expensive eyepieces on a cheaper telescope?

[John]

.....does buying a more expensive eyepiece improve quality of image of any telescope regardless of price?......

Yes, but the difference is much more noticable with "fast" scopes ie: with a focal ratio of F/6 or less.

As Olly says, when you get down to F/4 it really pays to use premium eyepieces otherwise you would not be getting the best out of the scope.

Scopes of F/10 or more can work well with simple eyepiece designs like the Kellner however decent quality of eyepiece construction is still desirable. I've have nice views through an F/10 schmidt-cassegrain scope using an Japanese "circle T" Kellner eyepieces which can be bought for just a few pounds

John

[skiorh]

In my experience (not too long) with SW 8 inch, f/5 I can tell that for this fast scope the eyepiece choice really matters.

I came with some SW Super-MA series which are meant to be cheap planetary EPs but designed for medium-high f/ . The image is therefore very poor even though it has only 40-50 deg AFOV.

Then I bought some Super Plossls which are still not too expensive and the difference is huge.

I also tried Ethos with my scope and was 'blown' away by the image. Even with this 'cheaper' scope the quality EP would gain a lot.

[coffee_prince]

if i have £150 to spend on accessories what should I buy?

The initial scope will only have one 20mm included

Definitely going to buy a cheshire collimator, then its a choice of buying a the ultima barlow and a cheap plossl or maybe just buying one really expensive piece like the WO UWAN

[skiorh]

if i have £150 to spend on accessories what should I buy?

With initial scope will only have one 20mm included

Definitely going to buy a cheshire collimator

I will recommend you following based on what I haven't used that much after I bought it.

-collimator

-2-3 decent eyepieces covering a few magnification

-red flashlight if you have dark skies and go for DSO

-(barlow) I don't really use it

[coffee_prince]

might try and stretch to buy a TV barlow, TV plossl and a cheshire collimator. TV simply have great reputation and I believe all their stuff is tested very well on fast telescopes.

I just hope that the EPs arent too good for my telescope.

[skiorh]

might try and stretch to buy a TV barlow, TV plossl and a cheshire collimator. TV simply have great reputation and I believe all their stuff is tested very well on fast telescopes.

I just hope that the EPs arent too good for my telescope.

What scope do you have?

Quality EP will help anyway and if you are still keen you can always upgrade you scope in future and make most of it

Cheers

[coffee_prince]

it would be a celestron c-8 inch newtonian, f/5

[acey]

(barlow) I don't really use it

I agree - I got a barlow early on (Meade apo) and I never use it. Better to get 2 or 3 good quality EPs at a decent spread of focal lengths. And as well as the red light, get a good atlas and lots of warm clothing.

[Takahashi]

And as well as the red light

I can't imagine going out observing without my red LED head-light... it's probably the most inexpensive (£10 from OpticStar), most valued item I've ever added to my collection. It's indescribably handy to have both hands free while being able to "point" the light with a simple nod of your head. It switches between off / one red / two white LEDs, and runs on three AAA batteries, and since I only ever use the red mode, the batteries will probably last forever.

...and no, I don't work for OpticStar! They're not difficult to find, but I liked this one best.

[acey]

I use one from Argos, got it for around a fiver - excellent.

It's pretty much identical to the Ever Ready one I used to use that cost about 3 times more.

[skiorh]

it would be a celestron c-8 inch newtonian, f/5

So you have essentially the same scope as I do. I posted my experience with different EPs some posts earlier.

I agree with others - better have a few EPs - of different quality perhaps than Barlow.

The thing is that it doubles number of your available mags but there is no point of using quality EP and low-end Barlow with it. And if you consider TV I would certainly go for a few EPs first.

The weakest optical element limits the overall quality of image.