Evolution 8 2” eyepiece suggestions/blue sky (scuse the pun) thinking

[Heids]

Just testing the water here. 

Slowly kitting my rig out, I’ve just invested in the Baader 2” clicklock diagonal as I realise that it would be a waste not to use 2’ ep’s seeing as I am at the starting point of curating my collection. I also have the 1.25 reducer so I can fall back on 1.25’s if need be. I got the clicklock because “if it can happen, it will happen to me”.

Blank canvas, budget not really an issue as I am patient (read: can save up) and can’t observe that much at the moment so concentrating on kitting out primarily atm (elderly dog with dementia who has issues with me changing his routine by staying outside past bedtime - bittersweet, but this may not be an issue for much longer).

I am in a Bortle 4 area, I don’t wear glasses (yay lasik!), and this is almost exclusively for visual (i may dabble in ap at some point but not for a while). Planetary and DSO are both of interest and I would definitely enjoy splitting binaries etc. I have a field reducer as the limited viewing I am able to do I just enjoy deep skies. 

I have a very tasty Lykus case arriving, not that it makes a difference, but I realise there are some case fetishists here

Thanks in advance!

 

 

[cajen2]

StellaLyra 2" 80° https://www.firstlightoptics.com/stellalyra-eyepieces/stellalyra-20mm-2-80-ler-uwa-eyepiece.html

I have a thread on this (basically, I was given one to report on and was so impressed that I bought one):

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/392135-stellalyra-80°-20mm-2-eyepiece-first-light-report/

There's also a 2" 14mil, though I haven't tried that. 

Edited August 12, 2022 by cajen2

[Guest]

1 minute ago, cajen2 said:

StellaLyra 2" 80° https://www.firstlightoptics.com/stellalyra-eyepieces/stellalyra-20mm-2-80-ler-uwa-eyepiece.html

I have a thread on this (basically, I was given one to report on and was so impressed that I bought one): 

There's also a 2" 14mil, though I haven't tried that. 

Gee.... I wonder if you know anyone with a 14mm LOL 

[cajen2]

Ah, yes, ask Mike about it! 😄

[Louis D]

The field reducer is not going to play nice with widest field 2" eyepieces like the 41mm Panoptic or 40mm Pentax XW.  It might play fine with shorter focal length 2" eyepieces, though.

2" eyepieces are mostly useful for when the (effective) field stop approaches or exceeds the inner diameter of a 1.25" barrel.  They are also useful for securing big, heavy eyepieces like the 12mm ES-92.  Otherwise, there's no important reason not to go with 1.25" eyepieces at the shorter focal lengths.

Having an f/10 scope makes having a wide range of exit pupils difficult.  To get to even a 6mm exit pupil requires a 60mm eyepiece.  The closest would be a TV or Meade 55mm/56mm Plossl.  An exit pupil this large is mostly useful with narrowband nebula filters like an OIII.

If you start at 40mm as suggested above, you would have a 4mm exit pupil as your widest.  Next, a 30mm such as the APM UFF would yield a 3mm exit pupil.  A 20mm/21mm such as the StellaLyra 80, Ethos, or APM XWC HDC would get you to an optimal 2mm exit pupil.  At 1mm exit pupil, you could go with a range of eyepieces from 9mm to 11mm.  There's the 9mm Morpheus or APM XWC, 10mm Delos or Ethos, 11mm Nagler T6 or Apollo.  Below 1mm exit pupil, your options become extensive.  You could go with Morpheus, Delos, Ethos, Delite, Nagler, Pentax XW, Nikon SW, or various orthos.  I would not go below 5mm for a 0.5mm exit pupil, though.  My limit is closer to 0.7mm with a 7mm eyepiece.