but were so nice to use and a great view and this is what lead me to the 13 Ethos.
 

I think anyone looking to buy a single decent eyepiece would benefit greatly from a 12, 13 or 14mm. Spending a fortune is nice but not mandatory, there are lots of fantastic ones available on the market at reasonable prices in these focal lengths. 
 

[Ags]

This is a graph of age of eyepiece thread vs cost of eyepieces under discussion 😀

[Dantooine]

15 minutes ago, Ags said:

This is a graph of age of eyepiece thread vs cost of eyepieces under discussion 😀

Once you are there you can draw a straight line 😎

[John]

You could probably just get to that 1st step on the red line, stay there, and enjoy the hobby just as much !

 

 

[Louis D]

16 minutes ago, John said:

You could probably just get to that 1st step on the red line, stay there, and enjoy the hobby just as much !

Up until you go to a star party and look through a premium eyepiece and get hooked on the view.

[banjaxed]

9 minutes ago, Louis D said:

Up until you go to a star party and look through a premium eyepiece and get hooked on the view.

I must remember NOT to go to a star party 😀

[Louis D]

1 minute ago, banjaxed said:

I must remember NOT to go to a star party 😀

The corollary to this is that you must not look through premium telescopes with apertures significantly larger than your own scope(s) at star parties, or you will get aperture fever in short order, and that tends to drain ones wallet of all available funds.

[Zermelo]

7 minutes ago, Louis D said:

The corollary to this is that you must not look through premium telescopes with apertures significantly larger than your own scope(s) at star parties, or you will get aperture fever in short order, and that tends to drain ones wallet of all available funds.

and similarly - if you attend society meetings, shut your eyes during that section where the chap(ess) with the EQ8 gets up to show everyone "just one or two snaps I took the other night"

[Rob]

Has to be my Meade 14mm UWA 5000 82 degree.  Bought it 12 (ish) years ago from the USA v1 ep. I must have fully lucked out for once. So sharp in all my scopes.

I had THE best views of Jupiter from this EP in my 200 spx Newt... staggering detail.

Rob

[Dantooine]

11 minutes ago, Rob said:

Has to be my Meade 14mm UWA 5000 82 degree.  Bought it 12 (ish) years ago from the USA v1 ep. I must have fully lucked out for once. So sharp in all my scopes.

I had THE best views of Jupiter from this EP in my 200 spx Newt... staggering detail.

Rob

Another favourite in the 14mm-ish spot then. 

[Highburymark]

These are the sharpest eyepieces that I’ve ever used - Zeiss 25mm OPMI microscope EPs. Think they were made in the 1970s (made in ‘West Germany’) yet the views are just exquisite. Long eye relief, beautiful coatings, very comfortable. Great option for binoviewing with a GPC/barlow, adding spacers to vary magnification. But only 50-55 degrees so can’t rival modern wider field EPs.
my other go-to all-purpose EPs are Panoptic 24, Delite 18.2, and TV Plossls. But realise my experience is limited. Have never tried a Morpheus yet - it seems as if their reputation continues to grow and they are now considered among the best widefields. Never tried an APM, ES or Vixen either. Seems like there are more options than ever these days for the discerning buyer to not choose TeleVue.

[Dantooine]

2 hours ago, Highburymark said:

These are the sharpest eyepieces that I’ve ever used - Zeiss 25mm OPMI microscope EPs. Think they were made in the 1970s (made in ‘West Germany’) yet the views are just exquisite. Long eye relief, beautiful coatings, very comfortable. Great option for binoviewing with a GPC/barlow, adding spacers to vary magnification. But only 50-55 degrees so can’t rival modern wider field EPs.
my other go-to all-purpose EPs are Panoptic 24, Delite 18.2, and TV Plossls. But realise my experience is limited. Have never tried a Morpheus yet - it seems as if their reputation continues to grow and they are now considered among the best widefields. Never tried an APM, ES or Vixen either. Seems like there are more options than ever these days for the discerning buyer to not choose TeleVue.

Very nice setup

[faulksy]

2 hours ago, Highburymark said:

These are the sharpest eyepieces that I’ve ever used - Zeiss 25mm OPMI microscope EPs. Think they were made in the 1970s (made in ‘West Germany’) yet the views are just exquisite. Long eye relief, beautiful coatings, very comfortable. Great option for binoviewing with a GPC/barlow, adding spacers to vary magnification. But only 50-55 degrees so can’t rival modern wider field EPs.
my other go-to all-purpose EPs are Panoptic 24, Delite 18.2, and TV Plossls. But realise my experience is limited. Have never tried a Morpheus yet - it seems as if their reputation continues to grow and they are now considered among the best widefields. Never tried an APM, ES or Vixen either. Seems like there are more options than ever these days for the discerning buyer to not choose TeleVue.

very sexy

if you like zeiss type orth try the pentax xw. ortho with 70* truly amazing. you will get blackouts to start with but soon get used to it

had my best ever view of jupiter and the ring with my 5mm that gives me around 480x beautiful

[Stu]

@Highburymarkbeat me to it with something different. Of my current eyepieces I would definitely put my Zeiss 25mm microscope eyepieces at the top of the list. I use them when binoviewing for white light solar and also for lunar and planetary observing. Very sharp, great transmission and low scatter plus comfortable eye relief.

 

[Highburymark]

3 hours ago, faulksy said:

very sexy

if you like zeiss type orth try the pentax xw. ortho with 70* truly amazing. you will get blackouts to start with but soon get used to it

had my best ever view of jupiter and the ring with my 5mm that gives me around 480x beautiful

Thanks Mike- Had a few Delos (17.3, 10, 6) before I moved to lighter set up - but the XW range seems to be just as highly rated. Particularly at shorter focal lengths. And PARTICULARLY in a 20” dob that is 2.5x bigger than the biggest scope I’ve owned (a C8). 

 

[mikemarotta]

With my ES 102mm f/.6.47 refractor my most versatile viewing is with the 17mm and 2x Barlow.  I will go down to 8mm (skip the 13) to split a binary. The 6mm does not do much for me. Just sayin'.

 

[Sunshine]

3 hours ago, Stu said:

@Highburymarkbeat me to it with something different. Of my current eyepieces I would definitely put my Zeiss 25mm microscope eyepieces at the top of the list. I use them when binoviewing for white light solar and also for lunar and planetary observing. Very sharp, great transmission and low scatter plus comfortable eye relief.

 

Not sure what i like more, the background or foreground.

[Sunshine]

I would have to say that my fav eyepiece is my 9mm Morpheus, even though i have a small collection of Pentax XW's my 9mm morpheus is just darn nice. Those tight full disc lunar views with bright earthshine

are just spectacular with that eyepiece through my 115mm frac, it is great for clusters too.

[Ally8446]

On 15/12/2020 at 14:04, Astroscot2 said:

My recently bought APM UFF 30mm,  provides stunning pin point views of the sky.

Yep, another vote for APM UFF 30mm. In my OOUK F6.3 10" dob the views are incredible. It makes you feel like you are actually in space. Brilliant eyepiece. 

[Dantooine]

18 hours ago, Ally8446 said:

Yep, another vote for APM UFF 30mm. In my OOUK F6.3 10" dob the views are incredible. It makes you feel like you are actually in space. Brilliant eyepiece. 

Son’s are the business. That reminds me of a pan 27. 

[Ally8446]

4 hours ago, Dantooine said:

Son’s are the business. That reminds me of a pan 27. 

Son's..... Typo ? 🤔😕

[Ags]

 

2 hours ago, Ally8446 said:

Son's..... Typo ? 🤔😕

Maybe @Dantooine likes the EP so much he adopted it 😀

[Dantooine]

On 21/12/2020 at 21:35, Ally8446 said:

Son's..... Typo ? 🤔😕

Yep.. I’ve only just seen this “APM’s”   

[Dantooine]

I think we all have a favourite eyepiece and never stop looking to find our next favourite eyepiece ?? 🤣 ??

[John]

2 hours ago, Dantooine said:

I think we all have a favourite eyepiece and never stop looking to find our next favourite eyepiece ?? 🤣 ??

I guess eyepieces are much easier to change than the other factors that influence the views we get, ie: the light pollution levels, seeing conditions, our experience level, the scope etc, etc

Collimation and cooling of the scope is something that we can have some influence over but it's not quite as much fun as a nice shiny new eyepiece

 

Edited January 2, 2021 by John