Silly question about bins & eyepieces.

[Simms]

Ok, the issue I have is this, I have a pair of 15x70 bins (see sig) and when viewing stars, clusters etc the stars look vivid, bright and stunning! however I have since purchased a Skymaster 150p with the bog standard eyepieces and whilst I can certainly see more, and get closer, the stars do not seem as vivid, now, would this improve with better eyepieces (I am looking at the skymaster , 32mm or even a 38mm) could I expect to see the stunning views I do with my bins or is it a trait of scopes that we lose the vividness in return for more light gathering ability? or is it just my scope?? I understand the bog standard eyepieces I got with the scope are not much cop, but just wondered what more expensive eyepieces will give me.

cheers, m

[nicnac]

nicer to see with two eyes than one,

i did read somewhere (i forget) that the views are more vivid due to this reason, i am going to have to check this out for myself at some point and get some bino-viewers

[Simms]

I thought this, but closing one eye in the bins still renders great images.

[nicnac]

well, the bog standard plossls do the job but they are just that.. bog standard, i know when i compared the skywatcher plossls with the TAL ones, the TALs came out better,

"buy cheap, are cheap" i think can be employed here when it comes to EPs

[Simms]

so what will pricier ep's give me?

[nicnac]

the contrast was greater on the TAL plossl, the view was brighter and sharper than the skywatcher ones

[Moonshane]

I think it's more to do with magnification?

as you 'stretch' the image with more magnification, it becomes watered down being effectively spread over a wider area. this works in reverse too, hence the lovely images in lower power bins (eg 15s).

there's a compromise though as some objects simply need more aperture and or magnification to be viewable.

another factor is likely to be that a pair of bins is effectively two refractors bolted together which have good contrast etc, newtonians (especially faster ones) are usually not as 'contrasty' as refractors due to the larger secondary.

[Moonshane]

so what will pricier ep's give me?

pricier eyepieces give wider fields (sometimes) which are sharp all the way across, more general sharpness, more contrast, better coatings, less internal glare, better build quality and also a better re-sale / used value.

also usually more weight too (an emptier wallet and fear of dropping!).

some of these advantages can be almost matched by many of the less expensive eyepieces.

in broad terms they work better in faster scopes that other eyepieces, and make the best of the gear and seeing conditions etc you have for the limited time available to you.

[Simms]

thanks for the replies!! I will probably drop some £££s sooner rather than later. I love looking for those DSOs so the 32mm panaview is an enticing buy.

[Mr Spock]

The view through an 80mm ED with a 22mm Nagler is quite startling. I prefer that widefield view to any other scope I've used.

[Simms]

Well, since I posted this thread I purchased myself a 2nd hand EP (TMB 9mm) and I can now see what all the fuss is about - sharp, clear images that do seemsomewhat brighter, but just the build quality is a lot better as well. Certainly going to be ordering a panaview 32mm (or 38mm) in the not so distant future.