TheSkySearchers

I was looking for binoviewer-friendly wide field EPs in 25mm range. I have ES68 24mm, which is a very nice EP, but too fat for BV. APM UFF 24mm is even wider, not sure how people manage those in BVs. I know people like TV Panoptic 24mm in BVs but the ER is too tight for my liking.

At the end I have narrowed down my search to ES62 26mm. Waiting for delivery on one. If it checks all my boxes I will get another for the pair. Figured out it is a good time to create a thread for people to share their experiences for this EP line.

Thanks Bigzmey. I am also interested in the opinions of others

Hi Bigz! I’m looking forward to hearing how the 26mm works out for you. I have a 24 Panoptic but I’m still in the learning curve with my WO’s so I’m playing around with some Meade 4000 series eyepieces right now to see how that works before spending any more. I hope it’s what you’re looking for!

I now have a full set of the ES 62 eyepieces. They appear to be very solid performers. So far, I have used them only with my Meade LX 85 R6 reflector OTA.

I finally had a very good sky one night when the Moon was roughly half lit. Using that OTA, my KLEE 2.2X Barlow (has parabological correction with its sweet spot at f/4.25), and the 5.5mm eyepiece, I was able to obtain what I consider a very acceptable view at 300X. Naturally, a six inch APO refractor would do better than my six inch f/5 reflector with a 35% obstruction. But, considering the scope, the Barlow and eyepiece were definitely doing their job well.

I believe this eyepiece series is a desentant of the Meade 5000 series 5 and 6 element Plossels. In one conversation I had with someone who should know, the Meade eyepieces were called Masumaya Clones. I believe the Bresser 60 eyepieces were the next generation, and the ES 62 series is the latest version.

Common features include: Exactly the same focal lengths, and parfocal through both the Meade and ES series, all three versions I believe were made by the same manufacturer if not from exactly the same factory.

I believe the optical formula has been modified at least in the ES as compared to the Meade version due to the 9mm ES eyepiece having six elements instead of the five elements of the Meade version. There are slight improvements in some of the eyepieces in terms of the image near the outer edge. If for no other reason, the changes would be necessary to make that little bit of extra field acceptable to get 62 degrees, or they would most likely have already been 62 degrees instead of 60 in the Meade and Bresser versions. Though the differences tend to be small, the amount of imperfection in that last bit of image around the outside of the 26mm field is better with the ES compared to my Meade eyepiece, with my f/5 reflector.

Though my eyes tend to favor the coatings Meade had on these eyepieces as being "prettier" in a way I cannot put into words, there is a subtle difference with the ES eyepieces that has under some conditions allowed me to pick out details in the M66 galaxy that I could not quite as well with the Meade. This was with my KLEE 2.2X Barlow, at a pupil size of 1.27mm. The difference is subtle. With the design of the Meade eyepieces and coatings probably being more than ten years older than the ES eyepieces, I think someone would learn how to do things a little bit better along the way.

I have the impression that the ES eyepieces in my posession are a very tiny bit sharper when the sky is good enough, but the difference is very small and may just be my imagination. Someone with better eyesight and visual abilities will have to make any firm conclusion.

I will be making some comparisons with a Meade Infinity 102 refractor later, when sky conditions allow.

If Explore Scientific ever saw fit to make additional focal lengths in between the existing ones, I am thinking 7, 11, 17, and 23mm focal lengths, I would certainly purchase them. They would fit in with my KLEE 2.2X Barlow to make a wonderful system for my f/5 reflectors.

YEs, the Meade 5000 were designs that Meade cloned from the Masuyama design which was cloned from the Zeiss Astroplanokular which was derived, not cloned, from the Plössl design. Zeiss had a patent IIRC. Introduced in the 1950s the Zeiss design was cloned and market by other folks as a 5 element Plössl in order to make patent enforcement more difficult.

ES uses different body style, but in terms of optical design and performance there are many similarities between ES and Meade lines. ES82 and Meade 5000 UWA, ES68 and Meade 5000 SWA are near identical. In this light ES62 been derivative of Meade 5000 Plossls makes sense. I wonder now of what Meade line ES52 are modeled off?

10538 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 11:35 am Hi Bigz! I’m looking forward to hearing how the 26mm works out for you. I have a 24 Panoptic but I’m still in the learning curve with my WO’s so I’m playing around with some Meade 4000 series eyepieces right now to see how that works before spending any more. I hope it’s what you’re looking for!

Unfortunately, ES62 turned out to be too wide to work for me in binoviewers. But this applies to most of modern EP designs I have tried, so other people with different face features may have better luck.

At this point I am building my binoviewer set from Orthos, Plossls and Pentax XFs

I will still keep single ES62 26mm since it covers nicely the missing FL in TV Delites set I have.

If you need any eyepieces with shorter focal lengths than the ES 62 26mm, and are going to buy something, you might look at the shorter focal lengths of the ES 62 series. The diameter of the 20mm is smaller than the 26 and the 14mm is smaller still. I would have to go look, but I am remembering the 9 and 5.5mm are the same diameter as the 14mm. The 5.5, 9, and 14mm may be slightly larger in diameter than a regular Ploessel, but not much.

The ES 52mm series seems to be their own thing. I know they are not trimmed down versions of the 62 series.....they require more in-focus. I get the feeling that one of the goals of the 52 series is getting a very flat field in a fairly low priced eyepiece.....a lot like a good Ploessel with the field curvature issue fixed.

While I was out this evening, I decided to measure the diameters of the ES 62 eyepiece bodies. I just put them on a yard stick for a casual measurement. The 26mm measured 1 7/8 inches, the 20mm is 1 5/8 inches, the rest of them are about 1 1/2 inches in diameter.

notFritzArgelander wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 4:19 am YEs, the Meade 5000 were designs that Meade cloned from the Masuyama design which was cloned from the Zeiss Astroplanokular which was derived, not cloned, from the Plössl design. Zeiss had a patent IIRC. Introduced in the 1950s the Zeiss design was cloned and market by other folks as a 5 element Plössl in order to make patent enforcement more difficult.

I seem to recall reading, in some old in-depth threads about them, that Zeiss actually licensed the Japanese firm of Ohi Optics (Masuyama) to make 2:1:2 eyepieces of the Astroplan configuration.
Ohi Optics still makes them today under the Masuyama label, though they are different in apparent field (Masuyama-san passed on years ago).
In the late '80s and early '90s, they made them for Antares, Omcon, Orion, Tuthill, Parks, Celestron, and Baader.
The Meades were made in Japan by Kowa.
When Meade went to JingHua Optical in China to have eyepieces made, the S5000 copied the same 2:1:2 design, but expanded the afov to 60° from 50°.
They're now long-gone.

Today, the 50° design is still sold by Takahashi (and still made in Japan) as the LE eyepieces, though the actual manufacturer is unknown by anyone I've heard from.

Don Pensack wrote: ↑Wed May 26, 2021 3:24 pm

notFritzArgelander wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 4:19 am YEs, the Meade 5000 were designs that Meade cloned from the Masuyama design which was cloned from the Zeiss Astroplanokular which was derived, not cloned, from the Plössl design. Zeiss had a patent IIRC. Introduced in the 1950s the Zeiss design was cloned and market by other folks as a 5 element Plössl in order to make patent enforcement more difficult.

I seem to recall reading, in some old in-depth threads about them, that Zeiss actually licensed the Japanese firm of Ohi Optics (Masuyama) to make 2:1:2 eyepieces of the Astroplan configuration.
Ohi Optics still makes them today under the Masuyama label, though they are different in apparent field (Masuyama-san passed on years ago).
In the late '80s and early '90s, they made them for Antares, Omcon, Orion, Tuthill, Parks, Celestron, and Baader.
The Meades were made in Japan by Kowa.
When Meade went to JingHua Optical in China to have eyepieces made, the S5000 copied the same 2:1:2 design, but expanded the afov to 60° from 50°.
They're now long-gone.

Today, the 50° design is still sold by Takahashi (and still made in Japan) as the LE eyepieces, though the actual manufacturer is unknown by anyone I've heard from.

Thanks for the history!

I have a 26mm ES62. Very comfy to use. Better at higher, slower focal ratios though, so fine for Cassegrains & longish FL refractors.