Advice on a low power,widefield eyepiece?

[ab1963]

i am looking for advice on a low power,widefield eyepiece,i only want to buy one so it's critical i buy right first time,my scopes are WO66SD,SV80HD and a SW100HD if i could get some clarity on the eyepiece to suit the scopes i have it would be most appreciated.

[janoskiss]

I gather these are f/6 scopes and slower. Too hard to answer without more constraints: #1 being budget but also weight & size (incl. 1.25" or 2"), what you mean by wide field: wide AFOV (how wide? 60deg, 80deg, 100deg?) or just TFOV?

There are lots of good options from 30mm Superview through 35mm 1.25" Ultrascopic, 35mm 2" Panoptic to 31mm Nagler and many more but it comes down to budget and personal preferences.

[ab1963]

budget not important as it will be a once buy and keep,will be as good at f5.9 as f9 pinpoint stars across the fov good contrast and 70 to 80 degree fov and i will be happy

[sopticals]

ES30 82 or Nagler 31 T5 82. About as good as it gets. Nagler costs more, but if cost not a consideration that would be my recommendation as an "all time" keeper. I have both. The edge definitely goes to the 31T5.

Stephen

[janoskiss]

Yeah, it's tough to beat the Holy Hand Grenade T5 31mm.

[ab1963]

thanks gentlemen i have placed a wanted add for the nagler and see how we go

[janoskiss]

Be patient because they do come up but not very often. Buying a well-looked-after second hand one makes good sense because then you lose practically no money. These EPs hold their resale value.

[ab1963]

yes it's definitely what I'm going to get,was thinking in that direction and the input received in this post has settled it,thanks

[MortonH]

The 31mm Nagler is heavy and 2" fitting so not ideally suited to the ZS66SD. Will work well in the other two as long as you can balance it.

[brian nordstrom]

:D Mine , 31mm Axiom LX ( 1kg ) and 60mm LP triplet .
Awsome views but the eyepiece weighs as much as the telescope :shrug:.

The views are awsome as well .

But to be fair as already said here the TV Panoptics are hard to beat , the 2nd photo shows my lovely 27mm Panoptic ( this is the way to go ) in the 2 inch diagonal on the 60m triplet and as Morton said these scopes have trouble with 1kg monsters ... :help: they will get away on you .

Brian.

[MattT]

ES 34 68º is excellent in my f6.5 80mm Achro, pinpoint to the edge.
At f9 ES 40 68º is also pinpoint as is the ES 30 82º.
It all starts to fall apart a bit in my f5 4" Achro with ES lot though.

I have never really seen the point in spending big apart from the Nag 31 at the long FL end....more important at the short end. I have the ES 30 82 instead, I'm not that fussy.

Brian how is the Pan 27 in your scope? I have the Pan 27 in a Sharpstar 60mm ED f5.5....OK for 70%of the field then FC rears its little head. Great colour and snap to focus though, miles ahead of the ES 28 68 in that area.

[ab1963]

I have the 2inch Williams diagonal on the zs66 Morton so should be ok in the porta mount,I have noticed a lot of raps for the Es eyepieces but I have one concern,I had the 11mm 82 degrees but found it to suffer from a little false colour that put me off as it is probably my biggest pet hate ,is that corrected in the longer fl's ? I suppose the big question to work out is the 31 type 5 really the holy grail in widefield oculars,would the 27 pan be an option or would one of the Es line be suitable, I appreciate any advice

[MortonH]

The ZS66 will have more field curvature than the other scopes. Not sure how visible it would be in the 31 Nag. I only use my SV66 in 1.25" mode and was pretty happy with the performance of a 24mm Panoptic but I wasn't looking at the edges critically.

I certainly think a 27mm or 35mm Panoptic is worthy of consideration. I haven't used the longer ES eyepieces so can't comment n them.

[AstralTraveller]

I'm quite happy with my WO UWAN 28mm. You can't get them new any more but they come up second hand at times. All the reviews compare them very favourably to the Nagler. I've had only the briefest chance to compare mine to a 31mm Nagler but I thought the WO had less field curvature - then the clouds rolled in and the opportunity was lost.

BTW bought mine 2nd hand here. I was waiting for a 31mm to come up but none had appeared in >6 months when the WO was advertised. Considering how much I saved I reckon I did well.

[ab1963]

I have put 2 ads in the wanted section for the 31 nagler and the 27 panoptic,if I don't get any offers in a week or so I will buy the panoptic new for the weight side of things and how highly they are rated for small refractors,so I would like to thank everyone who has contributed on this post and giving me the clarity I really needed,as this will be my last serious purchase I just had to get it right

[FlashDrive]

Vixen LVW42mm @72* degree fov is a winner for me....although a 31mm Nag' I would definitely like to try.

A TMB Paragon Series Orthoscopic 40mm is rated just as good if not better than 41Pan ..... but these are hard to come by.

A 31mm Nag is still a good choice....

Flash.......

[Kunama]

I went with the N31T5, though I have no idea of how it would perform in your scopes. It does really well in my 18" and TOA.

[MattT]

I don't remember seeing false colour at the edge of the 30 and 18mm ES 82's. The 34 and 40mm 68's don't have this problem...actually none of the 68's do. The 1.25" ES 82's do but it is at the extreme edge.

[casstony]

ES has a sale going on in the US. The 30mm and 24mm (82 degree) and the 28, 34,40mm 68 degree eyepieces are all very good. Of those the 30mm and 40mm are heavy, over 1kg from memory.
If you have any astigmatism at all and want to use spectacles the 68 degree eyepieces have more useable eye relief and I prefer them for this reason.
I find stars are little crosses at low power even with only 0.25 astigmatism.

[ab1963]

I have made my choice and bought the ep this evening,i have gone for the ES 30mm 82 deg,can't see a used 31 nagler coming on sale and at a little over 400 aud posted in the sale think it was the right way to go , there has been too many people recommending these ep's not to take notice,bought it from agena as Explore Scientific has sold out

thanks everyone

[casstony]

It's an excellent eyepiece Andrew, you'd have difficulty seeing differences between it and the Nagler 31 in your scopes.

[ab1963]

Yes Tony it's a lot of money for a little extra performance in the nagler 31 and the ES 30 at the current price is a winner but I was surprised to see as I went through archived posts that the ES 30 has never come up for sale ever on iis,it has been in the wanted list but not for sale,someone might prove me wrong but when I went through the archives last night didn't see one ,to me that speaks volumes

[janoskiss]

There are a lot fewer ES 30mm out there than T5 31mm, that's all. Considering how many T5 31mm are out there (rare to go to a star party and not see one) there aren't many of those sold second hand either.

[MattT]

I like my ES 30 82 a lot. Pinpoint stars to the edge in my 6"f12 frac and 10" f4.8 Newt with coma corrector. Mostly I use it in my 4" f5 Achro where a small bit of FC (from the objective) shows in the outer 20%...a tiny turn of the focuser fixes that...very happy.

I bought 30 82 used on IIS about two years ago. There was one for sale last year, but the ES sale price is good. I'll be buying the ES 24 82 soon.

[ab1963]

I think that there must be a few 30's out there as explore scientific has completely sold out but they can be back ordered,my eyes must be failing me I didn't see those 2 ,it's seems like it is a rare type on the used market

[Camelopardalis]

Folk tend to hold on to good glass ;)

Love my 82-30. I've got a couple of other eyepieces that almost overlap, but it gives such a great visual experience...

[MortonH]

I've looked through the ES82 30mm a couple of times in other people's scopes. I wasn't doing any kind of critical evaluation but it is certainly a stunning eyepiece.

[AG Hybrid]

The serial number of my ES 30mm 82 is No.99. Could be considered an early adopter of that eyepiece that I have enjoyed for a long time.

[ab1963]

My ES 30 82 landed today and in not perfect conditions gave it first light ,scope used SV80ED on a Vixen porta ii mount,no weight issues thank goodness ,the views were nothing short of awesome,pinpoint stars across the FOV and did what i really wanted to be able to do view huge sections of the night sky but the biggest surprise for me was the contrast ,very similar to my XW's and is a definite keeper .would like to thank those that suggested this eyepiece to me as it is TBH more than i expected and can't wait to get out and view through it again

[bytor666]

I've owned both the 30mm ES 82 and I now own my second 34mm ES 68. Sold my first 34mm ES 68 to get the 30mm ES 82....I like the 34mm ES 68 more because of:

1. Longer eye relief
2. Sharper stars with less flaring on axis
3. Less weight

[ab1963]

The scope I tried my 30 82 in is f7 and had none of those problems the stars were very sharp across the whole fov,I noticed your scope is f4.7 which would test most eyepieces,have a wo zs66sd f5.9 ,will try it in that scope to see if it performs the same
It is a big eyepiece but the 24mm er is plenty for me

[AG Hybrid]

Hmm I would like to try an ES 34mm. It does look like a nice piece of glass.

[bytor666]

Oh for sure.

At F/7, stars would indeed be better, no doubt.

My scope chews eyepieces up for breakfast. :lol::eyepop:

I am in dire need of a coma corrector !!!!

[OzEclipse]

The points made about apparent fields of view and astigmatism are relevant.

When selecting eyepieces, exit pupil is another consideration. While a healthy young persons eyes may dilate to 7mm, older observers may be limited to 5-6mm. If the scope exit pupil exceeds your pupil dilation you are not utilizing the full aperture, light from the outer part does not enter your pupil reducing the effective diameter of the scope.

EXIT PUPIL(mm) = EYEPIECE FL(mm) ÷ telescope ƒ ratio

another way to look at it is for a 7mm exit pupil :
Longest useable eyepiece focal length = ƒ ratio x 7

So for a 7mm exit pupil : -

f ratio ……….. Longest
eyepiece
(mm) 3 ……….. 21 3.3 ……….. 23 3.6 ……….. 25 4 ……….. 28 4.3 ……….. 30 4.7 ……….. 33 5 ……….. 35 5.3 ……….. 37 5.6 ……….. 39 6 ……….. 42 6.5 ……….. 46 7 ……….. 49 7.5 ……….. 53 8 ……….. 56 8.5 ……….. 60 9 ……….. 63 9.5 ……….. 67 10 ……….. 70 10.5 ……….. 74 11 ……….. 77

So for an f4.7 scope, 33-34mm is the about the longest eyepiece you should purchase. If you want wider fields, the 30mm or 31mm x 82 deg eyepieces are a better way than going to longer focal lengths.

Some people go longer just because they want the low power and accept the loss of light. Just also be aware that the central obstruction from the secondary starts to become visible as a dark central patch at large exit pupils. This can be quite annoying.

Joe

[OzEclipse]

Sorry, that table looked quite different in the message edit window. See image below.

[Don Pensack]

I hear this all the time from people: "I only want to buy one, forever, so tell me what I should buy."
The truth is, until you have a lot of experience with eyepieces and observing, you simply won't know what will work perfectly for you.
It's unrealistic to expect to buy an eyepiece, any eyepiece, that will suit you forever as your tastes and needs change.
There are a lot of good eyepieces, and it might be better to ask about specific ones.
You can download my 2016 Buyer's Guide to Eyepieces to get an idea of what is available and then go from there:
http://www.cloudynights.com/topic/532891-2016-eyepiece-buyers-guide/
If you are under 40, look for an eyepiece that yields a 6-7mm exit pupil (Eyepiece Focal length / Telescope f/ratio). If you're 40-60, try a maximum of 5-6mm, and if 60+, try for a maximum exit pupil of 5mm.

[ab1963]

I ended up buying a ES 30 82 after advice given on this post and can honestly say it has lived up to more than my expectations and couldn't ever see me selling it,i have bought an sold many eyepieces but have found that this eyepiece along with a pentax xf and xw's i have do the job for me but do take on board your advice through the experience you have