2inch eyepeices

[Daniel-K]

hi all can anybody tell me is it worth getting these 2 inch ep's? ive heard mixed reviews

[russ]

Which ones would that be? If it's the Adler 70deg series, then Yes. I find them invaluable in my 200P. No they are not the best corrected eyepiece but they are god send for DSO hunting. I use the 26mm and 32mm. The 32mm gives almost a 2deg true field of view.

[Chris H]

Do you mean 2" ep's in general? Or a particular make or model? All but one of my ep's are 2" (admittedly 2 are dual barrel) and I love them I love the solid feeling they give me and the size of the lens.

[brantuk]

I personally like them - especially in a large dob - I seem to get brighter clearer views. They're a lot easier to look through without having to squint - and (depending on your scope/mount) you have to be wary of the weight and the effect on drives and tracking.

I've just upgraded my whole e/p and diagonal collection to 2". W/O Swans are cool - and Uwans (tad more expensive but close to TV performance) are terrific. I also like the Hyperions.

Which ones did you have in mind?

[pvaz]

The reason 2" exists is because you can't make wide fields for long FLs with 1.25" barrels. It's an engineering limitation, so if you wan't a nice wide field with say 28mm and 82º FoV the only ones you'll find in the market are in 2" format, cause it's impossible to make such with 1.25".

The barrel size haves nothing to do with the quality of any given EP it's just a design requirement.

[Chris H]

Here here

[pvaz]

Here here

I didn't mean to sound pretentious.

It's just what I read and personal experience seams to confirm that. My Ethos 10mm is a 1.25" EP and it's definitely the best I have. My Nagler 31T5 is considered by many as the best 2" EP in the market (along with the 30mm Pentax XW) and the Ethos beats it.

PS-> Now with the 17mm and 21mm Ethos both in 2" format, I wouldn't be surprised if those 2 get the "Best 2" EPs" title.

[Chris H]

I was agreeing with you Paulo and yes the Ethos 17mm is a very nice 2" ep.

[TheThing]

I tend to disagree - but wouldn't life be boring if we all agreed?

I've used 2" EPs but didn't like the fact that 'wasted' light escapes round the edges of the eyes.

That's just my humble opinion though.

[John]

...I've used 2" EPs but didn't like the fact that 'wasted' light escapes round the edges of the eyes.

That's just my humble opinion though.

Many 2" eyepieces have quite small eyelenses so I don't think this is an issue with those. Actually I'm not sure it's an issue with those with larger eye lenses as it's the diameter of the light bundle coming out of the eye lens (ie: the exit pupil) that matters.

[TheThing]

True, I must admit I dust didn't like the thought of those light photons travelling millions of billions of miles to just miss my pupil and be wasted!

(But then I'm odd like that!)

[Daniel-K]

i was just asking because a guy i was talking too swore by them. i might just get 2 and keep them for keep sakes

[pvaz]

I was agreeing with you Paulo and yes the Ethos 17mm is a very nice 2" ep.

He He! Sorry about that!

I thought "here here!" was the kind of expression a teacher or parent would use to brake up a fight between the kids or to calm someone down.

[Chris H]

He He! Sorry about that!

I thought "here here!" was the kind of expression a teacher or parent would use to brake up a fight between the kids or to calm someone down.

In the UK parliment when a member is speaking to the house and he says something that people agree with they say 'here here'.

[ollypenrice]

I love 'em for the wide field. Some objects just need the field, especially in longer focal length scopes like our Dob with a 2 metre fl. Here are some favouite objects for certain scopes and a 35mm Panoptic.

Pleiades in TEC140 (fl980mm) Just possible and talk about resolution...

Double Cluster and Stock 2 together in Pronto. Gorgeous.

Rosette in Pronto. All of it, easily.

Whole Veil Nebula in Pronto, both arcs and Pickering's Triangular Wisp.

M42 in 20 inch Dob. Looks like the photos - almost!

The default EP in the big dob is the 35 Panoptic. Less tracking, too.

I agree with the Thing about not wasting long traveled photons but sadly, if you use a reflector, the ones that came all that way don't go into your eye. They just come from the aluminium of your mirror, released when the originals were absorbed. That's the quantum mechanical description as I understand it. Not so romantic though, so I put it out of my mind!

Olly

[John]

i was just asking because a guy i was talking too swore by them. i might just get 2 and keep them for keep sakes

What type were they ? - some 2" eyepieces are better than others and would work better with your scope, some might not be so good.

If the guy you were talking to was using an F/10 or slower scope, most eyepieces will work very well but your scope is more fussy.

[TheThing]

I agree with the Thing about not wasting long traveled photons but sadly, if you use a reflector, the ones that came all that way don't go into your eye. They just come from the aluminium of your mirror, released when the originals were absorbed. That's the quantum mechanical description as I understand it. Not so romantic though, so I put it out of my mind!

Olly

That cracking sound was my heart breaking!

Good point, but did I say that I'm a bit weird anyway?

[ollypenrice]

That cracking sound was my heart breaking!

Good point, but did I say that I'm a bit weird anyway?

Awe, it doesn't really matter, eh? We know what we are looking at. What happens in refractors? Honestly I don't know if we observe the original photon or not. I'll ask on another thread.

Olly

[Moonshane]

I love 'em for the wide field. Some objects just need the field, especially in longer focal length scopes like our Dob with a 2 metre fl. Here are some favouite objects for certain scopes and a 35mm Panoptic.

Pleiades in TEC140 (fl980mm) Just possible and talk about resolution...

Double Cluster and Stock 2 together in Pronto. Gorgeous.

Rosette in Pronto. All of it, easily.

Whole Veil Nebula in Pronto, both arcs and Pickering's Triangular Wisp.

M42 in 20 inch Dob. Looks like the photos - almost!

The default EP in the big dob is the 35 Panoptic. Less tracking, too.

I agree with the Thing about not wasting long traveled photons but sadly, if you use a reflector, the ones that came all that way don't go into your eye. They just come from the aluminium of your mirror, released when the originals were absorbed. That's the quantum mechanical description as I understand it. Not so romantic though, so I put it out of my mind!

Olly

this is great for me to read as I have a 35mm Panoptic on the way to me. unfortunately (??), it's for Father's Day (does everyone use every event as an excuse to buy more Astro Gear?? - obviously this also has a healthy contribution from my savings!) so I cannot use it until 18/6!! I reckon this will be a lens I will always have.

on the subject of 2" generally, I have only one currently a 33mm SWAN. along with my Telrad, this has transformed my ability to find targets with some degree of ease on the whole. I would definitely recommend them for the longer focal length eyepieces. as I understand it the shorter focal lengths don't benefit at all form the 2" fitting. as someone else said, the premium eyepieces at 2" can be very heavy. eg the 31mm Nagler whilst I believe is an awesome eyepiece, weighs a kilo.

good luck with whatever you choose.

[ollypenrice]

Shane, it will not, repeat not, disappoint. I think it is nicer than the 31 Nagler, too, because there are no blackout zones or kidney bean effects. As an aside, when people bash TeleVue for being expensive I think they forget that the cheaper widefield alternatives are usually rip offs of Al Nagler's work and profit from the difficulty of securing optical patents. Meade are particularly shameless in this respect in my view.

I have four EPs, only, in my desert island box. All are TV. I have spoken to TV over the phone with a technical question on an old instrument and had grade A advice from top people for a quarter of an hour. Try and talk to Skywatcher!! Al Nagler is, so to speak, one of us and three cheers for that.

Olly

[pvaz]

Yeah. I called about the extended eye relief I get when I use the Nagler 31T5 with the big barlow and Al Nagler himself talked to me.

That's first grade service! How often do you call a company that sells products world wide and you get the chief engineer to provide technical support to the costumer? It was the 1st time for me and if that wasn't enough he was calm and provided all the answers without trying to speed up the call or anything. It was me that said goodbye when I had the answers I was seeking. Worth every penny.

[Moonshane]

cheers Olly - rather than take up this thread I'll send a PM.

[a2unhappy]

anybody on the 2inch 70q series by orion ............

[gedmac]

What type were they ? - some 2" eyepieces are better than others and would work better with your scope, some might not be so good.

If the guy you were talking to was using an F/10 or slower scope, most eyepieces will work very well but your scope is more fussy.

according to his sig. his scope is sold.but i take your point mel,s scope was f5.9 not so tolerant of lesser ep,s than say an f.10

[Abb]

Against all advice, I recently ended up getting the Celestron 2" eyepiece kit (on sale) and am very happy with it.

Eyepiece and Filter Kit - 2 in (item #94305) / Accessory kits / Accessories / Products / Celestron.com

No, they're not high end optics but neither are my scopes or eyeballs And I was ready to send them back if they weren't very good. However, they've turned out to be pleasantly much sharper than I was expecting and looking through them is like looking through a porthole as compared to regular 1.25" EP's. I've only tried them on my 8" Skywatcher so far and I haven't bothered with the included filters.

Good luck with whatever you end up with!