Pentax XW 3.5mm v Tak TOE 4mm v Vixen SLV 4mm

[IB20]

Just now, MalcolmM said:

I'm really hoping you prefer the TOEs, I simply can't go on a Pentax spending spree

Malcolm

I can’t help you with that. The Pentax 5XW pretty much lives in my diagonal. It’s the best eyepiece I’ve ever used. 😃The 7 & 10 are equally as good too. Look on the bright side, they’re “only” £279 currently…

[MalcolmM]

24 minutes ago, IB20 said:

I can’t help you with that. The Pentax 5XW pretty much lives in my diagonal. It’s the best eyepiece I’ve ever used. 😃The 7 & 10 are equally as good too. Look on the bright side, they’re “only” £279 currently…

Oh dear you could have pretended

Malcolm

[IB20]

So last night I had a go at splitting Antares which required the tripod to be extended and the scope fairly horizontal. Being short, the 5XW and the 2x barlow in combination meant I couldn’t actually reach the EP. 😳

Being a horses for courses I’m going to have to get both the 3.5XW and the 3.3 TOE aren’t I? 😝

[Franklin]

On 30/04/2022 at 23:03, Stu said:

A bit silly some of the pricing for Vixen HRs now!

Greedy, greedy people. How much was a new HR? £225?

[Louis D]

On 01/06/2022 at 01:51, IB20 said:

I absolutely love the XWs, I think next purchase is the 3.5 rather than the 3.3 TOE but I really want to get them on the Jupiter and Saturn which may give a different result!

At least on Mars during the last opposition, the 3.5mm XW and 5.2mm XL Pentaxes produced overly bright and washed out images that lacked detail in monovision.  Before packing up and declaring it a bust, I popped in my Arcturus binoviewers with 40+ year old Bausch & Lomb wide field 15x microscope eyepieces and a 2x Meade 140 Barlow optical nose piece operating at 3x to reach focus.  Suddenly, Mars had an almost photographic look to it.  There was no overwhelming brightness, just insane levels of fine detail visible.  I switched back to the Pentaxes, but the view was the same as before.  Needless to say, I spent the rest of the night soaking in the BV views.  I get similar results with the full moon.  Jupiter benefits  some as well.  I haven't tried the BVs on Saturn much if at all.  It may be too dim to benefit.

My point is, the view may not improve in monovision no matter how good the eyepiece is.

[IB20]

I’m retracting my comment about the barlow and TOE. I’m out now and I’m observing Zeta Herc and I can see the secondary companion with this set up. I’ve worked out the eye placement and it’s fine. No split due to it sitting on the diffraction ring, but it’s right there, like a little grey pea. Super stuff. 

[MalcolmM]

9 hours ago, IB20 said:

I’m retracting my comment about the barlow and TOE. I’m out now and I’m observing Zeta Herc and I can see the secondary companion with this set up. I’ve worked out the eye placement and it’s fine. No split due to it sitting on the diffraction ring, but it’s right there, like a little grey pea. Super stuff. 

Much better

Malcolm

[IB20]

I’m finding I’m really pushing the mag for my double star observing. The TOE 2.5mm might be in play. 😁

[JeremyS]

2 hours ago, IB20 said:

I’m finding I’m really pushing the mag for my double star observing. The TOE 2.5mm might be in play. 😁

Only one wat to find out. 2 (!) in stock at FLO. And no longer to be made by Tak

🙂

[IB20]

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

Only one wat to find out. 2 (!) in stock at FLO. And no longer to be made by Tak

🙂

Too late! I’ve had a moment of post jubilee euphoria and snaffled a new 3.5XW. 😁

[Highburymark]

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

Only one wat to find out. 2 (!) in stock at FLO. And no longer to be made by Tak

🙂

Is that confirmed now Jeremy - about TOE production ending? I struggle to follow the latest news on this. Tak’s comms department doesn’t seem to adhere to the same standards of excellence as the rest of the company….

[JeremyS]

2 hours ago, Highburymark said:

Is that confirmed now Jeremy - about TOE production ending? I struggle to follow the latest news on this. Tak’s comms department doesn’t seem to adhere to the same standards of excellence as the rest of the company….

Saw it on CN so it must be true Mark 🤣

[Don Pensack]

Bill Paolini reports:

I just looked on the Tak Japan site and they are NOT discontinuing the TOE. And nice to hear they are developing successor eyepieces!!

https://www-takahashijapan-com.translat ... _tr_pto=sc
Notice of discontinuation of production of some eyepieces February 16, 2022
We would like to express our sincere gratitude for your continued patronage of our products.
We have decided to discontinue the production of his LE and Abbe series of eyepieces and his Erfle 28mm. Sales of each product will end as soon as they are out of stock.
We are enthusiastically developing the successor product based on the opinions and requests we received. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and thank you for your understanding.
The TOE series will continue to be produced, so if you are considering a short focus eyepiece, we would appreciate it if you could consider it as a candidate.

 

 

-Bill

[IB20]

24 minutes ago, Don Pensack said:

Bill Paolini reports:

I just looked on the Tak Japan site and they are NOT discontinuing the TOE. And nice to hear they are developing successor eyepieces!!

https://www-takahashijapan-com.translat ... _tr_pto=sc
Notice of discontinuation of production of some eyepieces February 16, 2022
We would like to express our sincere gratitude for your continued patronage of our products.
We have decided to discontinue the production of his LE and Abbe series of eyepieces and his Erfle 28mm. Sales of each product will end as soon as they are out of stock.
We are enthusiastically developing the successor product based on the opinions and requests we received. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and thank you for your understanding.
The TOE series will continue to be produced, so if you are considering a short focus eyepiece, we would appreciate it if you could consider it as a candidate.

 

 

-Bill

👍🏻👍🏻 Interesting to see what the successors are.

[IB20]

On 02/06/2022 at 17:11, Louis D said:

At least on Mars during the last opposition, the 3.5mm XW and 5.2mm XL Pentaxes produced overly bright and washed out images that lacked detail in monovision.  Before packing up and declaring it a bust, I popped in my Arcturus binoviewers with 40+ year old Bausch & Lomb wide field 15x microscope eyepieces and a 2x Meade 140 Barlow optical nose piece operating at 3x to reach focus.  Suddenly, Mars had an almost photographic look to it.  There was no overwhelming brightness, just insane levels of fine detail visible.  I switched back to the Pentaxes, but the view was the same as before.  Needless to say, I spent the rest of the night soaking in the BV views.  I get similar results with the full moon.  Jupiter benefits  some as well.  I haven't tried the BVs on Saturn much if at all.  It may be too dim to benefit.

My point is, the view may not improve in monovision no matter how good the eyepiece is.

I have some BVs, but right now with my set-up they aren’t quite working meaning they’re a bit of faff. The thing I don’t have time for right now is faff. Maybe when I don’t have a toddler swinging from my ears I can invest some time in sorting it out. 👍🏻

[Don Pensack]

12 hours ago, IB20 said:

I have some BVs, but right now with my set-up they aren’t quite working meaning they’re a bit of faff. The thing I don’t have time for right now is faff. Maybe when I don’t have a toddler swinging from my ears I can invest some time in sorting it out. 👍🏻

What is noted is that reducing the brightness a bit on a planet or the moon can make things easier to see because the image isn't so bright it washes out by dazzling the eye.

One easy way to do that is to add a 50% transmission neutral density filter to the eyepiece, or to double the magnification (which reduces brightness by 75%).  If you are already at high power, the ND filter makes a lot of sense.

One of the reasons my best view of Jupiter ever was with a Paracorr + PowerMate + Ethos eyepiece was the 18 lens elements in the optical train in the focuser.  It was also a high magnification (456x, 0.7mm exit pupil).  The light loss due to magnification and several inches of glass and innumerable air-to-glass surfaces was just enough to make the image look photographic and not even a bit washed out.  Having superb seeing didn't hurt.