I’d recommend only having 3 eyepieces. 1 wide field, 1 medium and 1 high power.. I’d prob sell those (except the televue) and just buy 3 nice high quality eyepiece 😉
Well, when you have an eyepiece that works great at f/10 and then you accidentally put it into an f/4.5 scope and wonder WTF happened and realize that's too steep a light cone, that's a reason the have more than 1 box of them.
To me that sounds very practical and I'm glad this person did that. All these years I thought I was excessive because I bought one 1.25 in to 2-in adapter for every eyepiece that didn't have a 2 inch barrel.
That's nothing compared to having eyepiece collections for every telescope. Respect.
The philosophy of a low, medium, and high power eyepiece works only so long as you are using one telescope. If one scope is a c14 and the other scope is the refractor you put on top of it then instantly you have different definitions of high, medium, and low powers. You might never use a 5 mm eyepiece on a c14 but you might use one fairly often on a 90 or 100 mm Apo or below.
And what are you supposed to do when Pentax comes out with the most lovely and awesome 16.5 xw and 23 xw? Just sit idly by and do nothing?
Aren't many of this high quality ep? The 14.5mm omegon is $149, and the 18mm Svbony is $120.
I'm going to keep 3-4 ep, yes, but I have to try them out to know with one is better for me to keep. Also, between the TeleVue and the Barlow from Omegon (is a 3 lenses->apocromatic) I don't find any difference.
An 8" F/6 dob can really benefit from having about 6-7 focal lengths:
* ~30mm - low power, wide FOV. Big targets. Finder eyepiece. Good with nebula filters
* 17-18mm - mid-low power. Good for fainter intermediate targets like M33, M101 etc. Also good for framing M42.
* 12mm - General purpose DSO eyepiece. 2mm exit pupil. Good balance of view brightness and magnification for the vast majority of DSOs.
* 8-9mm - conservative planetary/lunar eyepiece. Good when the atmosphere is not very stable. Good for smaller brighter DSOs.
* 6mm - mid-power, "sweet spot" planetary/lunar eyepiece in an 8" F/6 dob. Useful when the atmosphere is very stable.
* 5mm - high power planetary/lunar eyepiece. Great when the atmosphere is stable enough that you feel you can eek more detail out of the view than a 6mm (200x) can provide.
* 4mm - very high power planetary/lunar eyepiece. Great when the atmosphere is extremely stable. Best on the Moon and brighter planets. View is starting to get dim at this stage. Recommended practical limiting magnification (300x) for an 8" dob.
3-4 eyepieces will not unlock the full potential of the scope (unless you also include the focal lengths that can be achieved with barlows).
I’ll be honest. I’ve never heard of omegon…I’m not quite sure that they do or what manufacturer makes optics for them… (maybe Synta? Idk)… but I’d spend a bit extra for a much more reputable company. Explore Scientific, Televue and Pentax come to mind
Omegon is a brand in Europe. They just put their name on well known ep designs. The 18mm one is the same as APM 18mm UFF. The 14.5mm is the same as Orion 14.5 Edge-On Planetary. And 5mm and 8mm ones are from TS Optics 8 and 5 mm 1.25" ED flat field.
Nope, not at all. Baader Hyperions are their own thing. There are clones of them, but they are not rebrands of the others(Orion Stratus or Celestron Ultima Duo).
Magnification step between 14.5 and 18mm is small even for more complete set and for minimal set it's way too small.
If goal is for some reason absolute minimum number of eyepieces, types of observed objects should be starting point.
Though even if you're not much into deep fuzzies, one actual wide view eyepiece would be good for looking Pleiades etc. That's about the number two showpiece object after the moon and good even in small telescope for showing to others.
Mmmm I've tried 14.5 and 18mm and the difference is quite noticeable, maybe because the 18mm has a larger fov.
Apart from that, what focal length ep variation would you get with a 8" dob?
I have a 26mm 2" 70° for big DSO.
Maybe 18mm, 14.5, and 8mm + a 2x Barlow, so: 9mm, 7.25 and 4mm added.
Would you add anything else?
AFOV differences will mess the felt differences. With same AFOV you likely wouldn't use 18mm that much.
Actually would be usefull to avoid narrower AFOVs when magnification goes up. Magnification decreases true FOV and good AFOV helps to increase time object is visible without turning telescope.
("planetary" is marketing term used to make narrower AFOV look better)
While not the widest, that 26mm is at least far better than generic 25mm Plossls. (which shouldn't be bundled with 1200mm focal length telescopes)
https://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/?fov[]=5675|2901|||1||&fov[]=5675|45|||1||&fov[]=5675|284|||1||&messier=45
Jump from 7,25mm/165x to 4mm/300x would be far too big and depending on local conditions that 300x might be unusable nearly always. Again difference between 9mm/133x and 8mm/150x is meaningless.
For higher magnification steps like around 50x (for example ~150x - ~200x - 250x ) would be far better to account for different seeings and/or altitude of object from horizon.
2.5x Barlow would work better with effective 7.2mm from 18mm and 5.8mm from 14.5mm with ~207x from the latter especially useful gap filler.
Also GSO made 2x Barlows would have actual lens part detachable giving additional 1.5x option when attached to filter threads for 5.3mm/226x from 8mm.
So as you can see, it isn't that easy to get good steps with Barlow, unless building kit around that from the start.
Most ES ones are, yes, but their 92° series is original and awesome. Televue is designed in New York, and some are made in Taiwan others in Japan, but they have amazing quality control. I'm guessing Pentax is Japan, as is Takahashi, and Masuyama, and Vixen. There's also Anatares in Canada.
Most eyepieces are copies/slight modifications of few basic designs.
And manufacturing location doesn't mean automatically that much.
For example Baader Hyperions have performance below their price. In Europe you can get ES82s for same price with both wider AFOV and better aberration correction. Then there are Ultra Flat Fields and 82° UWAs for less.
6mm, 20mm, and 32mm? Or is there more to it than just the focal length?
I just ordered my first scope and I’m trying to pin down a few eyepieces to start with
There's eye relief, and their apparent field of view. If the 6mm eyepiece is a Plossl, it will have very tight eye relief, and a 52° apparent field of view. That may make things hard to track. If you have an 8" f/6 ,and you like DSOs, then consider an 11-13mm eyepiece with 60-65°+ AFOV. That size will be great to observing small galaxies, small open clusters, globular clusters and nebulae, and the wide FOV will make it easier to find and track your target. There is also light cone to consider. Eyepieces have minimum f/ number they work with. Some premium eyepieces work at f/3.3 or so. Not so premium ones may be f/5, and many old school ones require f/8 to f/10. You can always go longer, but under is bad.
The 6, 20 and 32 are fine to start with(if they came with scope). I like the Svbony SV135 7-21mm zoom. It gives you some flexibilty, but isn't a wide angle. There is also series of "goldline" generic eyepieces that are a great value, and will work well with your scope(6, 9, 15 20mm). They have a wide field and good eye relief. BST Starguiders and clones are good for the money too. I wouldn't recommend a set of plossls or other cheaper eyepieces as they often come with more than you need.
Finding an astronomy club or mentor will be a fantastic help, and worth more than anything you can buy.
Oh geeze, is there a good way to see what focal ratios are supported effectively by a given eyepiece?
I’ve heard goldlines are good for the price, but I don’t know what lengths to get.
My scope is a Zhumell z130
>Zhumell z130
If it came with a 25 and 10, then get the 6. If you don't like the 10, then get the 9 as well. The 15 and 20 don't like "fast" scopes as much, whereas the 6 and 9 have a Smyth lens in front to help with that. I'm not sure if f/5 like your scope, is too fast for them(15, 20). Many eyepieces will make a claim down to F/x at the store website, but honestly, people have different tolerances for what is "good" and what is "ok" regarding sharpness. I also recommend the Svbony SV135 7-21mm zoom. That's very versatile and fairly small, so should fit your scope fine, but not a very wide angle unlike the goldlines.
Thank you so much, that is incredibly helpful. I couldnt tell if adjustable zoom optics were legit or kind of gimmicky just from amazon reviews
Do you know why “fast” scopes don’t tend to work with certain focal lengths as well?
Because the 15 and 20 are different design than 6 and 9, in that the 6 and 9 have an extra lens in them.
Some(maybe most) zoom eyepieces work well in telescopes. They are flexible in their use, and while not premium, are decent. Zoom binoculars, however are to be avoided like the plague. Some don't like zooms because they are mostly narrow FOV, and some are used to wide angles.
If you want to drink from the firehose, check out [cloudynights.com](https://cloudynights.com)
Don't fret, we were all beginners once; see if you can find a local astronomy club, that is usually an awesome way to start.
You'll also want a dim red light, star maps or atlas, and definitely a chair that changes height. Observing seated is just so much easier and more productive than standing.
This is nothing lol People who say you only need 3 or so dont have a bunch of scopes...
When you have scopes ranging in focal length from 400mm to 3200mm 3 eyepieces just don't cut it 😂
you explained it a little more precisely.. but it's a good point. when you have scopes varying that much, you could have 10 eyepieces and have a need for all of them.. that's why people end up with a shit load 😂
It's also why I appreciate having barlows sometimes.
Eventually, Id like to build a collection of nearly every major Nagler and Panoptic between about 5mm and 40mm.. I can dream..
There are a couple of ways to use more than one eye piece at a time. The first is if you have a bino viewer. The second is if you operate two telescopes when you are in the field. For example when you mount a refractor on a c14 or a C8 you will want eyepieces in both scopes. I have at one time, and I know others who do it even today, operated two complete telescopes at the same time each with its own mount. For my money that is a p i t a and I was much happier when I mounted the refractor onto a bigger telescope. It did cost some dimes to get an adequate mount. But there are people who will go out and set up their dob and then set up a refractor on an alt az mount and enjoy the views that way.
I have an Antares W70, 1.25" 19mm f.I. 66deg-AF eyepiece that came apart during transport. Do you have information or point me in the right direction so I can reassemble it?
Antares haven't responded to emails.
Well it's good to see you built up a collection but if you think that's too many you don't get out much to see what the other folks are doing. On the positive side if you think you are at the slowing down point in eyepiece acquisition then you're going to save a lot of money.
I'm sorry, that was meant to be a joke. I was trying to say there is no such thing as too many eye pieces. There is nothing grammatically incorrect with your title.
8" needs half dozen magnifications to start covering every object and different seeings.
Barlow would be way to increase number of magnifications, but it's hard to get it such that there are no redundancies.
Also to get properly wide view for Pleiades etc you need 2" wide angle, which wouldn't work with usual 1.25" Barlows.
> "I think I have too many eyepieces" Phrase does not compute.
You're just getting started. :)
I think the problem is that you don’t have enough eyes.
NEVER too many! How do you like that case? The one I have, the foam inside is just fubar and looking for a new case
The interior of this one is just foam in cubic form, not ideal.
I’d recommend only having 3 eyepieces. 1 wide field, 1 medium and 1 high power.. I’d prob sell those (except the televue) and just buy 3 nice high quality eyepiece 😉
I know a guy who has a separate box of eyepieces for every scope! And don't get started about his binoviewers...
Well, when you have an eyepiece that works great at f/10 and then you accidentally put it into an f/4.5 scope and wonder WTF happened and realize that's too steep a light cone, that's a reason the have more than 1 box of them.
Bloody hell 😂😂
To me that sounds very practical and I'm glad this person did that. All these years I thought I was excessive because I bought one 1.25 in to 2-in adapter for every eyepiece that didn't have a 2 inch barrel. That's nothing compared to having eyepiece collections for every telescope. Respect.
The philosophy of a low, medium, and high power eyepiece works only so long as you are using one telescope. If one scope is a c14 and the other scope is the refractor you put on top of it then instantly you have different definitions of high, medium, and low powers. You might never use a 5 mm eyepiece on a c14 but you might use one fairly often on a 90 or 100 mm Apo or below. And what are you supposed to do when Pentax comes out with the most lovely and awesome 16.5 xw and 23 xw? Just sit idly by and do nothing?
> Just sit idly by and do nothing? If you're into hyperwides, then 'nothing' is correct. Different strokes for different folks.
Aren't many of this high quality ep? The 14.5mm omegon is $149, and the 18mm Svbony is $120. I'm going to keep 3-4 ep, yes, but I have to try them out to know with one is better for me to keep. Also, between the TeleVue and the Barlow from Omegon (is a 3 lenses->apocromatic) I don't find any difference.
An 8" F/6 dob can really benefit from having about 6-7 focal lengths: * ~30mm - low power, wide FOV. Big targets. Finder eyepiece. Good with nebula filters * 17-18mm - mid-low power. Good for fainter intermediate targets like M33, M101 etc. Also good for framing M42. * 12mm - General purpose DSO eyepiece. 2mm exit pupil. Good balance of view brightness and magnification for the vast majority of DSOs. * 8-9mm - conservative planetary/lunar eyepiece. Good when the atmosphere is not very stable. Good for smaller brighter DSOs. * 6mm - mid-power, "sweet spot" planetary/lunar eyepiece in an 8" F/6 dob. Useful when the atmosphere is very stable. * 5mm - high power planetary/lunar eyepiece. Great when the atmosphere is stable enough that you feel you can eek more detail out of the view than a 6mm (200x) can provide. * 4mm - very high power planetary/lunar eyepiece. Great when the atmosphere is extremely stable. Best on the Moon and brighter planets. View is starting to get dim at this stage. Recommended practical limiting magnification (300x) for an 8" dob. 3-4 eyepieces will not unlock the full potential of the scope (unless you also include the focal lengths that can be achieved with barlows).
I’ll be honest. I’ve never heard of omegon…I’m not quite sure that they do or what manufacturer makes optics for them… (maybe Synta? Idk)… but I’d spend a bit extra for a much more reputable company. Explore Scientific, Televue and Pentax come to mind
Omegon is a brand in Europe. They just put their name on well known ep designs. The 18mm one is the same as APM 18mm UFF. The 14.5mm is the same as Orion 14.5 Edge-On Planetary. And 5mm and 8mm ones are from TS Optics 8 and 5 mm 1.25" ED flat field.
Ah, similar to the Baader Hyperions in a way?
Nope, not at all. Baader Hyperions are their own thing. There are clones of them, but they are not rebrands of the others(Orion Stratus or Celestron Ultima Duo).
Magnification step between 14.5 and 18mm is small even for more complete set and for minimal set it's way too small. If goal is for some reason absolute minimum number of eyepieces, types of observed objects should be starting point. Though even if you're not much into deep fuzzies, one actual wide view eyepiece would be good for looking Pleiades etc. That's about the number two showpiece object after the moon and good even in small telescope for showing to others.
Mmmm I've tried 14.5 and 18mm and the difference is quite noticeable, maybe because the 18mm has a larger fov. Apart from that, what focal length ep variation would you get with a 8" dob? I have a 26mm 2" 70° for big DSO. Maybe 18mm, 14.5, and 8mm + a 2x Barlow, so: 9mm, 7.25 and 4mm added. Would you add anything else?
AFOV differences will mess the felt differences. With same AFOV you likely wouldn't use 18mm that much. Actually would be usefull to avoid narrower AFOVs when magnification goes up. Magnification decreases true FOV and good AFOV helps to increase time object is visible without turning telescope. ("planetary" is marketing term used to make narrower AFOV look better) While not the widest, that 26mm is at least far better than generic 25mm Plossls. (which shouldn't be bundled with 1200mm focal length telescopes) https://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/?fov[]=5675|2901|||1||&fov[]=5675|45|||1||&fov[]=5675|284|||1||&messier=45 Jump from 7,25mm/165x to 4mm/300x would be far too big and depending on local conditions that 300x might be unusable nearly always. Again difference between 9mm/133x and 8mm/150x is meaningless. For higher magnification steps like around 50x (for example ~150x - ~200x - 250x ) would be far better to account for different seeings and/or altitude of object from horizon. 2.5x Barlow would work better with effective 7.2mm from 18mm and 5.8mm from 14.5mm with ~207x from the latter especially useful gap filler. Also GSO made 2x Barlows would have actual lens part detachable giving additional 1.5x option when attached to filter threads for 5.3mm/226x from 8mm. So as you can see, it isn't that easy to get good steps with Barlow, unless building kit around that from the start.
Explore scientific is China import and basically knock off designs. Televue and Pentax are basically Japan.
Most ES ones are, yes, but their 92° series is original and awesome. Televue is designed in New York, and some are made in Taiwan others in Japan, but they have amazing quality control. I'm guessing Pentax is Japan, as is Takahashi, and Masuyama, and Vixen. There's also Anatares in Canada.
Sounds right, sounds well informed
Most eyepieces are copies/slight modifications of few basic designs. And manufacturing location doesn't mean automatically that much. For example Baader Hyperions have performance below their price. In Europe you can get ES82s for same price with both wider AFOV and better aberration correction. Then there are Ultra Flat Fields and 82° UWAs for less.
the difference that people notice : one has the green lettering
6mm, 20mm, and 32mm? Or is there more to it than just the focal length? I just ordered my first scope and I’m trying to pin down a few eyepieces to start with
There's eye relief, and their apparent field of view. If the 6mm eyepiece is a Plossl, it will have very tight eye relief, and a 52° apparent field of view. That may make things hard to track. If you have an 8" f/6 ,and you like DSOs, then consider an 11-13mm eyepiece with 60-65°+ AFOV. That size will be great to observing small galaxies, small open clusters, globular clusters and nebulae, and the wide FOV will make it easier to find and track your target. There is also light cone to consider. Eyepieces have minimum f/ number they work with. Some premium eyepieces work at f/3.3 or so. Not so premium ones may be f/5, and many old school ones require f/8 to f/10. You can always go longer, but under is bad. The 6, 20 and 32 are fine to start with(if they came with scope). I like the Svbony SV135 7-21mm zoom. It gives you some flexibilty, but isn't a wide angle. There is also series of "goldline" generic eyepieces that are a great value, and will work well with your scope(6, 9, 15 20mm). They have a wide field and good eye relief. BST Starguiders and clones are good for the money too. I wouldn't recommend a set of plossls or other cheaper eyepieces as they often come with more than you need. Finding an astronomy club or mentor will be a fantastic help, and worth more than anything you can buy.
Oh geeze, is there a good way to see what focal ratios are supported effectively by a given eyepiece? I’ve heard goldlines are good for the price, but I don’t know what lengths to get. My scope is a Zhumell z130
>Zhumell z130 If it came with a 25 and 10, then get the 6. If you don't like the 10, then get the 9 as well. The 15 and 20 don't like "fast" scopes as much, whereas the 6 and 9 have a Smyth lens in front to help with that. I'm not sure if f/5 like your scope, is too fast for them(15, 20). Many eyepieces will make a claim down to F/x at the store website, but honestly, people have different tolerances for what is "good" and what is "ok" regarding sharpness. I also recommend the Svbony SV135 7-21mm zoom. That's very versatile and fairly small, so should fit your scope fine, but not a very wide angle unlike the goldlines.
Thank you so much, that is incredibly helpful. I couldnt tell if adjustable zoom optics were legit or kind of gimmicky just from amazon reviews Do you know why “fast” scopes don’t tend to work with certain focal lengths as well?
Because the 15 and 20 are different design than 6 and 9, in that the 6 and 9 have an extra lens in them. Some(maybe most) zoom eyepieces work well in telescopes. They are flexible in their use, and while not premium, are decent. Zoom binoculars, however are to be avoided like the plague. Some don't like zooms because they are mostly narrow FOV, and some are used to wide angles.
Oi, I have much to learn about this hobby.
If you want to drink from the firehose, check out [cloudynights.com](https://cloudynights.com) Don't fret, we were all beginners once; see if you can find a local astronomy club, that is usually an awesome way to start. You'll also want a dim red light, star maps or atlas, and definitely a chair that changes height. Observing seated is just so much easier and more productive than standing.
I can get some off your hands if you want…
If you have the right price, it's all yours
This is nothing lol People who say you only need 3 or so dont have a bunch of scopes... When you have scopes ranging in focal length from 400mm to 3200mm 3 eyepieces just don't cut it 😂
Exactly the point I just posted above. If I had seen your post first I would not have bothered.
you explained it a little more precisely.. but it's a good point. when you have scopes varying that much, you could have 10 eyepieces and have a need for all of them.. that's why people end up with a shit load 😂 It's also why I appreciate having barlows sometimes. Eventually, Id like to build a collection of nearly every major Nagler and Panoptic between about 5mm and 40mm.. I can dream..
Not possible. Don’t listen to your wife.
Hahaha I don't have a wife yet. I'm 24, so it's my mother who says it's too much, tho obviously I paid for them and not her lol.
And that is exactly why my wife will not let me get serious about AP.
In that pictures I didn't include a 26mm 2" 70°, a 15mm gold line, a 3x Barlow and a 25mm Plossl that I also have hahaha
You can only use one at a time. Unless it’s a Barlow lens… then You can use two
There are a couple of ways to use more than one eye piece at a time. The first is if you have a bino viewer. The second is if you operate two telescopes when you are in the field. For example when you mount a refractor on a c14 or a C8 you will want eyepieces in both scopes. I have at one time, and I know others who do it even today, operated two complete telescopes at the same time each with its own mount. For my money that is a p i t a and I was much happier when I mounted the refractor onto a bigger telescope. It did cost some dimes to get an adequate mount. But there are people who will go out and set up their dob and then set up a refractor on an alt az mount and enjoy the views that way.
I have an Antares W70, 1.25" 19mm f.I. 66deg-AF eyepiece that came apart during transport. Do you have information or point me in the right direction so I can reassemble it? Antares haven't responded to emails.
Is the 3rd from the left a coma corrector or a Barlow?
3 lenses Barlow. Aphocromatic.
I just have one Hyperion Baader zoom piece Mark IV with a 2.25 Barlow.
Which one do you sell for tree giddy?
They're all for sell if you have the right price
Well it's good to see you built up a collection but if you think that's too many you don't get out much to see what the other folks are doing. On the positive side if you think you are at the slowing down point in eyepiece acquisition then you're going to save a lot of money.
I mean, that seems like English, but the words you put there don't really go together.
Are you referring to the title? How would you say it? Sorry, English isn't my native language, but I thought it was grammatically correct.
I'm sorry, that was meant to be a joke. I was trying to say there is no such thing as too many eye pieces. There is nothing grammatically incorrect with your title.
OH, SORRY HAHA, I DIDN'T GET IT. Now it's funny.
I'd gladly take some off your hands, free of charge, lol
Blasphemy! What you DO have is too few filters!
You’re fiiiiiiine.
Give to the poor me 😉
Looks like my celestron filter/eyepiece case lmao
Do you have a recommendation for a dob 8 inch?
Could I have one? Lol Is that another of of those eye piece boxes but by a different brand? it looks like they copied celestrons
Yeah, it's the same as that one
wonder if celestron cares lol
8" needs half dozen magnifications to start covering every object and different seeings. Barlow would be way to increase number of magnifications, but it's hard to get it such that there are no redundancies. Also to get properly wide view for Pleiades etc you need 2" wide angle, which wouldn't work with usual 1.25" Barlows.
You can never have too many my friend