eye piece quality.

[Ian_A]

So many questions sorry !

ok, my 200p came with 2 ep's 10 and 20mm, also a 3x barlow.

I assume they are the ep's that came with the telescope.

Question is, IS there such a BIG improvement with the more expensive ep's that warrants the higher price ?

cheers

[Ben Ritchie]

It's diminishing returns.

IMO the £30-80 range includes a lot of options that represent a major improvement over the standard eyepieces, above that you're paying a lot for incremental improvements. Best thing is to try as much as possible for yourself (star parties, clubs etc.) and make up your own mind.

[John]

If you move from the eyepieces supplied with the scope to something like TMB Planetaries, Meade 5000 plossls, Baader Hyperions, Baader Geniune Ortho's etc (basically between £40-£70 apiece) then there is a big difference in quality. Above that and the increases in performance get incrementally smaller and smaller.

Edit: Ben and I typing in unison there !

[Rossco72]

If you look through some of the many hundeds of posts on this topic, you will find a wide variety of opinions and views. This is as difficult an issue to get consensous on as which telescope should i buy?

Fo what it's worth, i agree with Ben and John but with the caveat that if you aren't budget constrained you will get those increments with the pemium brands and designs. But I agree that a significant amount of the performance can be got for a more reasonable price

[perrin6]

If you have the money, just buy 3 or four Televues and forget about eyepieces for the rest of your life (unless you break one, perish the thought ),

Alan

[Ben Ritchie]

Edit: Ben and I typing in unison there !

Lol! i'm impressed we picked (almost) the same price range too

[dweller25]

I find the best eyepiece combo for the 200P is a x2 Celestron Ultima Barlow and a Baader 8-24 zoom - £256 in total. That gives continuous magnifications from x50 to x300 that are sharp and contrasty with a decent field of view and decent eye relief.

If you want to stay with fixed length eyepieces then Baader Orthos and Televue Plossls are excellent.

Both the above options are a step up from the supplied eyepieces.

[perrin6]

If you have the money, just buy 3 or four Televues and forget about eyepieces for the rest of your life (unless you break one, perish the thought ),

Alan

.............err just thought I'd better add that I have no connection with that company at all, apart from buying their products, and that my experience with different brands and products is very small, so in fact you can ignore almost totally what I said there

Alan

[Ian_A]

thanks folk.

But can anyone tell me what i already have ?

[Rossco72]

thanks folk.

But can anyone tell me what i already have ?

The super 10 is the one that probably came with the scope. These have a pretty poor reputation.

A 3x Achro barlow will probably add loads of false colour to any bright objects.

The other one looks like maybe a Celestron from the colours but I don't recognise it.

[brantuk]

I agree with Rossco on the 10mm - I have 4 of them and they never get used they're so poor. Dunno about the 3x barlow - except to say it's probably more magnification than needed (2x ought to be enough unless you have a specific purpose for 3x). The other one I can't identify.

To judge how they perform I'd suggest joining a local astro soc and go to an observing session. Someone will offer you a try with better quality ep's, and you should see a substantial difference. Then you're better placed to decide what you want to get

[Astro_Baby]

Same as Rossco on what you have - same as John and Ben on quality.

The 10mm that comes with the scope isnst the best. My advice would be get some eyetime in and see what you feel you need most.

My firts decent EP was in 32mm because I wanted decent wide angle views and the most EPs I have are in the 25-38mm range. I have a few mid sized EPs ranging from 10-14mm and only two high power EPs in 5 and 6mm. Plus a rag tag collection of other stuff thats been supplied with the telescopes.

If I were buying fom new (knowing what I know now) I'd probably buy a set of of Skywatcher Nirvanas and let it go at that - I keep trying to find thge courage to tell the partner I am selling everything EP wise at the moment and funding the Nirvana set from that.

Whats the quality like - about what Ben and John said up there. SOme people want the very best and hang the cost (Televue) other people dont observe enough or whose eyeballs just cant see the difference (me for instance) and buy something a bit cheaper.

I dont regret personally having run through so many EPs because I have learnt quite a bit along the way and I exp[ected Astro to be a money trap. Pretty much whatever you buy you wont be satisfied with and will be looking for something thats a bit sharper, contrasting,powerful,wider views etc.

[Ian_A]

This all stems from last night. I was focused on Jupiter, and the first time with the telescope. Using 10mm and 3x barlow, i found focusing was damn difficult and i could just make out the colour bands. I just expected a beter resolution of the colour..thats why i washed the mirror and re aligned the mirror today (check other post).

Hence i thought could this be a eye piece quality problem...maybe me needing to practice setup focus etc, but i feel i could not get it any clearer.....

think the answer is going to be like you say....join local ostro club/parties and have a look....

[Ben Ritchie]

Hence i thought could this be a eye piece quality problem...maybe me needing to practice setup focus etc, but i feel i could not get it any clearer.....

Sounds like too much power for the conditions, its rare that I use more than a 5mm with my 200p (which gives 240x) and more often the 6mm (200x). That's pretty well suited to normal UK conditions.

[Astro_Baby]

Yup - agree again with Ben - max magnification with a 200 would be x400 BUT UK seeing usually mits it to about x235.

You have tro bear in mind as well that refelectors seem to stop a bit short of their theoretical max mag and I usually consider 60% of theoretical maximum to be usable which works out at x240.

As you up the power the view most gets worse in almost anything. In your case your using the scope towards is maximum power with a poor eyepiece and possibly a poor Barlow - the result wont be nice. The scope would have to be well collimated I suspect to give a decent view at x300 even if the sky was kind and the EP was quality.

Another thing to consider is focus starts to become more and more critical as well.

Like Ben I almost never go beyond 5mm in my 200 scope and mostly run at around 10-13mm.

[ollypenrice]

Second hand TeleVues (other than the remarkable Ethos an one or two of the giants) go for around £100. Look out for those and never look back.

Olly