First light for the Pentax's and Panoptic

[OneOfOne (Trevor)]

Well I think we all know, on the east coast at least, that last night was the first clear night in I don't know how long (sorry if it wasn't clear for you, but Melbourne was at least). I set the scope up last night and was out for a couple of hours until my little tootsies had had enough.

First swung around to Omega Centauri and dropped in my old Celestron 16mm and 9mm and took note of the field of view, clarity etc. The view wasn't too bad, remember that my backyard is dark enough that I could read the text on the eyepieces without a torch, I could just about read the newspaper! In fact, I could barely make out my laser when I was aligning the scope initially.

Then I dropped in the XW10, fantastic view, tack sharp. Dropped in the 14, also sharp, the difference in FOV compared to the Plossls was unbelievable. Pano, couldn't see a lot of detail in the cluster but this is because the magnification was getting quite low but could see the whole area around the cluster. Over the next few minutes I tried out a few large clusters that would fill the view, can't remember the numbers of most of them. I did notice that near the edge of the 14 there appears to be a bit of "out of focus", it appears to be some sort of coma as all the stars had little tails pointing away from the centre. I would be interested to see if a Paracorr would fix it (Santa? I WILL be good). As for the 10, I think I would have to say...brilliant!

After about half an hour I noticed that my new eyepieces were showing many more stars than the old ones, however, after checking them out I found they were getting fogged up. A quick blast with the hairdryer and I was back in business...for a little while. Eventually I was happy enough with the improvement that I didn't bother to use any of the old eyepieces, however, during the two hours or so the Pentax's did not fog up once! I find this amazing for such a large piece of glass...this is a bonus I was not expecting (they do say on the website that they are "fog proof"..they are!) I think they definately show slightly more stars than the Celestrons, these are "kit" eyepieces and appear to be Omni's? (mid level), however, the Celestrons are still quite good and have no major defects themselves, but for the price of one Pentax I got the whole kit.

Swung around to so many things I can't remember all of them but including Wild Duck, Swan, Triffid and Eagle (couldn't see a cracker), Blue Planetary (definately blue), Neptune (about 5 degrees above the neighbours roof, so couldn't see much), Jupiter (excellent but surrounded by some glow, some high level cloud I think), Sombrero (faint but noticable), tried Carina but the scope just pointed at the neighbours lounge window, Jewel Box.

All in all, the view is amazing, very clear, excellent contrast. A bit of a problem initially with blacking out but you soon get used to where to put your eye. I am hoping for a couple more nights of viewing before the cloud comes back around Sunday. I didn't get to use the 24 Pano much, but then again I mainly used the 9&15 Celestrons and only rarely the 20 or 32, which is what the 24 replaces. I didn't get to use the Powermate much as the view really wasn't clear enough to get the benefit of the extra magnification. I tried it with the 10 on Jupiter, but the detail was just washed out and focus...well there wasn't any!

I think a 7 would be nice!

[wavelandscott (Scott)]

Originally Posted by OneOfOne

I think they definately show slightly more stars than the Celestrons, these are "kit" eyepieces and appear to be Omni's? (mid level), however, the Celestrons are still quite good and have no major defects themselves, but for the price of one Pentax I got the whole kit.

I think a 7 would be nice!

Nice update...I am glad you had some clear skies and a good night!...but am a bit jealous...

I have the 7 mm Pentax and it is a fine eyepiece...

I did want to comment on your comparison between the Celestron kit and the Pentax (or in my opinion any "high end" eyepiece) as I think it is an important thing for "newbies" to note...my experience is similar to yours in that the difference between good "mid level" and top end is only slight...

Many of us, myself included, try and too quickly jump into the expensive end of town to buy the "best" without fully utilizing the capabilities of our otherwise very serviceable gear...

Today even the mid-level "value priced" available gear is quite good and many times better than our forebears in this hobby were using just a few years ago...(as an aside can you even imagine what Gallelio or Messier could have done with an Obsession/Takahashi scope and TV/Pentax eyepieces?)

I do own a number of TV/Pentax eyepieces (and plan to add more over time wife permitting of course)...but I do want to make sure that people new to the hobby understand that the difference between good and great is incremental and that for many of us the weakest link in the optic chain is not the glass but the grey matter in our respective heads...Many of us early in our observing life may not even notice the difference other than the cost

There is no need to buy the expensive stuff to particiapte and enjoy this hobby...If you got the dough spend away (it helps the economy) but don't be afraid to get into the hobby because you think you must buy the most expensive gear...you don't

Clear (and value priced) Skies All,

[OneOfOne (Trevor)]

My thoughts exactly, I actually expected that the Pentax would blow the others away, but didn't! I think the quality is definately better in the Pentax, but the stars still appear as stars in the cheaper ones. Much the same appearance....just dots, they may be slightly brighter or smaller in a Pentax, but just dots none the less. The quality of the image in my old eyepieces is quite reasonable across the field, but if you could extend the 50 degree field to the 70 degrees of the Pentax, I think you would see a bigger difference, but of course you can't do this, but you know what I mean. It's like the field stop covers the imperfections that would be visible if it were bigger!

[mickoking]

Originally Posted by wavelandscott

There is no need to buy the expensive stuff to particiapte and enjoy this hobby...If you got the dough spend away (it helps the economy) but don't be afraid to get into the hobby because you think you must buy the most expensive gear...you don't

Good advice

[Starkler (Geoff)]

Originally Posted by OneOfOne

The quality of the image in my old eyepieces is quite reasonable across the field, but if you could extend the 50 degree field to the 70 degrees of the Pentax, I think you would see a bigger difference

Thats it. When you want a well corrected wide field view is when it cost the big $. If you are content with 45 or 50 degree fov, its hard to beat a high quality plossl or orthoscopic which can be had for a fraction of the price.

Having said that, I think with the Pentax you really get it all. Sharpness, contrast, wide fov and comfortable eye relief all in one package