How many have you got?

[Roy Challen]

6 hours ago, DirkSteele said:

Wow. I am saving this thread for a first line of defence against accusations of too many eyepieces. 

I'm saving it as proof that I don't have enough 😄

[Louis D]

37 minutes ago, Roy Challen said:

I'm saving it as proof that I don't have enough 😄

The problem is, you can never have enough eyepieces.  That's why Eyepieceaholics Anonymous (EA) was founded.

[The Lapwing]

1 scope + 4 eyepieces and.  X2 Barlow = 😇

Edited July 29, 2023 by The Lapwing

[Nakedgun]

How many have you got?

~

I refuse to participate in this thread 😝

 

 

.

[Louis D]

12 hours ago, Nakedgun said:

How many have you got?

~

I refuse to participate in this thread 😝

 

 

.

You just did.  Now your brain should lock-up trying to reconcile this.

[Voxish]

6, I could probably get away with 4. 

[bosun21]

I used to own three cases full of eyepieces but sold the majority of them as they were never being used. I now have only 10 plus TV barlow which covers all my bases. Oh and an ES extender.

Edited December 22, 2023 by bosun21

[Ags]

9, not counting the ones that don't count.

[Ags]

Next thread: how many do you use?

[Gonariu]

I have 17 eyepieces, the ones that I consider to be of some value are a 5 mm OR by Unitron, a 4 mm Vixen LV, a 12.5 mm OR Vixen, a 5 mm OR by Unitron and an old Vixen 8-24 zoom . What I use most is the zoom, very convenient and practical.

[cajen2]

My EP case is now stuffed full of them....not enough extra room for a fag paper, never mind about another EP. I refuse to have a second case, as I know I'd pick up the wrong one or leave one behind....so I have to retire an EP before I can buy a new one - great way to save money!

Currently have 13 (including two zooms but not counting Barlows!).

[mikeDnight]

I have more than I use, and definitely more than I need. I was content useing a pair of 16.8mm Kson ortho's in my binoviewer for four years and little else. These eyepieces covered 90% of my observing needs. They were also ok on dso's if you dont mind a narrow field.

[cloudsweeper]

24, and I use several each session.  But the collection of 'scopes has been reduced from five to three.  Out with the big 'uns (slow frac, biggish Dob), so now an 80mm apo frac, a 130 Newt, and an 8" GoTo SCT.  They're all I need.  I think.....

Doug.

[jjohnson3803]

3 Vixen SLVs, 2 Paradigm / Starguider / Mooga-dooga / Whatever, 1 AT PF, 1 BST planetary flat or something, an ancient University Optics 12mm Plossl, and an equally ancient Celestron 40mm Kellner.

I'm thinking of replacing the Paradigms with SLVs.  The others might get donated to my club's annual used equipment auction since it's probably not worth the effort to try and sell them.

 

 

 

[John]

On 24/07/2023 at 11:44, John said:

I get rid of eyepieces quite quickly if they are not getting much use. I have become more ruthless over the past few years on this 😈

Currently I seem to have 3 "sets" of eyepieces:

Very wide fields (all Tele Vue)

Nagler 31mm, Ethos 21mm, Ethos 13mm, Ethos 8mm, Ethos 6mm, Ethos SX 4.7mm

Wide / normal fields 1.25 inch fitting:

Tele Vue Panoptic 24mm, Tele Vue Delos 14mm, Baader Mk IV 8-24mm zoom, Pentax XW 7mm, 5mm and 3.5mm, Tele Vue Nagler 2-4mm zoom

Travel / Outreach:

Maxvision 20mm 68 degrees, Hyperflex 7.2mm-21.5mm zoom, Baader Q-Turret 2.25x barlow

So currently that is 15 eyepieces plus the barlow to address the original question.

 

Since posting this I have bought 6 eyepieces and sold 6 so the number overall has not changed. The bank balance might have though 🙄

[Ags]

2 hours ago, John said:

Since posting this I have bought 6 eyepieces and sold 6 so the number overall has not changed. The bank balance might have though 🙄

But... which six came and which six went?

[Naughty Neal]

On 20/07/2023 at 20:05, Naughty Neal said:

 

Most of mine are 50 degree ep's, though I do have a four wider ones.

 8  Meades  3k or 4k plossls from the 5mm - 32mm but don't have the 20mm.   

10 &18 BCo's.

13 ovl nirvana .

18, 9  & 7 X-cel lx's.

  3 or 4 Delites would be very nice and are on the if only list.

 

Since this post I  have added a 25mm Xcel lx , 8.5mm XF , 3 - 8mm Sv215 zoom and 7.2 - 21.6mm Sv191 zoom .

I rummaged around in a box of bits and where I keep all my small  EP boxes in case I  ever move them on and ...........   found two more ep's both tmb 58 degree clones a 7mm and 3.2mm. 

 

Edited December 22, 2023 by Naughty Neal

[Roy Challen]

On 25/07/2023 at 12:58, Roy Challen said:

I'm saving it as proof that I don't have enough 😄

Since I posted this, I have bought a SvBony 3-8 zoom, meaning I now have every focal length between 21 and 3mm, plus a barlow. Does this mean I now have too many eyepieces?

[graham56]

was 41 now 49 dont ask

[Franklin]

21 at the moment I think which is way more than I need but I have two setups and I use all 1.25" with one and 2" with the other. A set of SSW's, a set of HR's, a set of LVW's and a few SLV's. I could move on the set of LVW's and just stick to 1.25" really but it's more of a collectors thing I think. The HR1.6 and HR2.0 don't get much use but again, there's 4 in the set! It may be cheaper if I started collecting stamps or dead moths or something😁.

Edited December 27, 2023 by Franklin

[JTEC]

24, including 4 pairs for binoviewing.  I'd love to be able to 'rationalise' the collection and reduce the number if I could only figure out how to do it without feeling that I was losing a finger or a toe.  I find that I spend most time within the extremes. My bright suburban skies don't encourage wide exit pupils and I don't find I gain much by going smaller than a 1mm exit pupil except with the binoviewer - in that case, the on board 'glass path compensator' means that super short eyepieces aren't required.  With the bino, I find that the most rewarding views of the gas giants with the 140mm TEC refractor are likely to be with the 9mm Tak orthos with the x1.5 (effective) GPC, so around x160 and an exit pupil around 0.9.  I don't see any more detail by increasing the power.  I did use the 5mm Pentax XW mono on Mars and thought it superb on that target, though it didn't show more than the 6mm Tak ortho.  I have a 4mm Tak TOE and a 3.4mm Vixen HR but, although they're both extraordinary eyepieces, they hardly ever get used. Then, it's mostly out of curiosity rather than serious intent - I've even Barlowed them on the Moon to 'see what they did' - they held up incredibly well.  I'm not a dedicated double star observer.

When it comes to how much meaningful use one gets out of high powers in the UK and how frequently they can be used, I think there is a kind of inescapable Sequence of Doom. 1) For starters, obviously, there's your personal availability to observe on a given night  2) Then there has to be some clear sky that coincides with those nights - opportunities for any kind of observing are already shrinking fast ...  3) the target has to be accessible on those nights and not behind a chimney  4) the equipment has to be thermally settled, collimated and tracking well enough to justify and facilitate the use of high powers 5) ... often the coup de grace ... the seeing has to be good enough to justify the use of high powers.   So, depending on how you like to populate the Drake Equation, perhaps there are more or many fewer high-power-viable nights in the UK per year than civilisations flourishing in the Cosmos. 😊

https://www.darkskiesmatter.org.uk/

[mikeDnight]

 

There are 28 in my two eyepiece cases, and I have a few straglers lying around that I don't use too often. Also couple of Barlow lenses, two Tak prisms and a Baader/Zeiss BBHS prism along with a max right ll binoviewer.

 

Edited April 10 by mikeDnight

[Ouroboros]

You can tell I’m not much of an observational astronomer by my saying I’ve really only got three - low mag, middling mag and highest mag. I start off at low mag and widefield.  Then progress through middling to high. Then I usually think that’s too much and go back to middling. I’m easily satisfied. 😊 

[birb3941]

3, two crappy 1.25" ones my scope came with and a 19mm Celestron Luminos; the only one i actually use

[Piero]

Okay, my main sets are:

1. rigid case: 4 X 2" eps + barlow

2. lowepro case: 3 X 2" eps

3. Pouch: 6 X 1.25" eps + Barlow

I also have 3 Delos that I need to sell. In the pouch I have 2 other eyepieces which are kept for convenience but could also be sold.

Rigid case and Lowepro case are used together in the field, so that I don't need to put eyepieces in my pockets. The selection of these depends on the telescope used.

 

In Italy I have 3 eyepieces (stock plossls and 1 ortho) + Barlow.