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which budget wide angle eyepiece?

WayBig

By WayBig
in Discussions - Eyepieces

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WayBig

WayBig

Posted
Posted

Not another "which eyepiece thread"!

I'm after a cheap, but good quality (!), wide angle eyepiece to fill a gap.

I've got my cleestron nexstar 114 f/9 with the standard 9mm and 25mm eyepieces, i've also added a 5mm x-cel

I'm thinking of something around 15-17mm that I can fit my skyglow filter on and use as my nebula lens (to save swapping the filter as I change lenses)

Question is which ones are good...I've seen these on t'internet

Skywatcher Ultrawide 15mm - at £24.99

Adler 17mm at £29.49

Rigel 17mm wide angle at 29.99

Rigel 16mm ultrawide at £39.99

....all from pulsar optical

Or i've spotted astronomica's own brands wide or superwides

I'm also interested in upgrading the stock 25mm eyepiece that came with the scope to a wider angle, for the days when my goto just aint getting it quite right....what recommendations do you have around that size and a similar budget to the ones above

Thanks in advance

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russ

russ

Posted
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The Skywatcher Ultra Wide 15mm works well, especially in your f9 scope. But if you are willing to spend upto £39 i highly recommend the Paradigm eyepieces. They are £38 delivered from the Skies the Limit. They are a step up in qulaity from all the eyepieces in your list, still wide angle and still perform well in a faster f5 scope (should you upgrade the scope later).

1.25" 15mm 60 Degree Explorer Dual ED Eyepiece on eBay (end time 14-Feb-10 15:37:53 GMT)

There's a 5mm, 8mm, 12mm, 15mm, 18mm and 25mm available in the range.

Russ

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WayBig

WayBig

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From your kit list, you're obviously a big fan.

As you're also using a swan - is there a huge difference between a 60degree field of view like the paradigm and a 70deg of an Adler (which is reputed to be a william optics swan with a different badge on it)...how much more can you actually see

(I realise that's probably not a straight forward question to answer "...you can see 10 extra stars in the 70deg eyepiece!!) .

Cheers

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russ

russ

Posted
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My sig does make me look like their biggest fan. But for good reason i believe. They remind of when the Baader Hyperion was first released. It was an eyepiece that you got more than paid for. Nicely made and optically pretty good. Not TV or Pentax quality but a good step up from the real budget stuff. For me that's what the Paradigm is all about. For a widefield it performs better than a widefield should at this price point.

The 32mm Adler is a great eyepiece at that focal length. It's my finder eyepiece. A huge 1.87deg true field of view. Edge correction is not great and this could prove a sticking point for some. Strangely I don't find it a problem at this focal length but i found i couldn't live with the 8mm and 20mm versions. At those focal lengths i'm looking for something better corrected. Yes they do have a 70deg AFOV vs 60 for the Paradigm but the Paradigm is sharp over 85-90% of the field in my f6 Dob, the Swan was sharp over 70% at best.

There are off course other options, such as secondhand Orthos, that will ultimately edge out the Paradigm for quality views. But i recently sold both (6mm and 10.5mm) Orthos because that difference, even on-axis, was tiny.

Hope that helps explain why i have gone all out for the Paradigm.

Russ

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John

John

Posted
Posted
..... is there a huge difference between a 60degree field of view like the paradigm and a 70deg of an Adler (which is reputed to be a william optics swan with a different badge on it)...how much more can you actually see....

I found this diagram showing the diameters of a range of fields of view for comparison which might help. I've no idea what the Kohler design is but a 120 FoV is impressive :):

post-12764-133877421726_thumb.gif

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Astro_Baby

Astro_Baby

Posted
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About £325 landed and delivered. Mines still waiting to be used - can you believe that ?

All I could tell you right now is the thing weighs a ton, the finish is amazing and the coatings perfection. It looks a bit 'minimalist' in its external appearance.

It looks beautiful - how it works - at this rate I'll never know :)

By the way I also have the 38mm SkyWatcher Panaview and I love it to bits. OK it shows a bit of coma at the edges in my F5 but to see it you have to push your head into the eyepiece and look round. Its a very immersive bit of kit and jut about my favourite. It may get piiped by the ES1400

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Towa

Towa

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When I wanted a wider eypiece than my present 32mm, I went down to the local car boot and picked-up an old Asahi Pentax

SMC Takumar 50mm f/1.4 camera lens, rubber lens hood and extension tube for £10. It fits straight into my 2" diagonal and

gives the most wonderful views.

Some pics below.

post-17619-133877423422_thumb.jpg

post-17619-133877423427_thumb.jpg

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russ

russ

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hmm a trip out to the shed and a rummage through the boxes is required. I used to have the f1.7 version of that lens but haven't used it for years. Would the f1.7 still be okay? One other question, the lenses have the Pentax 49mm thread (i think), so a 2" (48mm) barrel wouldn't fit. Do you mind me asking what you used for a barrel?

Ta Russ

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Towa

Towa

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Russ

For the barrel I use an M42 extension tube, in the pic it is already screwed on the lens. The f/1.7 will be fine.

My diagonal does not have a compression ring so the screws hold it just fine. If yours has a compression ring then you will have to pack it out with some tape etc.

Had mine out tonight, it gives me a lower magnification and wider field of view than my 32mm eyepiece. Sharpness is excellent right

out to the edge, and contrast on the moon was very impressive.

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  • 3 months later...
Towa

Towa

Posted
Posted
When I wanted a wider eypiece than my present 32mm, I went down to the local car boot and picked-up an old Asahi Pentax

SMC Takumar 50mm f/1.4 camera lens, rubber lens hood and extension tube for £10. It fits straight into my 2" diagonal and

gives the most wonderful views.

Some pics below.

Well an up-date on my f/1.4 lens, I just found that my lens contains a coating of the radioactive element Thorium on one of the lens elements, and as such I would not bother taking any chances no matter how cheap. So I'm going to stop using mine.

It does also question the use of any camera lens as you might not know what your getting, so best to stay clear.

I'm contacting a webpage of an astronomy society that have a drawing showing how to make an eyepiece from a lens, and see if they will remove it or at least add some wording.

post-17619-133877447169_thumb.jpg

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

Posted
Posted

I'm thinking of something around 15-17mm that I can fit my skyglow filter on and use as my nebula lens (to save swapping the filter as I change lenses)

Please excuse my ignorance but are you saying that you can use a LP filter as a nebula filter also?

I know i use my LP filter as a moon filter..........and it really does give a different but very nice view of the moon then my moon filter.

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