best budget EP for a 12" lightbridge

[JJDOBBER79 (Jas)]

Hi there.
Just bought a 12" lightbridge. It only came with a 26mm and a 32mm. Next thing on my list is a higher powered decent quality EP. I have been reading a similar thread on CN and people are loving the astrotech paradigms. I have never heard of them and cant find anywhere in australia that stocks them. Has anyone had any experience with them or have any other recommendations

[andrew2008]

What is your budget? Vixen LVW, Televue Nagler and Delos, Baader Hyperion and Explore Scientific all offer good eyepieces, cost varies from $150-450. From memory, when I last read about the Astrotech range they were mainly wide angle and good for the price but not in the league of those I have just listed.

Something from 11-14mm plus a 2x barlow would give you a good spread of EP.

[AG Hybrid (Adrian)]

Explore Scientific 82's or 68's are what you want - a nice balance between performance and value. But, without an approximate budget its not really possible to give you recommendations.

I'd suggest heading to Astronomics, Optcorp, Bintel etc websites and check out the prices yourself. Find something in your price range and look for reviews on those eyepieces.

There's something fore filling about researching for your own needs and desires. We are on the internet after all.

[glend (Glen)]

I would start with a 15mm GSO Superview, then go for maybe a 10mm. I have two Explore Scientifics 82 degree 8.8 and 6.7 and while they are nice and wide field they are heavier than say Plossl. What are you going to be doing with the scope? If deep sky objects you want wide apparent and true field of view, but if for planetary then that's a different EP approach.

Remember you can buy a 2x Barlow and this changes your 15mm Superview into a 7.5 mm EP in terms of effective magnification. Your scope is a 1500mm focal length right? So a 15mm EP will give you 100x magnifcation, add a 2x Barlow ( make it a good one) and it becomes 200x magnification.

[JJDOBBER79 (Jas)]

Thanks guys for the recommendations. That's a good idea getting the 15 superview and a good Barlow and I should have a good range. What would you consider a good Barlow. The 2 eps that came with it are 2". So could I get a 2" Barlow and when I use the 15mm put the 2" to 1.25" focus adaptor in the Barlow?

[David Niven (David Niven)]

For a 12" scope with a 1500mm focal, the maximum practical magnification is 300x on a very, very good night but most decent nights, it is more at 150x.
So, you should not buy an eyepiece with a focal 5mm or less.
ES 6.7, 8.8 and the Pentax XF8.5 are good eps and these are less than $200.
Perhaps the TMB 6 or the WO Swan 9mm which are less than $100 at VTI Optics?
Best to take your time and get deeper into the hobby before spending money on exotic eyepieces.

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

David is spot on. In my old 12" a 13mm nagler was about as far as I could push it most nights and that gave 115x. On occasional night I could get good results with 10mm, anything shorter was usually a waste of time apsrt from maybe 1 or nights a year.

The 15mm Superview is not a bad EP for the money. My usual advice is use the EPs you have and I would stick to that. Again in my 12" I did 90% of my observing with a 24mm EP giving 62x

Cheers

Malcolm

[JJDOBBER79 (Jas)]

Thanks again. I guess I really want to be able to see the planets as a decent size. am I right in saying that increasing the aperture will not increase the apparent size of objects. Unfortunately, I cannot use the scope at the moment to find out due to cloud probably all week.