Eyepiece set advice

[milkyjoe]

Hi.

I'm thinking about buying an ep set and was wondering if anyone could give me an opinion on this please... Meade 5 Piece MA Eyepiece Set

Thank you.

Richard.

[John]

I don't think the Meade MA (Modified Achromat) eyepieces will be any better than the ones supplied with the scope. Your scope has an F/5 focal ratio and really needs something a little better than that. You can get plossl eyepieces for £20 new (even less used) and they would be better than that Meade set in my view.

[milkyjoe]

Thanks for your advice John, just wanted to make sure before I wasted some cash! lol

[Moonshane]

you could do worse than the BST Explorers on here 1.25" Eyepieces

I have used them in a f5 scope and they are very good for the money.

You have a decent barlow so if you got eg the 8mm (and assuming you have a decent 25mm with the scope?), you'd have

25mm = 20x

12.5 = 40x

8 = 63x

4 = 125x

This would cost £38 and then you could decide if the 25mm could be replaced or if you'd benefit from say a 18mm/15mm in due course. I'd suggest this will give you more enjoyment than the ones you initially suggested.

cheers

Shane

[milkyjoe]

Thanks Moonshane.

I was toying with the idea of replacing my 25mm ep, which is the one that came with the scope, it seems ok though and is the one I use to most. What would you recommend as a suitable replacement; other members suggested a 16mm SW Nirvana, but at £135 a pop... erm... no thanks!

There seems to a lot of eps around from different manufacurers and there are lots of different models to choose from!

I've heard that the Televue and Baader Hyperions are the best, is this true or are there others; I have seen a few WO one's too, which look OK?

Decision, decisions...

Richard.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I was just going to say "go for a Nagler":D, but they are clearly not in the price range you are looking for:eek::eek:. There are very many good EPs to be had, and as you go up the price scale things tend to get better, but not in a linear fashion. Why not try to go to a star party with your scope, look through other peoples EPs and if you like what you see, ask them whether you could try them in your scope (after discretely asking about prices;)).

[Hypernova]

Hi Richard,

if you are looking for an UWA eyepeice, the guy in this thread has the one you want. It is a WO UWAN 16mm, the exact same as the SW nirvana and he currently asking £100 but he might take an offer if it is still available.

http://stargazerslounge.com/sale/108614-williams-optics-uwa-ep.html

[John]

This might be worth considering:

U.K. Astronomy Buy & Sell

The Hyperions are not quite in the Pentax / Nagler / UWAN league but will be a big step up from your current 25mm. I've been testing some Hyperions (including the 24mm) and I'm quite impressed with them for their cost.

[Moonshane]

Thanks Moonshane.

I was toying with the idea of replacing my 25mm ep, which is the one that came with the scope, it seems ok though and is the one I use to most. What would you recommend as a suitable replacement; other members suggested a 16mm SW Nirvana, but at £135 a pop... erm... no thanks!

There seems to a lot of eps around from different manufacurers and there are lots of different models to choose from!

I've heard that the Televue and Baader Hyperions are the best, is this true or are there others; I have seen a few WO one's too, which look OK?

Decision, decisions...

Richard.

Personally, I have gone with Televue. I took the view that as I could just afford them (after selling some gear and unused books etc), I'd build up a small collection of excellent eyepieces over time. These will work in any scope and give great images when I get the chance for an all too irregular observing session. In other words they are a lifetime investment and therefore the cost per year of use is relatively small assuming I have them a while. They also hold value well, especially if you buy used.

There are many eyepieces which are close to the performance of Televue but not quite there and I went with TV rather than these good alternatives for the reasons above.

I don't have that much experience with other EPs but have with the Explorers and hence I could recommend them as good quality for the money. I also know that despite some reviews saying the 25mm Explorer was the worst in the series, it was still a lot better than the 25mm that came with one of my scopes so worth getting in my view.

the key thing is decide what you want to spend and then get what appears the best for your circumstances taking into account the scope you have (faster scopes cope less well with poorer quality EPs), the eye relief you need and the width of field of view you prefer. Many people can cope readily with a narrow field and tight eye relief and therefore plossls make good options - the Televue plossls are superb and you can gt them used for between £40-50 usually. There is no optical difference between them and the other TVs costing £300+ in my view, you just get less 'comfort' with narrower field and tighter eye relief.

it's a complicated are with a lot of choices but choose what's right for you when taking everything into account. I see the purchase of an eyepiece (I always buy used) as low risk financially. Eg, I bought a TV 11mm plossl at a decent price recently. I know that I can sell it for about the same if I don't get on with it and the risk is therefore only the cost of postage - I see this almost as a rental charge many people buy and sell eyepieces very regularly so don't feel stuck with one if you buy it.

this might have helped and might not

[milkyjoe]

Thanks again Moonshane.

Some interesting comments there.

My problem is that I'm wondering why these TV and Baader eps are so expensive and, because I am a noob, how good they are?! I purchased a couple of sw sp plossls last month, a 7.5mm and a 10mm, but when comparing them to my basic 10mm and 25mm eps, I couldn't really see any noticeable differences!?!

... so why are the tv and baader eps so good??

My other problem is I can't choose what sort of eye relief and fov I should be looking for; I supposed I could make an educated guess and say you don't really need to bother with LER and high FOV the shorter the focal length of the ep... right?

Also, which eps are good for planets and which are good for dso's?

Thanks.

Richard.

[John]

Personally, I think if I were in your shoes, I'd be enjoying the views with what I have now and saving for a larger aperture scope. The Startravel 102 is a nice little scope for low power views of star fields etc but it's not going to excel at higher powers, whatever eyepiece you put in it.

For the price of one new Nagler you could buy a mint condition, used, 8" F/6 dobsonian scope which would put you in another league view-wise.

[Moonshane]

... so why are the tv and baader eps so good??

based on what others say, the TV eyepieces are, I would say a step up from the Baader. The more expensive eyepieces tend to be more complex in design. This gives a wider field of view (i.e. you see more sky comparing two eyepieces if the same focal length) and often more eye relief - (i.e. you don't have to get as close to the eyepiece to see the whole field) but also, optical sharpness and good contrast across the whole field of view even in scopes down to f4. they are often hand picked and checked etc. TV have their eyepieces made in Taiwan (in the main) but they all get shipped to USA and are individually checked by the firm before being sold.

f8 and above is considered slow and below fast; faster scopes need better quality eyepieces to show good images across the whole field. all that said, some people don't mind some deterioation in the stars at the edge of the field.

simpler designs like plossls are often less expensive and as they have a narrower field, are easier to produce a good image across the whole of the field.

My other problem is I can't choose what sort of eye relief and fov I should be looking for; I supposed I could make an educated guess and say you don't really need to bother with LER and high FOV the shorter the focal length of the ep... right?

don't worry too much about this. I assume you don't wear glasses to observe? if you have been able to handle the eye relief on a 7.5mm plossl then you won't have too many issues with ER generally. also, if you are happy with the FOV from the plossls, then this will make your options for better quality much cheaper. more often than not when you get to higher magnifications you need less field as you are looking at eg planets and double stars, although on a manual mount this means the view will move quite quickly.

Also, which eps are good for planets and which are good for dso's? there's no easy answer to this but generally it's lower powers for DSO's and higher power for plantets - BUT eg Planetary nebulae are DSOs and often require higher magnification and seeing can often restrict viewing magnifications to lower levels too.

Thanks.

Richard.

while I have been writing this I see John has added a good point. use your experience with what you have to decide what you need next and don't rush into buying lots of things you'll regret. you will possibly end up with more than one scope anyhow and as your experience grows you'll make the right choices more often. I'm no expert by the way, just done a lot of reading and soul searching!

If you are near Manchester, you'd be more than welcome to try my eyepieces if you bring your scope over.

[milkyjoe]

Personally, I think if I were in your shoes, I'd be enjoying the views with what I have now and saving for a larger aperture scope. The Startravel 102 is a nice little scope for low power views of star fields etc but it's not going to excel at higher powers, whatever eyepiece you put in it.

For the price of one new Nagler you could buy a mint condition, used, 8" F/6 dobsonian scope which would put you in another league view-wise.

Thanks John.

As I am a noob, I'm still getting to grips with the scope/mount and trying to learn my way around the sky so I doub't I'll be buying a new scope just yet, but thank you for your comments.

Richard.

[Moonshane]

Thanks John.

As I am a noob, I'm still getting to grips with the scope/mount and trying to learn my way around the sky so I doub't I'll be buying a new scope just yet, but thank you for your comments.

Richard.

don't worry, this will never change - I'm still learning my way around the sky and don't reckon I'll buy another scope (yeah right to the latter point - in my case!).

[yeti monster]

Get along to a star gazing group or party and 'sample' as many different EPs as you can. Not only do they have to suit your scope, thay have to suit you too.