Using microscope eyepieces

[Wilso]

Hi all,

Just seeing if anyone else is using microscope eyepieces for astronomy?
I know not many are suitable for this use.
I took a punt on a small nikon eyepiece advertised on the APM website and wow :eyepop: did this eyepiece surprise me.
12.5mm, 55deg afov 1.25” barrel and 20mm of eye relief ticked all the boxes. Matched my 9mm Tak abbe ortho for sharpness , colour correction and faint stars.
Has the sharpest field stop of all my eyepieces with good contrast. On axis very sharp. Off axis’s good out to about the last 10% which shows a bit of astigmatism.
This was used on my fsq85edx f5.3 so I’m not sure whether it would improve in my slower f8 scope or using the extender or Barlow. Still need to test it on the moon also.
Overall very impressed with its ortho type qualities , I’ve ordered the 25mm off eBay but this one comes with the 30mm barrel.
Size comparison.

[Ukastronomer]

Actually I have been very tempted by what some list AS microscope eyepieces on ebay and I believe to be scopes eyepieces but they rarely know the actual size

[ab1963]

I have owned a Zeiss 23mm that has awesome contrast but the ER was far too long for me

[Wilso]

Yes the eyepiece without a rubber eyecup probably isn’t for everyone but I quite enjoyed using it without one, as long as you don’t have any stray light.
There are rubber eye cups available in various sizes to suit if this is a problem.
Also nikon have a website (nikon microscopy) explaining the different abbreviations and uses on objectives and eyepieces if your interested. A nice read.

Cheers

[Wilso]

Received recently the Nikon CFIUW 10x/25mm eyepiece off eBay.
(Corrected Focused Infinity Ultra Wide)
The performance of this eyepiece excellent with about 20mm of eye relief. It is pretty much the same as the 12.5mm I bought earlier except off axis the pin point stars are very good out to the last 5%+or-.
This one came with the 30mm barrel so I had to trim a couple of mm off my Tak diagonal compression ring to allow it to tighten enough to grip the barrel.
Did a quick flashlight test and looks to be about 55deg afov also. (Ultra wide for a microscope eyepiece) :lol:
Size comparison against some others- it’s tiny!

[Renato1]

I've used microsope eyepieces in the past. Just put tape around the barrel to build it up to 1.25", then they work fine in a telescope.
Regards,
Renato