EP advice for a 150mm dob

[cajen2]

Hi all. I'm waiting for my new scope to be delivered and thought I'd ask for EP advice from the assembled great minds here. 😊

The scope is a Skywatcher Heritage 150mm flextube. This has a FL of 750mm and a ratio of f/5, please note.

I'm told the supplied EPs could be bettered....😄.. I'd like recommendations for a variety of uses: moon/planetary, stuff like double stars, the Pleiades, etc.

I don't want to spend huge amounts of money (who does?) and don't care about "premium" brand names, just performance.

Thanks in advance, folks. Be gentle with me: I'm a beginner!

 

 

[Dave scutt]

Have you got a budget for what you want to spend.

[cajen2]

Hmm, fairly elastic, but max £150? ( per EP).

Edited November 7, 2021 by cajen2

[Ricochet]

Start with a 24mm Explore Scientific 68 to max out the field of view, then 12mm and shorter BST Starguiders or ES82s.

[IB20]

Lunar, planetary and doubles you won’t go too far wrong with the 10mm Baader Classic Ortho. 

[Dave scutt]

I'm using Es82 in my f5 they seem good across the fov but I've not looked through anything else to compare them with 

[cajen2]

20 minutes ago, IB20 said:

Lunar, planetary and doubles you won’t go too far wrong with the 10mm Baader Classic Ortho. 

I was told the Baader Hyperions wouldn't suit my dob but I'm sure the Classics would be ok.

[IB20]

Havent used the Hyperions but yes have read that they work better at f/8 and longer. To my knowledge the BCOs don’t have any problems in faster scopes.

The 6mm BCO would give you 125x in your scope but eye relief starts to get tighter in higher mag orthos, which aren’t to everyone’s taste. I’m thinking of trying the Vixen SLV range at some point to compare them to my 4,6 & 7mm orthos. 

I will say that my experience with the 5mm BST has been nothing but enjoyable mind, a rock solid EP at ~£43.

 

[Dave scutt]

I've just looked at the customer reviews from flo and they say the baader ortho works well in f 4.7 at that price I might give them a go

[cajen2]

Thanks a lot, everyone. What I DON'T want is to end up buying twice or wishing I'd gone for something better.....

[IB20]

5 minutes ago, Dave scutt said:

I've just looked at the customer reviews from flo and they say the baader ortho works well in f 4.7 at that price I might give them a go

The 10mm BCO is my most used EP in 800 and 1200 fl scopes.

[IB20]

4 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

Thanks a lot, everyone. What I DON'T want is to end up buying twice or wishing I'd gone for something better.....

Maybe look at the Baader Morpheus range then. You won’t get better at that price point. Or play the used market for Pentax XWs or Televues.

Edited November 7, 2021 by IB20

[cajen2]

3 minutes ago, IB20 said:

Maybe look at the Baader Morpheus range then. You won’t get better at that price point. 

Ouch! I may be able to stretch to one, but Morpheii across the range would push the old bank balance a bit...😳😄

Edited November 7, 2021 by cajen2

[cajen2]

I don't mind going higher end for a good planetary EP, say a 6mm?

[IB20]

26 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

I don't mind going higher end for a good planetary EP, say a 6mm?

I personally love orthos and find they give some amazing views for planetary work but they can be hard work to look through.

Maybe having a wider field of view in the heritage dob would make life easier too. 

In my experience, Saturn and Mars eat up magnification a lot better than Jupiter but seeing is ultimately master, so you might end up having more than one planetary EP! I think something around the 100-125x (7.5mm-6mm) range would be a nice all rounder though which would work well in ordinary seeing conditions.
 

 

[Louis D]

No one has brought it up, but do you have astigmatism in your observing eye?  Check you eyeglass prescription's CYL or cylinder amount.  If it's greater than 1.0 diopter, you might want to looking into longer eye relief eyepieces at the longer focal lengths.  If you don't wear eyeglasses at all, then you're all set to use whatever you want.

Keep eyepiece weight in mind with that scope's helical focuser and two pole truss design.  I would imagine flex might start being a problem with heavier eyepieces.  However, since it can't accept 2" eyepieces, this tends to naturally keep eyepiece weight down.

[Tiny Clanger]

My heaviest eyepiece weighs 383g, and the heritage 150 has zero trouble coping with it, it doesn't show any ill effects from having a t mount and 500g ish DSLR on it either (for which to be in focus, the 'scope needs to be retracted maybe 5cm )

The Baader Classic Orthos have a great reputation for sharpness and clarity , but be aware that their field of view is small, which means that, at higher magnifications, you have to 'nudge' the dob as the planet or lunar feature you are studying crosses the field of view and vanishes off the side. FLO say the BCO's  FOV is 'about 50  degrees'. Out of curiosity I bought a second hand 6mm to see what it was like, and have tried it several times, but can't say I'm hugely impressed with the view, those who like the BCO's say it's the 10mm which is exceptionally good though. The BCOs are tiny , light, have weird winged eye cups and probably won't be any good for anyone who observes wearing glasses.

On the plus side, you can buy a set which includes 3 Baader orthos, a decent 32mm plossl, , and a barlow which has a good reputation,  all for £230 https://www.firstlightoptics.com/baader-planetarium/baader-classic-eyepiece-set-with-turret.html which might be a good starting point to discover what focal lengths you use most. It breaks astro buying rule #2 (#1, never buy a 'scope from a catalogue , electrical store or supermarket special , rule #2, avoid eyepiece kits like the plague ) to buy a kit, but if you think the simplicity of the BCOs is for you, the set works out a far better deal than individual eyepieces .

If I started over again from no eyepieces at all, and was thinking of just use in the heritage dob,  I think I'd go for the 82 degree OVL Nirvanas ( 16mm, 7mm,4mm) for about £80 each , an Explore Scientific 68 deg, 24mm for £150,  and maybe for a high mag 5mm, and filling the 7mm to 16mm gap, a few Explore scientific 62 deg, or  CelestronX-cel LX's (also 60 deg,) for around £90 a pop. And I wouldn't be without a simple 32mm plossl for lowest reasonable magnification /  finding stuff duty .

All pretty academic at the moment, everything but the Celestrons and BCOs are out of stock , so there's plenty of time to think about it !

Edited November 7, 2021 by Tiny Clanger
forgot to mention what the x-cels /ES62s were for

[Ags]

3 hours ago, cajen2 said:

I was told the Baader Hyperions wouldn't suit my dob but I'm sure the Classics would be ok.

I can confirm my Hyperions did not work well when switched my F13 Mak for an F5 Newt. The ES 82 eyepieces are better all around. 

I didn't find the Nirvana 16mm could remotely compete with the ES 82s, but I hear the 16mm is the weak one in the line.

I had the ES 24mm 68 degrees, and it's weight does lead to balancing issues with smaller scopes, but optically it is great!

Edited November 7, 2021 by Ags

[cajen2]

Thanks to all that have answered. As Heather says, I have some time to think about it before more stock comes in.

[MetroiD]

With a 150p, I'd be wary of heavy EPs - and that might unfortunately include the Morpheus line, depending on just how much you'd be bothered by the issue. The ES82 line, on the other hand, is much more of a safe bet, if not quite as engaging a view as the Morphs. That, and the Nirvana OVL line, would definitely get my vote - which is only fair since those were pretty much the EPs that comprised my first E/P line-up! My experience with the above: the 16mm Nirvana was a good friend (if rather cumbersome at times with a flimsy eyecup that would fall off every other night and set me off on an expletive-ladden rubber hunt in the pitch dark), as was the ES82 8.8mm. I swiftly moved on the ES82 6.7mm though since I liked the Meade 5000 UWA 5.5mm so much more: that would definitely get my vote as a brilliant planetary EP; it's been well documented how much it punches above its weight.

If you want to go down the thrifty route, you could consider Celestron's X-Cels, as well as Edmunds Scientific's RKEs, with the latter being very much an open secret - relatively cheap and rather cheerful; deliver more than you'd bargain for - and they also barlow rather well too. Didn't keep any of my X-Cels but I don't think I'd ever sell the RKE 28mm.

Also - and I'm playing the devil's advocate here, I know - I just thought I'd mention that the first ultra wide-field eyepiece I bought for my first scope (200p) was the Meade UWA 24mm which weighs in at close to a kilo - and looks/feels like it too! Takes a bit of tightening on those handles - but the views were always worth it...

A final word of advice - make sure you invest in a nice, reliable collimator and a set of Bob's knobs. Often times overlooked but easily the most crucial piece of the accessory kit.

Edited November 9, 2021 by MetroiD

[callisto]

On 07/11/2021 at 14:14, Tiny Clanger said:

I think I'd go for the 82 degree OVL Nirvanas ( 16mm, 7mm,4mm)

Was just going to suggest those...you beat me to it 

[cajen2]

Well, an update for anyone interested.

I now have a right old mixture of EPs from different companies:

6mm Svbony - supposed to be wide-field 

8mm BST Starguider

30mm Vixen NPL

(all very good, especially the Vixen)

and waiting for delivery:

OVL Hyperion zoom (used)

ES Focal extender'

and madly, a Pentax XW 14mm....... couldn't resist the discount! I just had to have a quality medium-length EP.

Hopefully, that'll be it for a while! 🤭

 

 

Edited December 7, 2021 by cajen2

[John]

1 hour ago, cajen2 said:

Well, an update for anyone interested.

I now have a right old mixture of EPs from different companies:

6mm Svbony - supposed to be wide-field 

8mm BST Starguider

30mm Vixen NPL

(all very good, especially the Vixen)

and waiting for delivery:

OVL Hyperion zoom (used)

ES Focal extender'

and madly, a Pentax XW 14mm....... couldn't resist the discount! I just had to have a quality medium-length EP.

Hopefully, that'll be it for a while! 🤭

 

 

That's a pretty good set. The trouble is that having a really, really nice one can have a sort of domino effect on the desire for more of that quality

But your head knows that you have what you need to do the jobs that need doing even if the heart might say something else

I'm very poor at resisting I'm afraid

Edited December 7, 2021 by John

[cajen2]

I wouldn't mind betting the Svbony and BST won't get used much once the Pentax, OVL and ES come....

[Dark Vader]

On 07/12/2021 at 16:33, cajen2 said:

 

Please delete - off topic

Edited December 8, 2021 by Dark Vader
Off topic