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Good EP's


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Its another of those daft questions from the newbie collection of daft questions.

I've read several of the posts about EP's (eye pieces not the 1970's records I hope :)) and buying 2nd hand ones that are no better than the ones that your scope comes with.

Barlow's. Why do you get good ones and bad ones?

Whats a Possill and why would I need one?

Are EP's transferable between scopes so once you got a set you keep them? (Sounds like people do from posts.)

I've seen the primer on EP's but what make a good eye piece? Examples?

Is it down to personal choice or do you just go out and spend loads of cash trialing everything till you find out what is right for you? (Hope its not as my pocket wont stretch that far!)

So does anyone on here have the definative version of whats good and bad in the way of EP's and Barlows?

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Hi,

If you have not already read it, this piece is an excellent primer:

http://stargazerslounge.com/beginners-help-advice/80772-eyepieces-very-least-you-need.html

Think of eyepieces and barlows as optical instruments in thier own right - similar to camera lenses. As with those you get what you pay for !.

Generally decent ones start at around £30-£40 each. Above £100 each the quality increases and design benefits get incrementally smaller. To put this in perspective, the ones that come with scopes are worth (in my opinion) around £10 each.

The reason people invest proportionally quite a lot in eyepieces is that a good set can work well with any scope you may move onto in the future.

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When I first got my scope, I was advised to put my money into a small number of decent eyepieces rather than a cheapish set of half a dozen different sizes - "You will try them all once, but you will find one or two favourites and then you will use those all the time and the rest hardly ever." Probably one of the best pieces of advice I was given as it was so true. I spent £100 on a low power 32mm Televue plossl, £50 on a 15mm (also Televue) and £80 on a good Barlow (Celestron Ultima 2x). Combined with the reasonable 25mm that came with the scope, they are all I have ever needed. The Barlow doubles the capacity of your eyepieces straight away which is why it is a good investment. A bad Barlow will give you bad views with whatever eyepiece you use it with.

I agree with John that unless you have pots of money to fritter away you don't need the sort of eyepieces that you need a small mortgage to afford.

Rachel

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Thanks Bat for the 'heads up.'

Any good online shops to have a look at and see what's for sale?

I was looking at F1 telescopes (google found it) and the had Vixen EP's starting at £203:eek:. Thats more than the price I want to pay for a scope!!!

It would be nice to know what I'm buying before wasting a load of money on fleabay or online for things that I dont need.

I've try Televue and see what price they are like.....

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The Tele Vue Plossls are well under £100 and are very good. The other TV eyepiece types are £170 up to £700+. They are superb but, as I said in my earlier post, you get what you pay for.

The Baader Hyperions are decent quality for around £90 each.

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This whole idea of a telescope and bits seems even more daunting the more you investigate.

A scope for about £150-£200 and then possibly 2X Barlow, 3 EP's to suit the scope plus UV filters to go with it and that's with out T rings and converters for the kids to photograph what they see and possibly a new camera if I cant find a T ring for there's.....

I can see opportunity for Grandma, aunts and uncles to being buying prescribed presents for the kids next few birthdays and Christmas.....

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You are right about the potential for additional spending. That's why my advice is always to try the scope out for a few sessions and get used to it and observing. The your next investment choices will be better informed :)

I have 4 scopes but just one set of 5 eyepieces plus a good barlow - I invested in good quality eyepieces because they serve a number of different scopes designs and viewing purposes and I'd like to think that the scopes are able to perform as well as conditions will allow, ie: the eyepieces don't detract from the optical quality at all.

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