Wider FOV 68 Vs 82 Degree for a fast scope

[bosun21]

3 hours ago, Ratlet said:

spot.

Quite enjoying this mucking about with eyepieces.  It's interesting to see the differences they make to the experience beyond magnification.  Really appreciate the help and feedback.

It can prove to be an expensive learning curve. I did the journey in incremental steps before settling on a full set of Baader Morpheus eyepieces and several orthos along with a low power eyepiece. This was a costly mistake and I wish I had just went straight to a quality eyepiece. Once I tried one Morpheus I had found what I was looking for, so I just added another and another over a period of time. This is just my thoughts on the matter, you may have an entirely different outlook.

[John]

6 hours ago, bosun21 said:

It can prove to be an expensive learning curve. I did the journey in incremental steps before settling on a full set of Baader Morpheus eyepieces and several orthos along with a low power eyepiece. This was a costly mistake and I wish I had just went straight to a quality eyepiece. Once I tried one Morpheus I had found what I was looking for, so I just added another and another over a period of time. This is just my thoughts on the matter, you may have an entirely different outlook.

I used a similar approach. The problem for me though was that it was the Ethos eyepieces that I found that I really liked 🙄

So costly finding out and then even more costly once I had found out 🤑

[Ratlet]

7 hours ago, bosun21 said:

It can prove to be an expensive learning curve. I did the journey in incremental steps before settling on a full set of Baader Morpheus eyepieces and several orthos along with a low power eyepiece. This was a costly mistake and I wish I had just went straight to a quality eyepiece. Once I tried one Morpheus I had found what I was looking for, so I just added another and another over a period of time. This is just my thoughts on the matter, you may have an entirely different outlook.

Managed to spend a bit of time this afternoon looking at FOV and Ernests reviews and the Morpheus is pretty much bob on for what I'm looking for.  Being critical of the FOV, the 15mm uff is a bit too close to my 12mm BST.  The 17.5mm gives me a nice fov that slots in between the 30mm superview/30mm uff and the 12mm BST whilst also being highly corrected which is what I'm looking for in the next eyepiece.

Cheers for making the push for the Morpheus. 

[cajen2]

+1 for the Morpheus range, though I have only three (6.5, 9 and 12.5mm). I'm thinking of replacing my current 68° 18mm SL with the 17.5 too. Morphs are my favourite EPs and imo are very slightly better than my Pentax XWs. Very few people seem to be disappointed with them.

[glafnazur]

Another +1 for the Morpheus. I've got the 4.5, 9 and 17.5 and love them, I hope to complete the set someday.

[Zermelo]

9 hours ago, bosun21 said:

It can prove to be an expensive learning curve. I did the journey in incremental steps before settling on a full set of Baader Morpheus eyepieces and several orthos along with a low power eyepiece. This was a costly mistake and I wish I had just went straight to a quality eyepiece. Once I tried one Morpheus I had found what I was looking for, so I just added another and another over a period of time. This is just my thoughts on the matter, you may have an entirely different outlook.

I suppose it's understandable to regret the intermediate expenditure, once you've reached a destination you're happy with.

I think I'm in a very similar position to you - my current 'A' team is a few Morpheus, the 24mm and 30mm UFFs, and a couple of BCOs.  I can't see me ever managing to justify the incremental spend in upgrading to TV or Pentax.
But I still value the other purchases along the way, because my observing skills and experience, and the associated understanding, were/are growing with my equipment. In some ways, I think it has helped me to assimilate the learning more evenly.

[bosun21]

14 minutes ago, Zermelo said:

I suppose it's understandable to regret the intermediate expenditure, once you've reached a destination you're happy with.

I think I'm in a very similar position to you - my current 'A' team is a few Morpheus, the 24mm and 30mm UFFs, and a couple of BCOs.  I can't see me ever managing to justify the incremental spend in upgrading to TV or Pentax.
But I still value the other purchases along the way, because my observing skills and experience, and the associated understanding, were/are growing with my equipment. In some ways, I think it has helped me to assimilate the learning more evenly.

I agree with you about the learning experience side of the journey but I was merely talking about the money lost by buying new eyepieces and then selling them on. If I were to go through it again I would only buy used eyepieces until I found what I was completely happy with.

[Zermelo]

8 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

I would only buy used eyepieces until I found what I was completely happy with

Yes, I agree that second hand from a reliable source, especially with something lacking moving parts, is a sound approach. I was nervous about it at first, but more comfortable now. All my Morpheus are second hand.

[Don Pensack]

One thing to remember about field curvature, whether it comes from the scope or eyepiece, and that is, "always focus on a star 50% of the way from center to edge".

If you have any accommodation left in your eyes, you will be able to focus the entire field that way.

If you focus solely on the center, the edge will be out of focus or vice versa.

[Ratlet]

53 minutes ago, Don Pensack said:

One thing to remember about field curvature, whether it comes from the scope or eyepiece, and that is, "always focus on a star 50% of the way from center to edge".

If you have any accommodation left in your eyes, you will be able to focus the entire field that way.

If you focus solely on the center, the edge will be out of focus or vice versa.

This probably explains why it is only an intermittent bugbear for me.  Sometimes I focused on something dead centre other times something further out.  It'll be a while till I get the funds for a Morpheus, so I'll have plenty of time to play with my existing line up.

[Ratlet]

Turns out I was wrong.

Pulled the trigger on the Morpheus.  Apparently there is a sale on?  Oh well.  I told the missus they were on sale...

[John]

14 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

Turns out I was wrong.

Pulled the trigger on the Morpheus.  Apparently there is a sale on?  Oh well.  I told the missus they were on sale...

An excellent purchase I'm sure 🙂

I really must try a Morpheus soon - there is just so much positive feedback about them both here and on that other forum.

 

[Zermelo]

29 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

Turns out I was wrong.

Pulled the trigger on the Morpheus.  Apparently there is a sale on?  Oh well.  I told the missus they were on sale...

Which one did you go for?

 

[Ratlet]

15 minutes ago, Zermelo said:

Which one did you go for?

 

17.5mm.  It is the ideal FOV for my setup between the 12mm BST and 30mm Superview.  I wanting to try a well corrected eyepiece and this seems to be near the tippy top in terms of correction.  Hopefully it doesn't start a craving for the rest of the set!

[John]

49 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

.....  Hopefully it doesn't start a craving for the rest of the set!

I've found that to be a big issue with really nice eyepieces (which I'm sure the Morpheus is). Trouble is, my resolve not to slide down slippery slopes has proved historically rather weak. When you try something that is clearly better, it's difficult to go back  🙄

Edited May 1, 2023 by John

[bosun21]

50 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

Hopefully it doesn't start a craving for the rest of the set!

Believe me it will. I got so itchy I ended up buying all six of them and their custom case. I’m so weak 😂

[Ratlet]

I've discovered Ernest's eyepiece reviews where he puts some quantification of some sort on the performance of eyepieces so I can try to draw some conclusions.

I think I've done well so far I that the eyepieces I've got have helped me understand eyepieces better and what I like from them.  I much rather better correction than a wide FOV.  @bosun21 recently pointed out that that I'd been overestimating the FOV of my 32mm plossl by 10° and that's one of my favourite eyepieces.

Fortunately the baader eliminates having to make a choice between fov and correction as it's provides both.

Going to be fun testing it though.  Down to nautical twilight only up here, and won't be long till even that's gone!

[John]

37 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

I've discovered Ernest's eyepiece reviews where he puts some quantification of some sort on the performance of eyepieces so I can try to draw some conclusions.

I think I've done well so far I that the eyepieces I've got have helped me understand eyepieces better and what I like from them.  I much rather better correction than a wide FOV.  @bosun21 recently pointed out that that I'd been overestimating the FOV of my 32mm plossl by 10° and that's one of my favourite eyepieces.

Fortunately the baader eliminates having to make a choice between fov and correction as it's provides both.

Going to be fun testing it though.  Down to nautical twilight only up here, and won't be long till even that's gone!

Your scopes are all quite fast at or around F/5 so getting a wide field that is well corrected and not costing a small fortune is the challenge. The Morpheus does seem to have ticked those boxes from what I've read 🙂

There used to be an often quoted remark along the lines of: "sharp across the field in a fast scope / wide field of view / low cost: pick any two". Maybe the Morpheus is challenging that ? 

[Ratlet]

5 minutes ago, John said:

Your scopes are all quite fast at or around F/5 so getting a wide field that is well corrected and not costing a small fortune is the challenge. The Morpheus does seem to have ticked those boxes from what I've read 🙂

There used to be an often quoted remark along the lines of: "sharp across the field in a fast scope / wide field of view / low cost: pick any two". Maybe the Morpheus is challenging that ? 

It does seem that the 16mm to 18mm focal length appears to be a particularly difficult focal length with quite a few eyepiece sets struggling in that range, having the weakest of the bunch around there with the quality going back up on either side, particularly for eyepieces with a 60°+ FOV.  That might  just be me justifying shelling out on the Morpheus though.

[cajen2]

I've just bought a Morph 17.5 - said to be the best in the range - and though it's only had a brief first light, I'm well impressed! 👍

[John]

1 hour ago, Ratlet said:

It does seem that the 16mm to 18mm focal length appears to be a particularly difficult focal length with quite a few eyepiece sets struggling in that range, having the weakest of the bunch around there with the quality going back up on either side, particularly for eyepieces with a 60°+ FOV.  That might  just be me justifying shelling out on the Morpheus though.

There was quite a delay between the release of other Morpheus focal lengths and the 17.5mm. I believe that Baader spent some time with the manufacturer to get a product that was of the quality that they wanted for this range. It clearly paid off from the feedback on this eyepiece 🙂

Information on backorders/release of 17.5 mm Morpheus® 76° widefield eyepiece / Baader Planetarium Blog Posts (baader-planetarium.com)

[Elp]

15 hours ago, Ratlet said:

Apparently there is a sale on?

Funny how the baader sale never filters down to UK suppliers.

[apaulo]

No, we get the opposite, then are told baader  pushed the prices up. Just greed.

[John]

20 minutes ago, apaulo said:

No, we get the opposite, then are told baader  pushed the prices up. Just greed.

I must have missed that one. The most recent news on Baader prices that I can find is a 20% sale on the Hyperion range over the Xmas 2022 period.

 

[Elp]

Baader De has them on sale among other items right now. The UK site you can't buy them and it refers you to find a dealer. UK dealers have them at the usual prices.

Edited May 2, 2023 by Elp