Eyepiece's

[sixela]

Define "rubbish", though. If you just think it's uncomfortable because you have to glue your eyeball to the eyepiece, that's probably just the design combined with the small focal length.

If its just blurry or "dark", it may just be that you're not used to the larger magnification because of the seeing, bad collimation, etc., or because you find images with that small an exit pupil a bit too dark to your taste. Those are things that likely no 10mm eyepiece will fix.

If it's glare and spurious reflections that make you hate it, that's a more serious problem. Often it can be fixed by making sure the shiny interior of the barrel can no longer reflect light even at low incident angles (by using some black velvet with adhesive backing).

[pvaz]

Most used EP FLs for me, with a 1200mm scope are:

31mm, 15mm, 10mm, 5mm

7mm also gets enough use when the seeing conditions don't allow me to use the 5mm. 20mm is nice on a couple of objects like M51, but I usually jump straight from 31mm to 15 or even 10mm.

I would advise patiente and trying to get 2nd hand EPs. A couple of Televue Plossl (about 55£ a piece) and maybe a TMB or Ortho for planetary. If you get quality EPs 2nd hand you have 2 advantages:

1) For the time being you save money.

2) You're likely to get a full "refund" if you upgrade later on. Quality EPs price tends to stay the same over time.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Define "rubbish", though. If you just think it's uncomfortable because you have to glue your eyeball to the eyepiece, that's probably just the design combined with the small focal length.

If its just blurry or "dark", it may just be that you're not used to the larger magnification because of the seeing, bad collimation, etc., or because you find images with that small an exit pupil a bit too dark to your taste. Those are things that likely no 10mm eyepiece will fix.

If it's glare and spurious reflections that make you hate it, that's a more serious problem. Often it can be fixed by making sure the shiny interior of the barrel can no longer reflect light even at low incident angles (by using some black velvet with adhesive backing).

Out of the 2 choices you offer i have to go with the latter. Blurry and dark sounds about right for the 10mm EP i have experienced that come with most scopes. A similar size EP (and smaller) that came with my EP kit are far superior.

I have even bought a Celestron 4mm Omni EP which i can actually use well on the moon on rare occassions of perfect conditions. So the exit pupil size of EP's isnt a factor for me.

I'm not alone in saying that 10mm stock EP's are rubbish, while the larger 20-25mm stock EP's are actually pretty good.

I was just curious as to why this would be.

[sixela]

That's why I'm puzzled. I used a 10mm from a Skywatcher Dob some time ago alongside my (excellent) 11mm TV Plössl and it wasn't doing badly, even though the target was the rather unforgiving Jupiter. I must confess, though, that the barrel was flocked because I didn't like the looks of that barrel and the baffling (that was done as a service to the owner, and because I'm a geek).

In fact, if I owned one, I'd probably go completely overboard and baffle the barrel just under the filter threads and blacken the lens edges (they're cheap, so I have no fear disassembling them). Just because I can .

[Ian123]

Thanx for all the input guy's it has proved invaluable. The guy's at FLO were very accomodating as well and in the end i ended purchasing the Baader planitariun Hyperion 8mm & 24mm. Just the wait for them to arrive and get first light, will let you know how i get on, cheer's, ian.

[FLO]

I'm not alone in saying that 10mm stock EP's are rubbish, while the larger 20-25mm stock EP's are actually pretty good.

I was just curious as to why this would be.

The Plossl design requires smaller lenses for shorter focal lengths and smaller lenses are more difficult (expensive) to manufacture to a high quality.

Picture a large golf ball where all the dimples in its surfaces are glass blanks. Grinding and polishing disks are applied over the surface of the ball, the glass blanks are ground/polished to a curve that matches the diameter of the ball. Large lenses with less curvature can be mounted into larger balls and polished more easily (cheaper) to a high accuracy. Plossls with short focal lengths should sell for more than those with longer focal lengths because they are more expensive to manufacture to the same quality but because the market expects the opposite most manufacturer's don't put the extra time and effort into short focal lengths. This has resulted in the current situation where mid-long focal length Plossls often outperform shorter focal lengths.

There are of course other reasons why longer focal length Plossls are brighter and more comfortable to use, the above is only part of the story. And there will always be exceptions.

Fortunately, more sophisticated designs are now available that offer both high magnification and comfort.

HTH,

Steve

[dazmoraz]

ive just started with all this malarky.2 weeks ago i bought my first scope,explorer 150p. only had chance to look at a very low moon cause of all the blumming snow!

a little disapointed ,thought i might of seen a bit more.

dont get me wrong im not expecting to see stuff from the books but should i be investing better ep's than the 10mm & 25mm wide angle supplied.

all i want to see and later take pictures of is nice moon shots (not the ones with ya pants down) saturn rings and jupiter and stuff? i need some help cause i dont know ,i just dont know!

[Moonshane]

if you have any cash left, with the EPs you now have (and assuming you don't have one) a Telrad will make it a lot easier to put your scope in the right place and then fine tune with the optical finder.

I'd agree with the general consensus of 'buy to match a need you feel you have after some experience at the eyepiece'. Try and live without what you feel you need for a while and then if you find yourself forever wishing you had an X eyepiece for whatever reason then buy one when you can.

In due course a bigger scope will make a much bigger difference to your experience than another eyepiece.

good luck with the new purchases!

[Ian123]

Cheer's Moonshane, not had a decent night since received the EP's and a telrad is a purchase soon.

[Moonshane]

yeah, seeings and transparency's been pants for ages apart from one night a little while back when it was good for a change.