are plossl eyepieces good are plossl eyepieces good

If you are investing for the future, get the BH zoom. Kellner vs Plossl Eyepiece - What is the Difference? 50 150X, no Barlow If you read the article you know how to calculate the magnification and field of view. Here's the short answer - Plossl eyepieces are generally better than Kellner eyepieces, but they also tend to be more expensive. These sizes have become the industrys standard sizes. Poorly chosen eyepiece might give you poor experience and sometimes even make stargazing difficult. You can add the specialty single FL eyepieces later if you wish. You have selected a very good starting telescope that will serve you for many years to come. Omni 56mm Eyepiece - 2" Learn More. When discussing eyepieces, you will hear people comment on how well the eyepiece is corrected. Then there is a pair of 32mm and 20mm TV Plossls which make my binoviewers work well with a Daystar Quark H-alpha solar filter. There is the 56mm Meade Plossl which magically turns my short FL refractors into their own finder scopes. Telescopes Cost: Acceptable, Good, and Really Good Telescopes, Used Telescopes Buying Guide The Complete Guide, Different Types of Asteroids (C, S, and M) The Definitive Guide, Top 10 Night Sky Objects for Astronomy Beginners, Asteroid Mining Know Everything About It, German Equatorial Mounts (GEMs) Overview and Working. I must say Im quite confused about eyepieces. For your application and the eyepieces you have or are going to get, you really dont need anything else. Some will offer longer eye relief which can be important to eyeglass wearers. Tele Vue offers several series with apparent fields of view from 50 degrees to 120 degrees. It uses two symmetrical pairs of glass elements (one convex and one concave) to pass the light. Sooooo helpful! For our experience level, would you recommend changing anything right now? still, i somehow managed to avoid the eyepiece pitfalls when buying used off ebay. It should list what size eyepieces you can use. Thank you so much for taking the time to provide all this information! Nothing will stop you from trying to go higher, but in all likelihood, the image will be poor and not worth the cost of eyepieces to achieve it. We often end up spending more on eyepieces than we did on the telescope. If one Super Plossl specifies it uses a 5 lens design, then you can definitely consider it a true Super Plossl that might offer better performance, but no brand has released any of those for decades. You mentioned regarding ORTHO eyepieces: Excellent specialty eyepieces, usually for planets. When I started, I purchased less expensive eyepieces to learn about them and how I would use them. This also makes them more resistant to any form of dust getting inside the eyepiece. This 10 mm Orion Sirius Plossl Eyepiece is a great, moderately high power ocular for observing small planetary nebulas and globular star clusters, as well as for planetary probing when seeing conditions don't permit higher magnifications. Such eyepieces are able to offer great performance, i.e., satisfactory degrees of deviations, to about a 50.degree field. My friend has one and he really likes it, and it is his third telescope. These are effectively simple designs like Plossls, Kellners, Konigs, and RKEs, with long focal lengths, that have a lens included to increase their focal length. Then you can judge for yourself if it is worth it. eyepiece shows signs of use with caps and bolt case, 32 mm Plossl very good cond. Number of Lenses. Scott. Some accept 2 and have an adapter that allows you to also use 1.25. Both solutions offer somewhat similar mag-fov-er-price. Are plossl eyepieces still worth it? - Eyepieces - Cloudy Nights About Us | Privacy Policy | ContactLittle Astronomy is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. They have decent eye relief and little curvature of field. The sharp/crisp view you get from your 40mm Plossl comes down to the relatively low magnification it provides. Focal length telescope / focal length eyepiece = magnification or power. Can you suggest the total . You are asking about a very specific eyepiece in a very specific scope combined sometimes with a Barlow. What is a Plossl Eyepiece and What's So Great About Them? The BHZ 2 Adapter has threads on it so you can attach filters to it allowing you to use 2 filters with the zoom. Theres a reason Plossls are usually kept at 52 degrees. You probably dont need to worry about upgrading them as soon as you get your telescope, unless you can see an optical problem in the one youre using or you find the short eye relief for the short-focus eyepiece uncomfortable. Plossl eyepieces have a wide FOV and are known for their clarity and sharpness. I expect such eyepieces are available but I have never seen or used one. Note that the full moon appears to be approximately .5 degrees across, so use that as a mental reference when looking at the numbers. Ive read, and re-read, and re-re-read this page. Your email address will not be published. While eyepieces with relatively complex, proprietary, or bespoke designs are becoming more commonly available in the beginner price bracket, there is often good reason to choose a much simpler design. Thanks for a very helpful guide. Plossls and Kellners, like other simple eyepiece designs, have moderate fields of view and tend to have short eye relief as you scale them down to shorter focal lengths. Videos for related products. Perhaps you should seek out help from your local astronomy club. philhas Members 61 459 Location: North East England I can recommend these with confidence. It offers good color correction and high-contrast images. Sorry but I am not offering a configuration and pricing service. It costs a lot to get that last 10% of performance. You can read a thorough review of Goldline eyepieces here. My most used eyepiece is an 8-24 mm zoom. It also gives the widest possible exit pupil in my dob and SCT, very handy when using nebula filters. Do I need an adapter if my scope has a Plossl lens? If we want to get VERY specific to a combination then inherent aberrations of this scope and that eyepiece could produce a unique result. Lets give an example. And I am a visually observing focused person. Most likely it will be used as a loaner eyepiece to go with one of my two loaner telescopes. Comparing to Plossl, the Expanse eyepiece is a lot more expensive. But, at least get the 32mm Plssl. How do you focus - I would have expected helical focusers in the eyepiece holders but don't see any? However the package includes a 1.25 to 2 adapter so if you have a 2 focuser you can treat this like a 2 eyepiece leaving the adapter normally included with the scope for use with other 1.25 eyepieces. Omni 6mm Eyepiece - 1.25" Learn More. You can do the calculation which will show that the 70 will have a significantly wider field of view as compared to the 52. I am not aware of any such solutions for Newtonian reflectors. The 26 and 32 are usually the first ones I reach for. In my opinion, you do not. The Big Bang Optics is compensated for referring traffic and business to these companies. Those are significantly more expensive than the 1.25 focal lengths. Plossl eyepieces are typically used for observing and viewing things at long distances, but they can also be useful when using a telescope to provide both magnifying power and erecting the images. To achieve these benefits, they may use special glass and more costly manufacturing. In the 1990s Meade instruments came up with a new design for the Meade 4000 line similar to Plossl that added a fifth glass element on top of the two pairs (4 total). Now put the zoom on a 3X barlow and you have: Using the zoom approach with a Barlow your eyepiece set would consisit of a 32 mm low power eyepiece. https://telescopicwatch.com/orion-skyquest-xt8-intelliscope-review/. So your 600 mm example (f/6) becomes, in effect, an 1800 mm focal length, f/18 but it does not change the focal length of the eyepiece. Stargazinghelp.com is a knowledge hub for professional and amateur astronomy and astrophotography enthusiasts. I often had to drop back to about 180X because of poor seeing and transparency. In this case, I am going to define this by the focuser and eyepiece size. short answer: yes. You are talking about the technical details of how a Barlow works, and I agree. 5 Best Telescope Eyepieces in 2023 [+Beginner's Guide] Meade 32mm 2" 5-element Super Plossl Wide Field Eyepiece The eye relief is the distance between your eyes and the eyepiece where you are able to view the whole image comfortably. It was named after Peter Barlow who invented it in the 1800s, so it is usually capitalized. Good evening everybody. Plossls cost a bit more than the Kellners as Plossls are expensive to manufacture because they require good optical glass and precisely matched concave and convex doublet surfaces to prevent internal reflections. Astrophotography with Nikon D3200: Can It Be Better? The biggest advantage is much better ER in a large ocular. I have a 4 element (traditional) and a 5 element 32mm Meade, both from the same era in Japan, and the 5 element is much better by quite a bit. To achieve a maximum of 200X (2X the aperture of 100 mm), we solve for the focal length. Meade telescope maksutov eyepiece ETX-105EC Super Plossl 6.4mm 1.25" w capsule. OHHH, now i get it! My own lineup (with a C8) is 32mm Plossl, 18.2mm DeLite, and 10.5mm Pentax (the last one not chosen to match, but rather because it belonged to a deceased friend). Again, for no other reason than to compare it to the 17mm Hyperion and draw your own conclusions about Plssls. It also was considerably more expensive. 6.5-ish mm (100x & 200x) eyepiece for Xmas scope - Beginners Forum (No Astrophotography https://www.amazon.com/Explore-Scientific-68%C2%B0-40mm-Eyepiece/dp/B007LMG3F6/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=explore+scientific+68&qid=1606584676&sr=8-1, Thanks for your reply, I think I will go for the Orion Q70 . Eyepieces under $100 each are generally considered budget or low-cost eyepieces. Super Plossl eyepieces are generally a little smaller than this at around 16-20 mm in size, which is why theyre sometimes referred to as wide-angle or low power plossls. Not really. These sport a 60-degree apparent field of view, about a 20% wider apparent field of view than Plossl eyepieces. In some cases, the eyepieces are waterproof to protect them from internal contamination caused by heavy dew conditions. Achromatic vs Apochromatic refracting telescopes. What should one opt for a 2 EP over a 1.25? SVBONY Direct . Of course, the entire eyepiece must be manufactured and finished correctly to realize the design's full potential. There are some very good choices in this range. Hi Ed, Yes, Plossl eyepieces are some of the most popular with amateurs and professionals alike. This is your Lexus, Acura, and Infinity types that offer more features, better build, and a bit more polish. Best suited for telescopes with f-ratios f6 or slower. I also just bought the Celestron Starsense 102mm refractor (650mm focal length, f/6.5) as a first scope for me and my kids. Below .5 mm exit pupil, floaters in the eye become more apparent and can be bothersome. 10mm Orion Sirius Plossl Telescope Eyepiece | Orion Telescopes Eye relief is the distance from the eye lens to your eyeball, and the higher the better (within reason). https://telescopicwatch.com/celestron-8-24mm-zoom-eyepiece-review/. This can be very helpful for star hopping. As I discussed earlier, the zoom lets you explore your target over a wide range of magnifications without having to change eyepieces. A rubber safety cap protects the lens when not in use while also providing additional grip on this 35 mm Plossl eyepiece. Even though the design has existed for more than a century, it has stood the test of and is still today the standard against which other eyepiece designs are measured. This is my all-time favorite eyepiece and the one I use more than all the others put together. Get to know more about us here. Modified vs Unmodified DSLR Astrophotography: The Ultimate Showdown! Buy Astromania 1.25" 4mm Plossl Telescope Eyepiece - 4-Element Plossl Design . You can enjoy wide-angle views without giving up any of the clarity or sharpness when using Plossl eyepiece while Kellner will give you more magnified views but at less than half the brightness levels in comparison to other lens designs on this list if light pollution was involved. Skywatcher SP Plossl lenses - Discussions - Stargazers Lounge However, there can be a problem bringing the eyepiece into focus. 75-225X, 1.5X Barlow Oh the pain of uh having access to really cool eyepieces.). A Plossl eyepiece has a field of view thats very wide, so if youre looking at the full moon or some other object in space with it, chances are youll see the entire thing. The one exception I would keep in mind would be when working with Newtonian reflector telescopes below F5. We are a team of active amateur astronomers, here to help you with all your astronomy and science related needs this is anything, from reviewing the latest telescopes to be released to talking about gravity and neurons. IF you like your Hyperions , you could get a 2 inch visual back and 2 inch diagonal / or 2 inch SCT diagonal and add the 31 or 36 Baader eyepieces in 2 inch . Our previous exchange convinced me to start out with an 80mm refractor. thanks Ed. Plossl eyepieces have a wider field of view that can go from 50 to 56 degrees. Eye relief of less than 10mm gets really uncomfortableyou tend to rub your eyepieces against the eyepiece or lens, and you have to hold your eye at just the right distance to keep from touching the lens. Your email address will not be published. You can build a full set of these with good results, but be aware of eye relief, especially if you wear glasses. Stargazinghelp.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon.com. Plossl vs Super Plossl Eyepieces. Which One is Better? - Little Astronomy Celestron Omni Eyepieces: The Omni series is the most economical eyepiece offering from Celestron. However, if you want to optimize your viewing experience, youll need to invest in a better-quality eyepiece. Take a look at your manual or users guide. I often recommend the 2 in this series as excellent low-power wide view eyepieces, especially in scopes at focal ratios below F8. It also gives the widest possible exit pupil in my dob and SCT, very handy when using nebula filters. Excellent article, thank you very much for taking the time to publish it. Ever since, I have been attempting to cram in every fact about the Universe, I can find into my head. A zoom eyepiece works like the zoom lens on a camera. Because the eyepiece was still similar enough to a Plossl and still kept the symmetrical design, they called it Super Plossl. In 1849, Carl Kellner invented the Kellner eyepiece, which is essentially a Ramsden eyepiece where one lens has been replaced with an achromatic doublet made of two different types of glass. Quality this good usually costs a lot more. If you were considering a Meade Super Plossl, in that case just get the regular one also by Meade. I have a custom-built 32mm Plossl that has been opened up as wide as possible to 60 or 70 degrees, for use as a 2 eyepiece, although in my 10 Dobsonian at f/5 the edge distortions prevent it from seeing much use. I am considering buying another eyepiece, maybe 6mm, and a Barlow, maybe 2x, to give me a wider and higher range of magnification. These "other" ones I speak of, aren't technically that, they are a 5 element eyepiece, of a different design. The ocular for your highest visual acuity - for viewing deep-sky objects and the like - should have an exit pupil around . Just start with 32 mm for your low-power eyepiece. Note that the Explore Scientific 68 and 82 degree eyepieces are also available in 2 size for your low power wide view requirements. I would like to know what is best for a 7 year old that would be getting his first telescope. They are all made by the same OEM manufacturer. Your email address will not be published. no caps come in bolt case. I often recommend the use of a barlow to achieve the higher range of magnifications. Since each eye has a different focal point, I suspect pulling the eyepiece out until reaching focus and then tightening the set screw. Ive read reviews about my scope. Some people have more than 6 and some have as few as 3. The design of a Plossl eyepiece consists of an objective lens with one side that is convex (wider than its length) while the other side is plano-convex or flat in shape. Since it's such a popular eyepiece and allows for quality, planet-viewing, that makes it a great instrument for attracting newcomers to the hobby, especially children. I have the 38 mm and recommend it often. The availability of good quality relatively wide field-of-view inexpensive eyepieces has kind of put them in the second tier of eyepieces, but they still hold their own in the longer focal lengths and excel if one does not demand a wide field-of-view. If you are on a strict budget, this is a good choice as a zoom eyepiece. Celestron 2026 Erecting Prism Barlow Lens Set is well suited as an astronomical viewing lens kit or for enjoying terrestrial sights like nature walks, sporting events, and more! I think some of these kits even include 4mm eyepieces, and thats ridiculous! Then there is the rule of thumb to avoid duplicating focal lengths when acquiring eyepieces. This may be enough for many eyeglass wearers. Again, it only costs $30 to $40 to find out, so the education is not that expensive. What diameter eyepieces will my telescope accept? Celestron's 4-element Plossl eyepiece features include blackened lens edges to minimize internal reflection and maximize contrast, fully multi-coated optics for maximum light transmission. My love affair with space began in a field in India at the age of 7, when I looked up at the Milky Way for the first time. This is a good thing, because normally the shorter the focal length of the eyepiece, the less eye relief you have. Depending on your budget, if you only have limited funds and are just starting to fill out your eyepiece collection I would go with the zoom, then zoom with Barlow. 1. It sounds cool, they must be better than regular Plossls with that name, right? Not perfect to the edge but better than the Bresser, in my opinion. Even if the scope comes with the more acceptable Kelner or . I still use my 30mm Celestron Ultima fairly often with some of my telescopes. Despite the narrow field of view and short eye relief, it showed shockingly good views of Saturn, Jupiter, and even the Moon. The big problem with Plssls is that the eye relief is about 0.75 times the focal length. In order to help you narrow down your choices, weve created a short guide that can help you figure out what the best viable option is. Gosky 1.25inch Plossl Telescope Eyepiece - Amazon.com It's no surprise that the eyepieces in our Sirius Plossl line are our best-selling telescope eyepieces. You can accomplish a longer eye relief by barlowing a longer f/l plossl, so that is something to think about as well. Or, you can have three properly sized eyepieces and use a Barlow lens to achieve three more magnifications, which is usually a less expensive way to go. The ES is actually slightly cheaper than the Orion but my understanding from your reviews and replies is that ES might actually be the better eyepiece have I got that right? Your email address will not be published. Question: would an 18mm Baader Classic Ortho mostly used for Moon and planets loose sharpness and contrast if used with a short F5 telescope like the Celestron Astro-Fi 130? Which is Stronger? 1200 mm FL scope / 10 mm FL eyepiece = 120X, 40 degree AFOV / 120X = .33 degrees (less than 1 full moon wide), 60 degree AFOV / 120X = .5 degree FOV (about one full moon with no space around it), 82 degree AFOV / 120X = .68 degree FOV (about one full moon with a star field around it to frame it). If you had to choose 1 low-power 2 EP for chasing deep sky objects (again, at 600mm f7.5), what size piece would you go for? A standard Plossl eyepiece is typically between 20mm to 25mm but can range anywhere from 15mm up to about 40mm in diameter. People may have heard, and rightly so, that Huygens or Ramsdens are crummy eyepieces and that they should get a Plossl instead, and they may believe the same applies to Kellners, but the truth is that Kellners are often good eyepieces. Any exit pupil between 7 mm and .5 mm is just fine. 3. These will normally be higher priced and may be outside the price range we show here. Thanks, Angelo M. You picked a great first scope. there are of course options to plossls which are about the same prices as GSOs such as the BST Discoveries and TMB type eyepieces (new from Skies the Limit on Ebay) which have a wider field and better eye relief than plossls and are probably as good as most things non-premium. If you have a longer focal length telescope, your shortest focal length eyepiece will be a higher number than what I have shown here. Offered in both 2 and 1.25, these are excellent eyepieces. Once we are done, they will make sense. You have a very wide choice of brands and styles to choose from. Over $250, I will label premium eyepieces. I continue to be very pleased with the ES82 eyepieces. All registered. So speaking of the Barlow as if it modifies the FL of the eyepiece, while technically not correct, does provide an easier model to understand the net effect. For super Plossl eyepiece, the field of view is typically 40 to 60 degrees. The stock 9 and 15mm Omnis were very good. One of the main drawbacks of this eyepiece, though, is the eye relief. They are most useful in medium and longer focal lengths for terrestrial, planetary, and lunar viewing. They are referring to how much or how little distortion is visible as you look from the center of the image out toward the edge. Fortunately, the investment can be leveraged with future scopes since eyepieces are standard sizes so they work in almost any telescope. The first group is made up of a convex lens and concave lens, while the second one has four small cylindrical lenses that work together to magnify what you see through them for your viewing pleasure. At 32mm, a Plssl will give you as wide a field of view as any 1.25mm eyepiece can. Omni 40mm Eyepiece - 1.25" Learn More. EP-mm = magnification = afov A 10mm or shorter Plssl is probably not worth it unless you want to see how you personally cope with short eye relief. So, if your scope is F6 or lower, you may want to consider some of the higher priced, better corrected eyepieces if you want the best image to the edge of the field. Come join the newest, most engaging and inclusive astronomy forum geared for beginners and advanced telescope users, astrophotography devotees, plus check out our "Astro" goods vendors. The magnification and field of view is the same as a 10 mm eyepiece (AFoV being unchanged) in a 600 mm telescope but the eye relief is that of a 30 mm eyepiece. I havent addressed .965 eyepieces in the recommendations. Even though the design has existed for more than a century, it has stood the test of and is still today the standard against which other eyepiece designs are measured. I am very interested in viewing Nebulae do you think this set up will work well for that or do I need other eyepieces or filters? That is a really interesting picture. Omni 15mm Eyepiece - 1.25" Learn More. Tip Its almost always cheaper to buy directly from Agena Astro. So, I am going to organize the guide around five questions and four formulas. https://telescopicwatch.com/best-telescope-mounts-for-astrophotography/, Then you look at the optical tubes. But the difference in price to get to the next level is high, and the performance difference may be small. Plossl eyepieces are great. The only reason it's in this list because of its price and a long focal point. While it covers the same range as the Celestron zoom, it offers better optics, better mechanical operation, and a wider field of view. The field of view of the eyepiece has a few effects when it comes to actually using it in the telescope. Like going from a 32 TV to a 65? These Astromania Plossl eyepieces provide a good way to do exactly that without breaking the bank, and this is what I love about them: they're an affordable way to significantly upgrade your telescopes. Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links and I may earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you) if you click through and make a purchase.