Favourite eyepiece?

[Mr Spock]

Ooh, shiny! I like shiny! I have a new scope, new mount, and a nice (almost) new collection of orthos 

[NGC 1502]

Very late to the party with this......

My all time favourite eyepiece- Vixen 22mm LVW.  Fabulous flat field, amazingly sharp off axis even in fast scopes, comfy and easy eye relief.  Just one big snag, not made for many years and hard to find second hand.

If you want mine, form an orderly queue with offers, when it goes over £10k its yours......😁

Cheers from Ed.

[John]

46 minutes ago, NGC 1502 said:

Very late to the party with this......

My all time favourite eyepiece- Vixen 22mm LVW.  Fabulous flat field, amazingly sharp off axis even in fast scopes, comfy and easy eye relief.  Just one big snag, not made for many years and hard to find second hand.

If you want mine, form an orderly queue with offers, when it goes over £10k its yours......😁

Cheers from Ed.

They are very nice. I had one for a while 

 

[Piero]

My favourite eyepiece is the 12.5mm Docter UWA. Combined with my modified Baader VIP barlow I get an equivalent ~7mm or ~5mm, depending on target and mood.

Another eyepiece I love and use quite a lot is the 30mm APM UFF. 

[Space Hopper]

2 hours ago, Piero said:

My favourite eyepiece is the 12.5mm Docter UWA. Combined with my modified Baader VIP barlow I get an equivalent ~7mm or ~5mm, depending on target and mood.

Another eyepiece I love and use quite a lot is the 30mm APM UFF. 

I'm trying a pair of them in the binoviewer. 

Certainly they are impressive, but they are so big and heavy ! Using 2 puts a bit of a strain on things and causes balancing issues with my smaller scope.

But they performed very well on Mars back in October. I'm just not convinced that the cost of them was worth it.

[Dantooine]

2 hours ago, Space Hopper said:

I'm trying a pair of them in the binoviewer. 

Certainly they are impressive, but they are so big and heavy ! Using 2 puts a bit of a strain on things and causes balancing issues with my smaller scope.

But they performed very well on Mars back in October. I'm just not convinced that the cost of them was worth it.

You have 2 😳

[Saganite]

2 hours ago, Space Hopper said:

I'm trying a pair of them in the binoviewer. 

Certainly they are impressive, but they are so big and heavy ! Using 2 puts a bit of a strain on things and causes balancing issues with my smaller scope.

But they performed very well on Mars back in October. I'm just not convinced that the cost of them was worth it.

Wow, that is impressive Rob......

[Piero]

Binoviewing with two docters is a rather expensive experience.. I don't binoview though.

 

I compared my docter against a Delos 12mm and I preferred the former one. You can find that thread on CN forum. So, for me it does justify the cost. Besides, I bought mine in the second hand market from a member of this forum.

 

Anyway, I don't have many eyepieces as a large set doesn't fit with my way of observing. For others, it is the opposite and owning an eyepiece between two magnifications (or FOVs) is important. For others, 100 deg afov eyepieces are cool, for me they are a distraction, whereas others love orthos. Regarding the docter specifically, some dislike the angular magnification distortion (AMD) that this eyepiece shows, whereas others (like me) like the fact that it balances some RD with AMD. That's why we have so many favourite eyepieces, and this kind of topic is quite hot on astro forums. P.s. just realised that I managed to write all this without even mentioning the black and green's! LOL

Edited January 3, 2021 by Piero

[globular]

15 minutes ago, Piero said:

I compared my docter against a Delos 12mm

 

15 minutes ago, Piero said:

P.s. just realised that I managed to write all this without even mentioning the black and green's!

not quite, haha 

[Piero]

2 hours ago, globular said:

not quite, haha 

Oops!

[Space Hopper]

No, i generally just use 3 or 4 pairs. I have no dedicated 2" eyepieces anymore.

I find my 24's cover all my low power wide angle needs.

I have Pan 19s to compliment the 24s.

My mid to high power set are new : APM 15mm flat fields. I've been very impressed so far.

I don't routinely observe at high power, but have used Tv Nagler 13s before, but i struggled with their tightish eye relief.

I'd been looking at the Docter 12.5 UWA for a good few years, but couldn't push the buy button. They rarely come up second hand

so last year i got the chance to buy a new pair, and went for it.  But despite their nice views so far, i find them a bit too big and cumbersome for binoviewing.

I much prefer smaller 1.25" glass for this game. I actually thought about selling one and keeping the other for cyclops, and advertised it, but had no interest, so i still have the pair.

No real regrets really, other than the cost.

Back to the topic of the thread : my favourites ?

Still my Tv Panoptic 24's. The nicest eyepieces i've ever used. My 'Goldilocks' pair !! 😀  One of them was purchased used as well.

Even when i used them with an F4 300mm Newtonian i could see very little Coma, they are so well corrected.

 

Here are the 12.5 UWA's in action. 

I can only just get them to focus using the high power corrector in the bino, the focuser is fully racked out with the diagonal also unseated a few mm.

So i mainly observe with the 12.5s in my bigger 140mm scope with has a much better focuser and more travel.

 

 

[Space Hopper]

Size comparison between the Noblex (Docter) 12.5 UWA and my new (so far unused) APM flat field 12mm

The APM 12mm 'only' have a 60ºFOV compared the the 80 odd deg FOV of the UWAs.

 

[Space Hopper]

The APM 12mm in my Max 2 bino. Nice size and they don't bust the scales like the UWAs

I like the adjustable eye cup design very much on these APM 12mm (and the fact they cost less than £100 each !)

 

[Piero]

16 hours ago, Space Hopper said:

Back to the topic of the thread : my favourites ?

Still my Tv Panoptic 24's. The nicest eyepieces i've ever used. My 'Goldilocks' pair !! 😀  One of them was purchased used as well.

Even when i used them with an F4 300mm Newtonian i could see very little Coma, they are so well corrected.

Coma is an aberration present in telescopes using paraboloid mirrors. It is not present in modern / half decent eyepieces. An F4 Newtonian has a coma free linear radius of 0.022*4^3 = 1.408mm . This defines the area in which the Strehl of a perfect mirror is 0.80 or better.. Also, variations of the mentioned formula generally use a more stringent factor than 0.022. Considering a field stop of 27mm for the 24mm TV Panoptic, coma is expected to be present and easily detectable in an F4 newtonian telescope. Also, the fact that Televue eyepieces are highly corrected to the edge, will make the detection of coma even simpler as this is less likely to be mixed with other aberrations present in the eyepiece, like astigmatism (although a poorly supported and / or unevenly cooled mirror can show astigmatism, spherical aberration, and have other side effects..).

TBH, I can see coma in my 12" F6, when observing off axis using eyepieces with more than 50-60 deg AFOV. In this telescope coma is not terrible to ruin the views but it is there. For refractor like views, a coma corrector is necessary in a fast / medium Newtonian using paraboloid mirrors. Without coma corrector, faint stars at the edge can just be invisible, or better said, visible but the presence of coma smears their faint light on a larger surface which make them undetectable.

[John]

I've used my 100 degree eyepieces in an F/4.8 10 inch and now my F/5.3 12 inch and I've not found coma intrusive or bothersome. I'm sure it's there but not to the degree that I feel compelled to start using a coma corrector

Maybe we need a thread called "Favourite optical accessory other than an eyepiece ?"

 

[HollyHound]

On 03/01/2021 at 16:26, Dantooine said:

You have 2 😳

You and I can feel a lot better now... in fact we need to buy more eyepieces... not 🤣

[Dantooine]

4 hours ago, HollyHound said:

You and I can feel a lot better now... in fact we need to buy more eyepieces... not 🤣

I’m teasing myself at the moment with a possible 10mm. 

[HollyHound]

4 minutes ago, Dantooine said:

I’m teasing myself at the moment with a possible 10mm. 

Another Ethos 🤔👍

[Dantooine]

4 minutes ago, HollyHound said:

Another Ethos 🤔👍

I definitely need something to look forward to 🙁

[HollyHound]

5 minutes ago, Dantooine said:

I definitely need something to look forward to 🙁

Given today’s information, I quite understand why 🤞

[Darkmatter]

A very difficult question to answer as to an exact favourite, but for high resolution visual work, I tend to use eyepieces from TMB SuperMonos, Clave, UO/Baader HD orthos and Zeiss Orthos. Performance / value wise the HD Orthos are very good.

I get very good results from these but it all depends upon which scope I am using.

Wide field I like my 37mm NATO Konig and my 44mm Kaspereit. But have others I quickly grab for a casual view.

If I had to nominate a favourite? Not ultimately the best performing but much better than many modern eyepieces are two a 18mm Erfle and an 18mm Symmetrical both bough when I was a kid from HW English

I have quite a large collection so am spoilt for choice

[Dantooine]

3 hours ago, Darkmatter said:

A very difficult question to answer as to an exact favourite, but for high resolution visual work, I tend to use eyepieces from TMB SuperMonos, Clave, UO/Baader HD orthos and Zeiss Orthos. Performance / value wise the HD Orthos are very good.

I get very good results from these but it all depends upon which scope I am using.

Wide field I like my 37mm NATO Konig and my 44mm Kaspereit. But have others I quickly grab for a casual view.

If I had to nominate a favourite? Not ultimately the best performing but much better than many modern eyepieces are two a 18mm Erfle and an 18mm Symmetrical both bough when I was a kid from HW English

I have quite a large collection so am spoilt for choice

A sentimental item will always be a favourite. You must have had your monies worth from the two you mention. 

[Marki]

The one I use most is a TS Optics branded WA 20mm super plossl. Cheap as chips when I bought it but crystal clear across the field, superb value for money - my "alignment" eyepiece and general workhorse. Its probably my favourite as much for its utility as well as sharpness.

Then I usually move on to a TAL 15mm Kellner, probably my second-most used ep, and from there on to my Baader 10mm ortho and if the conditions are right I push on through my smaller Baader orthos from there.

I don't really have much in the widefield way, but I do have a 2" 30mm TS Optics branded GSO Erfle - that is wonderful for framing open clusters and things like the double cluster and sweeping through expansive and dense star fields.

An honourable mention to my TAL 25mm Plossl, really clear and sharp. This was my workhorse until I got the TS 20mm. It was my first decent eyepiece and was in a different league to the 25mm plossl that came with my frst scope, a Celestron 8SE - that scope was excellent and I still regret selling it but that ep was poor.

I did have a TV Delos 10mm and x2.5 powermate at one time, but sold them. Dunno why now 🤔. I found I wasn't really using them (the powermate saw a little more action than the Delos), and I don't really miss them. I'm not sure I was at a stage the hobby where I could appreciate them, maybe.

[Ian McCallum]

Although I've mentioned the SW 2" 28mm LET eyepiece before, I'm finding that on the occasions that I am observing, I don't use any other eyepiece anymore!😲

[John]

The last couple of nights I've been out I've used practically all my eyepieces from 31mm down to 2.5mm. The range of targets seems to be hugely varied currently from tight double stars and fine lunar detail to expansive star clusters. I would say that the eyepieces that have seen most use in recent sessions are:

- 13mm Ethos

- 4.7mm Ethos

- Nagler 2-4mm zoom

- 7.2mm - 21.5mm zoom today for solar observing.

When the galaxy hunting grounds of Leo and Virgo are on show then I may well find that a single or pair of eyepieces carry me through a whole session with my 12 inch dobsonian. Usually those are the 21mm and 8mm Ethos.