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[digital42]

Hey Everyone! -

I am looking to buy 2 quality eyepieces at an decent price. I know that for the first lens Joe told me that to increase my nebula finding abilities that I should invest in a low magnification lens ( i am looking for at least a 32mm ) with a wide angle view. I would be using this mainly for finding comets, nebulas, and observing galaxies.

And for the second lens I am looking to buy a high magnification eyepiece that will allow me to observe in great detail planets and other large objects. I have a 25mm and a 10mm eyepiece (Sirius Plossl) that I can get ok images of saturn and jupiter with. But I know that there has got to be better eyepieces then the standard ones that my scope shipped with.

My telescope is fitted with a 2" and a 1.25" hole to accept either eyepiece. I have NO clue what brands are good, which are bad, what I should be looking for in a eyepiece, the difference between eye pieces. I know that I want to stick close to around $100 for each eyepiece.

If anyone has any suggestions or if you know of a great quality brand please let me know! Thanks!

-Scott

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Scott,

Excellent on your great enthusiasm on getting the astronomy bug. I am sure members will add their own preferences on what they like across the board.

This is my humble recommendation...

2" eyepieces are great. Better views, wide fields and brighter images. They can get heavy, and maybe upset the balance of your scope, but I'm sure you can adjust the springs on your Dob to compensate. We just got two new 2" eyepieces at the Adler for our scopes, and they do improve the images a great deal.

The 32mm wide field is good. If you can get a larger mm, the better. I really don't think that anything lower than the 10mm you have will help in bringing out any more resolution. But...you can get a 2x or 3x barlow tube, to increase what you already have. Most astronomers settle for a high, medium and low powered eyepiece set up and use the barlow to double the mag, and I really only use the low and med most of the time. I have a 6mm and a 4.5mm, but I rarely use them, (except for lunar observation), as the images get much dimmer and fuzzier. On your Dob, without motorized tracking, you will be constantly readjusting the object in your focuser with very high powered eyepieces, as the object will drift out of view in almost an instant... and after the scope settles down from the vibration of repositioning, it's time to do it again! Sometimes, it just ain't worth the constant hassle.

Sometimes Orion and Celestron have good sets of eyepieces in a aluminum case for a good price on the last close-out models.

Now don't rush, take your time, research and come out to meet me when I get together with fellow Chicago Astronomer members and look through our scopes in our different configurations and compare them to yours. You can also visit the cloudynights.com site. There they have an extensive review base on various pieces of equipment.

No charge for the advice...

[digital42]

Joe-

Thanks so much for the advice I have noticed that while observing Saturn with my 10mm that every minute or so I have to reposition my sights on the planet because it shifts out of the view of my scope. I can just imagine what it would be like if I had a higher mag lens such as a 3.7mm. It would probably get pretty frustrating.

I have been doing a little research and I found a really nice Orion DeepView 2" Deep-Sky Eyepiece. Its a 42mm with a 52 degree view. Its only $59.95 which I think is pretty good because I havent found anything with that price that can compare to it yet. I have also found some amazing kits at Celestron.com.

I still have more research to do, but thank you so much for your help! Its kinda hard at first to compare different eyepieces, but once you know what the differences are in them its pretty easy to sort though all the different varieties.

Thanks again!

Scott

[stargazer]

Scott,

You might want to look into the Orion ED2 eyepieces. I have them and its the only ones ai use. I HIGHLY reccommend them. Good eye reliefs, easy to view throughand the come in a wide range of sizes. Cost about $60.00. Well worth the money. Ask Joe about these he;s look through them before on my scope.

Becky

[digital42]

Hi Becky!

Its nice to meet you I have also been looking at the Orion ED2 lens and I am quite interested in them. Hopefully when I attend one of the meetings one of the observers will have such a lens so I could test it out.

Another lens that is a bit pricy that I was comparing to the ED2 is the Orion Optiluxe™ 2" FMC Eyepiece. The 50mm is a five-element with a 42 degree field of view. I like how many elements there are but I am also looking for a wider field of view. Somewhere around 50 degrees. However the 40mm has a 4-element design and offers 60 degree view! I have not yet come across another lens that offers this huge range of view!

I am almost definatly going to pick up a few of the ED2 eyepieces though because of the 6-element design and the 55 degree field of view. I want a good quality eyepiece to replace the "standard" pieces that shipped with my scope.

Thanks again for your help!!

Scott

[OEH]

Scott,
I can't vouch for it - due to not having 2 inch capability, but if you goto www.astrobuffet.com they advertise a 30mm 2 inch lens with an 80 degree fov for $95.00

[digital42]

Wow thats huge! I visited the site and it looks awesome. I just wish that they had a better description about the eyepiece. They don't give a very detailed description

[Al Degutis]

I too am looking for some quality eyepieces to use in place of my inexpensive plossls. I've looked through the Orion Epic ED-2s (thanks to Becky and Bill) and they are nice. They meet my first criteria: good eye relief since I wear glasses. I'm also considering getting one of the Orion SuperWide Lanthanum eyepieces. I keep hearing good things but am hesistant since they are between $200-220 a piece whereas the Epic ED-2s are $65 a piece. Both have 20mm eye relief.

I may get the 22mm SuperWide Lanthanium and a 14mm ED-2. Used with a barlow that would give me 22mm, 11mm, 14mm, 7mm which would just about cover my needs. The only other eyepiece I'd need still would be a 32mm for wider views such as open clusters.