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Old 08-01-2021, 01:04 PM
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gregbradley
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A brief first impression of various eyepieces AP130GT

I had some clear skies last night at my dark site. Yeah!
I decided to try out several eyepieces on my new to me
AP130GT scope:
Dual ED 15 and 25mm I think these are 72degrees
Nagler 16mm T6. 84 degree
Baader Morpheus 17.5mm 76 degree
Nagler 9mm Type 1
Nagler 3.5mm Type 6
SvBony 8-24mm zoom
University Optics 12mm
Edmunds RKE 15mm
Masuyama 10mm 85 degree
Televue 32mm plossl
Meade SWA 14mm 84 degree
Meade 40mm super plossl
Seeing was ok not great as lits of bad weather recently it was
still a bit windy.
It became clear quickly which eyepieces are great for me and which were not.

The Morpheus was the best by a good margin over most.
Its very clear, sharp, good detail and colour and great eye relief
giving a very immersive experience. You could happily view through it for a long time.
Next best was the 16mm Nagler. Almost as good but not quite as clear and
slightly less comfort but overall a beautiful sharp and detailed view and the
differences were slight. A wonderful eyepiece.

The Nagler 9mm T1 gave the most detail on M42 and showed great
transparency.

The Masuyama 10mm also gives very pleasing views and is small.
Less sharp to the edges than the Nagler 9.

The University Optics 12mm gave a very sharp and detailed view but of course
a narrower view.

The TV 32 plossl is quite good but again narrower view and a bit boring.

The SvBony 8-24 zoom I only looked through briefly and it seemed quite
sharp but again the narrower view compared to these other wide FOV eyepieces
wasn’t appealling.

The Meade 14mm SWA large eyepiece is still very compelling
not Nagler or Morpheus good.

So my conclusions were:
16-18mm is a good focal length for the AP130GT with 819mm focal length
unless you are doing planetary.

Morpheus 17.5mm eyepiece is the best view I have ever had.
Its good to know advancements have occurred in eyepieces.

The Naglers are still wow eyepieces.

The dual EDs are very good especially for the price but not great.

The 10mm Masuyama is a gorgeous eyepiece.

The University Optice ortho type eyepiece is still a very good view despite the smaller FOV.
The zoom probably had its place but did not impress.

So wider view eyepieces wow me the most and Baader Morpheus and
Televue Nagler are my first choice out of this set.
I can see a TV 18.2mm Delite being a future purchase and the
Morpheus 9 and 12mm I had bought but nit received yet
will be good purchases.

Greg
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  #2  
Old 08-01-2021, 02:29 PM
AnakChan (Sean)
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Congrats on the AP130GT again. I looked at the classified post for a long time . The report on the Morpheus is surprising. Didn't think it would outperform the Nagler nor Masuyama (but I had both at the 31/32mm end).

Pity you don't have the Nikons and that would be an interesting comparison. Would love to see how the Morpheus compares against the Nikons.
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Old 08-01-2021, 02:52 PM
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wavelandscott (Scott)
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Well done and glad you like the Morpheus, they are quite nice.

Now get your hands on a 10 mm or less Pentax XW and between the Pentax, Baader and TeleVue you will have a pretty fine set of oculars to go with that grand scope.
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Old 08-01-2021, 05:41 PM
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Never seen through a Nikon.
I suppose they are like a Docter?
APM has the 12.5 Hi Fi. Not sure how it would compare.
Its hard to see any room for improvement over the Morpheus
but I have only recently got back into visual.

Greg



Quote:
Originally Posted by AnakChan View Post
Congrats on the AP130GT again. I looked at the classified post for a long time . The report on the Morpheus is surprising. Didn't think it would outperform the Nagler nor Masuyama (but I had both at the 31/32mm end).

Pity you don't have the Nikons and that would be an interesting comparison. Would love to see how the Morpheus compares against the Nikons.
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Old 09-01-2021, 03:47 PM
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mura_gadi (Steve)
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thanks for your 1st impressions

Hello,

I would love to see a few of these eyepieces rolled out at the Spring Star party in Sydney.

With a little planning and support from our forum users I'm sure a very nice selection of Ep's and scopes of varying F ratios and design, could gather in a corner for a very nice review.

Ideally I would like to see a joint review from some of our better word smiths targeting various solar and stellar objects. It would be nice to get an up-to-date review from Australian amateur astronomers, based on our skies and from what people can purchase here in Oz.

Maybe even bracketed by low end to high end priced scopes of the same designs depending on any momentum this idea may gather. Possibly to limit the number of tests needed, simple rule of thumb of 1mm+, 3mm and 5mm exit pupil as a general rule for testing and reporting.


Steve
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Old 09-01-2021, 05:36 PM
Wilso
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Nice Greg, great first impressions of your eyepieces.
I enjoy trying / comparing different eyepieces in my scopes as well!
I found my 22 Nagler my goto eyepiece in the 2” format, pretty hard to beat for me, my eyes and my scopes.
Another in a small form factor is a Nikon microscope eyepiece which I stumbled upon. Sharp stars too the edge and an inky black background to boot!
My favourite cause it punches above its weight and works in all my scopes.
NIKON CFIUW 10x25 [infinity focus ultra wide] 20mm eye relief, only has a 30mm barrel though.

Good luck with your future purchases
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  #7  
Old 10-01-2021, 08:46 AM
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gregbradley
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22mm nagler type 4 is an awesome eyepiece.
It gave me the best views on a Tak FS152 at a dark site many years ago.
But that was 1200mm focal length and the AP is 819mm.
Still I think it would be marcellous and an eyepiece I keep my eye out for.

I’ll look into the Nikons.
Smallish FOV are they.

Funny thing I found a University Optics 4mm ortho I’d forgotten I had this morning! I think I had used it for collimating scopes. I’ll have to try that out in a planet.

Greg

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wilso View Post
Nice Greg, great first impressions of your eyepieces.
I enjoy trying / comparing different eyepieces in my scopes as well!
I found my 22 Nagler my goto eyepiece in the 2” format, pretty hard to beat for me, my eyes and my scopes.
Another in a small form factor is a Nikon microscope eyepiece which I stumbled upon. Sharp stars too the edge and an inky black background to boot!
My favourite cause it punches above its weight and works in all my scopes.
NIKON CFIUW 10x25 [infinity focus ultra wide] 20mm eye relief, only has a 30mm barrel though.

Good luck with your future purchases
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  #8  
Old 10-01-2021, 09:35 AM
Startrek (Martin)
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Greg,
Glad you had some clear skies to do some observing, most of us including me have dust settling on our gear

By the way can you advise what objects you were observing with your swag of eye pieces as it would be very useful information

Thanks

Cheers
Martin
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  #9  
Old 10-01-2021, 06:41 PM
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gregbradley
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Jewel box, m93, eta carina and an area of dark dust,
M42.
Greg


Quote:
Originally Posted by Startrek View Post
Greg,
Glad you had some clear skies to do some observing, most of us including me have dust settling on our gear

By the way can you advise what objects you were observing with your swag of eye pieces as it would be very useful information

Thanks

Cheers
Martin
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  #10  
Old 21-01-2021, 12:48 PM
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gregbradley
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I've added a few eyepieces yet again.

APM 30mm UFF
TMB Planetary 11.
Edmunds Optics RKE 6.5 and 28mm

The APM is a well built 2 inch eyepiece. I did not do an extensive viewing with it but enough to get a feel for it. Very flat field. Nice and wide and seems to be free of noticeable distortions or chromatic aberration. It would be great for cruising around type viewing.

The RKE's. I have the 6.5, 15 and 28. The 28 came with a rubber eyecup that so far has defeated me in fitting it! The 28mm was very clear and bright/sharp in the centre but poor offaxis. It seemed sensitive to eye placement but overall for the price it would have its moments.
The 6.5 is very high mag and would be best viewing the moon or planets. The 15mm is quite a clear and detailed image with good transparency. Narrowish FOV though.

The TMB has a 58 degree FOV and I'll be checking it out perhaps tonight.
Its not an expensive lens and I got it off AliExpress but they are also sold on Ebay. About $56

Greg.

Last edited by gregbradley; 21-01-2021 at 01:08 PM.
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