The Best 5mm EP under $200.

[astro744]

Better still, buy local from BINTEL as they are fantastic to deal with and prices are very reasonable. You'll also get your warranty through them as they are the authorised Australian dealer for Tele Vue.

[Suzy]

To Brian W and Torana 68...

I don't want to upgrade my 6" at this stage as I can only just carry it now. I prefer to be self reliant as I find I can quickly take it outside at a whim whenever I want without relying on anyone. I've only had it for four months so would prefer to do a lot more learning with it, as advised by this forum on a previous thread not so long ago. If and when the time comes to upgrade, i will be going into something around a 10" to make it worth my while (but still keep my 6). I did quite a bit of reading a while back and found out there wasn't much difference between 6 to 8 to make that upgrade worthwhile.

Apologies for the confusion earlier regarding Torana's response- where he was talking about me barlowing. The bit I edited was I was asking if i got a high quality 10m instead of 5m ep would i lose much quality if i barlowed. Shortly after i posted i removed it, because i was contradicting myself, as a barlow will reduce quality somewhat, and i'm after the best quality i can get, i'd be going backwards. It was only that this ep is sooo expensive that i thought i'd be better of doubling it's use. So I am sticking with the 5m and not getting lost in the confusion.

[Starkler (Geoff)]

Originally Posted by Suzy

[U][I][B]The bit I edited was I was asking if i got a high quality 10m instead of 5m ep would i lose much quality if i barlowed. Shortly after i posted i removed it, because i was contradicting myself, as a barlow will reduce quality somewhat, and i'm after the best quality i can get, i'd be going backwards. It was only that this ep is sooo expensive that i thought i'd be better of doubling it's use. So I am sticking with the 5m and not getting lost in the confusion.

For years I was using 10.5 and 14mm pentaxs barlowed as my planetary viewing combos and only fairly recently added a 7mm pentax for native use.

If you use a good barlow, you really only loose very very little with a few percentage points of extra light scatter.
A pentax XW coupled with a good barlow like a televue or orion deluxe will give you a much more pleasing view in a dob than say a tmb planetary, and I doubt you could perceive any difference in sharpness from an ortho.

A lot of people who carry on as purists on forums will imo exaggerate tiny differences. Ask Dave47tuc what difference there is between Zeiss and UO orthos and whether the tiny almost imperceptable difference is worth spending many multiple times as much.

You really need to see for yourself and get an idea of whats important to you and to develop though experience a personal system of weightings to the various characteristics of different eyepieces before deciding what compromises to make in deciding to spend your hard earned.

[torana68 (Roger)]

Originally Posted by Starkler

.

A lot of people who carry on as purists on forums will imo exaggerate tiny differences. Ask Dave47tuc what difference there is between Zeiss and UO orthos and whether the tiny almost imperceptable difference is worth spending many multiple times as much.

woo hoo ! was beginning to think I was the only one Ill sneak off quietly now....

[GrahamL]

So I am sticking with the 5m and not getting lost in the confusion

Fair enough .. but your still backing that eyepiece to be your
most reached for and at 240x ?. it will never be imo no matter what the quality. Around 100 x (insert prefered brand) is somewhere you'll spend a lot of time .. throw in your barlow and bump things to 200x or so, if seeing isn't supportive you remove it ..the only redundant thing is that magnification, both the barlow and that eyepiece will still do there job , just not together.

[Suzy]

Okay, I see your point guys, I myself wasn't happy to pay so much money in an eyepiece that i couldn't multi use by barlowing. I will go for a 9m or 10m then. If it was to stay under the $200 I would have been happy with a straight 5m.

[Liz]

Great thread Suzy!! Lots of valuable info on EPs.

[renormalised (Carl)]

You also have to remember this...the older you get, the larger the exit pupil has to be for you to see anything out of an ep'. What makes this even worse is if you have a problem with your eyes to begin with. A 5mm ep is great when you have excellent eyes and they're still able to focus down to such a small exit pupil (like when you're young), but most adults strain getting down to a 7mm exit pupil. If you have any trouble with such small ep's, a way around this (which also works for those monster 40mm or greater ep's when you're looking at huge faint fuzzies or in search and track mode) is to get yourself a camera like a GStar EX and do all your observing through a PC or even a small TV screen. It might not seem as pure as using the ol' Mark 1 Eyeball, but it can be just as rewarding

[marki]

The the XW pentex EP's are pretty special when it comes to detail and contrast and my favourite EP's period. I have both 10mm and 14mm versions and they are well worth the cash. They offer greater contrast than the ethos EP's (I have 10mm,13mm and 17mm versions) and are great for viewing planets and small faint deep sky objects. Ortho's.... mah lot of noise about nothing really, with the XW 10mm at native focal length on the back of my LX200R I can see a dam site more then just the bands of Jupiter, the fine detail is exquisite even better on the mak. 2X mag with a quality barlow does not affect these EP's greatly and I have also barlowed the 14mm 5X and chucked it on an 80mm apo for laughs...to my utter amazment got a great view of the trapezium on M42 ...dim yes but sharp and well resolved. I also have 3 Vixen LV's 7mm, 9mm and 12mm. I have found these EP's produce ghosting in my scopes with a fair degree of light scatter.

Mark

[Suzy]

I want to thank each and everyone of you for your valued input into this
thread to help me. I really felt that you're were looking out for me, even though I haven't met you yet. As a result of all this great wealth of information, you have not only helped me, but will serve to help others as well.

I think I even wore some of you'll out! I hope your digits aren't numb from lengthy multiple responses some of you'll made! You know who you are... Wavytone, Starkler (Geoff) and Astro 77. A very big thankyou to you guys.

I decided to go for the Pentax XW 10mm and am excitedly waiting delivery. I got it second hand for $300, so was only $100 above budget (did I say "only?"). By the way, second hand Pentax XW's are hard to find second hand! Seems no one wants to part with them. After digging up the whole internet, I found only just one. And what a small world it is - because I know the person! How amazing is that?!

[marki]

Suzy they come up for sale every now and again in the classifieds on this forum but I certainly would not part with mine. Build quality is excellent as are the optics. You will love this EP though I don't fancy your chances of stopping at just one.

Mark

[torana68 (Roger)]

.... is it there yet?

[Suzy]

Originally Posted by torana68

.... is it there yet?

It is in my possession! And it is fabulous! I feel so professional now .
I love the fact that it stays in my fov for ages and when I accidentally bump the dob, it's still there. A lot less working the dob that's for sure.

[torana68 (Roger)]

lol, but how much more detail can you see over the old ones?

[Suzy]

Originally Posted by torana68

lol, but how much more detail can you see over the old ones?

Yet to give it a proper workout. My first go with it was only 5 mts as the clouds were really bad so i didn't expect to see much. Just had to try it out to get it out of my system until the weather prevailed. The weather came good Thurs & Fri, but I didn't go out with the scope, and was hoping to do it today, but the weather doesn't look go so far (as usual). Wish I'd done it last night.

[torana68 (Roger)]

I am interested to hear what you think, so rug up and out you go...

[RobF (Rob)]

Its probably my fault. I left everything set up in the back yard after being out Thur night - threw a tarp over it, which I almost never do. The forecasts looked good and it was a long weekend - what could possibly go wrong!

Sure enough Fri and Sat night have been cloudy (so far....)

At least gives me a chance to sort out some software nonsense I've been suffering.

[Suzy]

Originally Posted by RobF

Its probably my fault. I left everything set up in the back yard after being out Thur night - threw a tarp over it, which I almost never do. The forecasts looked good and it was a long weekend - what could possibly go wrong!

Sure enough Fri and Sat night have been cloudy (so far....)

At least gives me a chance to sort out some software nonsense I've been suffering.

It's Brisbane Rob! You should know better! The chance of good weather here is 3 days out of 30. I think you just put too much confidence in the weather there, didn't you Rob?!
Actually, I got fooled too; after a couple of days of nice weather I thought for sure Sat. would be good And pinned all my hopes on it to give the ep a work out. Putting "Mary Poppins" on was my next exciting thing to do but then I fell asleep - even more exciting

[Liz]

Has been so cloudy along Qld coast making it difficult to observe ... last night clear here, but neighbours lights on, then the Moon was up. Maybe tonight. I also have a new EP - a cheapie zoom, so will be interesting to give it a go.
Hope the Pentax will live up to expectations Suzy.

[astroron (Ron)]

Suzy, You should come and join us at Cambroon on the 15th this month, and give your scope and new eyepiece a good workout under DARK SKY'S not the light polluted Brisbane Sky's.
You will not be the only Female here