esd726
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/30/04
Posts: 731
Loc: Howe, IN
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(If there is another thread (or more) about this already, could you please point it out, and sorry for asking.
I am just looking into an eyepiece in the ~5mm range.
I have an XT12 (12" f/5 dob)
I would LIKE (ideally)...
~5mm
NO "pinhole" eyelens (decent eye relief)
Decent FOV (don't have to chase object after a half second)
<$200 (<$150?)
(thought there was something else but can't remember right now  )
If there IS any eyepiece(s) like this could you point me there?
Thank you,
Rick
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No more scopes :-(
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Ben Ritchie
Lost in Space
Reged: 01/31/05
Posts: 4339
Loc: Bosham, UK
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5mm Burgess/TMB comes well inside your budget - 60 degree FOV is reasonable and it has comfortable eye relief. Very good value for money.
Personally I really liked the 5mm Nagler T6 as a planetary eyepiece, although the eye relief is significantly less than the B/TMB and I'm not sure if it fits your budget either.
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Astro-Physics 130EDT StarFire, 80ED (x2), 305mm f/5 dob, VLT
Astro-Physics 1200GTO, evolved HEQ5/pro
Coronado SM60/BF10, 3-6 Nagler zoom, 8 & 13 Ethos, 28UWAN
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J_D_Metzger
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 05/13/04
Posts: 1301
Loc: Tucson, AZ
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Check out the 5mm Baader Hyperion:
http://www.alpineastro.com/Eyepieces_Accessories/Eyepieces_Accessories.htm#hyperion
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Clear skies,
J.D.
32°15'16.96"N 110°47'39.24"W
Celestron C9.25 & C6, TeleVue TV-76,
Vixen Sphinx SXD, iOptron MiniTower
TeleVue Naglers, TeleVue Panoptics
Canon 10x30 IS Binoculars
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esd726
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/30/04
Posts: 731
Loc: Howe, IN
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I have the 13T6 & 9T6 so THOUGHT about the 5, but just wasn't sure about spending THAT much for an ep I might not use as often as those. Forgot about the TMB/Burgess 
Rick
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No more scopes :-(
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MacRoberts
sage
Reged: 08/25/05
Posts: 327
Loc: Redlands, CA
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I second Ben's recommendation - BO/TMB 5mm planetary comes with 12mm ER, 60° AFOV, good bang for 99 bucks, nice reviews.
A used 5mm Radian would come in at about your budget level, and has 20mm ER and 60° AFOV. Some observers swear by them, others at them (because of the instadjust feature), but on the whole, a pretty nice EP that you'd be able to sell used for about what you buy it for if not to your liking.
If you can stretch your budget a bit, I would highly recommend the 5mm Pentax XW. 20mm ER, 70° AFOV, excellent reviews - would really fill your bill. Cost varies, so check around but range I've seen is $285-310 before tax or shipping. Only occasionally seen offered used, so that tells you something right there.
CS!
PS- JD's right (geez, how'd I forget about Hyperions?) - 68° AFOV, about $130, ER to suit you, etc.
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Jim
"And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also." Genesis 1:16
NP-127, TV-85
Naglers, Pentax XWs
Fujinon 10x50 FMT-SX
Edited by MacRoberts (06/14/07 01:23 AM)
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Ben Ritchie
Lost in Space
Reged: 01/31/05
Posts: 4339
Loc: Bosham, UK
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I have the 5mm Hyperion at the moment, but for purely planetary use I think the 5mm B/TMB has the edge. The reason I have the Hyperion instead of the B/TMB is that it's also a great workhorse eyepiece in my FS60C for portable use.
As for Radians, I've never been impressed, given the price. To me they're the weakest of the TV eyepiece lineup. Some people do like them a lot, but a 'try before you buy' eyepiece if you can.
5mm XW is excellent, I had one of those as well, although on balance I thought the 5mm T6 had the edge - however, I think that's very much down to my 'scope and how I used the eyepiece.
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Astro-Physics 130EDT StarFire, 80ED (x2), 305mm f/5 dob, VLT
Astro-Physics 1200GTO, evolved HEQ5/pro
Coronado SM60/BF10, 3-6 Nagler zoom, 8 & 13 Ethos, 28UWAN
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novbabies
Postmaster
Reged: 06/05/05
Posts: 15678
Loc: Northern Georgia!
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Two other potential EPs:
Orion Stratus 5mm (ostensibly the same as Hyperion 5mm)
Orion Expanse 6mm (it DOES work well in the 12" f/4.9, really!)
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Good Seeing!
Mark
Orion 12" XTi f/4.9
VERY old Edmund 6" f/8 reflector
Assorted binoculars
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Mark Harry
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 09/05/05
Posts: 2488
Loc: Northeast
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I might be opening a can of worms, but how do you pronounce "Hyperion" ?
hy-PER-ee-on,
or
hy-per- EYE- on???
Regards, and no kidding,
Mark
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Scopes in the works-
Too many for putting down here! Favorites- 8" F/6, 8" F/4.72, 4.5" F/5.4, 14" F/4.455, all completed.
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pennyandchris
professor emeritus
Reged: 01/30/07
Posts: 505
Loc: Horsham, England
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Hy-peer-ee-on
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Orion UK OMC140 Mak Cass
TeleVue Ranger
Coronado Ha and CaK PSTs
Meade LXD75 mount
Ambermile alt-az mount on wooden surveyors tripod
Manfrotto 074 photo tripod with 501 head
+ various binocs
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andydj5xp
sage
Reged: 05/27/04
Posts: 384
Loc: 52.269 N/10.571 E
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Quote:
how do you pronounce "Hyperion"
Like it's written, with the emphasis on the "e".
It's the name of the ancient greek god Hyperion, the father of Helios (the god of the sun).
Andreas
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TEC140 (#216)
Leica 22...7.3mm zoom, barlowed 1.75x (12.6...4.2mm)
Zeiss AbbeII set with Barlow 2x
WO UWAN16, also barlowed 1.78x (9mm)
WO UWAN28
Edited by andydj5xp (06/14/07 06:36 AM)
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Jason B
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 06/21/04
Posts: 2070
Loc: Mid-Michigan
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On my 12.5" F5 dob, my 5mm eyepiece of choice is the 5mm Tak LE. Easy eye placement and high contrast views. I call it my "Saturn eyepiece". The other suggestions are quite good as well but this one is my personal favorite.
Jason
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Jason
Discovery 12.5" F5 PDHQ
GSO 6" F5 Newt.
Vixen 80mm F8 APO (FL80S)
Vixen GP and Astro-Tech Voyager Mounts
MX 716 and Canon Rebel XT
Volunteer Administrator for Fox Park Observatory
16" and 12" LX200's
10" Meade and Parks Dobs
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csa/montana
Astro Ambassador
Reged: 05/14/05
Posts: 28570
Loc: montana
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I also recommend the TakLE 5mm ED! This is one fantastic eyepiece. Extremely comfortable eye relief, I could use it for hours, it's so comfortable. Also very good color; I viewed Saturn thru it, & it was beautiful! Very sharp to the edge as far as I could tell.
I'm so impressed with it, that I'm going to get the 7.5mm & sell or trade my Pentax XL 7mm.
Carol
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Carol
AstroTech 16" Dob (Thanks ASTRONOMICS!)
AstroTech 66ED / Vixen 80MF/AstroTech Voyager
Masuyama's 7.5, 15, 25W, 35mm,
Tak LE 5mm B/TMB 3.2
7mm Pentax XL, 10mm Pentax XW
14mm Meade 4000 UWA
22mm Pan, 35mm Pan
DreamCatcher Dobservatory, #2
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J_D_Metzger
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 05/13/04
Posts: 1301
Loc: Tucson, AZ
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Rick,
I agree that the Tak LE is a very nice eyepiece. However, with an undriven scope, you need to consider how much "dwell time" a 52 degree AFOV will give you.
Here's a great link for calculating all sorts of things, including transit time:
http://www.atmsite.org/contrib/Prewitt/fieldOfView/
I ran a few alternatives for your scope, and I assumed that the actual "dwell time" is 75% of the full transit time, in other words, the amount of time between "nudges":
AFOV in degrees - Dwell Time (approximate)
52 - 30 sec
60 - 35 sec
68 - 40 sec
82 - 49 sec
You may very well be perfectly happy with 30 sec dwell time, then again, maybe not...
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Clear skies,
J.D.
32°15'16.96"N 110°47'39.24"W
Celestron C9.25 & C6, TeleVue TV-76,
Vixen Sphinx SXD, iOptron MiniTower
TeleVue Naglers, TeleVue Panoptics
Canon 10x30 IS Binoculars
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esd726
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/30/04
Posts: 731
Loc: Howe, IN
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Thanks guys, helping alot.
Rick
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No more scopes :-(
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jonnyastro
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 02/14/06
Posts: 3449
Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
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I'm glad this thread got started. A 5 millimeter eyepiece is going to be my next purpose. A couple of weeks ago i bought an 8 millimeter Hyperion. Absolutely love it! I;m going to get a couple more of these in the longer focal lengths. However, i feel it is not quite up to par on planets. I detect a bit of a contrast problem compared to my Plossls. I was set on a TMB 5 Planetary. I am going to seriously look into the Tak now though. These are my dream scope, can"t afford one right now, but at least i can have the eyepiece. Do you guys feel that the Tak LE will beat the TMB planetary on contrast.
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Scott17
super member
Reged: 05/10/07
Posts: 155
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One thing is for sure, the Tak LE 5mm is razor sharp right out to the edge of the field. So you'll see a good image the whole time it's drifting through the FOV. If a wider FOV eyepiece is only sharp in the middle part, you'll end up with less quality time.
I've compared the 5 and 7.5mm LE's to other 6 and 7 element ep's and so far they've had better contrast than the more complex eps every time. I've not compared them to the Burgess planetary's though.
-Scott
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3.25 inch f/15 Jaegers refractor
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jonnyastro
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 02/14/06
Posts: 3449
Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
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Thanks Scott. One thing. I just checked the specs. 9 millimeter eyerelief? Where do they get off calling these LEs? I need to wear glasses at the eyepiece, so looks like the TMB for me.
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Emanuele
Good Boy wants Cake
Reged: 11/19/03
Posts: 3985
Loc: Miami, Florida
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Quote:
I'm glad this thread got started. A 5 millimeter eyepiece is going to be my next purpose. A couple of weeks ago i bought an 8 millimeter Hyperion. Absolutely love it! I;m going to get a couple more of these in the longer focal lengths. However, i feel it is not quite up to par on planets. I detect a bit of a contrast problem compared to my Plossls. I was set on a TMB 5 Planetary. I am going to seriously look into the Tak now though. These are my dream scope, can"t afford one right now, but at least i can have the eyepiece. Do you guys feel that the Tak LE will beat the TMB planetary on contrast.
I recenlty got a BO 4mm Planetary and I like it a lot for the little time I have used it from my apartment window!
I would be interested to know of a comparison between the BO and the Tak LE 5mm.
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http://www.backyardskies.com
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Scott17
super member
Reged: 05/10/07
Posts: 155
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Johnny - I think the "long eye relief" are compared to regular orthos or plossls. Those would have less than 4mm eye relief in that size.
LE's may not be so great for eyeglass wearers, I'm not sure if the rubber eyeguards fold down either.
-Scott
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3.25 inch f/15 Jaegers refractor
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jonnyastro
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 02/14/06
Posts: 3449
Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
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Thanks Scott, that does make sense and put it in perspective.
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csa/montana
Astro Ambassador
Reged: 05/14/05
Posts: 28570
Loc: montana
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I'm not sure if the rubber eyeguards fold down either.
(QUOTE)
Yes they do! 
Carol
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Carol
AstroTech 16" Dob (Thanks ASTRONOMICS!)
AstroTech 66ED / Vixen 80MF/AstroTech Voyager
Masuyama's 7.5, 15, 25W, 35mm,
Tak LE 5mm B/TMB 3.2
7mm Pentax XL, 10mm Pentax XW
14mm Meade 4000 UWA
22mm Pan, 35mm Pan
DreamCatcher Dobservatory, #2
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skypilgrim
sage
Reged: 12/25/06
Posts: 412
Loc: Under a cloud
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JD - Great dwell time information. Thanks for sharing.
On my 12.5" Discovery dob I decided to attack the problem a different way. I replaced the stock bearing pads with high-quality teflon pads and am amazed at the improvement. I used Kriege and Berry's book to calculate the correct size and placement of the pads.
After the upgrade I wouldn't even call it "nudging" anymore. More like "gliding" 
BTW - I like the Tak LE suggestion. They are super ep's.
Sam
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Equipment:
Scope #1: 5" f/8 refractor.
Scope #2: 3" f/6 refractor.
Daughters scope: XT6 dobsonian.
Area of interest: Ethnoastronomy
My Blog: http://fathersky.wordpress.com/
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Jason B
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 06/21/04
Posts: 2070
Loc: Mid-Michigan
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I have both the Tak LE's (7.5 and 5) and BO/TMB (9 and 4). There is a large magnification difference between them so they are hard to compare directly. One thing that is nice is that the 2 series are almost parafocal. The 9 is one of my favorite deep sky eyepieces. The 5mm is my favorite on the planets. The seeing here in MI doesn't support the 4 very often but it is sharp when allowed to perform. The differences between the two series is subtle but without having 2 of the same focal length, it is really hard to compare them head to head. The quality of view in all 4 is high so I really like them both!
Jason
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Jason
Discovery 12.5" F5 PDHQ
GSO 6" F5 Newt.
Vixen 80mm F8 APO (FL80S)
Vixen GP and Astro-Tech Voyager Mounts
MX 716 and Canon Rebel XT
Volunteer Administrator for Fox Park Observatory
16" and 12" LX200's
10" Meade and Parks Dobs
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Jim Rosenstock
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 07/14/05
Posts: 2394
Loc: MD, south of the DC Nebula
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I'll add for your consideration the Siebert Star Splitter eyepiece(s).
Big eye lens, ~70-degree AFOV, quite sharp nearly to the edge, high-contrast, ghost- and scatter-free views.
I particularly like these eyepieces when tracking a planet manually with an undriven Dob. The relatively wide field and the easy-to-approach eye lens are quite ergonomic for high-power chasing.
And the fact that these eyepieces are hand-made in the USA out of Harry Siebert's small shop in NC is all the more reason to consider this eyepiece IMO.
The aluminum eyepiece barrels are solidly machined aluminum, with a brushed or matte finish that frankly does not look as slick as many of the factory-made eyepieces. They look, ummm, hand made. The glass (imported, of course, as are most eyepiece lenses, including TV)is first rate.
The prices are just a little north of $100 last I looked.
Clear skies,
Jim
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QUESTION AUTHORITY!
"errr....sez who??"
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Bob W6PU
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/23/04
Posts: 2191
Loc: Springer-N.E.NM
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I use the 7mm and 5mm Bo/Tmb Planetary eyepieces, and find that they have excellent contrast, eye relief, and a decent 60 degree AFOV.
In tests, they had less light scatter than my barlowed Stratus or Hyperions, and also had somewhat better contrast then the latter!
OTH, the Stratus and Hyperion have a wider AFOV of view at 68 degrees, which means less nudging of the un guided scopes, and their sharpness and edge performance were excellent in my 12" F/4.9 Intelliscope!
Hope that this helps!
Bob
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Starkler
professor emeritus
Reged: 11/04/05
Posts: 691
Loc: Australia, Melbourne
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Im considering buying a 5mm Vixen LV after seeing that these ep's have noticeably less scatter than the B/TMB and appear to be as sharp.
Very under rated are the LV and LVW's from Vixen IMO
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Geoff
15" SDM truss dob | Vixen r130sf | GSO 10" dob
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J_D_Metzger
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 05/13/04
Posts: 1301
Loc: Tucson, AZ
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Vixen North America still has some "blow-out sale" LV's in stock, including the 5mm:
http://www.vixenamerica.com/Products/Default.asp?TopCatCode=EP&Fam_or_Cat=EP-LV&Short_Verbose=Lanthanum
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Clear skies,
J.D.
32°15'16.96"N 110°47'39.24"W
Celestron C9.25 & C6, TeleVue TV-76,
Vixen Sphinx SXD, iOptron MiniTower
TeleVue Naglers, TeleVue Panoptics
Canon 10x30 IS Binoculars
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antilles72
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 03/06/07
Posts: 1236
Loc: Rhode Island
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I did notice them still on sale. $75.00 seems like a decent price
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Royston
Royston's Cosmic Log
Royston Kane Photography
Orion 80ED
Orion Scenix 10x50
Bushnell Sky Chief III 60mm F/15
Orion Sirius Plossl 10mm, 20mm, 25mm
B/TMB Planetary 4mm
Sony Alpha A100
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J_D_Metzger
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 05/13/04
Posts: 1301
Loc: Tucson, AZ
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That's a very good price for new. But I'm not sure the LV's would be very good in an undriven scope. The AFOV is only 45 degrees...
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Clear skies,
J.D.
32°15'16.96"N 110°47'39.24"W
Celestron C9.25 & C6, TeleVue TV-76,
Vixen Sphinx SXD, iOptron MiniTower
TeleVue Naglers, TeleVue Panoptics
Canon 10x30 IS Binoculars
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jonnyastro
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 02/14/06
Posts: 3449
Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
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Thats exactly why i did not consider them.
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Trombone
professor emeritus
Reged: 07/11/05
Posts: 646
Loc: Canadian west (and north!)
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