Opinions on Antares 2" Erfles?

Late_Cretaceous · #1 20-12-2004, 11:26 AM

Hi

I have heard mixed revies on the Antares 2" Erfles. Most opinions are that they are decent quality at good prices, but not properly corrected for short F-ratio scopes.

Does anybody have any experience with these? I am thinking of getting a 40mm for a F5 10" dob.

I know that many people are purists and want only the very best quality that money can buy. However, I can be satisfied with a balance of quality vs price. Usually, I can sacrifice the 10% performance improvement that you get from elite brands when it involves a 100+% increase in price.

MintSauce (Gordon) · #2 21-12-2004, 12:09 AM

just a little maths here:

Minimum magnification = Apature / 8, so 250(ish)/8 = 32(ish)

Magnification = focal length / eye piece length, so 1250/40 = 32(ish)

The general opinion I read is it's not worth using the minimum magnification, where as with that 30mm eye piece, 1250/30 = 42(ish) so would maybe be a better eye piece, unless you were trying to get a large FOV and less magnification.

p.s. I bought the second last 30mm andrews eye piece (or that's what he said as he packaged it up whilest I was on phone with him.

Starkler (Geoff) · #3 21-12-2004, 12:36 AM

I have seen it written that the GSO superwides are much better corrected than erfles at fast f ratios.

The erfle is a first generation wide field design, and definately not recommended in fast scopes.

iceman (Mike) · #4 21-12-2004, 06:20 AM

Quote:

p.s. I bought the second last 30mm andrews eye piece (or that's what he said as he packaged it up whilest I was on phone with him.

hmm very interesting.. although I still want to try before I buy..

Must not make rash purchase decision!!!!

MintSauce (Gordon) · #5 21-12-2004, 10:37 AM

heh heh, I'll let you know how it goes with mine when it arrives; but all I've heard is they are well worth that money.

MintSauce (Gordon) · #6 21-12-2004, 10:46 AM

I just browsing bintel (was looking at filters, not that I want one) the GS superview 30mm get's great reviews too, and I believe that bintel's Superview 30mm is the same, they are advertising 99bucks for the 30mm 2" one. Might be worth a look, or at least a quick read of reviews.

G

bytor666 · #7 21-12-2004, 09:08 PM

In reply to your thread...I just happened to have a 32mm Antares Erfle that was purchased and mailed to me last week...I havent got to using it yet because either the clouds took over or it was -29 degrees out !!!....when I do get to trying this eyepiece out on my new 12" f/5 Sky Mentor reflector....you'll be the first to know just how it was in my scope....Cheers !!!! ...heres a pic of it

bytor666 · #8 21-12-2004, 09:12 PM

lol...oops heres the pic of the 32mm 2 " erfle

Late_Cretaceous · #9 22-12-2004, 04:11 PM

I spoke the the owner of a local shop. He agreed to let me try the eyepiece. If it doesn't work out I can trade for the 32mm - which he is more confident about for and F5. The 40 mm should be in by the end of the week.

Bytor, we should post our impressions once we have had a chance to use them (it has been cold and cloudy here too with no hope for clear skies in the forcast).

bytor666 · #10 22-12-2004, 05:44 PM

hello late_Cretaceous !!!!...excellent !!!!.....I will post my impressions for sure !!!...anything to help astronomers with telescopes out there !!!!...I know what it's like getting that new scope or new eyepiece...I get all excited and jittery when I get to try these things out...!!!!!..I had 1 major let-down when I tried out my 32mm Antares Erfle when I had an 8 inch Celestron Starhopper; the eyepiece would'nt come to focus at all..(WAAAA)...then I just thought that the scope was to blame for having too short of a tube...well after this I found out on a thread somewhere that people were having trouble finding the focus for many eyepieces...on the 8 inch starhopper that is , ( my focusser was racked all the way out, and the mirror had been collimated so that i could no longer put the mirror deeper into the tube!!!)...so I took the scope back to the store and I ordered a 12 inch GSO sky mentor...(im glad because i love big aperture scopes anyways to see more)...so after all this im still waiting to see the images from this eyepice !!!...well thats all for now....until next time, when I take this beast out for an observing session...I'll post an impression of how the 32mm Antares Erfle performs in an f/5 system...

bytor666 · #11 22-12-2004, 06:09 PM

OMG !!!...I just found a cool review on the 40mm antares erfle ....just go here to view it http://members.telering.at/anton.gabriel/astro/test4.htm then go here to translate it because it is in german http://www.worldlingo.com/products_services/worldlingo_translator.html

iceman (Mike) · #12 22-12-2004, 07:52 PM

Guys, you're more than welcome to write up your own reviews of these eyepieces for the IceInSpace website, and i'll post the articles up!

Late_Cretaceous · #13 02-01-2005, 07:39 AM

I just received a 30mm "Modified" Antares Erfle. This is the 8 element design as opposed to the 6 element standard Erfle design, and is supposed to perform better with shorter F-ratios.

It is a used eyepiece, but looks new. The lenses were cleaner then I have seen on brand new eyepieces.

Now all I have to do is wait for the sky to clear, and temperatures to moderate so that I can actually use the thing.

Happy New Year everyone

bytor666 · #14 03-01-2005, 07:13 AM

that's great!!!....let me know how your new eyepiece performs.....I did however get to try mine out and i only had the scope out for about 1 1\2 hours....not enough time for my 12" to even cool down !!!....I did find out that my optics were being slightly "PINCHED" in it's cell, so I took the duty of taking the mirror out the very next day. This led me to take EVERYTHING off of the scope so i could FLOCK inside the tube ,( opposite the focuser), move my finderscope base ( I hate when the finder is sitting in the MIDDLE of the tube, I always bang into the tube just to look through the finder), I also put a brass handle on the tube . and then I put everything back together again....BTW the 32mm antares erfle that I did try out was good for about 75% of the field....the remaining 25% was comatic, but not bothersome at all...THE FIELD WAS HUGE !!!!!...

Late_Cretaceous · #15 04-01-2005, 04:06 PM

http://astroccd.altervista.org/MEr30.jpg
not my picture BTW.

Well, I finally managed to get a chance to use this eyepiece tonight. Things were a bit frosty at -21C, and clouds of vapor from everyone's furnaces cluttered much of the lower atmosphere, but otherwise the sky was quite transparent and seeing was decent.

The field of view is enormous, I was able to see the entire Double Cluster and then some. The Orion Nebulae (M42 + M23 + NGC 1973) all fit into the FOV as did M45. I also managed to get a look at M103, M31 and comet Machholtz.

In my scope, it gives an actual FOV of 1.8 degrees at 42x.

There is some curvature around the edges, but not too distractiing. Saturn looked very sharp when centered in the eyepiece, and started to show some blurring as it was moved towards the outer edges.

All in all I would have to say it is a very good eyepiece and will stay in my collection for a long time.