Moonfish 30mm eyepiece

[apaulo]

Hello everyone

Has anyone come across the "Moonfish" 30mm 80 degree FOV eyepiece?

At present the Astro shop is selling them
http://www.myastroshop.com.au/products/details.asp?id=MAS-004H

and I was wondering what where people's thoughts or experiences concerning this eyepiece?.

Regards Paul.

[DavidU]

It looks like this one..
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/42-134-0-0-1-0.html

If it is, I have one and find it an absolute bargain. It is amazing in my 150mm f8 refractor.

[apaulo]

Hi David
Thanks for the quick reply, yes it looks like the same one, I take it your rather happy with the eyepiece? How do you find the optics?
Regards Paul.

[DavidU]

Paul, it is no Teleview however, it is a modern multi element design, very good anti reflection coatings, nice and solid. The refractor images are superb with almost no coma in the edge. In my 12" f5 dob it gets a little soft toward the 1/3 outer edge as to be expected, a coma corrector would do wonders with an f4-5 scope.
Over all it is one of my favorite eye pieces for large field DSO work. It is a large bit of gear. One of the best astro dollars spent by me.

[apaulo]

Thank you David

I will strongly consider the eye piece.
Paul.

[GrahamL]

I did ask a vendor a while back now on this one and was advised
against for use in a fast scope... which is pretty honest imo
he could of said nothing and got a sale .
He did mention they were a good buy on price and performance for longer focal lengths.

cheers graham

[casstony]

Decent performance in a slow scope, good finder eyepiece in a fast scope. You'll definitely get that 'going to warp' feeling in a fast scope :)

[apaulo]

Thanks for all the help everyone.
Yes I own a fast scope (F/4) and I reckon the eyepiece isn't suitable.

Best Regards Paul.

[Waxing_Gibbous]

Just to queer the pitch here. This is the EP that the BBC Sky at Night people use to evaluate test 'scopes.
They reckon its a bargain and whithin most budgets, so use it in both fast and slow 'scopes.
Horses mouth on this one as a friend of mine who has only a passing interest in Astronomy has just been made chief sub-editor as of last week: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrghhhh!!!!!

[Andy Walters]

I have one of these also, and love it. I even use it in my 10"f4.7 dob with a G.S.O. coma corrector.
Andy.:)

[mental4astro]

This is the same 80deg Andrews sells under its badging, and the myastroshop price is cheaper too! I believe it is a GSO EP.

I've tried one of these in my 17.5" f/4.5 scope. It does perform better than the 68deg GSO Superview 30mm, but it still does show astigmatism around the outer third of the FOV, which is something a coma corrector won't heal. It is better for slower scopes.

Just my hobby horse, but for me, 80deg is too wide. You need to move your head to be able to see the entire FOV. Our eyes have a range of 68degrees- no coincidence. It is like too big an exit pupil- your eye just can't take it all in. It does make for an interesting experience, but for me, not an everyday practical one if you are having to push-pull your scope. If your scope tracks, I'd suspect you'd still be having issues with finding its sweet spot without it getting tiresome.

We get too carried away with "superwide FOV" as far as I'm concerned. Amazing things are achieveable with glass today, but we forget that there are limitations with being human. See what I mean?

I'd say consider your choice carefully, and give yourself a cooling-off period. The person whose 80deg EP I borrowed doesn't use it as their prefered widefield EP for everyday use.

[apaulo]

Thank you everyone for your advice. I have learn't something too, eye pieces match certain fast stops and types of scopes better than others.

Much Appreciated.

Regards Paul ;)

[Archy]

I have the Andrews 30mm 80 degree FOV eyepiece and use it in an F5 scope with a Baader MPCC.
It is suitable as a large FOV eyepiece when starting to observe and getting the initial Argo Navis alignment.

[Archy]

I have an ES 20 on the way from Opt Corp

I will compare the views from the ES 20 with those from an Andrews 30 to see whether the higher cost of the ES 20 is worth it.