Eyepieces for 10" f/5 Dob (first scope)

[astro744]

Originally Posted by Varangian

Not only that 300 bucks won't buy you a new TV anyway.

Originally Posted by AG Hybrid

Really? Was that 12" properly cooled and collimated? Because even on the worst nights (short of gail force winds) I can get to 150x with room to spare.

On a side note regarding this thread in general:

*facepalm* at people telling someone with their first scope to buy a Televue eyepiece immediately.

Otherwise good advice here.

Current new Tele Vue prices:

Tele Vue 55mm Plossl $299.00
Tele Vue 40mm Plossl $175.00
Tele Vue 32mm Plossl $175.00
Tele Vue 25mm Plossl $139.00
Tele Vue 20mm Plossl $139.00
Tele Vue 15mm Plossl $115.00
Tele Vue 11mm Plossl $115.00
Tele Vue 8mm Plossl $115.00

Tele Vue 19mm Panoptic only just over at $309.00 and a gem of an eyepiece.

Many come up for sale on the forum in as new condition for under $300.00.

Advice was sought and advice was given. Let the person posting decide what to palm off.

[AG Hybrid (Adrian)]

Originally Posted by astro744

Current new Tele Vue prices:

Tele Vue 55mm Plossl $299.00
Tele Vue 40mm Plossl $175.00
Tele Vue 32mm Plossl $175.00
Tele Vue 25mm Plossl $139.00
Tele Vue 20mm Plossl $139.00
Tele Vue 15mm Plossl $115.00
Tele Vue 11mm Plossl $115.00
Tele Vue 8mm Plossl $115.00

Tele Vue 19mm Panoptic only just over at $309.00 and a gem of an eyepiece.

Many come up for sale on the forum in as new condition for under $300.00.

Advice was sought and advice was given. Let the person posting decide what to palm off.

Plossl? In 2014? Time to move on from that dinosaur.


I jest, I jest.


But really? A triple figured price tag for a plossl? Its far better value to get ES 68 or 82 degree eyepieces. Which are also very well corrected in a F5 Newtonian. Plossl are acceptable starting eyepieces and sure, the Televue ones are very sharp - ON AXIS . I understand they have their place. I know for a fact that Televue plossl's are excellent planetary eyepieces.
But as soon as OP goes to a star party or local club night and looks through a widefield eyepiece and even puts it in his scope. He'll wonder why he dropped $175 for a 32mm plossl. Spend $30-40 on a GSO plossl. The view will be 90% at 1/5th the price. The Televue is not 5-6 times better.

Once again. *facepalm* At the people suggesting someone with their first scope drop massive amounts of money for Televue eyepieces immediately.


Returning to the OP.
Congratulations on your purchase. Your going to have a great time.

[MattT]

Originally Posted by astro744

Current new Tele Vue prices:

Tele Vue 55mm Plossl $299.00
Tele Vue 40mm Plossl $175.00
Tele Vue 32mm Plossl $175.00
Tele Vue 25mm Plossl $139.00
Tele Vue 20mm Plossl $139.00
Tele Vue 15mm Plossl $115.00
Tele Vue 11mm Plossl $115.00
Tele Vue 8mm Plossl $115.00

Tele Vue 19mm Panoptic only just over at $309.00 and a gem of an eyepiece.

Many come up for sale on the forum in as new condition for under $300.00.
Advice was sought and advice was given. Let the person posting decide what to palm off.

A classic….TV is affordable…in fact here is the proof. Seriously when the OP writes a budget and you blow it by 25% on a single eyepiece…..
Matt

[astro744]

Originally Posted by AG Hybrid

Plossl? In 2014? Time to move on from that dinosaur.


I jest, I jest.


But really? A triple figured price tag for a plossl? Its far better value to get ES 68 or 82 degree eyepieces. Which are also very well corrected in a F5 Newtonian. Plossl are acceptable starting eyepieces and sure, the Televue ones are very sharp - ON AXIS . I understand they have their place. I know for a fact that Televue plossl's are excellent planetary eyepieces.
But as soon as OP goes to a star party or local club night and looks through a widefield eyepiece and even puts it in his scope. He'll wonder why he dropped $175 for a 32mm plossl. Spend $30-40 on a GSO plossl. The view will be 90% at 1/5th the price. The Televue is not 5-6 times better.

Once again. *facepalm* At the people suggesting someone with a their first scope drop massive amounts of money for Televue eyepieces immediately.


Returning to the OP.
Congratulations on your purchase. Your going to have a great time.

I'm merely correcting a post stating that you cannot get a new Tele Vue eyepiece under $300.00.

My first suggestion was for a 13mm Type 6 Nagler and I did say "if you can stretch the budget" and I only suggested one Tele Vue eyepiece for the particular telescope in question to give the user great enjoyment that is possible from a quality product.

As for ES eyepieces I have not personally used them but I'm sure they will perform just fine based on comments by others. I have however used the 13mm Type 6 Nagler and I highly recommend it to anyone including beginners.

[AG Hybrid (Adrian)]

Originally Posted by astro744

I'm merely correcting a post stating that you cannot get a new Tele Vue eyepiece under $300.00.

My first suggestion was for a 13mm Type 6 Nagler and I did say "if you can stretch the budget" and I only suggested one Tele Vue eyepiece for the particular telescope in question to give the user great enjoyment that is possible from a quality product.

As for ES eyepieces I have not personally used them but I'm sure they will perform just fine based on comments by others. I have however used the 13mm Type 6 Nagler and I highly recommend it to anyone including beginners.

Alright point taken.

[David Niven (David Niven)]

Originally Posted by jim_bones

Hi everyone,

Just ordered the 16mm and the 20mm ES from Agena Astro. Came in at $227AU (inc postage) which I am happy about. Will add an 8.8 or 10mm once I have had a chance to check out the view through some other people's EPs, gotten to know my scope, and replenished the funds . I brought the scope home today - my partner almost fainted when she saw how big it was!

Thanks again everyone for your help,

- James.

US retailers quoted in USD.
Probably will come in at AUD $250

[Varangian (John)]

Another TV post that blows the budget with one EP re. the PAN and 13T6. How about some alternative options to the norm in the designated price range?
Yes ok you can get a 50 degree eyepiece for 120 bucks but really the discussion had been about about Naglers et al.

It's up to the OP clearly but wouldn't you want 2 EPs in the 82 range @ 90% TV performance rather than a plossl with limiting ER and FOV? Especially when there are other options available?

[Renato1 (Renato)]

Originally Posted by barx1963

When I had my 12" I found that pushing the power beyond the 115x that I could get with a 13mm EP was only rarely possible and even a 10mm ethos giving 150x was viable only on those rare good nights.
Power is not always your friend as it magnifies any atmospheric disturbance.

Just a thought!

Malcolm

That's a bit strange. In my 14.5" f/4.5 dob (focal length 1657mm) the eyepiece I used 95% of the time was an old style 9mm Nagler, which gave a power of 184X.

I could easily take the power higher, and did use a 6.4mm Plossl eyepiece on occasion (259X). The image was fine, but it was tricky pushing my dob around and keeping the planet in the field of view.

Do you get weird weather where you live? I notice that since moving down where I am now, the atmosphere is a lot more fickle than where I used to live 30k north of here.
Regards,
Renato

[Tropo-Bob (Bob)]

[QUOTE=barx1963;1085827]James
I found that pushing the power beyond the 115x that I could get with a 13mm EP was only rarely possible and even a 10mm ethos giving 150x was viable only on those rare good nights.
Power is not always your friend as it magnifies any atmospheric disturbance.



My experience was the same as above. (Except I do not have a 10mm ethos.) However, even using the 13mm ethos instead of a 12mm nagler or a 10mm radian gave a noticable improvement in the clarity of the image.

[N1 (Mirko)]

Originally Posted by AG Hybrid

He'll wonder why he dropped $175 for a 32mm plossl. Spend $30-40 on a GSO plossl. The view will be 90% at 1/5th the price. The Televue is not 5-6 times better.

Actually it won't, sorry to say - at least for focal lengths under 20mm. I have both TV and GSO Plossls (the latter came with my dob and could not be opted out). Not sure about 5 times better, but a TV becomes "transparent" during observing whereas a GSO just won't. On top of the (expected) narrow Plossl FOV, it's got false colour, fuzzy off-axis stars, a fuzzy field stop and reminds me of my old battered Dick Smith 10x25 binoculars that I got 10 years ago, where cataract-like gunk is advancing towards the center of the eye lenses. The 15mm GSO now occasionally serves in my 35mm Lunt, where it works acceptably, just. The 9mm GSO, well I don't know what to do with it. I might just give it away. It's a true facepalm eyepiece. Fortunately, the dob itself is a whole different story in terms of optical performance.

That said, I agree that TV probably doesn't offer the best value (read quality) for money today. That one goes to the likes of ES, so excellent choice by Jim.

[Renato1 (Renato)]

[QUOTE=Tropo-Bob;1086127]

Originally Posted by barx1963

James
I found that pushing the power beyond the 115x that I could get with a 13mm EP was only rarely possible and even a 10mm ethos giving 150x was viable only on those rare good nights.
Power is not always your friend as it magnifies any atmospheric disturbance.



My experience was the same as above. (Except I do not have a 10mm ethos.) However, even using the 13mm ethos instead of a 12mm nagler or a 10mm radian gave a noticable improvement in the clarity of the image.

I still think it darn strange. Using those lower powers/bigger exit pupils is going to make it pretty tough to find many of those faint galaxies.

Are we perhaps talking "image" in relation to two different things? When looking at brightish DSOs like open clusters (especially before the telescope has cooled down) and one sees lots of big blobby stars, I can see why lower power delivers a nicer, more pleasing overall image. But when looking at very faint stars trying to just discern a tiny fuzziness from the background - well, that's a different situation. It never matters to me whether the telescope has cooled down or not. In most cases, 2mm exit pupil is the optimal way of easily discerning those faint fuzzy galaxies or pieces of nebulosity.
Regards,
Renato

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

[QUOTE=Renato1;1086225]

Originally Posted by Tropo-Bob

I still think it darn strange. Using those lower powers/bigger exit pupils is going to make it pretty tough to find many of those faint galaxies.

Are we perhaps talking "image" in relation to two different things? When looking at brightish DSOs like open clusters (especially before the telescope has cooled down) and one sees lots of big blobby stars, I can see why lower power delivers a nicer, more pleasing overall image. But when looking at very faint stars trying to just discern a tiny fuzziness from the background - well, that's a different situation. It never matters to me whether the telescope has cooled down or not. In most cases, 2mm exit pupil is the optimal way of easily discerning those faint fuzzy galaxies or pieces of nebulosity.
Regards,
Renato

All true. And with an experienced observer, I would certainly cover those points. But with a beginner, they are looking for eps suitable for big bright objects. High power EPs with small exit pupils do take a little getting used to. And this was a query from a beginner with their first scope!

Cheers

Malcolm

[rrussell1962]

Hi James,

I don't think you will regret the Explore Scientific eyepieces. I recently acquired 2 each of the 82 degree 14mm and 6.7mm with a second hand (well 5th hand!) Obsession 18 inch F4.5 Dob. I am very impressed and will be adding the 8.8mm and 18mm when funds allow and I can find the time to thoroughly test and review the rest of my eyepieces and sell some of the surplus items. Maybe the ES are not the last word in wide field eyepieces, but I certainly think they are unbeatable value.

Incidentally, I have always found Agena Astro really easy and quick to deal with.

Happy Observing

Richard

[Renato1 (Renato)]

Originally Posted by rrussell1962

Incidentally, I have always found Agena Astro really easy and quick to deal with.

Richard

I agree. Agena Astro have all sorts of handy bits and pieces for sale which one can't easily find anywhere else. Curiously, their postage prices are usually much lower than anyone else's in the US, but their parcels get here much quicker than most everybody else's.
Regards,
Renato

[ThunderStorm (Alan)]

Do you guys will buy better eyepieces to replace those came along with those 10" Dob?

[N1 (Mirko)]

Originally Posted by ThunderStorm

Do you guys will buy better eyepieces to replace those came along with those 10" Dob?

Yes.

[Don Pensack]

You might find this handy as an explanation of where to start on a set of eyepieces. For a 10", I'd say X=50 to 60 would work just fine:
http://www.eyepiecesetc.com/1X_2X_3X...n-1x-2x-3x.htm