TheSkySearchers

A new competitor to my other widefields. 2", 31.5mm, 90° FOV . Tonite skies are to be average / above average, it will get a good testing against my ......... ? I will use a couple of different size scopes.

Is this an Antares 2" 31.5mm 90 Degrees Speers-Waler Series2? I am very curious about your findings! I hope it is really good.

Happy observing!

Should be interesting. 6 elements. 10mm ER.

Just came in from doing a little observing under Bortle 5 - scrapping against Bortle 4 skies. With my 80mm, f6 refractor the 31.5 mm performed beautively with pin point stars practicaly edge to edge in a 6° TFOV. The Trifid and Lagoon Nebulas and the Eagle and Swan Nebulas looked remarkably great in single FOV's with room to spare. M13 at zenith and the Dumbell rising were well defined at 15x. This, so far, is a real keeper with its wide, clear views. It may replace my 2" 40mm WO SWAN, 72° as my finder ep ?

A friend has been looking at this eyepiece, I will let him know your thoughts.

For the price you are getting a lot. To me its a steal. To others ?

Went out for a second test of this ep last nite between 11:30-12:30, this time using my 80mm, f11.4 refractor. Skies in my urban backyard, Bortle 5, were average or a bit above and the SQM-L was reading 19.9-20.2 depending where aimed. My scope / eyepiece put out 29x with a 3.1° TFOV. I hit the same objects as the previous session above plus several double stars, mainly in Scorpius but not all were and as an added bonus I had a look at the Coathanger. All were bright and contrasty only larger. This ep shows pin point stars over at least 90% of the FOV with negligible distortion, if any. I could still see the Lagoon and Trifid Nebulas in one fov but just barely, I had to turn my head to the edges to catch it all. The double stars split nicely and the Coathanger stretched out from edge to edge, pin point and wonderful. As a side test I put in my 2" Burgess CRX Enhancement filter and there is no doubt it took the same objects, their views up another level, as I have posted before. I may have to find a new home for my 2" 40mm WO SWAN finder soon, lol.

Save your money peeps. I bought this EP based on a couple of reviews. It was sold within a week after buying it. Severe astigmatism and field curvature in a coma corrected 10 inch F/4.7 Orion Intelliscope. (F/5.17). Extremely short eye relief as well. I'd be surprised it it even worked at F/10.

For the record, those deep sky objects seen above will be a mere "blip" in the sky with no detail, (very small), at only 15x, lol.

Yes, this post was from last year, but I just wanted to inform others who maybe considering buying this eyepiece for a short FL Newtonian. AVOID !!!!

It works quite well in my friend Celestron 120mm f/5 refractor.
Perhaps there was some mis-alignment with your eyepiece?

Lady Fraktor wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 2:16 pm It works quite well in my friend Celestron 120mm f/5 refractor.
Perhaps there was some mis-alignment with your eyepiece?

Well said, thats exactly the story ! With an ep that size why would anyone laugh at 15x - 20x, you don't with 15 x 70 binos, many great nite sky objects look much better at low powers, just ask my f5.4-5.5 refractors ! Theres an old saying try before you believe not to mention the excellent price for a 2" eyepiece. Antares has been turning out astro gear for a long time right here in Canada !

CygnusX-1 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 11:45 am 31mm pic 3.JPGSave your money peeps. I bought this EP based on a couple of reviews. It was sold within a week after buying it. Severe astigmatism and field curvature in a coma corrected 10 inch F/4.7 Orion Intelliscope. (F/5.17). Extremely short eye relief as well. I'd be surprised it it even worked at F/10.

For the record, those deep sky objects seen above will be a mere "blip" in the sky with no detail, (very small), at only 15x, lol.

Yes, this post was from last year, but I just wanted to inform others who maybe considering buying this eyepiece for a short FL Newtonian. AVOID !!!!

Most SWAs on the market are based on simple EP designs (like Erfle and Konig) which don't work well in fast DOBs and perform much better in refractors and CATs. DOBs/Newts have different (opposite) to refractors and CATs field curvature and Erfle/Konig exaggerate that in Newts, but compensate in refractors and CATs.

If you like a widefield which works well in fast DOBs/Newts you should go with well corrected designs like ES 82. Always match EP design to the scope type.

LDW47 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 7:55 pm

Lady Fraktor wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 2:16 pm It works quite well in my friend Celestron 120mm f/5 refractor.
Perhaps there was some mis-alignment with your eyepiece?

Well said, thats exactly the story ! With an ep that size why would anyone laugh at 15x - 20x, you don't with 15 x 70 binos, many great nite sky objects look much better at low powers, just ask my f5.4-5.5 refractors ! Theres an old saying try before you believe not to mention the excellent price for a 2" eyepiece. Antares has been turning out astro gear for a long time right here in Canada !

Try before you buy does not apply here. I've owned 8x, 10, 12x, 15x, 20x binoculars. It's a totally different ball game when comparing binoculars to a telescope. Completely different observing experience altogether. Any of those magnifications I just mentioned are ok in binoculars, (except for 8x, which I personally find far too small a scale for astronomy and never use them any more). As far as "Antares goes, I have also owned the Speers Waler Zoom, (The one with the red lettering). Great zoom, but a lot of their eyepieces, (IME), have been plagued with black flakes in the view, and shoddy crafstmanship. Now I am not saying ALL of their gear is junk.....just a few were. The 31mm Isn't something one would want to use anywhere below F/10, unless you like looking at seagulls every time a DSO enters the edge of the field. The eyepiece I had was perfectly fine. (The one I had was made well). They just don't jive at F/5. Whoever says they are fine at F/5 did NOT try it in a REFLECTOR. It sucked really bad in my 10" Orion F/4.7 with coma corrector.

Bigzmey wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 8:30 pm

CygnusX-1 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 11:45 am 31mm pic 3.JPGSave your money peeps. I bought this EP based on a couple of reviews. It was sold within a week after buying it. Severe astigmatism and field curvature in a coma corrected 10 inch F/4.7 Orion Intelliscope. (F/5.17). Extremely short eye relief as well. I'd be surprised it it even worked at F/10.

For the record, those deep sky objects seen above will be a mere "blip" in the sky with no detail, (very small), at only 15x, lol.

Yes, this post was from last year, but I just wanted to inform others who maybe considering buying this eyepiece for a short FL Newtonian. AVOID !!!!

Most SWAs on the market are based on simple EP designs (like Erfle and Konig) which don't work well in fast DOBs and perform much better in refractors and CATs. DOBs/Newts have different (opposite) to refractors and CATs field curvature and Erfle/Konig exaggerate that in Newts, but compensate in refractors and CATs.

If you like a widefield which works well in fast DOBs/Newts you should go with well corrected designs like ES 82. Always match EP design to the scope type.

BINGO !!! We have a BINGO !!! LOL

I might mention that Ramsden and Huygens eyepieces were designed in the era when f/15 would have been considered a "fast" f/ratio.
When Kellners, Plössls, most König designs, Erfles, Abbe orthoscopics, and the innumerable odd types were designed, f/10 to f/12 was normal and f/8 would have been considered "fast".
So it is not at all unusual that those designs don't work well in today's f/4-f/7 scopes.

More modern designs came out when faster scopes had become common, so they work better in faster scopes.
That is true, by the way, whether the scope is a refractor or reflector. Many of the older designs don't work well in a completely flat field f/5 refractor
because the oblique rays in the light cone from the primary objective induces aberrations in the eyepiece. The problem is the f/ratio, not the scope type.

But, here's the thing: eyepieces designed to work well at f/4 also work fine at f/8, f/12, f/15, while the reverse is not true.
Fortunately, many of the designs from yesteryear have been modified to work better in faster scopes, or there would be very few designs of eyepieces alive today.

But for their low cost of production, the older designs should have disappeared long ago.
Only if you have and use long f/ratio scopes (like SCTs, MCTs, and long refractors) should you look at the simpler designs.

One of the ironies of the market is that people often buy short, fast, dobsonian telescopes because they are inexpensive, yet to produce high quality images in the eyepieces from edge to edge,
the most expensive eyepieces are required. The good news is that the price of high end eyepieces have crept downward to where, today, excellent eyepieces for fast scopes can be obtained
for under £200. It is even true for £100 as long as you keep the apparent field narrow.
As they say: Well corrected in fast f/ratios, inexpensive, wide field--pick any two.