What are your 'under the radar' eyepieces?

[Mr Spock]

We all know the good ones and the bad ones. We talk about them often enough. But what about those eyepieces that are truly 'under the radar'; gems that might pass by because no-one ever mentions them? Which perhaps over time have fallen out of fashion or have been superseded by newer models.

One I remember well, simply because it gave me my best ever view of Saturn and ε Lyr, was a Meade 4000 series 6.4mm Plössl. My scope at the time was a 140mm Mak, so I can only say how good it was at f14. But those views at x313 were supremely crisp. The view of Saturn (it was overhead) was amazing with an inky black Cassini sharply etched.
The only reason I sold it was because when I got my next scope, a Skywatcher blue tube 250mm Newt, I got some Vixen SLVs at the same time.

I often think about getting one, just to see how it compares with my other (many) eyepieces.

So, what are your never mentioned under the radar gems?

[Louis D]

The Baader Scopos Extreme 35mm is quite sharp at f/6 edge to edge, and sublimely sharp in the inner 50%.  It has tighter stars there than many of my premium wide fields.  The downside to it is how big and heavy it is.  Weight wise, it slots between my 12mm and 17mm ES92s.  As such, I don't need to rebalance my scope when switching among these three eyepieces.

Edited February 5 by Louis D

[globular]

Mine is an Astro Essentials Super Plössl 56mm.
When paired with my 8" Edge in nice dark skies it makes a lovely dark nebula hunter. 
Because of it's 5.4mm exit pupil it opens up objects to me that would otherwise need a different scope to find. 

[JeremyS]

Not sure I’ve ever mentioned this 🤔

[Elp]

My WO 9mm swan. Bought used, it's got awful black specs within even though I've tried taking it apart and cleaning each glass. But it's a cracking eyepiece, sharp, wide angle, even works very well for HA solar (a lot of eyepieces don't). I've used the 15 and 20mm, they're not quite the same but very similar.

[bosun21]

An under the radar eyepiece that impressed me no end was a 17mm Vixen silvertop plossl. It was clear and tack sharp. Haven’t looked through a plossl since that equals it.

[badhex]

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

Not sure I’ve ever mentioned this 🤔

Less under the radar and more over the moon 😂

[badhex]

Not so much under the radar but perhaps at altitude, my Meade 5000 HD-60 9mm has always been a strong performer. It doesn't fit in my main small EP case having been usurped by a Pentax XW 10mm which is definitely a superior EP, but I try to make sure the HD-60 doesn't get neglected completely. 

[Stu]

Saw one advertised today, and it reminded me that the Meade Research Grade 7mm Orthos is a lovely bit of kit, lightweight and very sharp.

[Mike Q]

Call it under the radar or maybe a sleeper, my Orion branded Long Perng 20mm 80 degree 2 inch eyepiece may just quietly be my favorite eyepiece. It just continues to deliver fantastic images. 

Edited February 8 by Mike Q

[Roy Challen]

Often disregarded when the Baader BCOs are mentioned, the 32mm plossl from Baader is a superb HA eyepiece for my Solarscout. A totally underrated ep imo.

[wookie1965]

11 hours ago, bosun21 said:

An under the radar eyepiece that impressed me no end was a 17mm Vixen silvertop plossl. It was clear and tack sharp. Haven’t looked through a plossl since that equals it.

I have the 10mm and that is the same crisp and clear I would love to pick up more of them.

Edited February 5 by wookie1965

[Littleguy80]

13 hours ago, Stu said:

Saw one advertised today, and it reminded me that the Meade Research Grade 7mm Orthos is a lovely bit of kit, lightweight and very sharp.

I still have mine which I bought off you, Stu  It’s still one of the best planetary eyepieces I own. A World Cup winner too:

 http://hyperionzoomlover.blogspot.com/2011/06/champ-meade-rgo-research-grade-ortho.html?m=1

[cajen2]

11 hours ago, Mike Q said:

Call it under the radar or maybe a sleeper, my Orion branded Long Perng 20mm 80 degree 2 inch eyepiece may just quietly be my favorite eyepiece. It just continues to deliver fantastic images and may well be my favorite eyepiece.  

For those in the UK, that's the same as the StellaLyra 2" 20mil. Excellent EP.

 

 

[bosun21]

1 hour ago, wookie1965 said:

I have the 10mm and that is the same crisp and clear I would love to pick up more of them.

Yes, that’s the one.

[mr_belowski]

Mine's a basic Vixen 30mm NPL. No idea why but it just seems to work better than any others I've tried - it's all a bit subjective and personal

[JeremyS]

This little beauty has given me some of my best ever views of Mars. Using my Tak FS 102 during  the perihelic opposition of 2003 when the planet was almost overhead from my garden in Singapore.

Pentax XP 3.8. It is only 1-inch and has tight eye relief. Stupidly I sold it about 15 years ago when I all but stopped visual observing. A couple of years ago I bought another one from Japan. Long out of production and rare on second hand market 

[Froeng]

On 05/02/2023 at 10:44, wookie1965 said:

I have the 10mm and that is the same crisp and clear I would love to pick up more of them.

Ah! Gen 2 Silvertop Plössl. I also love my 26mm ones as well as my 45mm ones (despite the latter one’s tunnel vision)!

[Highburymark]

Entering the murky world of microscope eyepieces can be a little daunting for astronomers. You have to familiarise yourself with complex numbers and names (what on earth is a pl-10x/18 444132-9901?). You have to deal with 30mm barrels - 1.7mm less than 1.25”. And then you have to work out where to buy them - virtually all the best and most affordable models usable for astronomy must be sourced secondhand from eBay, or the many dealers in pre-owned microscope gear. But it’s worth the effort. The three binoviewing pairs I have are exceptional, easily outperforming my long focal length astronomy eyepieces. First - Zeiss OPMI, based on an Abbé ortho design, were made for medical operations. Then I have two pairs of Leica HC Plan S, with different AFOVs, which I understand are revised Konigs. Hunt around, and you can find excellent examples of Leica HC Plan S 10x/22 for £200 upwards, less than a pair of TV Plossls. Best place to start researching is CN - there are a number of long threads there. Most pairs are the equivalent of 25mm, and between 40-60 degrees. So they are specialised tools. But when people are paying thousands to buy a pair of ZAOs, these offer a much more affordable route to eyepiece nirvana.

[Highburymark]

On 05/02/2023 at 14:42, JeremyS said:

This little beauty has given me some of my best ever views of Mars. Using my Tak FS 102 during  the perihelic opposition of 2003 when the planet was almost overhead from my garden in Singapore.

Pentax XP 3.8. It is only 1-inch and has tight eye relief. Stupidly I sold it about 15 years ago when I all but stopped visual observing. A couple of years ago I bought another one from Japan. Long out of production and rare on second hand market 

Very nice Jeremy. There’s one for sale at APM in Germany for a considerable sum - 330 euros or thereabouts. First one I’ve ever seen for sale in Europe. Just looked it up and the 3.8mm appears to have 5 elements in 3 groups (same as 5.1mm XO), though the other XPs have 6/5 configuration. And like the XOs, the shortest FL XP actually has more eye relief than the next shortest. Yours apparently has 2.7mm ER, though the 8mm XP only has 2.1mm. 

[Highburymark]

On 04/02/2023 at 21:44, Louis D said:

The Baader Scopos Extreme 35mm is quite sharp at f/6 edge to edge, and sublimely sharp in the inner 50%.  It has tighter stars there than many of my premium wide fields.  The downside to it is how big and heavy it is.  Weight wise, it slots between my 12mm and 17mm ES92s.  As such, I don't need to rebalance my scope when switching among these three eyepieces.

Would be interested to see any pics you have of the Scopos Louis

[JeremyS]

28 minutes ago, Highburymark said:

Very nice Jeremy. There’s one for sale at APM in Germany for a considerable sum - 330 euros or thereabouts. First one I’ve ever seen for sale in Europe. Just looked it up and the 3.8mm appears to have 5 elements in 3 groups (same as 5.1mm XO), though the other XPs have 6/5 configuration. And like the XOs, the shortest FL XP actually has more eye relief than the next shortest. Yours apparently has 2.7mm ER, though the 8mm XP only has 2.1mm. 

It comes to something when they quote eye relief to a tenth of a mm, Mark 🤣
Mind you, it’s a super eyepiece. 
Wish I had a few of these, given the asking price 🤣

[Louis D]

3 hours ago, Highburymark said:

Would be interested to see any pics you have of the Scopos Louis

The BSE 35mm is fifth from the left below and the fifth ruler image down from the top in the FOV images.

Notice the fairly low radial edge distortion in the BSE 35mm.  It's 17% versus 47% for the Meade 5000 SWA 40mm.  This makes viewing objects like the moon more enjoyable because they are distorted less as they drift across the FOV in an undriven mount.

The BSE 35mm is in the back row, second from the right, to the immediate right of the ES-92 17mm.  Weight and size wise, it's a good observing companion to the two ES-92s as I said above.

I don't have an image of the eye lens, but it is the largest of all my commercially made eyepieces at 47mm.  Even with 17mm of eye lens recession, it still has 17mm of usable eye relief.  I once unscrewed the top to see what 34mm of usable eye relief would feel like.  It felt like way too much eye relief even while wearing eyeglasses. 😅

Here's a CN user's image with the top removed from the Orion Stratus 35mm version in a CN thread about it:

You don't dare turn the eyepiece in that state.  That eye lens will drop right out without the top screwed on.  I created a low profile top from a large pill bottle cut to size and with the threaded neck cut off.  I rubber band it on top against the rubber grip to hold the eye lens in place when I remove the top.

[Highburymark]

Amazing - what a lump. But a very useful lump, at far less than half the price of a Panoptic. 
I still have a 36mm Hyperion aspheric which I bought for night vision (it’s one of the few non-TV eyepieces that accepted the NV adaptor). I keep reading reports about how poorly it performs in fast scopes, but I’ve seen far worse. 

[Stu]

6 hours ago, Highburymark said:

Entering the murky world of microscope eyepieces can be a little daunting for astronomers. You have to familiarise yourself with complex numbers and names (what on earth is a pl-10x/18 444132-9901?). You have to deal with 30mm barrels - 1.7mm less than 1.25”. And then you have to work out where to buy them - virtually all the best and most affordable models usable for astronomy must be sourced secondhand from eBay, or the many dealers in pre-owned microscope gear. But it’s worth the effort. The three binoviewing pairs I have are exceptional, easily outperforming my long focal length astronomy eyepieces. First - Zeiss OPMI, based on an Abbé ortho design, were made for medical operations. Then I have two pairs of Leica HC Plan S, with different AFOVs, which I understand are revised Konigs. Hunt around, and you can find excellent examples of Leica HC Plan S 10x/22 for £200 upwards, less than a pair of TV Plossls. Best place to start researching is CN - there are a number of long threads there. Most pairs are the equivalent of 25mm, and between 40-60 degrees. So they are specialised tools. But when people are paying thousands to buy a pair of ZAOs, these offer a much more affordable route to eyepiece nirvana.

I quite agree Mark. One of my favourite pairs are the Zeiss microscope eyepieces that I use for white light solar viewing.