46 replies to this topic

[wilash]

How many eyepieces do you own? And, more importantly, what percentage of them do you actually use?

[Bill Grass]

I currently have 6, but use only 5 regularly.

41mm Pan
24mm Pan
11mm Nagler T6
7mm Nagler T6
3-6mm Nagler Zoom

The one I don't use is my 6mm UO HD Ortho. Scott Beith & I are planning a little swap the next time we get together.

[Tom L]

Current line-up:

UO Orthos: 5mm (HD), 7, 9, 12.5 and 18
TV Plossls: 20 and 25mm, 1.8x and 3x barlow
GSO 2" 30mm, 2x barlow
Astrola 9mm that needs a new home
Celestron 32mm plossl

10 EPs and 3 barlows...pretty much set for now!

[SpongeBob]

3
24mm Pan
7mm T6
5mm T6
If I ever save up enough money a 9mm T6 would complete my set.
Jason

[rodrake]

25mm, 17mm, 12.5mm, and 9mm Orion Sirius Plossls
12.5mm, 9mm, and 7mm UO Orthos
2.8x Klee

I use the 25mm Plossl (30x) and 12.5mm Ortho (60x and 168x with the Klee) the most followed by the 7mm Ortho (108x). I'm considering upgrading the Plossls.

[wilash]

I use the following with an Intes Macro M503 f/10 Mak:

50mm Lanthanum
32mm Plossl
18mm Orthoscopic
12mm Intes Kellner (70 degree AFOV) Came with the scope
9mm Othoscopic

2X shorty Barlow
2.4X Intes Barlow (Came with the scope)

I use all of them regularly. I'm not looking for any more.

[erik]

my current lineup:
40mm orion optiluxe (2")
35mm orion deepview (2")
40mm meade super plossl
32mm meade super plossl
25mm orion highlight plossl
20mm meade super plossl
15mm meade super plossl
12.4mm meade super plossl
9.7mm meade super plossl
7.5mm orion ultrascopic
6.4mm meade super plossl
5mm orion ultrascopic
orion shorty plus 2x barlow
orion tri-mag 3x barlow
orion ultrascopic 2x barlow
i use all of them except the 6.4mm plossl, which i don't use much. i also have several other plossls i keep for "spares".

[jack45]

40mm Orion Highlight,32mm,2ea 26mm,2ea 20mm,2ea 17mm,12.5mm,and the 7.5mm Orion Plossls/9.7mm Meade plossl,2ea 15mm Ultrawide,2ea 19mm W70,13.5mm SWA,32mm GPS,26mm T/5,24mm Panoptic,25mm MK-70,20mm T2 and 20mm T/5,17mm T/4,2ea 16mm T5,14mm Meade UWA,12mm T/4,2ea 11mm T/6,9mm T/2,7mm T/6,18mm UO,2ea 9mm UO HD,2ea 7mm UO,4mm UO,5mm UO/TV Big Barlow,TV 2x Barlow,TV 2.5x Barlow,Orion 2x and 3x barlow/Denk STD Binoviewer. One 16mm T/2 coming and the 31mm T/5 in July!My Naglers and UOs also the 14mm UWA get used the most!

Clear Skies!

[jrcrilly]

My arsenal is down a little just now; I tend to use my excess EP's for trading material and just swapped a handful (including my bino pairs) for the 15" Starsplitter. Looks as though things are biased toward classics just now:
Original Naglers 9mm and 13mm
Meade UWA's (nearly identical) 8.8mm and 14mm
TV Widefields 24mm and 40mm
Meade SWA's (very similar) 13.8mm and 40mm
Nagler T2's 9mm, 12mm, 16mm, and 20mm
Nagler T5 31mm
Nagler T6 11mm
Nagler zoom 3-6mm
Panoptic 27mm

Celestron anniversary set
GSO 42mm and 50mm WF
1RPD 30mm

First EP's reached for every time:
T2 Naglers

I'll probably replace the missing T4's gradually. I have an appointment at the end of the month to see whether I can get my eye sorted out so I can use binos again. If so, I'll be shopping for bino pairs.

[Rushwind]

I've just bought my first 3 eyepieces.

32mm Orion Highlight Plossl
25mm Orion Sirius Plossl
10mm Orion Sirius Plossl
7mm UO Ortho
5mm UO Ortho

2x and 3x Barlows

The 25 and 10 came with my first scope. So they've both seen a lot of use. The other 3 just arrived this week, so I'm still figuring out how they work.

If I sold all 5, and got full retail, I *still* couldn't afford one Nagler. Well, maybe one...

Jimbo

[wilash]

40mm Orion Highlight,32mm,2ea 26mm,2ea 20mm,2ea 17mm,12.5mm,and the 7.5mm Orion Plossls/9.7mm Meade plossl,2ea 15mm Ultrawide,2ea 19mm W70,13.5mm SWA,32mm GPS,26mm T/5,24mm Panoptic,25mm MK-70,20mm T2 and 20mm T/5,17mm T/4,2ea 16mm T5,14mm Meade UWA,12mm T/4,2ea 11mm T/6,9mm T/2,7mm T/6,18mm UO,2ea 9mm UO HD,2ea 7mm UO,4mm UO,5mm UO/TV Big Barlow,TV 2x Barlow,TV 2.5x Barlow,Orion 2x and 3x barlow/Denk STD Binoviewer. One 16mm T/2 coming and the 31mm T/5 in July!My Naglers and UOs also the 14mm UWA get used the most!

Clear Skies!

Jack45, this post is for amateur astronomers, not vendors. I assume this is stock. If you don't have a binoviewer, you have a problem. (BTW, the problem is not the absence of a binoviewer.)

[wilash]

Maybe I should rephrase the question from number to gross weight?

[Paul G]

My current crop includes:

Singles:

41 Panoptic
31 Nagler
26 Nagler
25 Celestron Plossl
22 Nagler
17 Nagler
12 Nagler
3-6 Nagler Zoom

Pairs for binoviewing:

34 Zeiss Abbe orthos
25 Zeiss Abbe orthos
24 Panoptics
16 Zeiss Abbe orthos
16 Naglers
13 Naglers
11 Naglers
10 Zeiss Abbe orthos
9 Naglers
7 Naglers
6 Zeiss Abbe orthos
5 Radians
5 Naglers
4 Zeiss Abbe orthos
3 Radians

Barlows:

Celestron Ultima
AstroPhysics 2" (older one-piece)
AstroPhysics Barcon
TeleVue 2" 2x Powermate
TeleVue 2" 4x Powermate

With scopes whose focal lengths vary from 450mm to 3700mm I use them all. After an appropriate time comparing the 5 Radians with the 5 Naglers I may sell one set, not sure which at this point.

[wilash]

Gus, you must really like that Celestron Plossl?

[Victor Kennedy]

Axiom 34 mm (2")
Axiom 23 mm (x2)
Pentax 28 mm (x2)
Pentax 14 mm
Takahashi ortho 25 mm (x2)
Tak 18 mm
Tak 12.5 mm
Tak 9 mm
Tak 7 mm
Tak 5 mm
Tak 4 mm

Meade 140 2x barlow

I seldom use the eyepieces under 9 mm. I had the 2.8 mm ortho but it was unusable in either of my scopes, so I sold it.

I don't use the 34 mm very much, but it is a keeper. The 28 mm Pentaxes are really too bulky to be much good for binoviewing, so I may get rid of one of them. The wide fields are nice, but I spend most of my time looking through the 25, 18 and 12.5 mm orthos. I'm currently looking for a second 18 mm Tak for binoviewing.

[Paul G]

It's a sentimental favorite, but not the first ep I grab. :-)

[half meter]

Here's my stable:

55 Televue Plossl
32 UO Konig (original widefield circa 1985)
31 T5 Nagler (holy hand grenade)
24 Panoptic (pair for binos)
22 Panoptic (1-1/4" and 2" skirts)
20 UO Erfle (comfortable to use--"like your favorite jeans")
16 UO Konig (original widefield (volcano top) circa 1985)
13 T6 Nagler (pair for binos)
8-24 Televue Zoom (used with 2.5x Powermate to establish maximum seeing)


For magnifications below 13mm, I use the eyepieces above with the following:

2.5x Teleview Powermate
(1.4x, 2x, 2.5x) Dual Arm Denkmeier Powermate X Switch
2x Celestron Ultima Shorty barlow

[lighttrap]

I purposely keep a whole set of ep.s for public events for setting up multiple scopes. So I'll separate those.

What I prefer to use:
Burgess 2" 32mm 70*FOV
Japanese Meade Super Plossl 32mm
Japanese Meade Super Plossl 26mm
Burgess 17mmWA
UO Konig II 16mm
Japanese Meade Super Plossl 15mm
UO 12mmED ortho
UO 9mm ortho (*lost* 1st one, 2nd one to be ordered soon!)
UO 7mm standard ortho

Barlows:
Orion Shorty Plus APO 2x
UO Klee 2.8x

Public events:
Chinese Meade Super Plossl 26mm (in the mail to me)
Astrola 25mm plossl
Intes Micro 21mmWA (erfle?)
Orion Sirius 17mm plossl
Orion Sirius 12.5mm plossl
Japanese Meade Super plossl 12.4mm
Japanese Meade Super plossl 9.7mm (presently,out on loan)
Astrola 9mm plossl
Japanese Meade Series 3000 6.7mm plossl

Two that I've *never* yet used:
Parks Japanese 25mm Kellner
Parks Japanese 6mm Kellner

I'm very curious to try those last two!

Mike Swaim

[Lucifigus]

Well acquiring more telescopes causes one to view the EP collection a little more critically. With a long, 12.5" dob (FL=1907), an 8" f/8 and a short 4" refractor (FL=613), I now have 15 EPs and 2 barlows. Over the course of a year, I use all of them.

40 Pentax XL
32 TV plossl (just a handy EP to have in the bag)
25 UO Ortho
22 Nagler
18 UO Ortho
17 Nagler (most used EP in the dob)
13 Nagler
12.5 UO Ortho
12.5 Celestron/Baader micro guide illuminated
9 Nagler
9 UO Ortho
7 Pentax XL
7 Nikon (duplication, but I can't bring myself to sell this)
5.2 Pentax XL
3-6 Nagler zoom (most used EP in the refractor)
AP Barcon (1.7x)
2.5x Powermate

I have duplication with many of the orthos & Naglers, but for eeking out the most detail in a small dim object, I like the orthos best. I like the Naglers for "cruising". I haven't bought an EP for about 18 months - so I seem to be disease free.

Gary Weber

[MikeS]

For my Orion SVP 8. 1000mm FL

32mm Optilux 2"
25mm Sirius Plossl
13mm Nagler T6
10mm Sirius Plossl
Televue 2.5 Powermate

Mike

[SAL]

I just sold my original Orion Sirius Plossl set which consisted of 40mm, 32mm, 26mm, 17mm, 10mm, & 7.5mm.

I currently own the following EPs (all Plossls):

Tele Vue 32mm
Tele Vue 25mm
Tele Vue 20mm
Tele Vue 11mm
Tele Vue 8mm


Public viewing events Plossls:

Orion Sirius 25mm
Generic 15mm
Orion Sirius 10mm
Generic 6mm

I use an Orion Shorty Plus 2x APO (Celestron Ultima) Barlow.

I am still looking for a used Tele Vue 15mm Plossl in excellent condition... (Scott)

[ngc6475]

Right now it's...

Tak LE 5, 7.5, 12.5, 18, 24, 30, and 50mm;

TV Radian 3 and 10mm;

Pentax XL 7, 14, and 40mm;

TV Nagler 17T4, 22T4, 31T5;

TV Powermate 1.25" 2.5x and 2" 2x

The choice of eyepieces vary, of course, with the season, the objects on the list, and what happens to be up in the sky. Overall, I find that I jump on the Taks early in the evening when I go after the objects on my list, then gravitate to the wide field eyepieces as the night wears on when I just want to scan. Thus, the Pentax 40mm probably gets the most use among the 2" eyepieces, and the Tak 12.5 or 18mm among the 1.25" EPs...unless I'm grabbing the Tak 5mm or the 10mm Radian or...

My least-used eyepieces are likely to be the Tak 50 and Nagler 31mm EPs. Too big, heavy, and/or less "friendly" than other eyepieces for most purposes.

I'm giving some thought to augmenting this list with one or a few of AP's SPL eyepieces, but I'm not quite there, yet.