C11 low power eyepiece?

[garymck (Gary)]

Hi,

Just bought a cpc1100 xlt from BTOW ..... Couldn't resist the price of $3800 delivered to Melbourne. Very happy with the scope, but need a better low power eyepiece than the 40mm plossl that comes with it....bit tunnel like.

I'd love a 35mm panoptic, but my discretionary funds are now pretty much exhausted. Is there any readily available eyepiece at the low/middle end of the market that is reasonable quality for say up to $200? I have some Saxon Hyperion clones. That seem to work ok....so that might give you a idea about quality levels.....

Suggestions welcome.
Cheers
Gary

[Irish stargazer (John)]

A secondhand 27mm panoptic would be nice. For $200 you could pick up a 21/24mm Hyperion new. I have both eyepieces for my C11. The Panoptic is gorgeous on the C11 but heavier that the Hyperion.

[Wavytone]

If it has a 2" back you can use an eyepiece that has no field stop, or almost none, to give you the widest true field. Those Hyperions are only 1.25" barrels, limited to what you're getting with your old 40mm. Try these:

TV Nagler type 5 31mm,
TV Plossl 55mm,
TV Panoptic 41mm, or 35mm,
Paragon 40mm ( no field stop),
Vixen LVW 42mm, similar to panoptic;
Vixen LV50mm, better than plossl but smaller apparent field than the others above.

Take look at http://www.televue.com/engine/TV3b_page.asp?id=214, what matters is the column labelled 'field stop'

[Astro_Bot]

You could look at the Explore Scientific 68deg 40mm - a very good eyepiece that has been discussed a few times on IIS.

I have the GSO Superview 42mm, the TS Paragon (TMB Paragon clone ... actually, I think it's just re-labelled) 40mm and the ES 68deg 40mm - of these, the ES 40mm is the best, though the Paragon comes close.

The ES 68deg 40mm is a bit more than $200, but worth it IMHO as it's around half the price of a Panoptic 41mm, though about the same size and weight.

If weight is a concern and/or you really can't exceed $200, then the TS Paragon is alright - its around $210-ish delivered and 520g vs around $270-ish delivered and 950g (IIRC) for the ES.

[garymck (Gary)]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the suggestions. Going to check some of these out.

Cheers
Gary

[Kal (Andrew)]

Are these scopes still limited by the 1.5" field stop on the visual back at the back of the scope (like my older C11)? If so, you won't get the most out of the larger field stop 2" eyepieces.

I still only use a 1.25" diagonal on the back of my scope and I use the 24 panoptic for my low power views.

[trek1701 (Mark)]

Hi Gary,

The visual back that comes with a C11 can be replaced with a bigger version plus you could go one step further and used a Baader Click-stop unit that allowed the use of 2 inch accessories. It attaches directly to the 3.5 inch threads and made changing any 2 inch accessory a breeze.
http://www.optcorp.com/product.aspx?pid=154-13152

Or

Astrophysics sells a visual back for Celestron and Meade SCTs:

http://www.astro-physics.com/index.htm?products/accessories/focus_adap/focus_adap

If that doesn't work the parts are:

ADASCTLC (Celestron)

Cheers Mark

[dannat (Daniel)]

There s a UO 32 or 40mm in the telescope classifieds I think, it should work well