The next big EP line or what you’d like to see?

[Don Pensack]

Well, we are also lacking choice in glasses-compatible eyepieces.

There are many, but only a few *lines* of eyepieces, and usually a dearth of:

--short focal lengths below 5mm

--with ultra to hyperwide fields of view

--or choices of apparent field from 45° to 100°

Example: take the 4.7mm and 3.7mm Ethos.  Shrink the apparent field from 110° to 85°.  Increase eye relief to 19mm.

I bet the eyepieces would be the same size, albeit with a larger eye lens diameter.

[John]

I think this is linked to the original topic. I am interested in how new ideas for eyepieces are developed and implemented these days ?

I know Tele Vue design in house then commission their chosen manufacturer to undertake the production. Takahashi operate similarly I suspect or at least set the framework for the type of product they are looking for.

I assume that APM did something similar with their "superzoom" even though the final product did not quite meet the specs that APM had as an objective for the project.

For brands that rely on what the far eastern manufacturers produce, how much say do they (the brands) get on what comes forth ?. I guess the big buyers will have advance notice of what is in the pipeline but do they get any influence on the fundamental design or is if just the colour scheme, external looks etc ?

The Svbony 3-8mm zoom is an interesting product. Did Svbony commission it or did a manufacturer come up with it and Svbony jumped in with a big order ?

 

Edited August 25, 2023 by John

[IB20]

1 hour ago, John said:

 

The Svbony 3-8mm zoom is an interesting product. Did Svbony commission it or did a manufacturer come up with it and Svbony jumped in with a big order ?

 

It’s quite interesting as I’ve no real idea about EP manufacturers. I often read that x y z EP was made in Japan/Taiwan or China with Japanese sourced glass.
Are the “bulk” EP manufacturers well known or are all EPs made by small artisan makers. How many EPs are made in a run? 100s/1000s? 

The SvBony planetary zoom seems like a punt that paid off as they are quite niche FLs whereas the Hyperflex and clone zooms have more “regular” range of FLs. Assume they must have product testers and buyers, so perhaps they tested an unbranded 3-8mm zoom and were suitably impressed but afaik that zoom is only under the SvBony brand? 

[Don Pensack]

On 25/08/2023 at 13:57, IB20 said:

It’s quite interesting as I’ve no real idea about EP manufacturers. I often read that x y z EP was made in Japan/Taiwan or China with Japanese sourced glass.
Are the “bulk” EP manufacturers well known or are all EPs made by small artisan makers. How many EPs are made in a run? 100s/1000s? 

The SvBony planetary zoom seems like a punt that paid off as they are quite niche FLs whereas the Hyperflex and clone zooms have more “regular” range of FLs. Assume they must have product testers and buyers, so perhaps they tested an unbranded 3-8mm zoom and were suitably impressed but afaik that zoom is only under the SvBony brand? 

There aren't that many manufacturers of eyepieces that we all buy in the aftermarket.  I don't think any of them is a small company making a small number of eyepieces.  Many are very large manufacturing plants that make a host of products, including many that are outside the astronomy business.  Jing Hua Optical (Explore Scientific) makes mostly cell phone glass, and eyepieces are a side business for them, as just one example.

Since Svbony seems to be a unique brand name on the 3-8mm zoom, it is likely they commissioned it to be made.  Whether they, or the factory that made it, designed it, I don't know.

The factory size and the number of customers they can sell an eyepiece to as a private label product determines how many can be made in a batch.  It could be 100 or 500 depending.

[Louis D]

2 hours ago, Don Pensack said:

The factory size and the number of customers they can sell an eyepiece to as a private label product determines how many can be made in a batch.  It could be 100 or 500 depending.

It's definitely hard to make back your R&D costs on such small production runs.  The only reason smartphones are reasonably priced for what they do is because their R&D costs can be amortized over tens of millions to hundreds of millions of units.  Imagine what astronomy tech would be like if practically everyone around the world owned astronomy equipment.

[Space Hopper]

I remember asking David Nagler himself about some dedicated binoviewing eyepieces to go with the 

already well established 24mm & 19mm Panoptics. Something in the 14/15mm and 9/10mm range.

Televue actually used to do a 15mm Panoptic, but it wasn't their best and was short lived.

But since the sad passing of Paul Dellechiaie it may be a long time before any new eyepieces come along.

[Guest]

I would love to see Long Perng come out with a 2 inch 80 degree in a 5mm and 10mm LHD like their 14 and 20s. ... I would be all over that in a second 

[bosun21]

23 minutes ago, Mike Q said:

I would love to see Long Perng come out with a 2 inch 80 degree in a 5mm and 10mm LHD like their 14 and 20s. ... I would be all over that in a second 

There’s no sense in that as the smaller field stop is ideally suited to the 1.25” eyepiece. There’s zero benefit from putting it in a larger heavier barrel with no gains optically whatsoever.

[Don Pensack]

3 hours ago, Mike Q said:

I would love to see Long Perng come out with a 2 inch 80 degree in a 5mm and 10mm LHD like their 14 and 20s. ... I would be all over that in a second 

Buy the 4mm, 6mm, and 9mm and attach 2" adapters to them in a quasi-permanent fashion.  Voilà! 2" eyepieces.

That is no different than having 2" barrels on what are, essentially, 1.25" eyepieces.