31mm Axiom or Luminos in a fast Newt anyone?

[mental4astro]

Hi all,

Anyone have experience with either 31mm of the Celestron Axiom or Luminos?

If you have one, but not used it in a fast Newt, would you be willing to let me have a go with it? I know these are heavy suckers...

Cheers,

Mental.

[brian nordstrom]

:) Alex , if the weather is fine tonight for our dark sky night and the owner of a 16inch f4.5? GSO collapsible shows up we will have a go with my 31mm Axiom , if all goes well I will give a report tomorrow afternoon .
I have used mine in a 22inch f4.5 newt and it was fine , very nice field of view but we will do s better study tonight all going well .
Brian.

[mental4astro]

Thanks for that, Brian. I value your opinion, & look forward to your results, :)

Alex.

[brian nordstrom]

:) Thanks mate , it all depends on those 2 things , the weather aint to flash at the moment , but its been like this all week , cloudy days and clear nights , here's hoping .
Brian.

[brian nordstrom]

:) Well Alex , we had our dark sky night last night and the weather was so-so , the 16inch GSO owner didn't show , but another member arrived with his 8 inch f6 Bintel dob , and guess what he has just gone and got himself an Axiom 23mm ..:thumbsup: , the one from here , cool .
So we spent a long time testing my 31mm and his 23mm in his scope ,
long story short , both were excellent in the f6 , sharp to the edge and man , what a HUGE lovely field around M6, M7 , M22 etc. , awesome Alex , I was impressed that the 23mm performed as well as my 31mm , so mine does not look like a fluke , 2 outa 2 .

Then I took my 31mm over to the 22inch f4.5 dob and because the seeing was only about 5 out of 10 ( lots of high haze ) the owner was not hunting faint fuzzies , so we tried my 31mm in his f4.5 and again an excellent flat field , very good out to at least 95% out and even the last 5% was still showing round stars ( No Coma) only very slightly out of focus , if you looked hard ., and Woaw :eyepop: , so many stars around Sagittarius , it was great ! , but the clouds rolled in about 1.30 so we talked for an hour or so , did not clear so we packed up and went home .

All in all Alex I don't think you will be dissapionted , ( Mark , the 23mm owner is a member here and he might pipe in if he sees this ) with one of these in the f4.5-f6 range using a dob .
Just don't forget my 31mm is HEAVY ! and the 23mm was not far behind in size and weight . ;) .

Oh yea , in my Tak M210 both were perfect , as the seeing allowed .
Hope this helps .
Brian.

[casstony]

They can be made less heavy. The pic is a 23mm Axiom. The Axiom line generally gets good reviews, the Luminos line not so good. I really like my 23mm Axiom for it's sharp, contrasty views and long eye relief. I recently got a Paracorr for my f/4.5 Lightbridge and it improves the view through any eyepiece, even top of the line eyepieces like a Delos.

[dannat]

alex have you uthought about the uwan 28mm? can get them cheaply used - the luminos line doeesnt get great reviews on CN, th axioms are preferred

[brian nordstrom]

:) That sorta changes the whole look now does it not ? , I like the CF on the out side tho .
Yes they are a very sharp eyepiece , that was commented on by everyone that looked thru them last night as well .
Brian.

[mental4astro]

Thank you Brian for your review. Your misfortune of poor conditions made for my lucky break for the time you were able to dedicate to the review. A fast Newt will test any eyepiece, particularly the ultra wide angle types. For just the last 5% of the FOV to just start showing slight weakness, in my books that's marvellous. The very edge of the FOV is not an area where serious observing is done, more just to fill the peripheral vision, so some weakness is insignificant as our peripheral vision cannot see any better. If the target comes close to the edge, we move the scope rather than follow it to the edge.

The Axiom line does seem to be a bit of a lost and obscure gem. Celestron doesn't seem to have much of a reputation for eyepieces, but this under-the-radar line looks like one lot to keep an eye out for.

Daniel, my reading about the WO 28mm had it as a weak contender in fast Newts. But, mind you, I can't verify now the voracity of the reviews I had read. Might be worth revisiting.

But if I find a 31mm Axiom, the price might be very attractive too today.