Eye Pieces Made in Japan or Taiwan

[Lee5000]

Hello all, first time post and a new telescope owner. It would be great if I could get some help identifying the equipment I need. I have a Skywatcher Classic 200 (8”) and nothing else other than  a 25 and 10mm Super MA eye pieces that came with it.

 

Telescope Specs

 

https://www.skywatcherusa.com/products/sky-watcher-classic-200p

 

F/Ratio

6

 

I live in Oklahoma USA just outside of Tulsa. The sky’s here aren’t too bad to the east but there is a lot of city light to the west.

 

What “non Chinese” made eye pieces would be good for viewing Andromeda, the planets and other nebulas? I try not to buy things made in china for a variety of reasons. I’d like to stick with Japanese or Taiwanese made glass. I am on a budget but I don’t mind saving up for quality glass. I’m open to used eyepieces as well as new.

 

I also need to buy the following:

1. Moon filter

2. Phone holder for eyepiece

3. Phone holder so I can put the phone in front of the finder scope and use a star finder app to locate what I want to see

4. 90 degree adapter for finder scope or new finder scope with 90 degree eyepiece.

 

Which star/planet finder app do you prefer?

[Louis D]

Vernonscope Brandons are 100% American made from glass melt to figuring to barrel to assembly.  These are the only consumer-grade eyepieces the US military are allowed to procure.

All Tele Vue eyepieces are US designed and are made in either Japan or Taiwan with no Chinese made content.

All Pentax eyepieces are assembled in the Philippines, most likely from Japanese glass.  Pre-Ricoh buyout ones are 100% Japanese made.

All Nikon astro eyepieces are made in Japan (I think).

All Takahashi eyepieces are made in Japan (almost certain on this).

Noblex are made in Europe (might still be Germany, they're going through a rough patch right now).

All GSO eyepieces are made in Taiwan, although it's not clear if they have Chinese made components.  They tend to be sold under various brand names as well.

Long Perng eyepieces are also made in Taiwan (I believe, and again with possible Chinese components) and sold under various brand names worldwide.

APM labels their eyepieces as Germany, but they are made in China.

Baader is a German company, but their manufacturing is in China.

A lot of vintage (pre-2000) Orion USA, University Optics, Vixen, Meade and Celestron eyepieces were made in Japan or Taiwan.  They will be marked as such on the chrome or black barrel or have a circled letter maker's mark (definitely Japanese then).  Sometimes, only the original box mentions the country of origin on lower end eyepieces.

Many premium spotting scope and microscope eyepieces (both new and vintage) that can be adapted to astro use are (were) made in Europe or Japan (Leica, Zeiss, Swarovski, Meopta, Nikon, Olympus, etc.).  Ask here or on Cloudy Nights for confirmation on specific models.

Truly vintage American Optical and Bausch & Lomb microscope eyepieces are 100% American made but will require adapters for astro usage.

I'm sure I missed a company or two in there, but this list will at least get you started.

[NGC 1502]

As far as optical quality is concerned I wouldn’t be bothered where eyepieces are made. Even the very inexpensive eyepieces like Astro Essentials sold by our sponsors FLO are remarkably good especially considering the price.

You’ve mentioned “viewing Andromeda”.  For deep sky observing eyepiece quality is less demanding that planet or double star observing.  When observing planets like Jupiter/Saturn/Mars at high power in good conditions, that’s when high end eyepieces may possibly pull ahead.  
 

Squeezing that subtle last drop of planetary detail is very demanding of sky conditions, optical quality and observer skill.

Ed.

[Zeta Reticulan]

A lot of ROC companies source from the mainland. The Takahashi distributed 'Starbase' eyepieces are made by the Kubota Optical Corporation (Hanamaki). For retro volcano tops with a single coating they're fine. I'd rather have a set of Chinese made Vixen NPL's with proper multi coatings though. As a rule I tend to deliberately only buy Chinese made astronomical products. There are exceptions of course. 

[Lee5000]

14 hours ago, Louis D said:

Vernonscope Brandons are 100% American made from glass melt to figuring to barrel to assembly.  These are the only consumer-grade eyepieces the US military are allowed to procure.

All Tele Vue eyepieces are US designed and are made in either Japan or Taiwan with no Chinese made content.

All Pentax eyepieces are assembled in the Philippines, most likely from Japanese glass.  Pre-Ricoh buyout ones are 100% Japanese made.

All Nikon astro eyepieces are made in Japan (I think).

All Takahashi eyepieces are made in Japan (almost certain on this).

Noblex are made in Europe (might still be Germany, they're going through a rough patch right now).

All GSO eyepieces are made in Taiwan, although it's not clear if they have Chinese made components.  They tend to be sold under various brand names as well.

Long Perng eyepieces are also made in Taiwan (I believe, and again with possible Chinese components) and sold under various brand names worldwide.

APM labels their eyepieces as Germany, but they are made in China.

Baader is a German company, but their manufacturing is in China.

A lot of vintage (pre-2000) Orion USA, University Optics, Vixen, Meade and Celestron eyepieces were made in Japan or Taiwan.  They will be marked as such on the chrome or black barrel or have a circled letter maker's mark (definitely Japanese then).  Sometimes, only the original box mentions the country of origin on lower end eyepieces.

Many premium spotting scope and microscope eyepieces (both new and vintage) that can be adapted to astro use are (were) made in Europe or Japan (Leica, Zeiss, Swarovski, Meopta, Nikon, Olympus, etc.).  Ask here or on Cloudy Nights for confirmation on specific models.

Truly vintage American Optical and Bausch & Lomb microscope eyepieces are 100% American made but will require adapters for astro usage.

I'm sure I missed a company or two in there, but this list will at least get you started.

Thank you very much. Can you help determine which sizes of eye pieces I need for viewing deep space and planets? Assuming a 2” barrel.

[JeremyS]

That’s a very helpful list @Louis D

[Guest]

I have been using Orion's Q70 line for a year now and they are ok for 100 bucks a pop.  They are better if you pair them with a coma corrector.  I recently jumped up to Orion's (Long Perng) 14mm and 20mm LHD eyepieces.  I have to say that they are very good and not crazy expensive.  Of course expensive is a relative term.  Those same eyepieces can be found on FLOs website under the Stellalyra name 

 

As to a moon filter I am very partial to variable polarized filters.  The one I got from Orion works very well.

Edited July 28, 2022 by Mike Q

[JeremyS]

FLO helpfully have a made in Japan eyepiece page: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/japanese-made-eyepieces.html

[vagk]

On 27/07/2022 at 05:52, Louis D said:

All Pentax eyepieces are assembled in the Philippines, most likely from Japanese glass.  Pre-Ricoh buyout ones are 100% Japanese made.

I recently bought one brand new Pentax XW 5mm that says on its label "Made in Japan". Does it mean the lenses are made in Japan and the assembly in Philippines ?

[Louis D]

13 hours ago, vagk said:

I recently bought one brand new Pentax XW 5mm that says on its label "Made in Japan". Does it mean the lenses are made in Japan and the assembly in Philippines ?

It could simply be old stock in new packaging.  Did the box say Ricoh anywhere?  My XWs are similarly marked as "Made in Japan", so it might come down to origin of part percentages under US law.  It could also be they're not concerned with US labeling laws.  Clearly APM isn't.  There's no way their eyepieces qualify as "Made in Germany", but many are marked Germany rather than China.  Perhaps by leaving out "Made in" they can skirt these country of origin laws?

[vagk]

10 hours ago, Louis D said:

It could simply be old stock in new packaging.  Did the box say Ricoh anywhere?  My XWs are similarly marked as "Made in Japan", so it might come down to origin of part percentages under US law.  It could also be they're not concerned with US labeling laws.  Clearly APM isn't.  There's no way their eyepieces qualify as "Made in Germany", but many are marked Germany rather than China.  Perhaps by leaving out "Made in" they can skirt these country of origin laws?

 

My friend's similar eyepiece (bought years ago) says "Pentax Corporation Made in Japan" instead of Ricoh

Who knows?.....

Edited July 30, 2022 by vagk

[Zeta Reticulan]

Yeah, 'made' and 'assembled' can mean different things. 

I assumed these were made in Japan. 

As it clearly states 'made in Japan' on them. Of course, they may have been 'assembled' anywhere. It may be more economical to have the constituent parts manufactured in Japanese factories, but then assembled in the Philippines. 

 

BTW, the XF (smaller zoom in picture) exhibits a fair bit of CA for astronomical use. Pentax don't shout about that either. 

[Don Pensack]

On 29/07/2022 at 00:04, vagk said:

I recently bought one brand new Pentax XW 5mm that says on its label "Made in Japan". Does it mean the lenses are made in Japan and the assembly in Philippines ?

Yes, that is exactly what it means.

[Don Pensack]

20 hours ago, Louis D said:

It could simply be old stock in new packaging.  Did the box say Ricoh anywhere?  My XWs are similarly marked as "Made in Japan", so it might come down to origin of part percentages under US law.  It could also be they're not concerned with US labeling laws.  Clearly APM isn't.  There's no way their eyepieces qualify as "Made in Germany", but many are marked Germany rather than China.  Perhaps by leaving out "Made in" they can skirt these country of origin laws?

The US has a 25% tariff on Chinese goods.

[Don Pensack]

10 hours ago, vagk said:

 

My friend's similar eyepiece (bought years ago) says "Pentax Corporation Made in Japan" instead of Ricoh

Who knows?.....

Pentax was owned by Pentax, then Hoya, then Ricoh.

All those companies are Japanese.  How something is classified is, I believe, determined by the preponderance of the manufacturing.  A US made car uses parts from many countries, and may be assembled in Canada from US-Made sub assemblies

and still be considered a US-made car.  In the case of the Pentax eyepieces, Ricoh has plants in the Philippines that assemble camera lenses and binoculars, which is probably why they have them assembled there.

I was told they were assembled there, but I doubted it until I started getting all the eyepieces from the Philippines in boxes marked "Philippines".

We live in a multi-national world.

[Louis D]

8 minutes ago, Don Pensack said:

The US has a 25% tariff on Chinese goods.

Do you know if APM is successfully skirting that tariff by mislabeling eyepieces as Germany?