Eyepieces for SW Heritage 150P Dob

[DhamR]

My word the world of wide angle of view lenses is something else. 

The Nirvana seems quite fussy about eye location and definitely one for seated viewing, but I got the hang of "looking round the corner" to see to the edges of the frame. 

Seeing was poor and the moon was being a pain but the views of the beehive cluster actually took my breath away, it'll up there with the Plieades now on my list of regular stops. 

Orion was particularly affected by the moon but I saw more of the nebulosity than I had with the 25mm. 

The moon, whilst inconvenient took on a more 3D appearance than I'd seen before through the scope. It really added something. 

Definitely need a lunar/planetary EP now... 

[Zermelo]

10 hours ago, DhamR said:

I got the hang of "looking round the corner" to see to the edges of the frame

I always fold the eyecups back when I'm using the Nirvanas, or I struggle to see out to the field stop.

 

10 hours ago, DhamR said:

views of the beehive cluster actually took my breath away

Yes, that one really shows the Nirvana off well. Also have a look at M35 in Gemini. That's another that benefits from the sharpness, colour fidelity and contrast (better when the moon's not around, of course).

 

[cajen2]

I agree with Zermelo. To improve on the Vixen 30mm NPL, you'd have to spend treble the price. A very wide field of view EP at a lower f/l would give you a higher mag but that isn't usually necessary with this type of EP - you want a clear image over all the FOV. A wonderfully corrected, widefield EP would be serious money. A Vixen SLV 25mm, for example, is a seriously good piece of kit but is nearly three times the price of the NPL, or a Pentax XW 20 at about five times! That's why I haven't upgraded my NPL 30.

 

[Zermelo]

As it happens I was using the 30mm NPL in my Mak last night, and I noticed how sharp the stars were across the field, including the brighter ones. It also shows up differences in star colour well (I was looking at M35). It's comfortable to use, with the extra large eye lens and no blacking out. Yes, the background is lighter with of the larger exit pupil, but it still gives me reasonable contrast in my Bortle 4 skies.