Eyepieces for Maxbright II’s

[bosun21]

I am looking for advice on which way to go regarding eyepiece purchases for my new Maxbright II binoviewer. I previously owned a Maxbright II and used it with two Morpheus 17.5mm eyepieces. The views were great but I found them to be too heavy and large for my liking. I am looking at maybe SLV’s , TV plossl’s, Baader 18mm BCO’s , Starguiders and others. I am going to be using it on my F7 Starfield frac. Is there any preferential FOV for binoviewing eyepieces? I am also waiting for Baader to come out with their new GPC for Newtonians  to enable me to use them in my 12” dobsonian. They no longer sell the old version. Sorry for all the questions.

[Guest]

This might help you

 

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/262495-best-binoviewer-eyepieces/

[Paz]

I initially planned to get pairs of Televue Delos for binoviewing and I had a lot of good times with a pair of 17.3mm Delos but I found that they make for a big heavy lump and a wide afov isn't all that necessary for me for binoviewing.

So now main binoviewing eyepieces are 40mm NPL and 30mm NPL and then 20mm 15mm and 10mm SLVs.

I still have the pair of Delos but use them rarely.

The above eyepiece pairs plus the various glass path correctors and juggling optical configurations covers the bases for me in all my scopes.

[Franklin]

5 minutes ago, Paz said:

So now main binoviewing eyepieces are 40mm NPL and 30mm NPL and then 20mm 15mm and 10mm SLVs.

I have NPL 30, 25 and SLV 20, 12, 6, 4. The SLV 4 is a bit much with the 1.7x GPC, they may be going to a new home shortly.

[Stu]

I use my MaxBright IIs for high power observing only, preferring cyclops for low and medium power. I prefer simple eye designs like plossls or orthos for their lightness and small size. I find that with binoviewing I observe on axis and pan the scope around to see other targets or features; if I look around off axis one channel tends to black out, so a 50 degree afov is fine for me.

My favourite bv eyepieces are some lovely Zeiss 25mm Orthos. I prefer using longer focal lengths than using Barlow and/or GPCs to reach higher powers. That said I do now have 20mm Vixen LVs and pairs of 10mm and 6mm BCOs. 

[Saganite]

The APM tube having been cut down, I use the Maxbright II's at native with the following pairs;

32mm Erfle

24mm Panoptic

18mm BGO

13mm Nagler T6

Carton 10.5mm

Pentax XF 8.5m

TAL 6.3mm

I also have a pair of Meade 5 element 26mm smoothside eyepieces which are not strictly needed but give such clarity and sharpness, it is a joy to use them sometimes.  The Denkmeier with powerswitch is now a fixture on the Vixen 103 and allows me to reach focus and enjoy a large range of powers , low to high.

Edited July 8, 2023 by Saganite

[Saganite]

I would add that I have often thought that a range of TV plossls would be all that you need, and certainly it wouldn't take much for me to decide that route now that I have tracking again, and no longer have a Dob.

A larger FOV is desirable when you need to keep nudging a Dob though.

Edited July 8, 2023 by Saganite

[bosun21]

Thanks to all that replied. I guess I will just keep it simple and get myself a couple of TV plossl's and SLV's to start off with.👍.

[Highburymark]

It depends what your targets are, but the main selling point of the Maxbright II is wider views, so it’s nice to have at least one pair of eyepieces that exploits this feature. I love TV Plossls and microscope ‘orthos’ in my binoviewers on solar system objects, but I’ve recently been enjoying some Nagler 13s on the Moon and Sun. Seeing the Moon at 180x with 82 degrees of AFOV is wonderful. 

[Stu]

15 minutes ago, Highburymark said:

It depends what your targets are, but the main selling point of the Maxbright II is wider views, so it’s nice to have at least one pair of eyepieces that exploits this feature. I love TV Plossls and microscope ‘orthos’ in my binoviewers on solar system objects, but I’ve recently been enjoying some Nagler 13s on the Moon and Sun. Seeing the Moon at 180x with 82 degrees of AFOV is wonderful. 

Interesting to hear this Mark. Question though, are you able to look around the view, or do you keep your focus on axis and just enjoy the fact that the Moon (for example) fills the fov? 

[Highburymark]

19 minutes ago, Stu said:

Interesting to hear this Mark. Question though, are you able to look around the view, or do you keep your focus on axis and just enjoy the fact that the Moon (for example) fills the fov? 

Looking too far off axis causes blackouts Stu, but I find there’s a natural compromise where I can scan around a medium wide field and certainly appreciate the ‘majesty’ factor beyond that. The Naglers work really nicely for solar Ha too - seeing the full solar disc at 120x creeping into view is pretty awesome. I still use orthos and Plossls 90% of the time - particularly for sharpest study of solar features. But it’s only a few years since the only widefield BVs on the market were £1k-plus. The MBIIs changed that so it’s nice to have some eyepieces that can take advantage of what they offer. 

[The60mmKid]

44 minutes ago, Highburymark said:

Looking too far off axis causes blackouts Stu, but I find there’s a natural compromise where I can scan around a medium wide field and certainly appreciate the ‘majesty’ factor beyond that. The Naglers work really nicely for solar Ha too - seeing the full solar disc at 120x creeping into view is pretty awesome. I still use orthos and Plossls 90% of the time - particularly for sharpest study of solar features. But it’s only a few years since the only widefield BVs on the market were £1k-plus. The MBIIs changed that so it’s nice to have some eyepieces that can take advantage of what they offer. 

Would you say there's a noticeable difference in on-axis sharpness between the plossls and Naglers when binoviewing?

Edited July 8, 2023 by The60mmKid

[The60mmKid]

(The reason I ask is that I've been using DeLites for binoviewing and am considering switching to T6 Naglers. I think I'd enjoy the extra FOV, but I love the sharp and vivid view through the DeLites.)

[F15Rules]

I have less experience with BVs than many colleagues on here, but for what it's worth I have decided to  narrow down my pairs to just three, to save the time spent "faffing around" with too many configurations.

I use:

- 32mm Meade 4000s for lowest power (approximately 50-52 degree fov) for 32.5x low power views)

- 20mm W.O. 66 degree wide angle for 52x wider angle views

- Takahashi Abbe 12.5 mm Orthoscopics (approx 44 degree fov) giving 83x.

I use all the above natively in my FS128. I also have a  Baader 1.7x Glasspath Corrector and Baader Hyperion Zoom 2.25x Barlow for higher powers when needed. These deliver significantly higher views, although I don't yet have enough sessions with these as yet to enable me to estimate the actual magnifications delivered with these.

Whatever combination you go for, I definitely think that the excellent optics and ergonomics of the MBII's make it unnecessary to over complicate things with too many pairs.. just get them in your scope and marvel at the ease of use and great views!👍😊

Dave

 

[Highburymark]

12 minutes ago, The60mmKid said:

Would you say there's a noticeable difference in on-axis sharpness between the plossls and Naglers when binoviewing?

I can only comment on solar Ha really, as I’ve only directly compared the two types through a solar scope - I’d always slightly favour TV Plossls here. Delites are excellent in a binoviewer, as good as any complex eyepiece, and frankly often as good as orthos and Plossls. But the Nagler 13s have surprised me - I actually slightly preferred them to Morpheus 12.5s, but all these choices are very close in quality. It’s just a nice option to have a pair of widefields for the MBII - or any other of the BVs with wider prisms that have recently been launched.

[takurrito]

Another thumbs up for the Nagler 13s from me. One of my favourite binoviewing pairs, especially for lunar observing. They provide the "looking out of a spaceship orbiting the moon" effect due to the immersion.

I'm not a huge fan of the TV plossls for binoviewing. I find the 25mm and 20mm are finicky for eye placement and cause blackouts. Very sharp on axis when you nail the eye placement though, with a warmer tone. I prefer Leica/Zeiss microscope eyepieces for the 25mm focal length.

24mm Panoptics are superb and provide the maximum true field of view on the Maxbright IIs.

18mm, 12.5mm, 9mm, and 6mm pairs of the Fujiyama Orthos are my preferred pairs for high power planetary viewing. The narrow field of view of 42 degrees doesn't bother me for planetary and I find when binoviewing, the field of view "feels" wider.