Recommend me a 25mm eyepiece

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

Forget the original Masuyamas. I just meant the design is a good one. Never tried an original Masuyama, just like I never tried any of Mr Plössl's original EPs from way back when.

[denis0007dl (Denis Levatic)]

My best 25mm eyepieces are Zeiss Aspherics with 3 elements!
25mm GSO Plossls are very good!

[Don Pensack]

I suspect you might want a field of view at least as wide as the Celestron X-Cel LX you have, so I am not recommending 50 degree field eyepieces.
In 60 degrees, it's hard to beat the Astrotech Paradigm (available in the US or in Europe as the BST or Teleskop Service NED).
In 68 degrees, the Explore Scientific 24mm or the Baader Hyperion 24mm are great eyepieces, and might fit your range if found used. Ditto for the Meade Series 5000 SWA 24x68 (1.25"), the Meade Series 4000 24.5mm (1.25") SWA.

[04Stefan07 (Stefan)]

Originally Posted by janoskiss

In that case, I'd put my (I mean your) money into a Masuyama design 25mm, such as the Parks Gold Series. They are absolute gems and getting rarer (with market forces and the hype that goes with them favouring optically inferior but wider field EPs).

There used to be a whole bunch of brands and manufacturers, all Japanese, for Masuyama designs but most seemed to have closed up shop in recent years. Parks is still going. I am sure there are others but I cannot find them. John B (ausastronomer) would probably know where to look.

I have the Antares Elite versions of the 15 and 25mm. But I do not use my 25mm very much any more so if you wanted to buy it off me, .... just kidding!!! I do love the 25mm and it's definitely a keeper!

But if you want to try it, or even borrow it for a week or two, you are welcome to it. Send me a PM if you are interested. (I host public observing nights at the La Trobe Uni observatory in Bundoora so that might be a good place to meet up. We do have some nice scopes. )

Thanks for that! Oh nice how often do you conduct the sessions? I am not far at all from La Trobe uni.