Eyepiece advice

[vlebo]

Hi Everyone

My eyepiece collection so far consists of a Pentax 30mm XW and a Meade series 4000 eyepiece and filter set. As I am a spectacle wearer the Pentax with its Long eye relief gets used a lot compared to the Meades as they do not have good eye relief the higher the mag used and I struggle to see anything.

I am looking to complement the Pentax with a couple of more eyepieces to begin a permanent set and possibly sell on the Meades. I need long eye relief so was possibly looking at the 5 & 13 mm or 8 & 17 mm versions of these Baader Planetarium - Baader Hyperion 68 degree eyepiece

Any advice would be much appreciated as at the moment I only have one eyepiece I feel I can use.

Thanks

Vlebo

[Andrew*]

I think hte Hyperions would be a good bet. It seems like you like the ~68 degree FOVs and the Hyperions are great value for this.

Also, to make the most out of that wonderful Pentax EP you have, get a good 2" 2x barlow to double up as a 15mm. I find the Skywatcher quite good, and you can screw the barlow element on directly to give 1.5x magnification.

Andrew

[Ben Ritchie]

I agree about the Hyperions. Looking at your setup, a good bet might be the 5mm and 13mm, plus the Antares 1.6x 2" Barlow.

That would give you a "19mm" Pentax (30mm + 1.6x barlow), and 13mm, 8mm (13mm + 1.6x barlow), 5mm and 3mm (5mm + 1.6x barlow), the latter being too high power for the Dob but useful for the Equinox 120 under good seeing. Only thing to be careful about is that the Pentax + barlow hangs out a fair way from a Dob focuser, so you need to be sure the focuser can hold it all securely.

[vlebo]

I also looked at the W/O William Optics - William Optics SPL eyepiece

These are apparently good for planetary viewing where I need my eyepieces to be good for Planetary and DSO. Is there any difference between the W/O eyepieces and the Baader ones apart from price and quality?

As you may have gathered I have a lot to learn when it comes to eyepieces so any help would be great.

Vlebo

[Astro_Baby]

I have a Hyperion in 5mm for planets. I was told they arent great on contrast. Mine seems ok but maybe my eyeballs arent up to it. The Williams UWANS / Sky-Watcher Nirvanas are supposed to be very good but obviously it depends on how much you want to spend I guess.

[vlebo]

I have a Hyperion in 5mm for planets. I was told they arent great on contrast. Mine seems ok but maybe my eyeballs arent up to it. The Williams UWANS / Sky-Watcher Nirvanas are supposed to be very good but obviously it depends on how much you want to spend I guess.

Thanks Mel, I have looked at those at FLO but they do not have enough eye relief for me , I need about 18-20mm to see comfortably and thanks Andrew and Ben for your help , I will speak to Steve at FLO during the week and get his thoughts also.

Vlebo

[A McEwan]

I'm assuming you are going to keep your glasses on while using these eyepieces, hence the need for long eye relief? Have you tried using shorter focal length eyepieces without your specs? If they are to correct for astigmatism, the small exit pupil associated with higher magnifications can remove the need for specs. Just a thought...

Ant

[vlebo]

I'm assuming you are going to keep your glasses on while using these eyepieces, hence the need for long eye relief? Have you tried using shorter focal length eyepieces without your specs? If they are to correct for astigmatism, the small exit pupil associated with higher magnifications can remove the need for specs. Just a thought...

Ant

Hi Andy

Your suggestion is something I have yet to try but will give it a go during my next session

Vlebo

[ombos]

The WO Uwans are nice as are the hyper's, some good deals on Uwans knocking about,give steve at FLO a ring or Lee at Green witch, if you purchased the three largest ones you wont require any further EPs at all, well thats IMO, they are all I use, no thats not true but they're all I would need and would pick if I only had three to use for rest of my life, oh abit deep there hey lol:p

[John]

The WO Uwans are nice as are the hyper's, some good deals on Uwans knocking about,give steve at FLO a ring or Lee at Green witch, if you purchased the three largest ones you wont require any further EPs at all, well thats IMO, they are all I use, no thats not true but they're all I would need and would pick if I only had three to use for rest of my life, oh abit deep there hey lol:p

I think UWAN's are great as well

The only issue here with them might be the eye relief which is a bit short if you have to wear glasses to observe.

John

[The Warthog]

Why not continue to build on the 30mm Pentax you have by buying a quality Barlow or Powermate, and adding the 20mm and 14mm XWs to your kit? All of the XWs boast a 20mm eye relief, and are awesomely good eps IMHO.