Please help me choose a wide EP for my dob

[russ]

Russ - That's a very neat counterbalance system. Not sure if I'll ever be brave enough to take a drill to my dob!

hehe i was sweating a bit when doing the mod.

[simon84]

Mine has just arrived, just finished doing a first impressions review with photos over in the review section.

Its sooooooo lov-erly.......

[russ]

They are stunning to look at let alone look through

[Revs]

A quick FYI for anyone thinking of getting one of these.. I've just been speaking to Bern at MA. Apparently Meade have released an updated price list in the last few weeks for these EP's and he says he could match or maybe even beat this price. At least while the current price list is valid

[simon84]

Thats interesting, I wonder whats made them do that......a new EP thats wider than the UWANs???

A Meade 100 degree EP would be nice, it would give Televue some competiton in that area.

[John]

...A Meade 100 degree EP would be nice, it would give Televue some competiton in that area.

I thought the Explore Scientific 100 degree's EP's would do that but, unfortunately, in the UK they are priced rather too close to the Ethos range to make an impact IMHO.

If Meade could do something similar in the £200-£300 bracket that would be very interesting

[simon84]

Just been looking at the Meade site and they have the 5000 SWA 34mm priced at $299 now, and a set of the 16mm, 24mm and 34mm in a case at $599 which works out at £371 plus shipping.

Thats quite impressive considering I just paid just under half that for just the 34mm......

[yeti monster]

I have the 35mm Skywatcher Aero ED SWA 2", and whilst it is a fantastic EP, I suffer a secondary shadow in my 10" f/4 SNT. I am led to understand that the problem lies in the scope being too fast for the EP.

Hense, I need another scope for it...

[John]

I have the 35mm Skywatcher Aero ED SWA 2", and whilst it is a fantastic EP, I suffer a secondary shadow in my 10" f/4 SNT. I am led to understand that the problem lies in the scope being too fast for the EP.

Hense, I need another scope for it...

I guess this is where well corrected, ultra-wide angle eyepieces come into their own - you can see the same amount of sky, magnified a little more which reduces the background "skyglow" and with a sensible exit pupil even with fast scopes.

[Revs]

The SWA got 1st light last night at about 1am. There was an hour or so gap in the clouds which give nice steady seeing with reasonable transparency. By this time Orion was just popping up above the trees and having not pointed the Dob in this direction yet I thought I ought to do so.

Looking through the finder I saw a nice bit of nebulosity below Orion's Belt, so I centered it and popped the 2" adapter and the SWA in the Dob. As I focused the bright smudge became a beautifully detailed and bright spectacle, showing plenty of detail and a blue tint and was far brighter than M31 which I was looking at last night I was out. It was really something.

I popped the 1.25" 32mm Plossl in for a comparison, which, while still looking nice, was quite noticeably dimmer than the Meade, and the difference in FOV was evident, also. For a final comparison I tried the 24mm Hyperion. I've got to say it was difficult to say which was better. Both gave sharp, detailed views with good colour and superb FOV (again, better in the Meade). The Meade was brighter, no doubt there, but it's hard to say if this was due to the optics or the longer FL and wider barrel. Both EP's blurred round the outer FOV, but it's got to be said, the Hyperion was clear over a good 85-90% where as the Meade was only clear over 75-80%, and the pincushion effect I'd read about was also visible, but I had to look for it as it was only on the very edge of the FOV and was not a problem.

I think for £150 it's a great EP, but I'd really like to do a side-by-side comparison with the Hyperion Aspheric as I think there would be little in it. I think if I'd paid full wack for the SWA I'd be a little disappointed, but I didn't, so I'm very pleased!

One other thing to note is that I had to twist the eye cup out by about a half inch to get things comfortable. I think the large (7.2mm) exit pupil was the cause, but it was totally sorted by doing this and didn't effect the FOV at all.

Recommended, but only at the lower price

EDIT: Oh, and the weight of the SWA was not an issue. Yes, it required a little more tension on the Alt adjustment, but it held fine, even looking at Orion at 30deg.

[simon84]

Nice write up and I'm almost gutted, I honestly thought it would blow a Hyperion clean out of the water, but there you go. Not had a chance to use mine as yet but it does sound a little dissapointing.

Edit: My 2000th post and its a downer on my new EP..... Ahwell I'll make sure 3000 is more exciting....lol.

[John]

Nice write up and I'm almost gutted, I honestly thought it would blow a Hyperion clean out of the water, but there you go. Not had a chance to use mine as yet but it does sound a little dissapointing.

Edit: My 2000th post and its a downer on my new EP..... Ahwell I'll make sure 3000 is more exciting....lol.

Cheer up

For £150 it sounds like a pretty good eyepiece - once you get over £100 the improvements are incremental at best and an F/4.7 newtonian is a pretty stern test - you have to spend masses more to get something that's sharp to the edge of the FoV at that focal ratio, and probably be using a coma-corrector as well.

Talking of that, it could be that what Revs is seeing, at least in part, is the coma produced by the fast newtonian system, rather than eyepiece-induced astigmatism

The Meade 34mm SWA is getting good reviews both here and across the pond so it must have something going for it

[Revs]

Talking of that, it could be that what Revs is seeing, at least in part, is the coma produced by the fast newtonian system, rather than eyepiece-induced astigmatism

It may well be bud . This is all new to me so I can only report what I'm seeing. I don't have the experience to know what to expect... yet. I'm working on it

Simon, you've got no cause for concern. Mine is a fast scope and I'd been told the outer FOV might be more effected with the 34mm. The Hyperion is a 24mm after all . The SWA is great and worth every penny. It's a very nice piece of engineering, and optically as good or better than anything I've gazed through. But £250 would be a big spend and I don't think for the difference it's justifiable. Not if you're short on spare cash.