Gone Full Circle! (Back to 1.25" and Plossls.)

[cloudsweeper]

Having spent eight years obsessing over 2" diagonals and 2" W/F eyepieces, I've now rediscovered the joy and simplicity of the 1.25" diagonal and EPs, especially Plossls at the low power end.  The crisp views they give across the (reduced) field is very pleasing.  At higher mags, Celestron XCel LXs and ES82s are good.

At one point, I even had ALL my EPs fitted with 1.25-to-2" adaptors!

Here's the lovely ES ED80 Triplet fitted with a Tele Vue 20mm Plossl, ready for action.......

Doug.

[Franklin]

I've got 83deg, 65deg and good old 50deg eyepieces and my favorite is the 65deg. I read somewhere that this is the natural fov of the eye so maybe that is why 65deg just feels so comfortable. I can take in the whole view without having to look around but the plossls and orthoscopics will always have a use and you are right the low power plossls are very clear and sharp.

[Alan White]

I did the 50 degree plossl return a while back and then hankered for a bit wider in some circumstances.
Mainly settled at 70 degrees area now, but still have 50’s and keeping them.

 

[JeremyS]

Simple is usually better 👍🏻

[Roy Challen]

I dabbled in 68 and 82 degree AFOVs a long while back, but never stopped using orthos and plossls. These days, that's all I use other than my Hyperflex zoom.

Lighter in the focuser and lighter on the wallet!

[Mr Spock]

The only 2" I use is the 30mm which I use as a low power finder. I do like my orthos though lately I've taken a liking to the Nirvanas. I ignore the 82° and just use the middle bit!

At the moment I've got the 12" out, and the eyepieces I'm taking out are the 30mm UFF, 13mm, 7mm and 4mm Nirvanas, and the 3.3mm TOE.

[Elp]

I initially bought a 1.25/2 inch diagonal for future proofing. But having a mix will just complicate things, as well as 2 inch pieces costing significantly more. I wish Pentax did a 1.25 30mm, I'd be done then.

[bomberbaz]

I recently purchased a APM super zoom, 67/68 degrees from 15.5 through to 7.7. I also have a APM 24 -65 degree and a panoptic 27 -68 degree + a 20mm plossl.

I have got rid of 2x 82 degree ep's and my beloved 102 degree Nikons plus a plethora of other glass. God that hurt letting the Nikons go but they simply were not getting the use they deserved.

I now have nothing over 68 degree fov consisting of 4x zooms and 3 fixed length eyepieces.  At one time I owned around 25 fixed length eyepiece and no zooms.

Seems a few of us are changing our glass outlook. 

Finally an apology to FLO whose glass sales must have plummeted 😆 

[jetstream]

Years ago I bought a bunch of Circle T orthos and use them frequently. Its amazing what these inexpensive EP's can show. I barlow the 12.5mm a lot with very good luck.

[John]

3 hours ago, Elp said:

I initially bought a 1.25/2 inch diagonal for future proofing. But having a mix will just complicate things, as well as 2 inch pieces costing significantly more. I wish Pentax did a 1.25 30mm, I'd be done then.

Pentax used to do a 28mm 1.25 inch eyepiece - the 28mm XL. The smaller barrel size restricted the AFoV to 55 degrees. It's quite hard to find.

PS: This thread probably ought to be in the eyepiece section ?

Edited April 28, 2023 by John

[JeremyS]

7 hours ago, John said:

Pentax used to do a 28mm 1.25 inch eyepiece - the 28mm XL. The smaller barrel size restricted the AFoV to 55 degrees. It's quite hard to find.

PS: This thread probably ought to be in the eyepiece section ?

Yes the XL 28 is a very nice EP. I picked up a used one a few years ago to add to the rest of the 1.25-inch XLs I bought new. I’ve only seen one other XL 28 come up in recent years, though I’m not deliberately looking out for them so there may well have been others.

If one does come up, check the rubber housing is in good condition. They do oxidise slowly. 

[wookie1965]

I have one 2" ep I dont use it I have a 10mm Vixen silver top and the views are crisp and clear I barlow that with my Tal x2 barlow for higher mag and its a delight to use. I have a 11mm Televue plossl which is very similar I stupidly sold my 20" televue plossl. My go to eyepiece is the 15mm BST that is a superb ep for the money. 

[Elp]

I decided I wanted LER pieces hence the move to Pentax but if the XL28 is 55 Deg, I might just stick to the Televue 32 I've got, works reasonably well for eye relief. The issue I've found, as they're generally more affordable (1.25) you tend to buy a lot of similar or close powers and then have too many.

[Mr Spock]

I did a little test last night with the 12". I had my 7mm Nirvana, 7mm Circle-T ortho and 18mm Circle-T Ortho with x2.5 Powermate. The target was the Triesnecker rille system. There wasn't much between any of them - I couldn't see a difference and all of them were very sharp.

Similar with the 4mm Circle-T ortho, 4mm Nirvana and 4mm TOE. All had the same sharpness. I did prefer the view through the TOE, and, the 4mm ortho was tight on eye relief; the 4mm Nirvana was the easiest to look though because of its massive fov.

I like smaller eyepieces these days. As much as I like the views through the LVWs, at the moment they aren't getting used due to their size.

[Mr Spock]

If anyone is interested in the Circle-T orthos, ENS has a 25mm, 9mm, 7mm, 2x 6mm and a 4mm at the moment. I have a look there regularly as I'm looking for the elusive 5mm.

[John]

5 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

If anyone is interested in the Circle-T orthos, ENS has a 25mm, 9mm, 7mm, 2x 6mm and a 4mm at the moment. I have a look there regularly as I'm looking for the elusive 5mm.

They did have a 5mm Circle-T a week or so back but it went quickly - I had thought that you might have snagged it !

Edited April 29, 2023 by John

[Mr Spock]

1 minute ago, John said:

They did have a 5mm Circle-T a week or so back but it went quickly - I had thought that you might have snagged it !

That's just my luck 😭

[rl]

Quote

I have got rid of 2x 82 degree ep's and my beloved 102 degree Nikons plus a plethora of other glass. God that hurt letting the Nikons go but they simply were not getting the use they deserved.

@bomberbaz

Steve

If it's any consolation the Nikons now have pride of place in a good home with a diehard 2" fan, and I managed to sneak them in without "her indoors" noticing. So far no need to explain the extra bits of kit in the astro box! Many thanks.

Might even be a clear night tonight...

 

Edited April 29, 2023 by rl

[Roy Challen]

3 hours ago, John said:

They did have a 5mm Circle-T a week or so back but it went quickly - I had thought that you might have snagged it !

5mm is very useful focal length, almost independent of telescope focal length. I had a 5mm BGO not too long ago, sold it, then immediately regretted doing so...

I think there is a thread for such admissions...😀

[The60mmKid]

I've moved in this direction, too. What did it for me is discovering binoviewing. I can't go back to using one eye, so the 2-inch eyepieces are on their way out. For wide-field views, I've got the 70mm binocular telescope 🙂

[mikeDnight]

 I was introduced to this old 5 element super plossl design back in 2015 by paulastro. At the time I was using Pentax XW's as my prefered eyepiece, but I was immediately impressed by the clarity and on axis sharpness of this pseudo Masuyama's / Zeiss astro planar design. I'd love to have them all with just one brand name, but I've had to settle for a mixed bag of Celestron Ultima's, Orion Ultrascopic's, Park's Gold, and Baader Eudiascopic's. All identical in design and performance,  so i cant complain.  I have 35mm, 25mm, 18mm, 12.5mm, 10mm, & 7.5mm pairs for bino viewing, and a 20mm, 5mm, & 3.8mm as singles. A few nights ago while observing Mars, I compared the 3.8mm Parks Gold with my Vixen 3.4mm HR and was quite impressed at how  close the were in terms of sharpness and the definition they showed.

Below is a pic of the Moon from the April 28th taken through the 25mm in my binoviewer with a, not very clean, hand held phone camera. It goes without saying that the view through the eyepiece was considerably sharper and more detailed.

 

[Ags]

I enjoy using my "fancy plossls" - Vixen SLVs, NLVs and actual NPL plossls at the long end. The restricted view feels very nostalgic. I have a plan to make a simple set consisting of 3 SLVs - 6, 12 and 25 which would cover low, medium and medium-high use cases with an almost perfect 2x progression. Paired with a 3x telecentric barlow, the high end would be covered with 2, 4, 6 and 8 mm options. The mathematics are irresistible 🙂 

[Froeng]

13 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

 I was introduced to this old 5 element super plossl design back in 2015 by paulastro. At the time I was using Pentax XW's as my prefered eyepiece, but I was immediately impressed by the clarity and on axis sharpness of this pseudo Masuyama's / Zeiss astro planar design. I'd love to have them all with just one brand name, but I've had to settle for a mixed bag of Celestron Ultima's, Orion Ultrascopic's, Park's Gold, and Baader Eudiascopic's. All identical in design and performance,  so i cant complain.  I have 35mm, 25mm, 18mm, 12.5mm, 10mm, & 7.5mm pairs for bino viewing, and a 20mm, 5mm, & 3.8mm as singles. A few nights ago while observing Mars, I compared the 3.8mm Parks Gold with my Vixen 3.4mm HR and was quite impressed at how  close the were in terms of sharpness and the definition they showed.

Below is a pic of the Moon from the April 28th taken through the 25mm in my binoviewer with a, not very clean, hand held phone camera. It goes without saying that the view through the eyepiece was considerably sharper and more detailed.

 

A very nice eyepiece set! Those Baader eudiascopics are legendary!

[Roy Challen]

14 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

 I was introduced to this old 5 element super plossl design back in 2015 by paulastro. At the time I was using Pentax XW's as my prefered eyepiece, but I was immediately impressed by the clarity and on axis sharpness of this pseudo Masuyama's / Zeiss astro planar design. I'd love to have them all with just one brand name, but I've had to settle for a mixed bag of Celestron Ultima's, Orion Ultrascopic's, Park's Gold, and Baader Eudiascopic's. All identical in design and performance,  so i cant complain.  I have 35mm, 25mm, 18mm, 12.5mm, 10mm, & 7.5mm pairs for bino viewing, and a 20mm, 5mm, & 3.8mm as singles. A few nights ago while observing Mars, I compared the 3.8mm Parks Gold with my Vixen 3.4mm HR and was quite impressed at how  close the were in terms of sharpness and the definition they showed.

Below is a pic of the Moon from the April 28th taken through the 25mm in my binoviewer with a, not very clean, hand held phone camera. It goes without saying that the view through the eyepiece was considerably sharper and more detailed.

 

How's the eye relief on the 5 and 3.8mm? I have owned 30, 12.5, and 7.5mm Ultimas in the past. They were good but not better than equivalent orthos. Just curious, as I'm looking for a good 5mm and maybe <2.5mm without having to use a barlow. Possibly, using a barlow with a slightly longer focal length is actually better.

Edited April 30, 2023 by Roy Challen

[Highburymark]

I got by with nothing fancier than a set of Meade Plossls for 15 years, and today I use TV Plossls more than any other eyepiece. I bought an Astro Essentials plossl (£20) from FLO recently just to see how it performed and it’s very nice. For all our forum debates, eyepieces are far more similar than they are different - astonishingly so, considering the cost differences. Currently, the most expensive hyperwides are 45 times more expensive than the humble plossl I bought, yet on axis sharpness is pretty similar.