Just one

[Richard N]

I have a Skywatcher 200p. I’m pretty much 100% 1.25 inch but I have just one 2 inch eyepiece. It’s  a Celestron 26mm E-Lux. This was carefully chosen because it was the only eyepiece on offer at the time. I have quite enjoyed just having one eyepiece. It certainly simplifies observing.

If you could have just one 2 inch eyepiece for a scope like mine,what would it be? Bonus points if it’s cheap too. Your reasoning will be interesting. 

Thanks. 

Edited May 27 by Richard N

[John]

I found ~20mm 100 degree eyepieces extremely useful when I've had dobsonians. I used the Ethos 21mm which is about as far from cheap as you can get but the APM 20mm / 100 is very nearly as good at around 33% of the cost.

The advantage of such eyepieces are primarily for deep sky object hunting because you get a wide true field, some magnification to darken the back ground sky and a really effective exit pupil when using O-III and UHC filters on nebulae. 

You need that wide field to be well corrected in an F/6 or F/5 scope though, which is why they cost quite a lot. 

When I had a 12 inch dob, the 21mm Ethos was quite often the only eyepiece I needed in a galaxy / DSO session 🙂

I'm not expecting any additional points for cost really though - the APM 100's are still getting on for £300 🙄

[PeterC65]

My eyepieces are mostly 1.25" and I only have 2" ones for widefield, to benefit from the larger field stop. My recommendation would be the StellaLyra 30mm Ultra Flat Field 2" Eyepiece. It gives a flat widefield view even with a fast scope. It feels like the experience I would get from a premium eyepiece but for £159. It's the most impressive eyepiece in my collection.

 

[AstralFields]

14 hours ago, Richard N said:

I have a Skywatcher 200p. I’m pretty much 100% 1.25 inch but I have just one 2 inch eyepiece. It’s  a Celestron 26mm E-Lux. This was carefully chosen because it was the only eyepiece on offer at the time. I have quite enjoyed just having one eyepiece. It certainly simplifies observing.

If you could have just one 2 inch eyepiece for a scope like mine,what would it be? Bonus points if it’s cheap too. Your reasoning will be interesting. 

Thanks. 

I actually had 5 , not one 2" eyepieces for both my 8" and 12" DOB.

26mm , 32mm , 40mm Meoptex Kellner - 45$ each

GSO Superview 30mm - 90$

SkyRover 30mm - 180$

I sold all of them and kept only one , the SkyRover 30mm. It is the ultimate 2" eyepiece according to many. Perfect in so many ways.

You can check my reasoning here:

 

[niallk]

When I had my 250px, I stayed 100% 1.25" - and had a Panoptic 24 68°: a nice compromise on weight / faff with adaptors and reasonable fov.  I think there are cheaper equivalents available nowadays. I had a 1.25" filter wheel on that scope, so I found it nice to be 100% 1.25" for conveniently flicking in an O-III or UHC.  I actually really miss that on my 15"dob, where I use a mix of 2" and 1.25".  I'm considering a 2" filter slide. 1.25" filters are much cheaper too!!!

I got a 2" 20ES100 when I got the 15" dob, but its weight introduced more balancing faffing due to its weight in my 250px.  I like things to be simple too!

Edited May 29 by niallk

[Mr Spock]

Everybody should have one of these:

They come in many varieties, this is the StellaLyra. I've never come across an eyepiece so well corrected.

[Bivanus]

And, if you also happen to have a 2x and 3x Barlows for it , you will also have some great ( albeit a tad on the heavy side) Long Eye Relief 15mm and 10mm EP'S 😉

[Mr Spock]

Used with a 4x Powermate it gives x203 in my 12" Dob. Way too heavy for it though!

[John]

I tried a 2x Powermate with a 20mm 100 degree eyepiece - optically excellent but rather a handful !

I found that I used ~20mm wide angle eyepieces much more than ~30mm ones with my dobs because I have some light pollution and that additional magnification darkens the background sky making fainter DSO's stand out a little more.

 

 

 

Edited May 29 by John

[Mr Spock]

Nice quality, but not practical!

[PeterStudz]

5 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Everybody should have one of these:

They come in many varieties, this is the StellaLyra. I've never come across an eyepiece so well corrected.

This (I’m saving up for one!) looks very similar/identical to the SkyRover 30mm that @AstralFields mentions.

[AstralFields]

9 hours ago, PeterStudz said:

This (I’m saving up for one!) looks very similar/identical to the SkyRover 30mm that @AstralFields mentions.

Yeah, that's my eyepiece right there .. They just print different labels on it.

This eyepiece is so complex/well constructed/corrected that I very seriously doubt there are more than one versions out there. Worth every dollar in my view.. to this day I do not understand why the coma is so small around the edges and so difficult to see (f/5).. as technically it should not correct for Coma. But I can clearly see the Coma in my 65 degree 14mm eyepiece.

Edited May 29 by AstralFields

[Don Pensack]

When the field is completely flat and free of astigmatism, only then do you realize how small is the amount of coma at f/5. 

It also helps the eyepiece is 70°.  Coma becomes more visible the wider the apparent field.

[AstralFields]

1 hour ago, Don Pensack said:

When the field is completely flat and free of astigmatism, only then do you realize how small is the amount of coma at f/5. 

It also helps the eyepiece is 70°.  Coma becomes more visible the wider the apparent field.

In other words, my 14mm is a dog. 😅

I am trying my luck with the MaxVision 11mm next. 82 degrees. Ordering it in few days.

[Louis D]

15 hours ago, AstralFields said:

But I can clearly see the Coma in my 65 degree 14mm eyepiece.

Rack focus inside and outside of best focus on a fairly bright star.  If it defocuses to a radial line on one side and a tangential line on the other side, you're seeing astigmatism, not coma.  Coma should look the same on both sides.  There could be some coma present at best focus adding a radial, expanding gray tail pointing away from the center.  If at best focus you're seeing a rainbow tail pointing away from the center, you've got chromatic aberration.

[Coco]

I'm a big fan of the Maxvision 24mm 82 degree in my 12 inch dob, gets even better when you ad the GSO coma corrector it is superb.

You can pick one up between 60-80 quid..