EP confusion.

[NCC-2893]

Hi all. I feel like I'm rubbing salt into the eyes of all you folk who must get sick to death of the inevitable newbie eye piece questions.The odd post I've seen hasn't really told me how to sort the cheap from the good quality.I'm looking at the ep's for sale and I can see the generic ones like came with my scope, (25 and 10 ) and they are inexpensive, To my eyes they seem ok, cause I dont know different,( although the 10 mm seems a bit of a hard look ) yet most seem to say you have to get the more expensive ones to really appreciate the viewing. So to get a few quality ep's we are now talking hundreds. If I had to buy one quality ep to start off with what would it be. At the moment I'm just looking at everything in the sky wondering if I should maybe have some other ep i could be trying. This old fellas finding the whole ep thing very confusing. Thanks for your kind understanding.

[andyp180]

with your scope,expensive ep's are less important as it is
considered a slow scope.
faster scopes of f5 and higher tend to need more expensive ep's to work correctly.
you would be able to go for more affordable ep's that fall somewhere in the middle
of cheap and expensive,especially if you're on a budget.
hope this helps.
clear skies,

[Bob327]

Honestly Andy is correct... your scope (and in my Scts which are f/10s') are both slow and as such are not at all demanding on eyepieces..and you do not need to spend serious money on eyepieces...Your description of "hard look" tells me that that eyepiece may have short eye relief ..just just but another with a larger eye relief..especially if you wear glasses...

In my Scts I have eyepieces that vary in cost from $100 to $400 each ..and my eye has to look hard to see any actual difference...slight better color..slightly better at the edges..etc But on axis the views are so similar its not funny...

Bob G.

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[cbrucker]

John,

Any chance you can scare up a local astronomy club that has star parties? Reason I ask is the best thing to do is to go to one and look through other people's EP's so you can find what works best for you. Also take into account how much your eye can actually "see" before buying that super expensive EP.

Personally I like to feel like I am swimming in the view so I went with the Explore Scientific 82* EP's. They are not quite as good as the 100* ones but for the cost they gave me the best views.

[Maverick199]

As long as you are comfortable with your eyepiece there is no need to change or buy something just because of their brand and price tag. For certain fast focal ratio's, you may require the use of very good eyepieces. Yes the medium to high end eyepieces are better corrected for color / contrast / background / field of view / eye relief but as long as your present eyepieces don't bother you then why worry? When you feel the need for it, by all means experiment by upgrading to a mid range.

[neal_mlc]

Another option to consider is purchasing a Zoom lens. There are several good ones out there at various price points. I think the least expensive is the Zhumell 8-24 ($60). I have it and its performance is satisfactory. A zoom lets you change magnification without have to swap out EPS.
By purchasing an inexpensive zoom early in my astronomy "career" I have probably saved myself several hundred dollars in unneeded EPs.

[skaven]

You can get very well made, comfortable eyepieces for a slow scope like your without breaking the bank. The features that tend to drive up the price of eyepieces are spherical correction (which is really only an issue on fast scopes) and ultra-wide apparent fields of view (this is to some degree a materials cost, as the wide AFOVs require more glass and sometimes exotic types of glass). Generally, the prices trend most closely with the AFOV -- a 100 degree AFOV eyepiece is going to be way more expensive than an 82 degree, which will be more expensive than a 68/70 degree. As you drop below the 70 degree AFOV mark, the pool of products expands greatly and thus the AFOV isn't so much an indicator of price.

There are lots of very nice eyepieces with 60-70 degrees AFOV in the sub-100 dollar range. For example, the Meade Series 5000 HD-60 and the Celestron XCel-LX eyepieces get high marks, have a 60 degree apparent field, and very comfortable 20mm eye relief. The GSO SuperView eyepieces have a 60-70 degree apparent field depending on the focal length, and are well regarded by members of this forum that own them. But they are a bit more spartan of a design (no twist-up eyecups, and shorter eye relief as the focal lengths get smaller).

You can also dip your toes into the world of "premium" eyepieces without spending a huge amount of cash by looking at the Explore Scientific 68 degree series and the Baader Hyperion line, which run between USD$100 and $200. The Baader Hyperions are even designed so that you can purchase inexpensive tuning rings to change the focal length of an eyepiece, so with a single Hyperion and a set of tuning rings you effectively get 2-3 more eyepieces "free"...

[NCC-2893]

Thanks a lot guys. Invaluable advise. It makes sense about the slow optics not needing top lenses. i guess it's like the lenses on a fast scope need to process a lot more light and information coming down the tube a lot quicker than what my scope can deliver. At least thats how I explained it to my grandkid, and he actually understood it. Ha Ha. So I took a look at Saturn and found the 25mm long relief wide field ( tho no mention on ep how many degrees) Is actually a comfortable enough look but no room to move the eye around if you know what I mean. So I think I know what cbrucker means by liking to" swim in the view". I took note of the mention of the 'ES 82 ep you fellas mentioned and found mention of same ep,, in an old post and he said the same thing where he can " have a good look around the ep" as it were. And where bob327 mentioned possible short relief on the 10mm rings true as I have to jam the eye right up to it. So needless to say it wont be getting much use. Anyway I will be going along to a local astro club as there seems to be one in town, so again,, thanks all.

[RogueGazer]

Another option to consider is purchasing a Zoom lens. There are several good ones out there at various price points. I think the least expensive is the Zhumell 8-24 ($60). I have it and its performance is satisfactory. A zoom lets you change magnification without have to swap out EPS.
By purchasing an inexpensive zoom early in my astronomy "career" I have probably saved myself several hundred dollars in unneeded EPs.

Thats what I was thinking as well. I have the Meade 8-24mm zoom and for $70 I cant complain about the optics.
For budget eyepieces I recently picked up a Agena 20mm WA for $33 and I have to say I am impressed with it in my SCT. Anyone else try these out? I may pick up a 17mm and see how it does. I was very impressed for the price.

[NCC-2893]

I am starting to think the zoom lens might be a good option. never new such a beast existed.. It would give me a feel for which focal lengths really suit my scope Would that be fair comment? I'm not sure if a slow scope prefers short or long ep's. Appreciate your thoughts.