Eyepieces section for SCT owners?

[buddsy]

I'm wondering if a separate area for eyepieces by type of scope would be helpful.

I think it would as I have been going round and round and round.

I've been searching here as well as all the other forums and as soon as I find the EP I decide to buy I read another review where people will say its useless!

In the last few days I've come to realise an EP that works well in a forgiving SCT might not be so good in Newt

At the moment I have a Luminos 19mm & a Hyperion 17 for my CPC 925

I bought the hyperion with the 14 and 28 rings mainly to use with my T adaptor and DSLR camera.

In the last few nights I've had great views of DSO M3, M5, M10, M89, M91 etc.

Recently I've become more interested in visual. I bought the Luminos as I was going to but the ES18mm 82deg but have read mixed reviews and when it was out of stock I got the luminos.

I actually like the luminos. Seems pretty good to me.

Im looking for a high power to view planets and im fairly settled on the Morpheus 9mm

I also fancy a 30-34 mm and am thinking about the ES30mm 82Deg

As I said previously as a SCT owner I am finding it hard to get clear information that suits my scope and the messages mainly coming from the Newt owners seem to be confounding the issue.

Be interested in your thoughts

buddsy

[Ylem]

My favourite is my 24mm 68°
It's an Orion, but I think it's a Baader Hyperion.
I also have the 17mm

This should be a good thread because I am also looking on expanding my arsenal

[John Baars]

It may be not so difficult as you might think.
It all has to to with the f/- rating of the optical system, not with the type of the system.

-f/4- f/6 Only premium eyepieces are made to handle such a steep light cone effectively. Mostly, they have a build in Smyth-lens (say a barlow that is calculated for the particular f of the eyepiece. They have at least four or more groups of lenses. (of which one of them is the barlow)

- f/7- f/10 They look premium, but have no build in barlow. Mostly three groups of lenses.

- From f/11 Allmost all eyepieces can handle that lightcone. ( with the exception of plastic kit-lenses in children's toy department-store telescopes)

Prices accordingly and are a reasonable indication. Personally I am not impressed by the performance of some popular eyepieces advised.

[pakarinen]

If you go over to Cloudy Nights eyepiece forum, there's a guy who posts an Excel sheet for EPs - manufacturer, size, price, magnification, eye relief, FOV, elements, and on and on.

The nice thing is you can enter the focal length for your scope and have all the info (maybe too much) at a glance. And since it's in Exccel format, you can sort the data - I usually sort by manufacturer and then eye relief since I wear my glasses now while observing. FWIW.

[buddsy]

It may be not so difficult as you might think.
It all has to to with the f/- rating of the optical system, not with the type of the system.

You are correct but it comes down to filtering the information.

If I search Luminos EP I come up with many threads most of which say its awful. When I read carefully I see a few posts saying they quite like it which in the main looking seems to be people with F10+ scopes which happen to be SCT in the main.

Obviously some people have more than one scope but for me trying to get to the bottom of which EP will work well with my Celestron CPC its not easy...reading bad comments even when they wouldn't apply to me still puts me off.

I just think a small section dedicated to EP selection for SCT (or F10+ if you would rather) could be helpful.


buddsy

[buddsy]

So I like the comfort of my 19mm Luminos

Looking at the:-

ES 68 34mm £209.00
ES 82 30mm £276.00

How do they compare to the

Luminos 31mm £229.00

Anyone have experience with their SCT?

buddsy

[Lady Fraktor]

Both of these eyepieces in your telescope will give almost the same exit pupil and magnification
For quality I expect the ES is slightly better than the Celestron Luminos though all three will work fine in your long focal length telescope.

[Lady Fraktor]

It may be not so difficult as you might think.
It all has to to with the f/- rating of the optical system, not with the type of the system.

You are correct but it comes down to filtering the information.

If I search Luminos EP I come up with many threads most of which say its awful. When I read carefully I see a few posts saying they quite like it which in the main looking seems to be people with F10+ scopes which happen to be SCT in the main.

Obviously some people have more than one scope but for me trying to get to the bottom of which EP will work well with my Celestron CPC its not easy...reading bad comments even when they wouldn't apply to me still puts me off.

I just think a small section dedicated to EP selection for SCT (or F10+ if you would rather) could be helpful.


buddsy

At f/10 almost all eyepieces will work reasonably well or better, that is the advantage of telescope focal length, a lot of eyepieces are actually designed to work best at f/7 or slower and when you put them in a f/5 telescope the various aberrations are quite visible.
So at f/10 you do not need highly corrected, expensive eyepieces to achieve good views that a Newtonian requires nor do you need to purchase expensive add ons such as Parracors to deal with the coma.

Tthis article I wrote a while ago may help you with some pointers when choosing focal lengths. viewtopic.php?f=34&t=550

[buddsy]

Many thanks for your replies Lady Fraktor.

I did read your article earlier today and it is very helpful as is pakarinen link.

Although it seems most EPs will work fine with my telescope I am still interested in finding out the thoughts of other members with similar telescopes to my own. Although I do appreciate the qualities I am curious about such as viewing comfort and FOV maybe more a choice of a personal preference.

thanks again

buddsy

[Bigzmey]

Hi Buddsy
We, SCT owners, have it good. Due to slow focal ratio even simple EP designs work nicely in SCTs.

Looking at your choices ES 68 34mm and 82 30mm are better quality EPs compared to Luminos 31mm. However, all three are very heavy (1kg+).

I went different route and got Baader Hyperion Aspheric 36mm and 31mm. I love them in all my scopes, refractors and SCTs. Having both for the same scope is redundant. For SCT I prefer 36mm.

[buddsy]

We, SCT owners, have it good. Due to slow focal ratio even simple EP designs work nicely in SCTs.

Looking at your choices ES 68 34mm and 82 30mm are better quality EPs compared to Luminos 31mm. However, all three are very heavy (1kg+).

I went different route and got Baader Hyperion Aspheric 36mm and 31mm. I love them in all my scopes, refractors and SCTs. Having both for the same scope is redundant. For SCT I prefer 36mm.

Hi Bigzmey

Yes we are lucky in that respect for sure.

I think Ive come to the conclusion the reason I like my Lumnos 19 more than my 17mm Hyperion is I like the wider view. Also I find the Hyperion eyepiece a bit rubbish. When ever I try to unfold it, it comes off and it never feels very positive that I have it back on properly.

I do like the other qualities of the Baader products...Ive just been to a local supplier who had a good deal on a Morpheus 9mm

The rainclouds are building for the next few weeks as I type!

At this point I Im thinking of buying a ES 30mm 82deg next. Weight is not usually a problem for me on the twin fork CPC but we will see!

buddsy

[JayTee]

Just so you know, the ES 30mm 82° AFOV has been affectionately nicknamed "The Holy Hand Grenade". You will see why the second you pick it up.

Cheers,
JT

[buddsy]

Just so you know, the ES 30mm 82° AFOV has been affectionately nicknamed "The Holy Hand Grenade". You will see why the second you pick it up.

Hi JayTee

I have read this before and under stand its a big ole beast.

I wonder of the Holy implies its "Holy grail" like or just "Holy shamoly" its big!


Last night out here in Norwich it was sort of clear so I got my kit out. By 10.00 pm as it got dark the seeing became very poor.

Cloud cover came in but I was able to just about see Arcturus & Vega so set up 2 star alignment on them using the Luminos 19mm

I popped in my new Morpheus 9mm and viewed Arcturus. Despite the cloud cover I was able to get the feeling of the EP and comfort was great. For me I found putting the eye cup extension piece in is perfect for me. The 78 deg is the max I can see with my eyes. I notice on my 19mm Luminos 82 deg I have to kind of move my head to look around to see stars at the edges. With the 78 deg I can see all up to the edge. The eye lens at the top is huge. I did view with out the eye cup for a bit and with out that the window into space looks even bigger.

I did slew to M3 but could only just make it out.

Overall I am very happy with this new EP.

Praying for clear skies for all.

buddsy

[Lady Fraktor]

The Holy part is from the size and weight of the eyepiece.
Some people have had balance issues with their telescopes, at 2.2lbs it is a bit heavy though not as heavy as the first version.

[JayTee]

I wonder if the Holy implies its "Holy grail" like or just "Holy shamoly" it's big!

BOTH!!!

[buddsy]

At the moment my plan its to basically have 3 EPs.

My 9mm Morpheus
A 17.5mm Morpheus (which Im planning to buy soon)
A wide Low Mag which I am looking it to at the moment.

Funnily enough Im almost doing as Albert Nagler had suggested for a 8" SCT

http://www.televue.com/engine/TV3b_page ... vice&id=97


I have been wondering if the ES82 30mm or the ES68 34mm are too heavy for my CPC as I cant move the OT forward to counter the weight?

Anyone have experience of this?

There are a couple of light weight options that seem to have pretty good ratings for SCT use. Much cheaper than the ES or Televue route. As Im only planning on buying a few EPs I don't mind spending a bit more. I haven't ruled out a Panoptic 35mm as that seems to have consistently good results.

One thing Im keen on is something which is comfortable to use.

These other options are:-

Williams Optics SWAN 40mm - Very economical.

Baader Aspherical 36mm - I didn't mind the Hyperion but I didn't find it as nice as the Morpheus.

Anyone have any experience with these EPs in a SCT?

Thanks in advance.

buddsy

[buddsy]

I have another 3 to add into the mix! :-)

Im leaning away from the Baader Aspherical & The Williams Optics Swan.

But now also thinking about the-

Pentax XW 30mm
Pentax XW 40mm
APM UFF 30mm

All 3 seem to be quality EPs but the APM is the cheaper.

Comfort is still an important factor for me.

buddsy

[Bigzmey]

I have another 3 to add into the mix! :-)

Im leaning away from the Baader Aspherical & The Williams Optics Swan.

But now also thinking about the-

Pentax XW 30mm
Pentax XW 40mm
APM UFF 30mm

All 3 seem to be quality EPs but the APM is the cheaper.

Comfort is still an important factor for me.

buddsy

Hi Buddsy

I don't have Pentax XWs 30mm and 40mm (mainly because of the weight). But I have the rest of XW set and 10mm, 14mm and 20mm are my favorite and most used EPs in SCTs scopes. IMO they are the best EPs for DSOs out of many EP lines I have tried over the years.

Good quality 20mm EP is must have for SCTs since it delivers 2mm exit pupil. For majority of DSOs it is the optimal exit pupil.

30mm EP is the next natural step since it gives you 50% decrease in power and 3mm exit pupil. TV Panoptics 27mm or Baader Aspheric 31mm are my recommendations. There are other good quality EPs in this range (XW 30mm, TV Nagler/ES 82mm 30mm, etc.) but they are too heavy for my taste. My goal is to keep range of EPs I use during the session in the similar weight range, so you don't need to rebalance scope every time you change EPs.

Now, stepping down 40mm is too close to 30mm. From my experience I would suggest EP in 50-55mm range instead. A good quality 2" Plossl like TV 55mm.

[Peacemakeresq]

I have been shooting in the dark on eyepieces. (where else would you shoot in this milieu?) First I bought the 2” eye piece kit from Celestron, that includes a 40mm, 32mm & 26 mm with a 2x Barlow and some planetary filters. Then I bought 2 Meade MWA 100 Degree eyepieces, 15 & 21mm; and finally a Baader Planetarium 4x zoom. Oh yeah and a Celestron 2.5 Barlow as well as 2 more moderately priced filters, an O III, and a Nebula filter. These were incremental purchases. I am enjoying them, but I don’t know how they compare to other similarly priced pieces. In the future I hope to confer with more knowledgeable hobbyist before I embark on anymore reckless shopping sprees.

[buddsy]

Good quality 20mm EP is must have for SCTs since it delivers 2mm exit pupil. For majority of DSOs it is the optimal exit pupil.

Now, stepping down 40mm is too close to 30mm. From my experience I would suggest EP in 50-55mm range instead. A good quality 2" Plossl like TV 55mm.

Hi Bgzmey

Im thinking the 17.5 Morpheus will provide for the 20mm range with 2MM Exit?


Im not sure if I have this correct but on the FOV calculators the TV55 gives me the same view as the 40mm Pentax?

I will attach an image from the FOV calculator with my 9mm & a 17.5mm

From that it looks like equal steps out to the Pentax 30 & 40...Im not buying 2 EPs though!

The ES82 30mm looks somewhere in between.

The dark Blue is the 55mm Plossl

Cheers buddsy