Jump to content

Banner.jpg.b89429c566825f6ab32bcafbada449c9.jpg

What is your favourite high power eyepice ?

dweller25

By dweller25
in Observing - Planetary

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 48
  • Created
  • Last Reply
yeti monster

yeti monster

Posted
Posted

At present I have my 5mm Hyperion, which occasionally allows for TAL 2x Barlow to be used. I'll be getting the 4mm UWAn soon for those even rarer occasions when everything works in harmony and I'll be able to break the 500x barrier.......

I had a look at Saturn last night through the 40mm omni, what a tiny wee dot he was, but still obviously Saturn.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ollypenrice

ollypenrice

Posted
Posted

I've a venerable 4.8 Nagler and that's about it. I like it for planetary and wide (relatively...) views of things like the Trapezium region. It is very good but I have no idea how old it is, other than very old! Since it ain't broke I won't be fixing it...

Olly

Link to comment
Share on other sites
John

John

Posted
Posted
I've a venerable 4.8 Nagler and that's about it. I like it for planetary and wide (relatively...) views of things like the Trapezium region. It is very good but I have no idea how old it is, other than very old! Since it ain't broke I won't be fixing it...

Olly

I used to have one of those Olly - a smooth-side one without an intergral rubber eyecup. It's eye relief was quite tight but I really liked it - very sharp :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Andrew*

Andrew*

Posted
Posted

Actually, my all-time favourite eyepiece was the 3-6mm Nagler zoom. It can be used in anything up to 1000mm focal length for all the high power you'll ever need. Yes, it has "only" 50 degree FOV, but it performs just as well as most orthos, with a little more FOV and eye relief.

Andrew

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
Kef9

Kef9

Posted
Posted

Antares Speers Waler Zoom 5-8mm. Simply stunning!

89 degree FOV at the 5mm setting and 84 degress at 8mm. I use it with my 2" 2x powermate to give me a 2.5mm to 8mm range to cover all seing conditions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
michael.h.f.wilkinson

michael.h.f.wilkinson

Posted
Posted
Antares Speers Waler Zoom 5-8mm. Simply stunning!

89 degree FOV at the 5mm setting and 84 degress at 8mm. I use it with my 2" 2x powermate to give me a 2.5mm to 8mm range to cover all seing conditions.

Given the MASSIVE size of the fixed focal length Speers Waler, how big is your zoom EP?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
John

John

Posted
Posted
The Pentax XL 10mm was mighty impressive, really miss that. Wouldn't mind an XW.

I had pleasure of borrowing an XW10 from First Light Optics not long ago - I wrote and posted a review of it compared with my 9mm T6 Nagler:

http://stargazerslounge.com/equipment-reviews/100531-mid-high-power-eyepieces.html

The XW was superb as you can see from my comments - if I ever fancy a change from my Nagler T6's for medium and high power viewing, unless I can find the (huge) budget for some more Ethoi, I'll be heading in the direction of some XW's :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites
MartinB

MartinB

Posted
Posted

When using a dob I think having a wide field is very helpful so my Pentax 10mm XW and 7mm XL get the vote over my 5 and 9mm orthoscopics although I do like the neutral colour tone of the orthos. When using my ED120 on a tracking mount then the orthos come into their own and I can put up with the lack of eye relief.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
John

John

Posted
Posted
Very long but it doesnt matter. Check it out.

http://stargazerslounge.com/equipment-reviews/105720-pwermate-extreme-combination.html

Honestly everyone should have one. There brilliant.

I've read lots about Speers-Waler eyepieces, including the zooms, most of if very positive, including your own reports of course :D

The only criticisms I've heard about them is i) some dust between the lens elements with some of the early ones and ii) that some need signifcantly more than the average amount of inward focusser travel to come to focus with the result that they are not usable with some scope designs with limited focusser travel.

I had to part with a Speers-Waler quite a few years ago for the latter reason which was a shame because in every other respect it was a very fine eyepiece.

When it's used without the Powermate, does yours come to focus near where other eyepieces do ?.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kef9

Kef9

Posted
Posted
I've read lots about Speers-Waler eyepieces, including the zooms, most of if very positive, including your own reports of course :D

The only criticisms I've heard about them is i) some dust between the lens elements with some of the early ones and ii) that some need signifcantly more than the average amount of inward focusser travel to come to focus with the result that they are not usable with some scope designs with limited focusser travel.

I had to part with a Speers-Waler quite a few years ago for the latter reason which was a shame because in every other respect it was a very fine eyepiece.

When it's used without the Powermate, does yours come to focus near where other eyepieces do ?.

Hi

I've never noticed any dust and it comes into focus absolutley no problem. I have the mark 1.

Regarding the use with the powermate, thats telecentric which means that it doesn't affect the focus point or the eyerelief. Hence it comes into focus at exactly the same point.

What scope do you have? If the other speers didn't work then maybe the zoom won't either. You could always try it first and send it back if it didn't work. I found the mk2 for sale at Rother Valley Optics for anyone who might be interested.

Speer Waler Series II 5 - 8mm Zoom Eyepiece 1.25 | Telescope Accessories | Rother Valley Optics

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kef9

Kef9

Posted
Posted

Hi

I just decided to do a search on the internet to see what I could find for those of you who were interested.

Heres a review at cloudy nights.

Antares 5-8mm Speers-Waler Eyepiece - Review

I also just had a read of this which suggests that the zoom actually is like a normal eyepiece which does not require more in-focus travel than is typical. It also mentions the fact that the rest of the line does require alot of in-focus travel.

Astromart Reviews - The Speers WALER line of Eyepieces

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Andrew*

Andrew*

Posted
Posted

I'd heard that the 5-8mm was relatively needy of in-travel, but that the 8.5-12mm (which I have), is even worse. Well, it is quite bad! I needed to install a low-profile focuser to get it to work on my 16" dob, and it wouldn't focus on my ED120 with a 2" diagonal - I had to switch to 1.25". Now I've cut the tube down on the 120, so anything will focus!!

In the past days I've avoided the zoom for solar viewing, because eye-lens dust obscures the view - suddenly the sun has loads of sunspots! I'll give it a clean and try again. Doesn't matter much for DSO work though.

Andrew

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
Hypernova

Hypernova

Posted
Posted

For planets I use my 14mm speers-waler coupled with a skywatcher deluxe 2x barlow, this gives me a good 82 degree afov at 171x. I have tried to use my skywatcher 10mm plossl with the barlow to give 240x but I fell this is too much for many nights so I will be looking for a halfway point at 6mm. I am thinking of a tmb planetary or a skywatcher ultrawide, I am unsure of how the latter will perform in my scope which is f5.9.

The lens element of the barlow is removable so would it be of any benefit to screw it directly into the filter thread on the eyepiece barrel to give a lower magnification and what would the resulting mag be?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
AndyH

AndyH

Posted
Posted

I used to have a set of the higher power U.O. and the unbadged, 'volcano top' orthos. Really liked them. Will probably get some again.

Nagler zooms are superb and love how you can dial in the power to suit conditions. Actually not expensive when you realise they are the equivilent of 4 or 5 eyepieces.

My MK I 5-8mm speers waler zoom is, as others have said, superb. Huge but superb. Haven't noticed any dust problems.

7mm bushnell ortho. Very, very sharp eyepiece.

Andy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.