35mm 1.25" Celestron Ultima

[asimov]

G'day all.

I ended up buying Stephans 35mm ultima & it turned up today. I'm out there testing it now in the refractor.

One of the best purchases I've done all year I think. The EP is in great condition! (thanks Stephan)

After reading several reviews on this EP prior to purchase, I was very worried about the 'black-outs' that this EP apparently produces.

Well I can safely say I need worry no longer! Yes, it does black-out if your holding your eye too close.....It has long ER. So it's actually operator error that causes the black-outs.

In the refractor it gives me a mag of: 34X The newt: 45X ER: 25mm AFOV: 49 deg.

I also own the 24mm Ultima & to be honest, it's slightly worse in the black-out department over the 35mm, one needs to be more critical of eye placement....The written reviews out there will have you believe the opposite!! Simply not true.

This EP will be buried with me along with the 24mm! :love:

[asimov]

Oh woops! thanks for moving this Mike...Sorry about that.

[asimov]

This EP Dave..

[davidpretorius]

Thanks for the report asiultima!

would these rate in mid range eyepieces above the GS and series 500, but below pentax and televue?

[asimov]

Yes...Another way of looking at it a 'top-shelf' plossl. Although the ultima series comes under 'modified plossl' cat. A standard plossl has 4 elements, the ultima 5.

[ving]

sweet!
sounds like a er... sound EP :)

[square_peg114GT]

Not to knock your purchase of a very fine eyepiece, but I've heard that the 35mm Ultima vignettes slightly. Too wide of field for a 1-1/4" barrel. For that reason I bought the 30mm Ultima. Both very sharp EPs. The 30mm is also a little fussy about eye placement, but you get used to it.

[Starkler]

Yep a top of the range ep with plossl characteristics.
Whether they are better or worse than TV plossls depends who you ask.
In Australia , these Celestron ep's have a huge markup on them, so if buying new, televue plossls are far better value at about $100 less.

[asimov]

I tend to agree price wise Geoff, pity about that! I wouldn't hesitate to buy a lot more if they were a bit cheaper new. In the meantime one can only hope good second-handers continue to pop up on occasion.

Square_peg: Have'nt noticed any vignetting as yet. The 30mm is supposed to be the better of the 2 yes. The 35mm is regarded as the widest view EP out there out of all 1.25" EPs (or so I read) Some folk make their own eyeguards for the ultimas....at the optimum length of course to get the perfect ER/eye placement.

[square_peg114GT]

Lots has been written about this line of eyepieces and the various makes of this design. Originally built as Masuyamas in Japan, but no longer manufactured under that name. The old Masuyama line can still be found occasionally on Astromart, but are getting pretty rare.

The Masuyama clones come in many flavors. Celestron Ultimas, Orion Ultrascopics, Park's Gold Series and Antares Elites, to name a few. Stateside they're priced below the Televue plossls and considered nearly as good, but not quite. Prices vary widely, with the Antares label generally lowest, the Celestron & Orion lines similarly priced in the middle and the Park's Gold Series priced higher. They may be made by different manufacturers, but all seem to function the same. Seems like there was some different focal lengths available in different lines and I seem to recall that one of the lower focal lengths (5mm or 7.5mm?) of one brand had some problem. If anyone's really interested I can get some links to some very long discussions of these EPs.