Nagler 26mm type 5

[ollypenrice]

It arrived today, looks very nice, etc. The sky is set to clear on Saturday but I have folks arriving, a mount on test, an imaging scope on test... so I might not even get to it that night. Bother and curses, I'm dying to try it in the Dob because previously the eye relief of the 35 Panoptic was wasting lots of light grasp.

I will let you know, but I think it wil be a treat.

The Widescreen Centre were fine on all counts, my first deal with them.

Olly

[John]

I reckon it will be a cracking eyepiece in that scope Olly.

I've not tried a 26mm but I've the 20mm and 31mm T5's both of which really deliver the goods in fast newtonians. With the moderate light pollution that I'm plagued with I sometimes think the 26mm would be more useful than the 31, lighter too.

I'm looking forward to reading your views on it when you 1st light it

[Moonshane]

me too Olly, especially re comparison with the 35mm Panoptic.

I am considering a 26mm Nagler in the future (quite distant future probably) as my main home 'finder' / wide field as the 35mm Panoptic is often very 'grey' due to LP at home.

superb at dark sites though so I'd like to retain both....

[jonstarrysky]

I've been using the 26T5 + paracorr in my 10" f4.7 Newt for several years now. It is a winner eyepiece. Stars sharp as pins across the field. Wide true field of view. Comfortable to use eg eye relief, seeing the full 82deg AFOV etc. Great for feint galaxies, large open clusters, large nebulae etc

Personally even 26mm is a bit long for me on an f/4.7 scope, exit pupil will be 5.5mm (but smaller with p/c). You really want dark skies. But definitely superior to even longer EPs such as 35mm Panoptic or 31 Nagler at that f/ ratio which will give a sky that looks even more grey. The exception will be looking a the veil with a UHC filter....

I had the cash but the idea of losing my 26T5 in favour of the E21 (slightly bigger true field, better contrast) didnt appeal to me. 26T5 is to stay in my collection as the daddy.

[Moonshane]

hi all

I could not resist anymore and went for the 26mm Nagler myself. It's in shipping and should arrive tomorrow; cannot wait!

I think my 35mm Panoptic will be on the block but I am going to wait until after SGL6 before deciding as I'll see what it's like at a dark site compared directly with the 26mm Nagler.

Jon's paracorr comments are very interesting as I think I'll need one if I ever get my big dob off the ground at f4.5.

[jonstarrysky]

re paracorr, I have mine in the focusser all the time so cant comment accurately on 26T5 performance at f/4.5 *minus* paracorr. All I can say is 26T5 is pin-sharp till the edge with paracorr. I never regret buying my paracorr, but others get by in Newts of these focal ratios happily without paracorr. If you want I can check out 26T5 +/- paracorr at f/4.7. Technically speaking from Televue data, paracorr will copmpletely eliminate coma in the 26T5 at f/4.7. But how much is there to eliminate I cant say.

[Moonshane]

hi Jon that would be a really good thing to know if you are happy to do it and a quick write up? hopefully close enough to topic to remain on this thread Olly?

[jonstarrysky]

Hi Moonshane, well it was a full moon and there is only so much lunar observing that one can do....

so I tested 26T5 +/- Televue Paracorr in my f/4.7 Newt, swapping the paracorr in & out. Target was beehive cluster, which coped with the moon-lit sky. I definitely prefer the 26T5 view +paracorr; stars appear tighter to my eyes. It's just easier to visualise as point sources across the field, no careful eye positioning or patience is required. But this will be highly subjective possibly dependent on eye sight, scope optics, skills as an observer etc.

I experimented also with the 13mm Ethos, which I felt gave a more text-book coma situation. Minus paracorr, the stars to the periphery were markedly suffering from coma, distractingly-so to me, tell-tale coma star pattern is always there no matter how you position your eye etc. Stars in the centre were sharp. With paracorr, the stars are just crazy-sharp all the way to the edge. I never quite get over how tight they are, even close to the 100 deg AFOV periphery. Personally having the ethos on a fast newt minus paracorr and you're missing half of the wow factor.

[Moonshane]

cheers Jon

exactly what I wanted to hear matey (well sort of - need to get a PC at some point now I think). I totally agree with your Ethos comments and it was also this EP I was thinking about for the paracorr even at f5.3.

my 26mm Nagler has arrived but unfortunately, already been sent back http://stargazerslounge.com/astro-lounge/135000-sometimes-i-think-its-just-not-meant-26mm-nagler-saga-continues.html

[jonstarrysky]

Sorry to read of the bad luck Moonshane. If you have (or plan) a fast newt and have a serious EP collection and have the cash, paracorr is a no-brainer IMO. Of course as you say, trying is best if you can. I'm sure u can get by without, but the way I look at it is I already pay top dollar for Televue glass, so I may as well go all the way. Ethos is corrected to the edge by design, and you pay for that privelege. But on a fast newt that edge performance will be masked by the coma.

You will see optical performance enhancement over a broad range of f/ ratios in Newts - there is a hand plotted graph plotted by Al Nagler that shows this well (will be on televue site somewhere).

[Rossco72]

The 26 is a cracker, you will love it!!!