Which eyepiece?

[Space Bat]

I am undecided on what eyepiece to get out of the 31mm Nagler or the 35mm Panoptic

I do occasionally observe with glasses, but don't have to and often take them off - but it depends on what I am looking at...

Both are hefty - and may unbalance the CPC or cause problems, have people with SCT's used them?

Has anyone got views on what would be the better choice?

Chris

[brantuk]

I've never used the naglers you mention - but I have observed with a 925 using binoviewers with two ep's, a barlow nosepiece, and a 2" diagonal all on an EQ wedge.

This optical setup has to be equivalent or heavier than the naglers and was no problem at all as far as balance is concerned.

I have heard (on another thread) that someone had to change the nylon bearings in a cpc for steel ones after prolonged use. But I doubt an ep is going to impact on that significantly.

I have reading glasses but never have to use them with my cpc cos I can focus it to suite.

[Space Bat]

Doesn't anyone have advise on the two EP's

[Mr Spock]

I've not used either. I do use a Vixen 42mm LVW on my 140mm F14.2 Mak. Really really sharp all the way across the 70 deg field.

It's a big heavy lump though.

[John]

Doesn't anyone have advise on the two EP's

Sorry you have not recieved much input. I own a 31mm Nagler but I've not tried it alongside a 35mm Panoptic. Both are big, heavy, expensive eyepieces and both excellent and have their own "fan bases". Both will work superbly well with your SCT although you may well need to consider adding some sort of counterbalance system - the Nagler 31 weighs around a kilo and couple that with a 2" diagonal and thats a lot of weight hanging off the back.

You don't have to invest in such exotica to get good performance with a slow scope like an SCT though. There are lighter 30mm-35mm eyepieces around at lower cost which would work very well - I used to use a Widescan III 30mm which was much lighter than a Nagler 31mm but gave an 84 degree apparent field of view and great light throughput. Another, lighter, alternative would be the Skywatcher Aero ED 35mm:

Skywatcher - Skywatcher Aero ED SWA 2" eyepieces

I tested one of these a while ago (the 30mm actually) and it was pretty impressive even in a faster scope than an SCT.

Hope that helps a bit.

[Space Bat]

Thanks guys

Basically I am trying to get 2 more eyepiecs that will finish off the collection of quality eyepieces that should see me good for a few years, and move on the celestron eyepiece set I purchased when getting the scope to a gratefull home as it has been usefull to have them to get me started.

I have the 13mm Nagler T6 which I really like using and the 20mm T5 2" which is also great.

So will look at getting something like the 7mm Nagler which I feel will be ideal for planets - I don't feel I need to go anything below that and I do have a 5x powermate which is very useable with the 13mm.

However using the 20mm is not good used with the focal reducer - although do use it for galaxies where the edge of field is sacraficed for the extra light input and clarity - but for widefield clusters and objects then its a no-no.

So would require a good widefield eyepiece that will complement the scope at F10.

I guess as I fell into the trap of looking through a Televue eyepiece I just want more - so am probably blinkered in my approach to looking at other alternatives. So any help there would be appreciated, as i guess if there is something up to the job I should strongly consider it.

Chris

[John]

If you like the 20mm T5 you will LOVE the 31mm T5 (I have both). You are not alone in enjoying TV products - look at my signature !.

I use Nagler T6's for high power viewing and they do an extremely good job of it - I had the 13mm T6 which was a great medium power (in my scopes) eyepiece but I had to sell it to get the 13mm Ethos - which is even better

All that said though I've been trying a Pentax XW 10mm and have been highly impressed with it - it's ever so slightly better than my much loved T6's to be honest

[Space Bat]

Thanks - I would love to get the ethos, but TBH I would have to love it more than the girlfriend - as I fear I would end up with only one of them if I spent that on an EP (she couldn't believe the cost of the 20mm)

Chris

[wulfrunian]

I've not used the Nagler or Panoptic, but if you're considering alternatives, then I can tell you that the Pentax XW 30mm is absolutely superb!