What are your best 3 eyepieces?

[sopticals (Stephen)]

Nagler T5 31.
Nagler T6 13
Nagler T6 9

Stephen.

[Culford (Mick)]

13mm Nagler (Televue)
16mm Series 3000 Plössl (Meade)
27mm Panoptic (Televue)

I guess there is something magical about green on black?!

[dangerous (David)]

There certainly is. I have a set of Ethos 8", 13" and 21". Using them feels like an IMAX experience, and I feel privileged and lucky to have had the chance to own them.

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

I have quite a few to choose from and asking for 3 favourites is liking asking someone to name their favourite child. While most of what I own has now been around for a long time, and I've owned for a long time, I haven't used too many eyepieces that I like better, apart from a couple mentioned below. I'm happy with what I have and have no intention to change eyepieces, or telescopes.

31mm Nagler T5
27mm Televue Panoptic
25mm UO HD orthoscopic
22mm Nagler T4
20mm Pentax XW
18mm UO HD orthoscopic
17mm Nagler T4
14mm Pentax XW
13mm Televue ETHOS
12mm UO HD orthoscopic
12mm Nagler T4
10mm Pentax XW
9mm UO UO HD orthoscopic
8.5mm Pentax XF
8mm Televue Radian
7mm Pentax XW
7mm UO HD orthoscopic
6mm Televue DELOS
6mm Televue Radian
6mm UO HD orthoscopic
5mm Pentax XW
5mm UO HD orthoscopic
4mm UO HD orthoscopic
3.5mm Pentax XW

As part of our 3RF eyepiece kit, I also have access to all of the ETHOS focal lengths, but I rarely use an ETHOS eyepiece, because I prefer long eye relief and to observe with my glasses on. Pre COVID we had a lot of overseas people attending OZSKY. They always bring a collection of high class eyepieces with them, which I also get to try out.

Of the eyepieces I own my 3 favourites and most used eyepieces are:-

17mm Nagler T4 (critical to use a paracorr with this one)
10mm Pentax XW
7mm Pentax XW

Of the eyepieces I have used but don't own, the best eyepiece I have used is without question the 17mm Nikon NAV HW. It gets no better. The 2nd best would be the 12.5mm Docter Optics. The Leica Zoom is also very nice but zoom eyepieces just aren't for me.

Cheers
John B

[gregbradley]

A great list. A list of who's who in eyepieces.

The Nikon NV HW 17mm with the reducer is one I am interested in at some point in the future. I have read that its the best several times now.

Greg.

[Rainmaker (Matt)]

1. Leica Asph Zoom
2. Leica Asph Zoom and matching Leica Extender
3. Nagler 31 or 22 or 17

[doug mc]

The three I use on a night of excellent seeing.

[Don Pensack]

Originally Posted by Don Pensack

Most used magnifications?
130x, 166x, 228x.
I have a 12.5" scope with excellent optics.
The Favorite eyepieces yield 83x, 166x, 304x.
Where I observe, 304x is almost always nice and sharp. It's a good eyepiece for planetaries.

To clarify the above, I'll modify the post as follows:
Most used magnifications:
130x (14mmMorpheus), 166x (11mm Apollo), 228x (8mm Ethos)
Favorite eyepieces:
83x (22mm Nagler), 166x (11mm Apollo), 304x (6mm Ethos)
There is something special about each of those 3 eyepieces.
But since the thread is about your BEST 3 eyepieces, I'd have to say:
11mm Apollo, 9mm Morpheus, 6mm Ethos, with honorable mention APM 30mm UltraFlatField.

[Stonius (Markus)]

I think for me, definitely the ES 30mm 82*. I use this more than any other EP because it's *both my widefield EP and my finder EP, so even if I intend to go to higher power later on, I still use this one to find the object. I prefer it to my XW30 and XW40.

I like the entire 1.25" Pentax XW range, especially the 14, 10 and 7mm EPS
For Binoviewing, I'm really enjoying the Baader Zooms. They're a gift if you don't have the Denk powershifter thingy


The 24mm Panoptics are pretty good, but have a bit of rectilinear distortion, which I guess doesn't matter too much on stars which have no straight edges, but you notice it when panning over a star field. But they give you the widest possible view in my BV, so there's that.

[AG Hybrid (Adrian)]

Naturally it depends on the telescope. But, of my collection over the years.

1. Pentax 10mm XW
2. Televue 14mm Delos
3. Vixen 22mm LVW / Explore Scientific 30mm 82.

[furyz (Kristian)]

Only got 3 eyepieces and haven't had a reason to get any more.

1. Baader Hyperion Mark IV Zoom 8-24mm
2. Baader Hyperion 36mm
3. Baader Hyperion 5mm

I probably use the 36mm and the Zoom at 24mm the most. I have a Celestron C8, so the 36mm is great to go wider field without having to pull out the focal reducer.

I got a 3x Visionking focal extender as well. Which covers all the planets. Works great with the 36mm and the Zoom.

I got the 5mm just in case, but to be honest, I rarely use it. Its relatively quick to throw in the focal extender, so I use that a lot more often if I need a big boost to magnification.

[PLR (Piet)]

I have had a few eyepieces over the years but then I got these 3 in a package deal and I found that I started to use them more and more until I mainly just use them :Tele Vue 7mm Nagler 6, 13mm Nagler 6 and 27mm Panoptic in a 8" F10 Meade SCT. I also got a Tele Vue big Barlow in the deal.

[Peter Ward]

Eyepiece? Ah! so that's what those small lenses are kicking around the
bottom of my imaging accessory drawer

[astro744]

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

Eyepiece? Ah! so that's what those small lenses are kicking around the
bottom of my imaging accessory drawer

You should be using those to prevent dust entering the OTA when not imaging. Some have 8 or 9 elements giving no chance for any dust to get through. Much better than a plastic dust cap.

[Zubenel (Wes)]

1.12mm Type 5 Nag
2.20mm Type 4 Nag
3.Pineapple ( I'm a bit biased ) but my eye just doesn't agree with the Ethos series.

[Stonius (Markus)]

Pineapple?

[astro744]

Originally Posted by Zubenel

1.12mm Type 5 Nag
2.20mm Type 4 Nag
3.Pineapple ( I'm a bit biased ) but my eye just doesn't agree with the Ethos series.

1. >> 12mm Nagler only came in Type 2 and Type 4
2. >> 20mm Nagler only came in Type 2 and Type 5

Originally Posted by Stonius

Pineapple?

3. >> 31mm Type 5 Nagler generally referred to as The Pineapple

My three best depend on which telescope I use, e.g. longer reflector or shorter refractor.

[Zubenel (Wes)]

Originally Posted by astro744

1. >> 12mm Nagler only came in Type 2 and Type 4
2. >> 20mm Nagler only came in Type 2 and Type 5



3. >> 31mm Type 5 Nagler generally referred to as The Pineapple

My three best depend on which telescope I use, e.g. longer reflector or shorter refractor.

O yes look at that. I swapped the types! And previously to the holy hand granade🤔😉 the 35mm Pan ( no type) 🤪 was the fav and still is a mighty fine view whether it be in the 10” or the 20” 👍🏻✅🙂

[MortonH]

My eyepiece collection is tiny these days so it's an easy choice:

1. Panoptic 19mm
2. Panoptic 24mm
3. William Optics 7.5 - 22.5mm zoom

Maybe it's time to acquire a few more...