Eyepiece recommendations?

[Andrew*]

Taking Daz's point into consideration, I have decided to stop hijacking threads and asking too many short questions and start a new, straightforward thread. Here goes - I'm thinking of buying two new eyepieces under the assumption that I will acquire an 8" newt. I don't want to spend more than £50 on either, so my options are limited.

1. a widefield, so something between 32mm and 40mm (2" preferably). I had my eyes on these:

http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=8939

http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=9216

http://tinyurl.com/y9c365

http://tinyurl.com/y3bazp

2. a planetary eyepiece. I couldn't see any details of saturn at 100x, so I'm hoping to get up to 300x, either by using a 3mm, or a 9mm tripled with a barlow. I spotted these:

http://tinyurl.com/y8smzn

http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=9157

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=hyperion&cat=10

Any comments on my choices? Remember I'll be operating at f/5!

Andrew

[John]

For the widefield I'd go for the 32mm Meade - you don't see any more sky in a 40mm 1.25 inch than you do with a 32mm and the extra magnification makes the background sky slightly darker. The Celestron 32mm might be OK but I bought a 5mm one of these recently for about the same price and it was awful - I reckon the quality must vary with these so it's a risk.

For the high power either of the 2 orthos would be good although the Baader is supposed to have better coatings than the Antares version. The Hyperions are getting good reports but I don't know how they would fare at F5 and they are twice the price.

If you want a good budget barlow then the TAL ones are pretty good and around £20 used.

I'm sure others will have different views (no pun intended) !!!.

I doubt thet you will be able to use 300x very often - a 2x barlow with a 32mm and a 9mm EP would give you a reasonable range in an 8inch f5 scope - 31x, 62x 111x and 222x. You could add say a 12.5 mm later to fill the gaps a bit more.

John

[FLO]

The Baader 9mm ortho (don't be persuaded that all orthos are equal!) and the Meade 32mm Series 4000 are very good.

[SteelRat]

The Baader 9mm ortho

Be quick though Andrew - I bet I'm not the only one eyin that one

Ah, if only I had the cash. Gordon's 11mm T6'd be nice too, hmph. Note to self; MUST win the pools.

[Andrew*]

The Baader 9mm ortho (don't be persuaded that all orthos are equal!) and the Meade 32mm Series 4000 are very good.

that's great news Steve. Thanks. But what do you think the difference would be between a £27 Antares ortho and a £37 Baader one in terms of quality (I have a calculator on my computer!)? Better coatings, yes - what does this mean for the image?

I also saw this one. http://www.scopesnskies.com/prod/antares/wide-angle-eyepiece/40mm-erfle.html I heard erfles are really good designs. Is that the case with this one?

Andrew

[John]

The Baader 9mm ortho (don't be persuaded that all orthos are equal!) and the Meade 32mm Series 4000 are very good.

that's great news Steve. Thanks. But what do you think the difference would be between a £27 Antares ortho and a £37 Baader one in terms of quality (I have a calculator on my computer!)? Better coatings, yes - what does this mean for the image?

I also saw this one. http://www.scopesnskies.com/prod/antares/wide-angle-eyepiece/40mm-erfle.html I heard erfles are really good designs. Is that the case with this one?

Andrew

Steve might have his own opinion on this but I'm not sure it's possible to quantify what the difference will be to your eyes, in your scope with your sky conditions on any given night Andrew - you may not notice any difference on the other hand you you may see a big one ! - you'll probably never know unless you get the opportunity to try both eyepieces side by side, in the same scope, on the same night. All that can be said is that the general impression given by users is that the Baader is a better quality eyepiece but it's not by a mile I guess - whether the difference is worth £10 ? - well for me it would be but everbody will have their own take on that.

Erfles were a good wide field design but I believe that they have been overtaken by more up to date designs - might not work too well in an F5 newtonain.

John.

[John]

On the other hand......

See if this guy would accept £50 for the lot which will set you up and then take more time to consider where you really want to go once you have some practical expereince with your new scope:

http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/image.php?Id=4802

It's on Astro Buy & Sell - I'll leave you to find it !.

John.

[Andrew*]

thanks John, that's a good sensible post there. As for the set. I saw that, and was going to email him about the 32mm to see if he would sell it separately, but it is apparently a 1.25" set, and I already have a similar collection in 1.25".

It seems I forgot to include the gem of my find. How does a 35mm Celestron Ultima for £45 sound?

http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=9052

and this one?

http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=8451

sorry for firing all these EPs at you. It seems that the Meade is the one to go for, but I just want to make sure!

Andrew

[John]

I know both these sellers and they like good stuff - the 35mm Ultima is a 1.25 inch - some find the eye placement difficult to hold, personally I like them. I'd ask Andy Heath which Celestron 32mm it actually is so you can find out what the field of view is.

Have you tried other review sites for opinions as well - Cloudynights, Excelsis, Ed Ting, Todd Gross, etc ? - well worth doing to get a wider range of opinions.

John.

[Andrew*]

well, just happened to check my eBay watch list just now and one of the ended items was in green, meaning I'd won it. It was indeed the Meade series 4000 32mm plossl and I got it for £24 delivered! http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290063638209

I'm well chuffed. It seems a decent EP, and well worth the cash. What do you think guys?

Andrew

[FLO]

Congrats Andrew

[Andrew*]

just done a quick google and the cheapest I found the same thing new was £70! :shock: it must be good!

Andrew