would you prefer 2 in eye pieces or a bino viewer?

[BenM]

Just wondering what you would rather have if given the choice: a good Denkmeier bino viewer with decent 1.25 eye pieces like Sirius Plossl or some very-good-indeed single 2" eye pieces from Televue. This is for an 8 or 10 inch newtonian (dob) so the bino viewer means some multiplication factor of magnification (2 or 3x) -- not too bad considering it would have a fairly wide field of view to begin with, but the 2" eye pieces (without bino) would keep a very wide field of view, especially a 40 or 52mm eyepiece.

[Capricorn]

I would go for the one not given:eek:.

Two good wide angle eyepieces of different focal lengths.

Would rather have 2 additional good useful eyepieces.

From what you have said do binoviewers make sense?

If they have a magnification factor that means less intensity and being bino they have to split the light so again a halving of the intensity. The final image could be pretty dim and that is not what a dob is for. It's job is to collect all the light it can and deliver it to your eye.

[ollypenrice]

I would certainly have the TVs. I don't personally get on with binoviewers though some love them, so it is personal. Have you tried a bino? Don't buy until you have.

On a Dob the wide field is wonderful, exploiting the big vista that a fast Dob provides and reducing the number of nudges needed. The high quality EPs are great for cleaning up the edge of field. In our 20 inch f4.1 with Panoptics and Radians I have never felt the need for a coma corrector but the view in a Meade 3000 Plossl I have is positively queezy off axis.

I also wonder about keeping your eyes in the right place with a bino during hand tracking, but it might not be an issue. Someone who knows will comment, I'm sure.

Olly

[John]

I'd go with a couple of decent quality eyepieces as well.

40mm - 52mm eyepieces won't work well with a typical F/5 newtonian though as the exit pupil delivered is too large.

I have Tele Vue 20mm and 31mm Naglers which work extremely well as ultra-wide field eyepieces in newtonians. Not exactly a low cost option though