upgrading to premium ep's

[monoxide]

hi guys,
ive decided its time to replace a few of the GSO plossls that came with the dob. I'm a dso fan so a wide field would be handy.
heres the 2 that i had in mind.

27mm Panoptic (55x)
13mm Nagler (115x)

even though im pretty confident that they are what i'm after i thought id post here and make sure.

[Dave47tuc (David)]

27mm panoptic
10mm Pentax XW or 14 XW

You can't go wrong in the high end eyepiece market.
Tele Vue, Pentax, Vixen Etc.

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

For your 12" f/5 Dob 10mm Pentax XW is the best DSO EP IME. 14mm has bothersome field curvature for my eyes - whether it does for you depends a lot on your eyesight so try for yourself. 27mm Pano is okay, but not great IMO. I see what looks like astigmatism. Others say it's near perfect to the edge. Again try see for your self. 30mm Pentax XW is much much better IME but it is more expensive. 20mm T5 Nagler is great also, so I assume the 26mm would be also. 13mm T6 is nice although I've grown fond of longer eye relief, i.e. Pentax XW, Vixen LVW. 12mm T4 has long ER...

bottom line, at the premium end a lot comes down to personal preferences, so you really need to go out and try EPs for yourself see what suits.

[Tannehill]

Hi monoxide,

I have a 12" GSO dob and those two very EPs: the 13mm Nagler and the 10mm XW. Both are excellent choices. I actually prefer the Pentax for color quality.

Scott

[Starkler (Geoff)]

Originally Posted by janoskiss

For your 12" f/5 Dob 10mm Pentax XW is the best DSO EP IME. 14mm has bothersome field curvature for my eyes - whether it does for you depends a lot on your eyesight so try for yourself. 27mm Pano is okay, but not great IMO. I see what looks like astigmatism. Others say it's near perfect to the edge. Again try see for your self. 30mm Pentax XW is much much better IME but it is more expensive. 20mm T5 Nagler is great also, so I assume the 26mm would be also. 13mm T6 is nice although I've grown fond of longer eye relief, i.e. Pentax XW, Vixen LVW. 12mm T4 has long ER...

bottom line, at the premium end a lot comes down to personal preferences, so you really need to go out and try EPs for yourself see what suits.

I'll second all that Steve said here.

When starting out down this road, start with the eyepiece thats going to get the most use. For dso viewing that would normally be an ep that gives around 2-2.5mm exit pupil. Whether you choose the pentax 10mm xw or the nagler 13mm will depend on how much eye relief you like. For mine, the pentaxs cant be beaten for viewing comfort and excellent performance.

[Rodstar (Rod)]

Monoxide,

There is an IIS review/ shootout between several EPs in that focal length: 13mm Nagler, 14mm Pentax XW, 14mm Meade series 4000 UW, and 14mm Meade series 5000 UW, authored by Iceman and Ausastronomer. That would be well worth a look-see given the subject matter of your ruminations.

[casstony]

A Paracorr would improve the views with medium and longer focal length eyepieces. It would also turn an XW14mm into an XW12 and eliminate the field curvature associated with this eyepiece.

EDIT: I realised that's probably confusing. The Paracorr actually increases the focal length of the scope by 15% - I just automatically adjust the eyepiece focal length in reference to my scope.

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

If there is one eyepiece that I would rate above all others for use in a 10" or 12"/F5 scope its a 10mm Pentax XW. IMO this is the best general purpose widefield eyepiece money can presently buy. It creates the optimum 2mm exit pupil in both scopes and gives 120X in the 10" and 150X in the 12". It is perfect for medium power viewing of DSO's and enough power to give very pleasing low power lunar/planetary views.

As others have suggested you should try before you buy but I am yet to hear of "ANYONE" that wanted to sell their 10mm Pentax XW after buying one.

CS-John B

[Stephen65]

If there is one eyepiece that I would rate above all others for use in a 10" or 12"/F5 scope its a 10mm Pentax XW. IMO this is the best general purpose widefield eyepiece money can presently buy.

I have this EP and I second your comments.

In the 27mm class the WO UWAN 28mm is an excellent EP.

[iceman (Mike)]

I've used the WO UWAN 28mm in an f/5 scope and was very disappointed with the field curvature.

I wouldn't recommend that one for him and his dob.

The 24mm Panoptic is the best I've used around that focal length, better than the 27mm pano IMO.

[monoxide]

thanks for the input guys, a bit of food for thought.
also where can i find pentax ep's in aus?

[OneOfOne (Trevor)]

Originally Posted by ausastronomer

As others have suggested you should try before you buy but I am yet to hear of "ANYONE" that wanted to sell their 10mm Pentax XW after buying one.

CS-John B

If you are interested, you can buy my Pentax XW10 from me...but you will have to pay more than what it would cost me to buy another one! Let's say $1000 then I can buy another one and make a tidy profit.

I must admit, I don't recall anyone buying an XW10 and regretting it either.

[skies2clear]

Count me in too guys. I absolutely love my 10XW!!!

I was very surprised I actually picked mine up used but in perfect condition. The fellow that sold it to me had a smallish scope (small refractor) and decided to try some other eyepiece. Maybe he just needed a bigger scope for what he wanted to do! As they say, aperture rules, although I know the story isn't as simple depending on specific needs of the observer. Anyway, his loss was my huge gain, but I'm indebted as it really is everything everyone says it is.

I use this more than any other I would say, in 6" to 12.5" newtonians. Maybe a 18 or 20" sometime in the near future too...

Clear skies
Nick

[JethroB76 (Jeff)]

Originally Posted by monoxide

thanks for the input guys, a bit of food for thought.
also where can i find pentax ep's in aus?

Frontier Optics sell both the Pentax XW and the XF line of eyepieces, I think there is a camera store that carries the XWs too, though its name escapes at the moment

[gbeal]

I have just received a pair of XW's, the 7mm, and the 14mm. I am very happy with them. Costly, but to my eyes better than what I expected.

[StarLane]

Pentax 30mm XW
TV 24mm Panoptic
Pentax 10mm XW

They are all very good DSO ep`s. I still prefer Pentax to TV for ease of use, great eye relief and comfort.

[Stephen65]

Interesting comment about the UWAN 28mm curvature, I haven't noticed it in a f4.9 Newt but then again I understand sensitivity to it varies significantly among observers and also depends on the curvature inherent in the scope.

Easiest place for the OP to get Pentaxes is probably:

http://www.telescopes-astronomy.com.au/

who are in SA. Unfortunately that site is among the worst laid out and most difficult to traverse that I have ever encountered, it was only completely by accident that I stumbled across his Pentax pricelist and I had to bookmark it to make sure I could find it again:

http://www.telescopes-astronomy.com....-pricelist.htm

[skies2clear]

Star Optics also sell Pentax. I had to mention them as I bought 2 new from them a while back now, and they proved to be reliable and prompt in sending. No hassles at all.

CS
Nick

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

Daniel Beringer from Frontier Optics sells both Pentax XW's and XF's. He is an excellent operator and his service is first class. He will also do his best to supply you the item at the best possible price.

Some of the the other eyepiece lines Daniel also sells are, University Optics HD orthoscopics, Konigs and W70's; Williams Optics UWAN and SWAN; Denkmeier 14mm and 21mm and Burgess/TMB Paragon and Planetary.

www.frontieroptics.com.au

CS-John B

[circumpolar (Matt)]

Originally Posted by ausastronomer

As others have suggested you should try before you buy but I am yet to hear of "ANYONE" that wanted to sell their 10mm Pentax XW after buying one.
CS-John B

Good point!
This does seem to be the choice EP of the community in this focal length.