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Old 30-09-2005, 09:15 PM
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janoskiss (Steve H)
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Sale, VIC
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You can also barlow longer focal length eyepieces to have the advantage of longer eye relief and to have more choice in magnification.

For a cost-optimised setup the focal lengths of the eyepieces should be selected so that the barlowed magnifications are significantly different from those obtained with the unbarlowed eyepieces; e.g. 25, 15 & 10mm gives you 12.5, 7.5, & 5mm through a 2x Barlow, i.e.: 25, 15, 12.5, 10, 7.5, 5mm; a good range with good coverage. Then you might also add a 2" wide view 30mm to assist with the hunt, if budget allows.

Note that the Shorty Plus is not a cheap Barlow, and a beginner may not want to spend that much. A cheap but functional barlow is around $50, and from what others on these forums have said, it should do the job. So that should be under $200 for a carefully selected set of 3 good Plossls + 2x Barlow.

On the other hand, a premium 1.25" set might go like: 24mm Pan, 19mm Pan, 13mm Nag, + 2.5x Powermate, giving: 24, 19, 13, 9.6, 7.6, 5.2mm effectively. (Now you know what I'm buying next if I like the 19mm Panoptic + 13mm Nagler I already have. God bless the credit card! And may the same God help me pay it off! )
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