Eyepiece, Curious at ppl answers

[Chrissy G]

they got to be better than the ones i got with my scope lol.

[Lurker]

they got to be better than the ones i got with my scope lol.

What scope do you have? Don't think I seen you mentioned it.

[Hypernova]

I use my series 1 14mm Speers-Waler, I got it fairly cheap used from on here. It has a good magnification which I find is ideal for most DSOs and has a generous 82 degree AFOV (Same as a Nagler and 95% of the performance), the eye relief is also pretty good.

[Chrissy G]

lurker... i've got a s/w300neq6 and a w/o megrez72

[anth]

Just boughta Beader Hyperion 17mm. Views are amazing - especially of Orions Nebula which is, as a complete beghinner, is my 4th interesting object to find :-) I'm finding it an expensive hobby however!. The Hyperion is cheap too £93! Is a monster compared to a plossl too.

[Lurker]

lurker... i've got a s/w300neq6 and a w/o megrez72

Sorry that makes no sense to me, I even tried to google it up only 3 pages from here came up

Few people has replied about Hyperion Eyepiece, Bet you are relieved now

[Chrissy G]

lurker.. yeah, a bit relieved ha ha, my scope is a 12" skywatcher newtonian on an neq6 mount, big and clumsy lol

[KenG]

If you want to get an eyepiece that you'll use a lot, then look for one that gives you about 50x, with 70degree FOV and 18 - 20mm eye relief. That'll be the one that wears out quickest.

[Lurker]

I am just wondering what I'm gonna see thru the 13th Ethos Eyepiece, I have only seen thru one eyepiece and thats the one that came with my Scope, Orion 25mm I think, With a 2x Barlow.

I'm kinda very exicited to look thru Ethos 13mm. I wonder whats the big different, Time will tell.

Now that makes sense Chrissy

[pvaz]

Edit: my post came in late and was answered already

[Chris H]

I am just wondering what I'm gonna see thru the 13th Ethos Eyepiece, I have only seen thru one eyepiece and thats the one that came with my Scope, Orion 25mm I think, With a 2x Barlow.

I'm kinda very exicited to look thru Ethos 13mm. I wonder whats the big different, Time will tell.

Now that makes sense Chrissy

The Ethos range of ep's are not I repeat NOT going to show you things that other/cheaper ep's can't. They are not magic. They do however deliver a 100 degree field of view which some people like, myself included. A Televue Plossl will give you just as much pleasure at a fraction of the cost.

What scope do you have and what are you willing to spend on an eyepiece?

As for my favorite in my 10" Dobsonian I love my 17mm Ethos for low/medium power views and my 8mm Ethos for high power work. They were not cheap though nearly £900 for the two, must be mad.

[Altair]

For me its the Hyperion Zoom 8-24 i use the most. Much thanks to another member here for that! Oh and my Celestron 40mm for wider views.. The Zoom covers everything really, great sharp views easy to use and easily adjustable through the different mags it supplies, would not be without it now.

[Lurker]

Kris77, I have a skyquest XT 8" Dob, I'm just waiting for delivery for my 13mm ethos.

Another question.

Let just say 2 different scopes Orion 8" Dob and another scope such as skywatcher 8" or something. Different scopes at same spot, sitting next to each other pointing at the same object in space, with the same eyepiece say ethos 13mm.

I'm wondering if there's a difference? With different scopes?

[pvaz]

You may get better detail if one scope haves better, more accurate, optics. SW and Orion both belong to Synta so they probably use the same mirrors. If you compare them with an Orion UK (not the same as Orion US) with their professional grade optics and better coatings, then it's reasonable to expect sharper details specially on planets and double stars. Of course the difference haves a cost.

[John]

Another question.

Let just say 2 different scopes Orion 8" Dob and another scope such as skywatcher 8" or something. Different scopes at same spot, sitting next to each other pointing at the same object in space, with the same eyepiece say ethos 13mm.

I'm wondering if there's a difference? With different scopes?

The view will be the same - as Paulo says, the scopes have the same optics.

To be honest, it's observing conditions, observer experience, scope optical quality, and state of scope collimation that make more difference than eyepiece quality. It's just that buying a new eyepiece is easier than addressing the other four factors

[LukeSkywatcher]

My favourite EP is my 30mm Vixen NPL. It gives great wide field views and the contrast is amazing in it. I have another Vixen 25mm EP but i havent had much use of of it yet due to cloud.

[Demonperformer]

Doesn't help me one single bit on my next piece

What is it you want to achieve with this purchase? Greater magnification? Wider field of view? If you can give us some pointers on that, we can probably produce answers more tailored to your needs.

[AndyH]

My absolute favorite ep is my 12mm Konig- flawed, but superb contrast & brightness, a good all rounder for me, but probably not to many peoples taste.

I've got that one too. A great sharp eyepiece.

:icon_salut:Andy.

[Mr Spock]

My most used eyepieces with my C9.25 are a 22mm T4 Nagler (x107) for DSOs, and a 9mm Vixen NLV (x261) for planets.

My favourite eyepieces are my 42mm and 13mm Vixen LVWs. They are the most comfortable eyepieces I've ever used: long eye relief, no blackouts/kidney beans, sharp right to the edge.

[DrNeb]

I'm quietly building a selection of cheap but good quality eyepieces. Mainly plossls and orthos.

But i have one Meade 4000 UWA 6.7mm which is absolutely superb and one of the best eyepieces i've ever owned, easily giving my old 7mm Nagler a run for its money.

In the future i would like to track down a few more of the Meade 4000 UWA's but they still fetch a pretty penny. One today on Buy'n'sell for £95, which is more than i can afford.

do the 4000's out perform the 5000 series? as they got a huge price cut and i have been interested!

[DrNeb]

I have been seriously contemplating a baader zoom. do you guys have the MKIII?

i have seen alot of mixed reviews for it.... would it make my skywatcher 250px sing?

I saw someone purchase it on cloudynights and returned it almost instantly.

[Altair]

Kris77, I have a skyquest XT 8" Dob, I'm just waiting for delivery for my 13mm ethos.

Another question.

Let just say 2 different scopes Orion 8" Dob and another scope such as skywatcher 8" or something. Different scopes at same spot, sitting next to each other pointing at the same object in space, with the same eyepiece say ethos 13mm.

I'm wondering if there's a difference? With different scopes?

hehehe This discussion is beginning to remind me of "Top Gear " but for scopes instead of cars!

[Capricorn]

Eyepiece has to relate to the scope that it is to be used on and what it is that the person looking down the eyepiece wants to see.

If you want detail then you will want some magnification, if you want the wider views of clusters then a different size.

I use a simple 6mm eyepiece on a small f/5 refractor, works well on it. Also have a f/14 Mak, forget a 6mm on that just totally irrelevant.

If I use the Mak on planets I may use a 20 or 15 or 12mm eyepiece. I just looking then in goes a 32 or 30mm. A 30mm on the refractor has less magnification then simple binoculars.

You match the eyepiece to the scope and what it is that you prefer.

[Moonshane]

The original question was which eyepiece do we like to use and why.

Here are some of the reasons for the varying answers:

• budget - everyone has a budget they can afford or are willing to pay. this is often the starting point for whatever we buy.
  
• scopes - any one eyepiece will have different magnification, field of view and quality of image for a given scope. As a group we have many different scopes so will have many different favourites.
  
• targets - in my opinion, a planet requires a different type of eyepiece to a wide cluster or nebula to get the best out of the target.
  
• observing conditions - this as others have suggested makes a massive difference on the 'best' eyepiece for the conditions and target you face, especially at higher magnifications.
  
• really they are all the same - OK there is a difference in quality between the cheaper plossls and the expensive wide fields but if you can accept a little bit of 'blurryness' at the field edge, some chromatic aberation or a slight reduction in contrast, the cheaper options will still show you the same things that the expensive ones will. the image quality with a £700 eyepiece and a £25 plossl is not 28x better. e.g. my £70 12.5mm BGO gives a more pleasing image of Jupiter than my £400+ 13mm Ethos.
  

If you look through any threads on eyepieces there will be lots of different opinions and the above reasons explain some of them.

I think the general answer is that the eyepiece which is best is the one which gives the sharpest image of the subject, places it nicely in the field of view with a bit of space around it and shows sufficient detail to observe the features well. Only buy any equipment to fill a need and try and get to look through the eyepiece you want next in your scope before you buy it. Start a thread to ask for help and I bet there will be someone local who will help - or attend a star party.

My personal favourites (when seeing allows) are:

Wide field low magnification - 22mm Panoptic (72x)

Wide field medium magnification - 13mm Ethos (123x)

Planetary - 12.5mm Baader Genuine Ortho (128x) if the seeing allows 8mm Radian (200x)

Lunar - 6-3mm Nagler zoom (267-533x)

My 'procedure' is work through the eyepieces I have and select the next highest magnification until the seeing goes mushy. Then choose the one back from the point where this happened and use that eyepiece. This is why I have a wide range of options at the higher magnification end but you will note that the 'fill in' options were of a cheaper eyepiece relatively speaking (eg used 7mm BGO at £40). If only Televue would offer a 14-7mm Nagler zoom.

cheers

Shane

[John]

I have been seriously contemplating a baader zoom. do you guys have the MKIII?

i have seen alot of mixed reviews for it.... would it make my skywatcher 250px sing?

I saw someone purchase it on cloudynights and returned it almost instantly.

I've used the Baader zoom MK2. It's the best zoom I've ever tried but still not quite as good as using decent quality fixed focal length eyepieces, IMHO.