From 8 mm to 7 mm, would I even notice the difference?

[Mr Spock]

8 minutes ago, Stu said:

Not seen these, but are they both double craters?

Yes. When the seeing isn't good enough you either can't see them or they look like one crater...
I've not seen the smaller one attached to P yet. 

3 minutes ago, Stu said:

I must get my 12” finished off for this kind of view, I have a lovely Nichol Mirror just waiting to go in it!

A Nichol mirror will pick up all of these on a good night 👍

[The Lapwing]

8 hours ago, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

Just to give a dissenting opinion: I have a series of planetary eyepieces, quite closely spaced to adjust to the seeing In my C8 the Pentax XW 10mm gives me 203x,  the Delos 8mm (made par-focal with the XWs) gives 254x, the XW 7mm gives 290x. I also have a Vixen SLV 9mm (226x) in my travel kit, which I am tempted to use to bridge the gap between 10 and 8 mm. In rare cases of superb seeing, and then only on Moon and Mars, I might even use the Delos 6mm 338x, or the XW 5mm 406x. I use the latter EPs in my 80mm F/6 triplet and 6" F/5 Schmidt-Newton a lot more.

I think much depends on how many scopes you have, and how much money you are comfortable spending. I have one scope and don’t intend to buy another/anymore ‘Tilley’ is my forever scope. Mr Naglar is famously quoted as saying most folks have too many eyepieces, and that 3 per scope is about right. Not that I expect anyone on here to agree with that 🤣. I just don’t like owning more things than I need. 

Edited July 12, 2023 by The Lapwing

[Stu]

14 minutes ago, The Lapwing said:

I think much depends on how many scopes you have, and how much money you are comfortable spending. I have one scope and don’t intend to buy another/anymore ‘Tilley’ is my forever scope. Mr Naglar is famously quoted as saying most folks have too many eyepieces, and that 3 per scope is about right. Not that I expect anyone on here to agree with that 🤣. I just don’t like owning more things than I need. 

I think if deep sky is more your bag then three eyepieces is likely to be fine. As other have said, stacking in the focal lengths at the higher powers gives you options to match the seeing for lunar and planetary observing.

I guess also that the longer focal length scopes (SCTs, Maks etc) result in bigger jumps in mag, so  giving more justification for having them in 1mm steps at higher powers.

[Bivanus]

I started reading for the EP question - have a similar conundrum choosing between 3.5mm and 4mm - however , that Plato picture from Mr Spock sent me gaga ! I use a 102 / f7 APO and for reasons I can't explain find the tiny craters , bumps and ridges inside the craters fascinating , and I can't go near this level of detail !

Hmmm, me thinks a new scope and not a new EP might be the way...