10 replies to this topic

[FredinZona]

Have a Gen1 85mm Vortex.  Bought an adaptor from APM.  Some eyepieces have enough focus, others do not.

I am searching for a 6 or 7mm to go with the 450mm focal length to give me about 60x.  The OEM eyepiece is variable and goes to 60 but it's clarity leaves much to be desired.  

 

Celestron x-cel eyepieces work fine for focus, but desire a bit better resolution.

Celestron Luminos Do Not work- focus is too short.

 

Been told Naglers should work, but too expensive.

 

Something in between the X-Cel and the Nagler???

[GrassLakeRon]

Astro-tech UWA at $119 from astronomics.

 

https://astronomics....321c5770a&_ss=c

Edited by GrassLakeRon, 28 April 2025 - 12:32 PM.

[vtornado]

Have you looked through a Nagler?  I compared a Delite 11 to a astro-tech paradigm 12 on double double, Stephenson cluster, Jupiter and I had to swap out eyepieces back had forth a bunch to make a determination on which was "better".   It was very close.  And I may have been being fooled by the atmosphere and the change in magnification.

 

The wider AFOV field Naglers are going to be better with edge correction than anything significantly cheaper, but what about the prism in your scope?   Is it full aperture or will it clip the image at wider fields of view?  Its aperture may have been designed with the zoom lens in mind.

 

A lot of folks like baader morpheus line which is cheaper than TV.  I have no idea if they will focus in your spotter.

 

Can you find/join an astro club?  A member may be able to let you try some eyepieces.

Edited by vtornado, 28 April 2025 - 01:21 PM.

[photoracer18]

A lot depends on the eyepiece optical design. Spotting scopes use a different amount of back focus due to the type and number of reflections of the prism they use for making a RACI image compared to a finder scope or a refractor.  That is one reason they use proprietary eyepieces verses standard astro ones. The long range shooting forum 6mmBR.com did a test of spotting scopes a number of years ago to see what scopes in the 80mm class could reliably see .30 cal bullet holes in paper at 1000 yards. All of the 77-85mm class Fluorite scopes could do it and several ED ones also. For you the significant part of the test was when they tried the Pentax PF-80ED which uses their own brand of astro-type 1.25" eyepieces. While the then Pentax XL Zoom was considered one of the 3 best zoom lenses out there they actually got slightly better images with the Pentax 7XL which actually produces more magnification than the max out of the  XL Zoom at 8mm. They voted the Pentax 80 as most bang for the buck over the Fujinon, Zeiss, Swarovski because it was the cheapest one that could o the job and a Pentax's design is similar to TeleVues in that it has a built in tele-negative optical group as the first group. Plus they are LER eyepieces. So while some of the more powerful Pentax XL/XW may or may not reach focus ( I have not tried all of the XL or XW ones) the 7mm XL or XW seem to work well. And while I don't have a Vortex spotting scope I do have 2 Pentax ones , the PF-65EDII and the PF-100ED both of which I use for long range shooting and/or hunting (I do have a number of Vortex rifle scopes). A lot depends on where the focal plane is in the eyepiece design. Right now I have a full set of XWs (formerly XLs) plus an almost full set of Paradigms (missing the 18mm) but have not tried them in the spotting scopes yet..

[SeattleScott]

In terms of central contrast, no, there isn’t much of a middle ground between Xcel LX and Nagler. The Xcel LX is a very solid performer. It might not quite have the polish and baffling of a Nagler. But anything that does will cost about as much as the Nagler.

Do remember that 60x is usually pushing it for daytime viewing. If the real issue is typical daytime atmospheric turbulence, then no eyepiece, no matter how sharp, is going to be meaningfully better than the Xcel LX.

You say the Luminos doesn’t reach focus. Which way? You can’t push it in far enough, or you have to pull it out a bit to reach focus? This will help us as some eyepieces are known to focus farther out than others.

[FredinZona]

The Luminos would focus at about 30 feet.  I tried pulling it out a bit just to see what would happen-- nothing.

With a 450mm focal length, I'd like to stick with a 6mm eyepiece.  These seem to be a bit rare with 5 or 7 more available.

5 would give me 90x, but I wonder if that is too much for the 85mm obj lens.

For occasional use in daytime (past 40x gets into the mirage), but mostly night searching for Saturn's rings with grandson.

 

FYI: I acquired the optional 30mm fixed Burris lens (The Burris and Vortex Gen1 scopes appear identical).  30x on the Vortex OEM 20-60 ain't bad at all, but the Burris fixed 30 blows it away.

Am hoping for a similar effect on a fixed 5-7mm eyepiece (90-60x)

Edited by FredinZona, 28 April 2025 - 03:38 PM.

[Starman1]

Have a Gen1 85mm Vortex.  Bought an adaptor from APM.  Some eyepieces have enough focus, others do not.

I am searching for a 6 or 7mm to go with the 450mm focal length to give me about 60x.  The OEM eyepiece is variable and goes to 60 but it's clarity leaves much to be desired.  

 

Celestron x-cel eyepieces work fine for focus, but desire a bit better resolution.

Celestron Luminos Do Not work- focus is too short.

 

Been told Naglers should work, but too expensive.

 

Something in between the X-Cel and the Nagler???

All 1.25" Tele Vue eyepieces have their focal planes 1/4" below the shoulders.

That means they are usable in a lot of spotting scopes, which typically have their focal planes very close to the scopes.

So you have a choice of, from Tele Vue:

--Plössls

--Delites

--Panoptics

--Delos

--Naglers

--Ethos

My vote would go for the Delites, as the 62° fields would likely not exceed the illumination of the internal prisms.  There is a 7mm in that line.

[SeattleScott]

90x shouldn’t be any problem for 85mm aperture.

[eblanken]

In terms of central contrast, no, there isn’t much of a middle ground between Xcel LX and Nagler. The Xcel LX is a very solid performer. It might not quite have the polish and baffling of a Nagler. But anything that does will cost about as much as the Nagler.

Do remember that 60x is usually pushing it for daytime viewing. If the real issue is typical daytime atmospheric turbulence, then no eyepiece, no matter how sharp, is going to be meaningfully better than the Xcel LX.

You say the Luminos doesn’t reach focus. Which way? You can’t push it in far enough, or you have to pull it out a bit to reach focus? This will help us as some eyepieces are known to focus farther out than others.

 

+1 on what Scott said . . . 7mm TeleVue DeLite would do the trick for you . . . I own the whole set  . . . 

 

Best,

 

Ed

 

P.S. Buy a used 7mm DeLite if you can . . . $ 200 ??? or if you can find one, a 6mm TeleVue Radian at about $150 ???

Edited by eblanken, 28 April 2025 - 11:10 PM.

[eblanken]

All 1.25" Tele Vue eyepieces have their focal planes 1/4" below the shoulders.

That means they are usable in a lot of spotting scopes, which typically have their focal planes very close to the scopes.

So you have a choice of, from Tele Vue:

--Plössls

--Delites

--Panoptics

--Delos

--Naglers

--Ethos

My vote would go for the Delites, as the 62° fields would likely not exceed the illumination of the internal prisms.  There is a 7mm in that line.

 

+1 on what Don said . . . 7mm DeLite . . . Used . . . 

[eblanken]

The Luminos would focus at about 30 feet.  I tried pulling it out a bit just to see what would happen-- nothing.

With a 450mm focal length, I'd like to stick with a 6mm eyepiece.  These seem to be a bit rare with 5 or 7 more available.

5 would give me 90x, but I wonder if that is too much for the 85mm obj lens.

For occasional use in daytime (past 40x gets into the mirage), but mostly night searching for Saturn's rings with grandson.

 

FYI: I acquired the optional 30mm fixed Burris lens (The Burris and Vortex Gen1 scopes appear identical).  30x on the Vortex OEM 20-60 ain't bad at all, but the Burris fixed 30 blows it away.

Am hoping for a similar effect on a fixed 5-7mm eyepiece (90-60x)

 

 

90x shouldn’t be any problem for 85mm aperture.

 Ok, a 5mm TeleVue DeLite would get you 90x, which should be fine as Scott says . . . 

 

Best,

 

Ed