Your best/favourite EP?

[IB20]

What is the best eyepiece you’ve looked through? I don’t have many years in the eyepiece game but have quite a nice selection at the minute and have tried some of the classics. I’m sure for most, myself included, it will depend on scope and target but I’m thinking overall in your collections or experiences. 

For me, each time I use the Takahashi TOE 4mm it never fails to impress me. Every session I enjoy using it more and more. I find it so comfortable to look through even for very long periods, the eye relief is perfect for me and the views are just the best I have ever had, particularly on the planets which are my main interest. The views always seem to be larger than its stated 52° too. It’s super light, compact and very aesthetically pleasing, it even has its own blue box for the collectors out there… 😉. 

So what’s the eyepiece you would let go last or maybe even want back in your collection after letting it go?
 

 

[Stu]

Where’s that popcorn icon? 🍿🤣

I’ll bite. In terms of most used eyepieces it has to be my 24mm Panoptic but most used is the Leica 8.9 to 17.8mm Zoom. Very sharp and useable in a wide range of scopes. It rivals fixed focal length eyepieces with the convenience of a zoom.

I’ve bought and sold two Docter 12.5mm  eyepieces. Wish I hadn’t, doubt I will find another that I can afford!

[Franklin]

Vixen LVW 22mm, all day long.

[Don Pensack]

TeleVue Apollo 11.  It's close to the ideal magnification in the dob and its 85° is usable with glasses on.

[cajen2]

Apart from image quality, I need two other things: a wide FOV (I can't stand that 'looking through a straw' feeling, plus I don't want to be nudging my dob every five seconds) and good eye relief (I view by hovering over the EP). So:

Any of my three Morpheus for medium - high mags,

My StellaLyra 2"20mm 80° for low - medium mags.

I'd be seriously upset at losing any of these.

Edited October 12, 2022 by cajen2
Punctuation

[RobertI]

56 minutes ago, IB20 said:

What is the best eyepiece you’ve looked through?

Binoviewers. 😉

[markse68]

I love my XWs (7XW is my favourite for planetary I think in my 8" f8) but they just seem a bit too big and unwieldy for my little 150p so currently my favourite is my Nikon MCii zoom +- barlow- small and light, very versatile and really really sharp and contrasty- quite a revelation!

Mark

[JeremyS]

Superb on globs in the TSA 120 and on Jupiter & Saturn on the Mu 210

[Whistlin Bob]

After some years of reading drooling posts about various Televues and Pentaxes I suspect that I'm bringing a knife to a gunfight here, but I paired my Skywatcher Aero 30mm eyepiece with a SW 0.9x Coma Corrector that I usually use for imaging and put it in my 14" Dob and it's wonderful: 50x mag, near 70 degrees afov, and pin sharp stars almost edge to edge. 

A very close second is my binoviewers with a pair of WO SWA 20mm in them.

[Space Hopper]

Another vote for the 24mm Panoptic. 

But 2 of them together in the bino

 

Also have a 12.5mm Docter which is pretty special too

[MalcolmM]

I think the 4mm TOE is a bit special. Sharp, high contrast, light and easy to look through. I'm also very fond of the Tak 28mm Erfle. Wide enough FOV for me (not the widest I know) to star hop, great contrast and very light. My best ever view of Saturn was binoviewing with a pair of Tak 28mm Erfles in a Mu 180.

Malcolm 

[Roy Challen]

Most used by far is my Baader Classic plossl, the only EP I use for solar. Most of my night viewing is through a 7-21 Hyperflex, for convenience, but if the seeing is good, I'll pop in a Baader 10mm BCO. I sure do miss the Zeiss CZJs I had a few years ago...

[NGC 1502]

8 hours ago, Franklin said:

Vixen LVW 22mm, all day long.

 

I have to agree with that (apart from it’s good at night too😁) incredibly sharp right across the field of view, even in fast scopes.  My fastest scope is a 6” f3.8 Newtonian, and that’s a severe test.

Another severe test is my Edmund Astroscan with its 105mm f4.2 mirror. Unfortunately the 22 LVW is too heavy and the Astroscan tends to dip to the horizon……

With my 10” f4.8 Dob the 22LVW is a corker, the double cluster is a sight to behold….

Edited October 13, 2022 by NGC 1502
Spelling

[IB20]

9 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Superb on globs in the TSA 120 and on Jupiter & Saturn on the Mu 210

That’s a very nice looking EP. Is it 2” only? 

I want to try some more Televue gear as enjoyed the Delite, I felt I had to sell it when it didn’t come to focus in the 76DC though. Bit worried other ranges will yield a similar result.

 

[cajen2]

1 hour ago, IB20 said:

That’s a very nice looking EP. Is it 2” only? 

I want to try some more Televue gear as enjoyed the Delite, I felt I had to sell it when it didn’t come to focus in the 76DC though. Bit worried other ranges will yield a similar result.

 

Sure is. Have you got £1400 that you don't need? 😉

[IB20]

5 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

Sure is. Have you got £1400 that you don't need? 😉

Well I was thinking more Nagler/Deloses even the Radians but not the Apollo 😅

[wookie1965]

I have two goto eyepiece`s a 15mm BST Starguider and a Vixen 10mm silver top both superb.

[badhex]

17.5mm Morpheus. As very recently mentioned on another thread it's a good size and weight, comfortable to use, and a good balance between TFOV and background darkness. 

[Guest]

It would be a toss up between my Orion 14 and 20mm LHD.  

[Geoff Barnes]

My Baader 8-24 mm zoom gets by far the most use in my 12 inch Dob because of it's sheer versatility , but it's the Morpheus 6.5 mm that I enjoy using the most. Sublime quality views and just feels beautifully comfortable to use. 

[bosun21]

My most used eyepiece is my Baader Morpheus 17.5mm, closely followed by my Explore Scientific 24mm 68 degrees. The clarity of the Morpheus draws me in every time.

[Whistlin Bob]

2 hours ago, Geoff Barnes said:

My Baader 8-24 mm zoom gets by far the most use in my 12 inch Dob because of it's sheer versatility

Same here- a brilliant eyepiece. It does almost everything, but for everything it does, something else I've got does it a little bit better. 

[JeremyS]

6 hours ago, IB20 said:

That’s a very nice looking EP. Is it 2” only? 

I want to try some more Televue gear as enjoyed the Delite, I felt I had to sell it when it didn’t come to focus in the 76DC though. Bit worried other ranges will yield a similar result.

 

2-inch or 1.25-inch barrel. More here: https://www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/tele-vue-apollo-eyepieces.html

I understand that I might have purchased the last one available retail. Maybe they will eventually come up on 2nd hand market. ~300 made

I also have a Nagler 11 which is also an excellent EP. Again no longer made

Edited October 13, 2022 by JeremyS

[graham56]

after  being into astronomy  since i was 7 years old (looking at saturns rings through a Charles frank 4" reflector back in 1963 )

have looked through most eyepieces , could never get on with the 100 deg or 92 deg eyepieces , owned and sold them all ,

i now keep to 82 s and 68 s , all im saying is dont search for eyepiece nivarna it doesn't exist.

[Don Pensack]

7 hours ago, IB20 said:

That’s a very nice looking EP. Is it 2” only? 

I want to try some more Televue gear as enjoyed the Delite, I felt I had to sell it when it didn’t come to focus in the 76DC though. Bit worried other ranges will yield a similar result.

 

If the Delite didn't focus in that scope, neither would any other 1.25" TeleVue eyepiece, alas.