Ethos 13mm - 1st impressions

[John]

Typically the clouds have been wheeling around overhead this evening sensing the new bit of kit and the eager observer !.

Lots has been written about the Tele Vue Ethos 13mm so I won't bore you by repeating all that. My 1st impressions of the eyepiece are:

- The usual excellent TV quality build.

- It's tall and quite wide but suprisingly light.

- It's a hybrid 2" / 1.25" eyepiece that I'm going to use in 2" mode - the 2" barrel seems to be machined from light alloy rather than the usual heavy chrome plated affair.

- I can just see the edges of the FoV with my eye nestled into the soft rubber eye cup.

- The eye cup is good quality but seems to be a bit of a "dust magnet".

Through small gaps in the clouds I've just managed to snatch a view of the moon and Saturn at 51x in my ED102SS refactor. The moon was very sharp and the field of view seemed endless ... Saturn small but tack sharp - rings easily seen and 4 moons - equatorial cloud belt and line of rings against planetary disk clear. No internal reflections that I could see - just the object you are looking at framed by blackness with stars scattered across it.

I have a feeling that M13 though the Lightbridge 12" with this eyepiece is going to be a bit mind blowing

John

[GazOC]

So you can see the field stop without moving your eye about John?

[John]

So you can see the field stop without moving your eye about John?

Yes Gaz - with my eye pressed into (but not uncomfortably so) the eye cup I can just see the edges of the field stop. The eye relief is quoted at 15mm - it seems closer to the 12mm of the Type 6 Naglers to me though (I've just compared the E13mm to the Nag T6 9mm to confirm this) - which is OK as I'm not a glasses wearer.

John

[The Warthog]

I'm surprised you can see the field stop. I had the pleasure of looking through one of these at night, and the 8mm in daylight, last year, and the FOV just seems to go on and on and on. I do have a little peripheral vision loss, though. I'm not doubting that you could. It is a wonderful ep, isn't it?

[John]

I'm surprised you can see the field stop. I had the pleasure of looking through one of these at night, and the 8mm in daylight, last year, and the FOV just seems to go on and on and on. I do have a little peripheral vision loss, though. I'm not doubting that you could. It is a wonderful ep, isn't it?

Hi WH

Yes it's fantastic but I do wish the weather would co-operate more - we seem to have had a bad patch here lately as I'm sure you have picked up from the exasperated comments posted on SGL !.

Personally I'd prefer not to see the field stop edges - I like the sensation of gazing into a seemingly limitless "pool of stars". If I back off the top of the eyepiece slightly (only a couple of mm) thats the effect you get - that and less chance of eyelash marks on the eye lens !. I wonder if real enthusiasts trim their eyelashes ....

Cheers,

John

[Rossco72]

I'd really love to get an Ethos or two but the lottery just isn't playing game yet!!!

Someday soon maybe, sounds great compared to my bog standard Celestron Plossl's

[Andrew*]

I'm glad this thread came up again because I've been thinking about this a lot since Steve told me I was strange (weird? superhuman? can't remember his words) for being able to see the field stop.

I even did some research to get to the bottom of this, and found out that the eye can see a full 120° angle of view at a time, albeit only with peripheral vision. So an Ethos should be comfortable even with 20° to spare. Eye relief is very comfortable too. Truly a spaceship porthole experience and a remarkable optical achievement.

Andrew

[Mark at Beaufort]

Last weekend I had two good nights of viewing with the Ethos 13mm on both my 6" SCT and Astro Tech APO 102mm refractor. The views were wonderful and I was able to see the field stop and it was comfortable. I remember Andrew viewing through the Ethos and my Refractor at SGL4 and making the same comment. I am so glad that I purchased this EP.

Mark

[calibos]

I'd really love to get an Ethos or two but the lottery just isn't playing game yet!!!

Someday soon maybe, sounds great compared to my bog standard Celestron Plossl's

Sounds great even compared to my Baader Hyperion Widefields!