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What is your lowest scatter, short FL eyepiece(s)?

Started by precaud , Jun 23 2014 09:55 PM
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35 replies to this topic

#1 precaud

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Posted 23 June 2014 - 09:55 PM

And by short, let's say 10mm or less.

#2 astrodon

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Posted 23 June 2014 - 10:23 PM

7,8,9,10mm TMB Supermonocentrics
5mm Pentax XO and 6mm AP Superplanetary have the least scatter in my stable.

#3 Jeff Morgan

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Posted 23 June 2014 - 11:54 PM

TMB Supermonos: 7, 6, 5.
A-P SPL's: 10, 8, 6, 5.
Brandons: 8, 6.

Love them all of course, but of the group the Supermonos seem to be outperforming. They edge out ever so slightly the SPL's and Brandons (although it takes really good seeing to separate them).

The Supermonos beat the 5 Pentax XW and 8 Delos (now sold off) on small targets just about any night. Ray Charles could have seen it.

#4 Aleko

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Posted 24 June 2014 - 12:05 AM

7,8,9mm TMB Supermonocentrics. Also an old 8mm Brandon.

Anyone see a pattern here? :-)

Alex

#5 planet earth

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Posted 24 June 2014 - 04:01 AM

The 5 element Antares Elite 7.5mm plossl is very good, if you clean the eye lens a few times during the nights observing. Of course that applies for most short eye relief eyepieces :)
Sam

#6 Richard Low

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Posted 24 June 2014 - 04:40 AM

ZAO-IIs 4, 6,10mm, followed by Supermonos 4-10mm

#7 hottr6

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Posted 24 June 2014 - 07:42 AM

Lots of wonderfully exotic suggestions in this thread.

For myself and my more mundane collection (LVWs, TMB PIIs, classic Japanese Plossls, modern Chinese wide-fields), I find the Baader Genuine Orthos to have the least amount of scatter.

#8 BillP

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Posted 24 June 2014 - 08:31 AM

I find the ZAO-IIs lowest in scatter of any production eyepiece. So even better than the Supermonos. Pentax XO is also excellent. The very best though it a home made singlet Ball eyepiece...uncoated.

#9 Richard Low

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Posted 24 June 2014 - 09:23 AM

Another excellent choice is the Leica ASPH 9-18mm zoom with Zeiss-Baader Abbe 2x Barlow.

#10 precaud

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Posted 24 June 2014 - 09:28 AM

The question is, what is YOUR lowest scatter sub-10mm EP... doesn't have to be exotica...

#11 Paul G

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Posted 24 June 2014 - 10:11 AM

ZAO I's and II's. But on most nights between the seeing and the high humidity they are no better in the scatter department than the Nagler 3-6 zoom, Radians, Ethos or Nagler t6's; seeing and the scatter from the humidity dominate. On a night of great seeing with low humidity they are a little better.

#12 izar187

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Posted 24 June 2014 - 10:26 AM

The question is, what is YOUR lowest scatter sub-10mm EP... doesn't have to be exotica...


Siebert StarSpitters, 3.9mm and 5.4mm SS3's.

#13 Scott99

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Posted 24 June 2014 - 10:29 AM

Are we doing another minimum glass thread?? :D :D

I've got a nice set of the AP SPL's for very transparent, scatter-free viewing with only 3 lenses. However, the truth is that my 5mm and 7.5mm Tak LE's spend more time in the focuser, just for ease of use and wider field.

under 10mm you could include my 8mm and 10mm Clave Plossls as well, they do a great job and give you 50 degrees FOV. Below 8mm the Plossl eye relief gets tight, that's why the 5mm and 7.5mm Tak LE's get used so much.

#14 youngamateur42

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Posted 24 June 2014 - 10:31 AM

My Galoc 7mm would have to take the cake, beats the TMB PLII 6mm, as much as I like that.

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#15 Tank

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Posted 24 June 2014 - 10:35 AM

Pentax SMC/XP .965
AP SPL
TMB SMC

#16 bremms

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Posted 24 June 2014 - 11:06 AM

ZAO II, Brandon 8mm, 7mm RGO is very good too. The ZAO II was the best for scatter. Sold it to help fund a bicycle. Got more use out of the bike, guess it was a decent investment. Only one i still have is the RGO. ER is too tight on the 8mm Brandon. The 7.4mm TV plossl is very good when clean. Seems hard to keep clean. Use it a lot, I must really like the 7.4mm TVP.

#17 SteveG

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Posted 24 June 2014 - 11:58 AM

Brandon 24mm + 3x barlow (8 mm)
Brandon 16mm + 3x barlow (5.3 mm)
Brandon 12mm + 3x barlow (4 mm)

#18 Scanning4Comets

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Posted 24 June 2014 - 12:29 PM

The 5 element Antares Elite 7.5mm plossl is very good, if you clean the eye lens a few times during the nights observing. Of course that applies for most short eye relief eyepieces
Sam


Love those Elites! :jump: Nice piece of glass. :grin:

I prefer the 20mm with a 2x or 2.5x Barlow / Powermate. Nothing shorter than a 12mm for me, (hate that little glass window with short ER)....no thanks.

Also, I don't understand why people complain about "scatter". As long as the detail on planets when doing planetary is good, it doesn't matter to me. I'll take the Delos over everything, every time. They are also awesome for deep sky too. Double duty baby.

My favorite is my 6mm Delos: Loads of comfort and it puts up incredible planetary detail. :grin:

#19 REC

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Posted 24 June 2014 - 12:33 PM

Steve, what barlow are you using?

I never thought about barlow on my Brandon 16mm, I just use a 6.7mm EP for highest power in some of my scopes. I'll have to give that a try on Saturn next time out.

#20 Starman81

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Posted 24 June 2014 - 01:00 PM

My BGOs under 10mm: 9/7/6/5. Would love to try a ZAO or SuperMono someday. I can't believe a Pentax XO 5 went for sub-$300 on AM just yesterday. That was a steal.

#21 Jeff Morgan

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Posted 24 June 2014 - 02:40 PM

I can't believe a Pentax XO 5 went for sub-$300 on AM just yesterday. That was a steal.


It must have set a record for the fastest Astromart sale ever. That guy's mailbox must be exploding.

#22 Paul G

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Posted 24 June 2014 - 04:46 PM

I've got a nice set of the AP SPL's for very transparent, scatter-free viewing with only 3 lenses. However, the truth is that my 5mm and 7.5mm Tak LE's spend more time in the focuser, just for ease of use and wider field.


Good point. The eye relief is uncomfortably short on the 4 and 6 ZAO's and I usually use an eyepiece with more eye relief. I see more when I'm comfortable.

#23 Paul G

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Posted 24 June 2014 - 04:52 PM

Also, I don't understand why people complain about "scatter". As long as the detail on planets when doing planetary is good, it doesn't matter to me. I'll take the Delos over everything, every time. They are also awesome for deep sky too. Double duty baby.


I guess since the scatter isn't just around the planet but causes a subtle smearing of planetary detail.

I use Ethos (haven't tried the Delos) in that focal length range and find them very capable planetary eyepieces, indistinguishable from the ZAO's on most nights around here. Subtle differences in scatter are overwhelmed by atmospheric scatter (humidity was 99% for a few days in a row here) in my area. Despite having spent some bucks on minimal glass eyepieces and using them in scopes with low scatter optics I find there are few nights when they show more than less simple designs.

#24 alnitak22

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Posted 24 June 2014 - 06:43 PM

And by short, let's say 10mm or less.


Nagler 3-6 zoom.

#25 Phillip Creed

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Posted 24 June 2014 - 07:09 PM

I'd have to say my Pentax 7XW and my 10mm Delos are my go-to eyepieces. Yes, there's a lot of elements, but it's *amazing* how planets look in both of these eyepieces and how high the contrast is, even when (gulp) a barlow lens is thrown in the mix.

As someone who prefers to keep my eyeglasses on, just the thought of single-digit eye relief makes me cringe, so I just can't get myself to get short focal length orthos or plossls.

Clear Skies,
Phil
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