What range of eyepieces should i have?

[Horse]

Hello!

I am finally looking into upgrading my eyepieces from what my scope came with. I am wonder what range of eyepieces i should have, would a 40mm, a 20mm and a 9mm suffice for a 6" dob? I am mainly doing deep sky, and dont want to spend money on eyepieces I wont end up using.  

[Astronomist]

What is the focal length or F ratio of your Dob? what might be an ideal set for a F8 might not work well at all in an F5.

[Horse]

25 minutes ago, Astronomist said:

What is the focal length or F ratio of your Dob? what might be an ideal set for a F8 might not work well at all in an F5.

My bad, 1200mm

[bingevader]

Why are you upgrading?

What is missing from what you already have?

I'm probably not the best person to ask anyway!

I've been 'upgrading' my EPs for the last 25 years.

[Mr Spock]

No guesses for what I'd be using 

[Astronomist]

Strong agree on the Nirvanas, I have those also and they are great!

at F8 an ideal set would be in the range between 50mm and 5mm.

[Mr Spock]

Nirvanas are very sharp and easy to use; except the 16mm - that has strong field curvature and is pants. The StellaLyra 18mm UFF is supposed to be good if you need something around that focal length, though I haven't used it myself.

[Guest]

If those are the eyepieces you have add a 2x barlow and call it good.  I tend to keep about 5mm difference between eyepieces and mine run from 5mm to 38mm

[cajen2]

On 24/08/2023 at 19:44, Mr Spock said:

Nirvanas are very sharp and easy to use; except the 16mm - that has strong field curvature and is pants. The StellaLyra 18mm UFF is supposed to be good if you need something around that focal length, though I haven't used it myself.

Yes, the SL 80° series (= UFF)  is very good. I have the 20mil and I can't fault it. The 18mm is from the 68° series and is also good, though obviously with a narrower AFOV.

Edited August 27, 2023 by cajen2

[bosun21]

26 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

Yes, the SL 80° series (= UFF)  is very good. I have the 20mil and I can't fault it. The 18mm is from the 68° series and is also good, though obviously with a narrower AFOV.

The SL 80 degrees are not UFF and the 18mm UFF is actually 65 degrees 👍.

[cajen2]

2 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

The SL 80 degrees are not UFF and the 18mm UFF is actually 65 degrees 👍.

You're quite right. I got a bit confused by SL nomenclature. The 68° and 80° range are both actually called LER/WA. Either way, both are very good. 

[bosun21]

If you have been using the eyepieces that came with your telescope I would recommend upgrading to the very reasonably priced Starguider eyepieces. You will definitely see an improvement in your views without it costing an arm and a leg.