Your dream eyepiece set?

[Mokusatsu]

This should be fun. I'm drawing up my eyepiece wish list (at this point only a wish list, it could turn slowly into an actual shopping list over the next couple of years, but for now making lists is cheaper than buying things, and gives at least some of the pleasure! ;)

My instruments and me:
I have a 12" f5 Skywatcher goto DOB, with 2" focuser and an 8" f6 non-goto Dob with Parkes Optical mirrors.

I have a few cheap eyepieces, but I do also have a good old Japanese-made Televue 13mm Plossl, 1.8x and 2.5x barlows as well, all 1.25".

I have quite bad astigmatism and would refer to keep the option open to use Dioptrx lenses at some point.

My budget isn't infinite, but if the purchases are spread out over a couple of years it would be manageable.

I've heard great things (mainly from Televue!) about the TV Ethos eyepieces. I was thinking the first one I might save up for would be a 21mm Ethos, for a really impressive wide field view, to replace my current generic 28mm ?Orthoscopic.

After that I'm not sure where to go, and if we include the existing 1.25" barlows and a possible future 2" Powermate in the discussion, weighing up the ultra wide spectacle with contrast for planets etc, there are many options.

Televue have the eyepiece calculator at their site, they recommend not exceeding 350x magnification so that would mean I should keep my eyepiece focal lengths over 4.3mm. Sometimes on unusually good seeing nights maybe it could be pushed higher, but I'm not going to buy a special eyepiece for those nights, I'll just use the barlows.

I was looking at the Nagler planetary zoom eyepiece, but can't quite see the point of it. It's only got a 50 degree AFOV, the same as a plossl. I hear nothing but good things about plossls for planetary observing, and for the price of the Nagler planetary you could buy several plossls.

The Ethos SX 4.7 has 110 degree AFOV and is reputed to be pretty good with planetary observing. The thought of that huge field of view while doing lunar observation sounds pretty cool, plus the Ethos has a 15mm eye relief which is a bit better. Does anyone have any advice AGAINST going with the Ethos 4.7?

So I'm kind of set on the Ethos 21, strongly considering the Ethos 4.7 if not a couple of good plossls, and then there is the whole range in between. What mid-focal length eyepieces would people recommend. I know people have been known to buy lots of eyepieces and end up selling ones they seldom use, so would buying a 10mm make more sense than buying a 13 and an 8?

Maybe I'm guilty of swallowing the Televue CoolAid. How about some suggestions for non-TV gear if there are better eyepieces to be bought elsewhere?

Thoughts, opinions, angry diatribes, cautionary tales of woe, debates and pithy witticisms would all be welcome.

Travis

[SkyWatch]

Have you checked out the ES eyepieces? (See: http://explorescientificusa.com/collections/eyepiece ) I have their 100° 20mm, which seems to be their best value, and it stacks up pretty well against the 21mm Ethos for ~1/2 the price (I have tried them head-to-head). Their 82° series are very competitive too!

I would recommend having a look through someone else's 100° eyepieces before you take the Ethos plunge to make sure you don't mind turning your head to get the full view! I acquired a 13mm Ethos a while back, but sold it in favour of keeping my 13mm T6 Nagler...

Remember the wide-field eyepieces are generally very big and heavy too (think hand-grenade!), so they can be fun to balance in a dob. (Another reason I kept my T6 Nagler.)

Have fun looking!

Dean

[PSALM19.1]

Orion Edge-On 6mm is a gem....'bout the same price as a TV Plossl....:thumbsup:

[PSALM19.1]

....or you could just buy Brian Nordstrom's collection....:rofl:

[clive milne]

Type 4 Naglers are amongst my favourite eyepieces of all time.

They are well corrected, have bags of back focal length, high transmission, a (relatively) compact format and are reasonably priced.

Masuyama's (if you can find them) would be high on the list, as would be the clones. Not least amongst them being the Celestron Ultima series.

[dannat]

i agree with clive, stick with type 4 naglers for the eye relief, get a power mate to get ramp up the mag [start with the 2.5x barlow.., i don't know of many who find the 100 deg eyepieces comfortable with glasses & dioptrix better on the T4's
the 17 & 12 T4 would give mag of 88x & 125x then the barlow also

[el_draco]

Already got mine 3.7,8,13,17,21 ethos Y.U.M. Got most of them before the buck went south. :D

[Mokusatsu]

Thanks for the suggestion of Explore Scientific's 100 degree EPs. I have found numerous discussions online and the general consensus is that there is virtually no difference between their performance and the TV Ethos line, apart from shorter eye relief, and they are indeed half the price.

Would that be a fair statement to make?

How do ES100s work with dioptrx? I don't know how dioptrx works in practice, I know it is a barrel lens to correct astigmatism, but do they have to screw into the eyepiece or like filters can they be put into a filter tube and then you can use any eyepiece you like, provided of course you have adequate focuser travel.

Do any Perth people have either an Ethos or ES100 I can check out, either at a star party or just to visit on a clear night? It sounds like the ultra wide eyepiece thing is liked by some and loathed by others, I guess I should find out which camp I'm in before I buy!

Travis

[blink138]

i have the pentax 10 and 7 xw, a little tricky to come to terms with the twist up eye cups but they have a steely white contrast to them
pat

[MattT]

I think your between a rock and a hard place as the saying goes. Need enough ER and have eye issues....only real solution...spend some cash.

So in your shoes I would get a TV 31 82º Nag as your low power and then Nag IV 22 17 and 12 with Delos 10 and 8 + a 1.25" 2x barlow to go with the 12 10 8 combo to get 6 5 4. One change could be a Delos 14 instead of the 17mm Nag IV.....14mm is a nice FL to have, and a Delos 12 instead of the Nag 12mm.

31 22 14 12 10 8 (2x barlow)7 6 5 4....

Six eyepieces and a barlow.

ES are good for those like myself, who don't have glasses or any other eye issues. They are not as good as TV/Pentax eyepieces, but are good enough to give decent views...specially in long focal length scopes.

Matt

[SkyWatch]

I am not sure about the shorter eye-relief thing as a blanket statement. The ES 100 ° 20mm has a listed 14.5mm eye relief as opposed to the 15mm of the 21mm Ethos. I'm not sure I could pick any difference!

Regarding the Dioptrx: this is a Televue product designed to sit on the front of TV eyepieces. It may not fit other brands. It is basically the same as wearing your prescription glasses, but the corrector that is normally provided by your glasses is instead sitting right on top of the eyepiece lens so it maximises your fov without banging said glasses against the eyepiece (or squashing them onto your nose!). Televue says: "You're more likely to see the full field in 100° Ethos eyepieces because your eyeglasses are more limiting in "effective eye-relief"." See: http://www.televue.com/engine/TV3b_page.asp?id=54#.VlZNVChq3Bw

- Dean

[ab1963]

I have the docter 12.5mm 84 deg and after having lots of different ep's is the best thing I've viewed through ,great er and unbelievable views , with the tmb 1.8x Barlow is just as good,I nearly had a brain snap and was going to sell the Barlow but common sense prevailed,Nikon Nav HW 17 with the 14 eic corrector 102 deg absolutely stunning again with slightly better er than the ethos only problem is cost of course but IMO worth every penny

[MattT]

The ES 100's might have similiar ER stats but ES recess the lens so much as to make it an uncomfortable view. Too little ER and too much AFOV, not the greatest combo for me. Having had the 5.5 9 14 and 20mm 100's I grew to dislike them. Better are the 82's and better again are the 68's, though the 16mm isn't so flash on the ER front. The 16 68 is a little jewel of an eyepiece...except for people who need glasses...:question:

[Mokusatsu]

I found a post discussing dioptrx used with non-TV eyepieces. It lists some of the ES100 eyepieces, but notably does not list the 20mm one.

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/103972-tv-dioptrx-good-and-bad-eps/

Has anyone ever used a dioptrx with ES100 20mm eyepiece, and other ES eyepieces? What's the deal?

[MattT]

There is this thread from CN. Mentions ES 100's.

http://www.cloudynights.com/topic/519387-dioptrix/#entry6929552

[Camelopardalis]

To complement any nice Dob and eyepieces, you might want to get a decent coma corrector...especially if you're going to be pushing the FOV with the 100 degree EPs.

[Don Pensack]

I have a set of all the Ethos, but I find they get used a little differently.
Some nights, the 21mm--13mm--8mm get a lot of use.
Other nights, with a little better seeing, the 17mm--10mm--6mm set gets used.
Usually, among those 6, they get used in sets of 3.
The 4.7mm and 3.7mm (both 110°) are typically used when seeing is excellent, either as an additional set on top of the 21-13-8 or the 17-10-6 trios.
The point, I guess, is that a set of 3 with your scopes would be a decent set if you love the hyper wide fields. And that, conceivably, adding the other 2 could be a complete set for a lifetime. Unlike me, you don't need all 8 focal lengths.

In the 12" f/5, a coma corrector would be useful to correct the outer 25% of the field in 100° or 82° eyepieces.

If you aren't tied to the 100° eyepieces, TeleVue Naglers (82°) are a lot less expensive and come in a wide variety of focal lengths:
31-26-22-20-17-16-13-12-11-9-7-5-3.5-2.5mm

If you are primarily using these for planets, Moon, small planetary nebulae and globulars, with a mix of small galaxies, the 62° TeleVue Delites behave a lot like "widefield orthos", with a long eye relief (you can wear your glasses), light weight, and much lower cost. Currently these only come in 18.2, 11, and 7mm, though 3 shorter focal lengths are on the way to arrive in January.

For general use on all sorts of objects, though, I recommend something wider, like the Panoptics (68°) and Delos (72°) eyepieces, and the aforementioned ones.

[perrin6]

As I only have portable Newtonians the design of which requires light secondary cages, my dream eyepiece set is any good set of orthoscopics as orthos are the best low-weight eyepieces available, also v. good value for money too.

[PeterHA]

I need spectacles and that is fine but having to take them on and off at night is not working well.
With my astigmatism and the fact that I can see very well with glasses but have a distance gap of 20 cm to 40 cm where I cannot see with or without I get observing pleasure from using Delos EP which I can use with my glasses and from a scope computer, the Nexus DSC wich I can also completely read with my glasses.
This combination provides observing pleasure with galsses, fantastic these new gadgets.
Works with all my telescopes 12"Dob and 4" Refractors on all my mounts.

[N1]

Whatever's in the bloody focuser once this stupid cloud lifts and I get to do some observing :mad2: