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Old 07-09-2014, 06:46 PM
209herschel (Herschel)
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Is Wide FOV worth the money?

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to pick up 3 eps before Christmas: Lunar/Planetary, Middle magnification (12-18mm) and something around 25mm.

My question is about the value of paying for the wide FOV. Would an 8mm TV plossl have as good an image as something like an 82 degree Explore Scientific 8.8mm? Equally, would the 11mm TV plossl have as good an image as the 11mm ES 82? And staying with TV, would the 8mm Delos have a better image than the 8mm TV plossl? If I don't mind the 50 degree field and a bit tighter eye relief, would the plossl perform as well as some of the really expensive eye pieces?

Of the 3 eps I want to get, I think I can only afford one with the wide FOV so I assumed the 25mm would be a panoptic or something like that. So I'm aiming to keep costs down with the other 2.

I've seen a second hand Takahashi LE 7.5 for $200 posted. Has anyone used this eyepiece?

I appreciate any advice.

Herschel.
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Old 07-09-2014, 07:08 PM
casstony
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Buy one ES 82 degree eyepiece so you can judge for yourself which eyepiece qualities you prefer.
70 or 80 degrees is highly desirable for deep sky observing or for planetary with an undriven scope.
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Old 07-09-2014, 08:34 PM
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dannat (Daniel)
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imo the TV plossl will prob beat the ES line [or at least be comparable], but at present their is little better than a Delos-i have a lot of 50-60deg fov ep's & i don't mind the smaller fov, often the 80 deg I've had i can't take in the whole fov
the celestron ultimas/anatares elite/parks gold are very good 50 deg ep's -now out of stock but put up very good views

the widest fov ep i have is the nagler but at my shortest focal length 5mm, when looking at planets i then have to move the scope less & it stays in fov longer
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Old 07-09-2014, 09:25 PM
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Amaranthus (Barry)
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I think the 1.25" 82 degree Naglers are fantastic - wide FOV but not impossibly heavy like the Ethos 100s (which are visually awesome)
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Old 08-09-2014, 07:31 AM
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GrahamL
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I found over time around 110x was my most used in both a 10" and 12" dob and as such leant towards spending the most there.

Nothing wrong with TV plossls ,they do have a narrow fov and tight eye relief in the shorter f/ls

I have an es 8.8 and really think its a decent eyepiece , not quite as nice optically as the pentax 8.5 I replaced, but the wide field sort of trumps that for me ,so no regrets.

Its all about what matters to each of us I like the ultra wide fields and bought one in my favourite focal length but couldn't buy another in that price bracket.
Low power I find 68* is enough for a finder type eyepiece and am happy enough to keep it that way,theres lots of not to costly options in whatever you decide

so best of luck

Last edited by GrahamL; 08-09-2014 at 08:14 AM.
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Old 08-09-2014, 07:04 PM
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I reckon the best thing you could buy is a coma corrector...unless you have one already. As a Refractor user I like stars to bre pinpoint allthe way to the edge and found in my 10" f4.8 anything over 50º AFOV was really disapointing..eg 100º ES 20 half the field was a mash of coma. Are the Ethos any different??? I doubt it.
After I bought and learnt how to use the ESHR coma corrector it was wow... I never knew Newt's could be so good! I still love my Refractor thgough .
What I use...wide views ES 34 68º flat field no abberations I can see, no secondary shadow. The 28mm 68º is the same.
ES 18 82º...wow what an eyepiece Below that for the best I have had... Pentax XW 10mm 7 and 5mm....fantastic, only beaten by binoviewers, for me, which is an other experience.
So buy a coma corrector spend big on short FL eyepieces and less on longer FL ones.
As Tony said, you have to try some of these things...the difference between ES 11mm 82º and Pentax XW 10mm is a few more stars and better Planet views in the XW...is it worth it?????You need to decide. FWIW I found it took me 6 months with an eyepiece before it was keep or sell.

Matt
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Old 08-09-2014, 08:27 PM
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Herschel, to put us in the picture, may I ask what equipment you have i.e., scope and focal length, and what EPs you might already own?
Broadly speaking, I think leaning towards making your lowest power eyepiece a wide angle one is not a bad idea for starters. And it's just my opinion here, but I it might be worthwhile to acquire each eyepiece just one at a time. Gaining experience with each successive eyepiece might help guide you which EP to get next, if that makes sense... Cheers, Fox

Last edited by Fox; 08-09-2014 at 08:47 PM.
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Old 09-09-2014, 06:50 AM
209herschel (Herschel)
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Hi Fox,

I've got a GSO undriven Dob 10", focal length 1254, F5. I'm currently using the 30mm superview (which I really enjoy), the 25mm, 15mm and 9mm plossl. These all came with the scope when I bought it from Andrews.

I was thinking of getting the one piece now and then perhaps add to it at the end of the year. I'm leaning toward the 11mm Explore Scientific 82 degrees. I'd love to get the Pentax XW 10mm but I can't afford it.

As a quick aside, I was out last night and found M2 but I couldn't resolve the stars. I just saw a hazy grey circle/slightly elliptical shape. I thought I should be able to see some starts but couldn't, starting with the 30mm and moving to the 9mm. I haven't had much experience with DSOs but at about 1130 last night, M2 was pretty close to the very bright moon. My yard is also pretty light polluted. Are these the kinds of factors that could account for the M2 cluster not showing clear stars?

Thanks very much.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fox View Post
Herschel, to put us in the picture, may I ask what equipment you have i.e., scope and focal length, and what EPs you might already own?
Broadly speaking, I think leaning towards making your lowest power eyepiece a wide angle one is not a bad idea for starters. And it's just my opinion here, but I it might be worthwhile to acquire each eyepiece just one at a time. Gaining experience with each successive eyepiece might help guide you which EP to get next, if that makes sense... Cheers, Fox
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Old 09-09-2014, 10:22 AM
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Camelopardalis (Dunk)
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Yeah that'll be the Moon washing it out. For the faint fuzzies, we wait until the Moon is out of the way
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Old 09-09-2014, 10:24 AM
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Camelopardalis (Dunk)
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Btw, given your scope, you probably wouldn't be using a 10mm XW for planetary anyhow as the magnification isn't high enough. You'd be looking for more in the 5-7 range, depending on conditions.

I have and enjoy a couple of the Naglers but I also have a couple of the ES82s. There's little to separate them in my SCTs, but they're f/10 or f/7 (with reducer), so you might see more of a difference at f/5...that may or may not justify the price difference.
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Old 09-09-2014, 09:30 PM
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That's one nice scope you have! Being a pretty fast Newt, I think any wide field EP you may consider will need to be quite high quality to get good performance. If you like the 30mm Superview that much, perhaps this one should stay put for the meantime, and look at a high quality 70 deg or 80 deg medium power (12 -18mm) or high power (5 to 7mm) eyepiece as the starting point. I'd avoid Stratus/Hyperions, and go for the Explore Scientific, or say Vixen LVWs, as a ballpark minimum.

Purely just my opinion here; the Tak LE 7.5mm I am sure is a great eyepiece. But it is still 52 deg FOV, so perhaps say a high quality ~70 or ~80 deg FOV eyepiece will lend a more dramatic difference from what you have now...? As you ask - is wide FOV worth the money... I think so - maybe you can borrow a good wide field for a while, then decide...?

Cheers, Fox

Last edited by Fox; 09-09-2014 at 09:48 PM.
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Old 09-09-2014, 11:07 PM
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barx1963 (Malcolm)
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Herschel
M2 should be easily resolved, try again on a dark night, from memory it handles power reasonably well.
With eyepieces, my experience with my old 12" dob was that the best eyepiece combo was a 24mm Panoptic and a 13mm T6 Nagler. The 24Pan is the queen of eyepieces for medium sized scopes in my opinion. F5 will still give tack sharp stars to the edge, the field is wide but still easy to see it all, nice eye relief and not too heavy. Just a cracker of an EP. Having said that I have a 30mm GSO superview also and as far as value goes it is a keeper.
The 13mm nag may be out of your price range, but if keen on a good medium power EP, it would be right u there as a savings goal IMHO.

Malcolm
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Old 10-09-2014, 06:56 PM
Baza (Barry)
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I have a 12" newt & use ES eyepieces (6). At 82 degrees they are really good for my eyes. A 9mm 100 degree is good too. My most used are 18mm 2" & 11mm 1.5". See if you can look through some before you buy.

Having left my lens case at home, I was generously lent a 13mm ethos which I used for an entire star party week, fabulous views. From that experience I found I don't need to buy Ethos to be happy with my viewing. I could halve my eyepiece collection & have all tv but for now I'm happy. Hope you get to the same place with your decision.

Barry
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Old 11-09-2014, 01:35 PM
Renato1 (Renato)
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Beats me how you'd know which eyepieces to pick - as you don't really know what exit pupils you like.

I was into galaxies and other faint stuff, so 2mm exit pupil wideangle and ultra wideangle eyepieces were what I mainly used.

But from other discussions, plenty here prefer using 3mm exit pupil eyepieces best, which I don't mind for less faint stuff.

And everyone likes a 4 or 5mm or 6mm exit pupil eyepiece for the occasional zoom around the bigger objects.

I'm pretty sure that you'll be happy with whatever you do choose, but don't expect that to be the end of the matter, as your observing preferences may change.
Regards,
Renato

Last edited by Renato1; 11-09-2014 at 02:24 PM.
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Old 11-09-2014, 05:47 PM
Tropo-Bob (Bob)
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I had a 7.5 Tak EP. Always thought it was nice but expensive, so traded it off. However, I now prefer high quality refractors and felt the need to have EPs of similiar quality; so I have very recently purchased another one and appreciate the EP more, especially on a motor driven mount.

However, when I was more into un-motorised Dobs, I always found wide field EPs more appealing. I would have thought that 11mm was the right choice (or anything in the 10-12 range) for DSOs, but never having a F4.7 scope, I am uncertain which brands works best. A coma corrector would make an excellent accessary.
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Old 11-09-2014, 10:24 PM
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There was a thread on how to set up a GSO CC on CN a while ago. A cheap and excellent solution to the coma problem.
The solution was a 19mm spacer between the lens and the body of the CC and a 10mm 1.25" adaptor on top which added the required 30ishmm to the CC. 2" eyepieces need a parfocal ring on the eyepiece.
My ESHR coma corrector stays in the same place 19mm screwed out for all my 1.25" and 2" ES 68º eyepieces.
I can't cut and paste the thread but it is at the moment on page 8 of the reflector section on CN titled 'Setting up the GSO coma corrector'
Matt
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Old 12-09-2014, 07:49 AM
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Here is the discussion on CN re the GSO coma corrector.
http://www.cloudynights.com/topic/46...oma-corrector/

Last edited by MattT; 12-09-2014 at 10:59 AM.
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