2" eyepeice

[weso]

hi all, recently got my SW200p and now looking for a half decent 2"ep for DSO's. ive got £150 to spend but not sure which 1 to go for. help !

[russ]

Checkout the Meade 5000 SWA 34mm at the bottom of this page. Recently slashed to £149.......it's absolutely awesome!!!!!! It's a premium quality eyepiece at a reasonable price. I've had it side by side with a Nagler T5 31mm and Skywatcher Aero 30mm. Nicer than the Skywatcher without a doubt and not too far off the monster Nagler.

http://www.acecameras.co.uk/asp/web/ph/cat/prodtype/1352/prodtype.asp

[russ]

Telescope House do it for £10 more but will almost certainly price match i imagine.

Meade 5000 Series 34mm Super Wide Angle Eyepiece 2"

[Space Beagle]

That does seem like a very good deal...!!

Doc

[Martin-Devon]

I have a 2" Baader Hyperion 36mm which I find to be excellent, I would highly recommend this

[John]

With an F/5 scope I'd be thinking of sticking to 32mm or therabouts otherwise your exit pupil is going to be too large, ie: some of the light will be wasted and you may start to see the secondaries shadow. You might get away with 34mm.

[Space Beagle]

Good point about the exit pupli there..!

I have had very good results with my SkyWatcher PanaView 32mm in my own 200P, that gives an exit pupil of 6.45mm with the 200P, so yes that's probably as long a focal length as you ought to go with eyepieces in this particular scope (i.e. 32mm)!

Doc

[weso]

so as i read it 32mm will do the job but 34mm is kinda border line.

i dont want to spend all that money and be dissapointed, so i think the 32mm is the way to go.

thx space beagle for recommending the sw panaview and i see its a good price also £75. from flo.

anybody got any other opinions on 32's?

[Kef9]

For the money the panaview is brilliant but bear in mind that the edge performance is not the best. I've just sold a 26mm.

For a fast scope go with the Aero instead if you want to go the skywatcher route.

[russ]

I have used the 34mm in both my 12" f5 Revelation and 150 f5 Orion Optics, no problems with the exit pupil. Someone did mention that when i bought it but to be honest it's something i have never witnessed.

The Meade is a whole completely different performance league to the Panaview and i much prefer it my previous Aero 30mm. As it happens, car repairs this month meant i had to sell the Meade and i now have the 32mm Panaview. Which is okay and does the job (just). But it's not a keeper, i will offload it at the first possible chance that comes along.

[Astro_Baby]

And the Nirvana 28mm - at 28mm well inside the limits and 82' FOV and reckoned to be rather good.

I couldnt see me parting company with my Panaview 38mm unless I was reequipping on a vast scale. The 26mm never seems quite as 'punchy' as the 38mm to me and I never see much wrong with the 38s views - it does give a kind of wide angle view of starscapes in a way that nothing else I have quite does but perhaps thats just me or maybe the 38mm has something that the other Panaviews dont.

I foind the 26mm competent but its kind of ho-hum - neither teribly bad nor amazingly good - its just average - although for the price its hard to beat really.

[John]

Interesting points about observing with a theoretically over-size exit pupil. I've always wondered how the "loss" of light would show itself (if at all) - would it be light fall off at the edges of the FoV or a general lower transmission level across the whole FoV

[asteria]

I've always wondered about this too - what actually does happen if there is a mismatch with the eye and exit pupil? Do we just not see the whole field? Or is it overall darker? As well. Ed

[Astro_Baby]

John - I cant say because once you have a 38mm in what else could you compare iut too - any other similarly sized EP will exhibit the same conditions. I was always told you get a dimming of the cenral area as the secondary shadow imposes itself but I cant ever see it.

In daylight if I use the 38mm and I actively look for the sceondary shadow I can see it - vaguely but I have to actually look for it. Its hard to explain but its like when your trying to get a red dot to take over in one eye when you program your eye for dominance.

At night no matter how bright the target I cant ever see the shadow or any noticeable dimming of the central area or the edge. I have tested this out on wide targets like the Pleaides, Beehive Cluster, the double in Cas etc and I really cant see it. Perhaps my eyeballs open wider than most I dont know.

I tested edge to edge on the EP when Mars ran across the Beehive a while back and although there was some distortion at the edges it was right at the very edge. At longer F ratios its great for low power wide views.

The 38mm does have downsides though - its very big and heavy and some people find they cant get their eye to it well because of its vast eyecup (which is more like a face cup )

I know a few other people who have the 38 in fast scopes and they never seem to notice it either - maybe we just arent critical enough - I dont know. Truly.

For a low cost, low power widefield I rather like it a lot but as I say the 26mm never really seems to have the WOW !!!!! factor. Its views are about on a par with my TAL Gen II PLossl - I'm not sure whether that promotes the TAL Gen II to legend status or indicates the 26mm cant compete with a £20 Plossl As you know the TAL Gen II PLossls do have a fair bit of a following - doubtless for good reasons.

Obviously the views wider in the Panaview 26mm but theres something indefinable (to me anyway) that just means its the least used of my eyepieces.

[Kef9]

Even in my f9 apo the edge performance suffered in the outer 25%. I'm used to TeleVue though so maybe thats why I picked it up so much. For me it was poor but for someone else it might be great. For the money though you can't complain when other eyepieces cost alot more.

[The Warthog]

@ Kef9 - How do you like the Antares zoom? I've pretty well committed myself to Antares, and am very happy with them, but haven't tried the zoom eps.

TIA

[Kef9]

Amazing! Do a search on my posts to find out all you need to know.

Basically I don't understand why everyone doesnt have one. It's the only non TeleVue eyepiece I currently own which gives you an indication of the company it is keeping with. It holds it's own easily to anything else out there.

[russ]

I had everyone that came by at SSP take a look at the 34mm and comment on whether they could see a shadow or any ill effect of the exit pupil. No one could. Someone else said they use a 35 Pan in their f4.7 with no noticeable problem.

[weso]

ok, great replys i like to get a good conversation going!

but tbh you all got my head in a spin now are we now saying that i could push it to a 38 in my f5? do i really need to? the m5000 swa 34mm is a very good price.

so im thinking a 38 is going to blow the budget?

[Kef9]

If I was you for the money I would get the TeleVue Ethos 21mm LOL

What about the 30mm Vixen LVW for £200 from FLO.

There is also the Baader Hyperion Aspheric but I don't know if they are any good?

The 24" meade is very tempting at £100. Especially compared to a 24" Pan. Biggest FOV in a 1.25" format.

[pvaz]

ok, great replys i like to get a good conversation going!

but tbh you all got my head in a spin now are we now saying that i could push it to a 38 in my f5? do i really need to? the m5000 swa 34mm is a very good price.

so im thinking a 38 is going to blow the budget?

Don't forget about exit pupil with very longh FL EPs.

Exit Pupil = EP FL / Scope focal ratio = 38mm / 5 = 7.6mm

So you'd be wasting some light. You should keep the exit pupil around 6mm, the human retina can go up to 7mm but that's usually for kids, so 6mm is a safer bet. I would go for something around 32mm.

Note: I'm assuming your scope is an f/5.

[Space Beagle]

I must admit im quite tempted by that Meade 5000 SWA 34mm that Russ found..., even though im very happy with the SkyWatcher Panaview 32mm tbh.

Is there any way to measure your own pupils....? Seems very difficult to me as they are always changing size..! Google here I come..!

Edit: Apparently you use some allen wrenches held horizontally in front of your eyes when looking at a bright star. When the star disappears, that's your entrance pupil size........Apparently! Anyone tried this?

Doc

[Moonshane]

I must admit im quite tempted by that Meade 5000 SWA 34mm that Russ found..., even though im very happy with the SkyWatcher Panaview 32mm tbh.

Is there any way to measure your own pupils....? Seems very difficult to me as they are always changing size..! Google here I come..!

Edit: Apparently you use some allen wrenches held horizontally in front of your eyes when looking at a bright star. When the star disappears, that's your entrance pupil size........Apparently! Anyone tried this?

Doc

not tried it but I bet (round) drill bits would be better?

[Moonshane]

I have a 35mm Panoptic and this is a superb EP in my f5.3 dob; that said, I am considering a 27mm too for use at home as light pollution makes the sky a little washed out sometimes and the slightly higher magnification will enhance the contrast.

[Kef9]

That 24" meade is seriously tempting me!!!

Just because it is the max FoV from a 1.25" format. I know that will come in useful one day.