are plossl eyepieces good are plossl eyepieces good

Explore Scientific, like many eyepiece providers, have higher-priced and budget lines. I decided to jump in with both feet and get an Orion ED80 (600mm f7.5 with a 2 focuser, So that I can move into astrophotography down the road. Thanks in advance I really appreciate it! https://www.amazon.com/Orion-8829-Wide-Field-Telescope-Eyepiece/dp/B000M89H7C/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=Orion+Q70&qid=1606584502&sr=8-2, The Explore Scientific 68 degree series would be better but at a much higher price. These eyepieces are technically called Symmetrics, since Plossls can have different focal lengths for each doublet, but they are always marketed as Plossl. Hi - I bought these from another AM'er 1 year or so back, thinking I will get into visual astro, But never found the inclination, So here it is for sale 9mm Nagler type 6 mint with box and caps,16mm Nagler type 5,optics are exc. Free shipping for many products! Kellner eyepieces work perfectly with small and medium-sized telescopes. High-quality Plssl eyepieces provide high contrast and sharpness across the entire field of view. We also joined our local Astronomy Club and look forward to joining others under the night sky when the opportunity presents itself again. This is perfect for a 25mm Plossl (an extremely common standard) and downright luxurious with a 32mm Plossl, but when you get below about 12.5mm or 10mm, it can begin to get difficult to use. Since there are so many different types of eyepieces available on the market, choosing the right one for your situation can prove to be a harrowing task. If you have a longer focal length telescope, your shortest focal length eyepiece will be a higher number than what I have shown here. Your email address will not be published. Omni 56mm Eyepiece - 2" Learn More. 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. So you ended up with: It appears to be a custom-made 90 degree binocular built from two 90 degree diagonals and binocular-size objectives attached in place of the usual OTA. I see that there are some optical limits to how wide an FOV a 1.25 EP can manage at bigger (like 32mm) focal lengths. Plssl's were top of the line at one time, and are still being sold today, so that says something too. The 50 apparent field of view is plenty for me. All are good eyepieces and diagonals, and would be excellent for star party use. Higher values are slower and lower values are fasterthis is a holdover from camera lens terminology and has to do with exposure times.). Many thanks. In comparison, Aspherical lenses generally have no color distortion but might not work out well if the telescope user needs really high magnification. A common problem are eyepiece kits, which are big boxes that some telescope suppliers will sell you with half a dozen eyepieces, most of which include annoyingly short focal length Plossl eyepieces. 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. Im fairly picky so would extend budget for better eyepieces if its worth it. If you wish to find a short-focal length eyepiece with a longer, more comfortable eye relief, you could use a long-focus eyepiece with a separate, high-quality barlow lens (an achromatic or apochromatic fully multi-coated barlow would be necessary), or you could purchase one of the several designs incorporating a smyth/barlow lens into the eyepiece design. These have the advantage that the front section with the optics can be unthreaded and threaded on to the filter threads of a 1.25 inch eyepiece. The focal length range for 1.25 Plossls is about 6mm to 45mm. Oh the pain of uh having access to really cool eyepieces.). Which is Stronger? Second? Look those up, seeing and transparency in the context of astronomy. When I started, I purchased less expensive eyepieces to learn about them and how I would use them. I agree. The reason a plano-convex lens is good for using with a telescope is that it provides for both magnifying and erecting the images. Despite the narrow field of view and short eye relief, it showed shockingly good views of Saturn, Jupiter, and even the Moon. In the next section, we will talk about the AFOV of an eyepiece. I usually recommend a 32 mm Plossl type eyepiece as that provides about the widest view you can achieve with a 1.25 focuser. What focal length eyepieces should I buy? I often recommend the use of a barlow to achieve the higher range of magnifications. Soft rubber eye guard that's custom fitted . https://telescopicwatch.com/best-barlow-lens-and-how-to/, Celestron 8-24 Zoom Review 130 mm scope will have a max of 260X for planning purposes. 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? The computerized pad and motor work on AA batteries which can last you a few hours. We are a reader-supported organization. The big problem with Plssls is that the eye relief is about 0.75 times the focal length. All registered. As said, they are cheap to compare. I have had a good experience with the SVBony brand and the Agena Astro brand. Outstanding job Jack. This gives us more flexibility at the low end of the magnification range. . They are all 4-element Plossl eyepieces, and most have a 52-degree field of view that is common to the Plossl design. There was an old Meade Super-Plossl design that used an additional lens element and could reach a wider field of view. 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. As you saw in the article, they eyepieces that would be best for you, or your child, is based on your budget and what your goals are. Although Kellner eyepieces will help you learn a lot in the beginning but soon will realize that youre missing out on something, and eventually you will be tempted to spend money on another good quality eyepiece. I expect such eyepieces are available but I have never seen or used one. Learn more about our story and the team behind the scene. I have Celestron and the Baader Hyperion. Be aware of the focal ratio of your scope. Excellent, thank you for the breakdown, very much appreciated. Any 1.25 eyepiece will work with the BH Zoom 2 adapter. These tend to run toward the more expensive price range. Theres a wide range of quality when it comes to Plossls and trusting the brand you are getting one from matters a lot if you dont want to get an eyepiece with lots of reflection or optical issues. Another really helpful article, Ed. Again, it only costs $30 to $40 to find out, so the education is not that expensive. This is perfect for a 25mm Plossl (an extremely common standard) and downright luxurious with a 32mm Plossl, but when you get below about 12.5mm or 10mm, it can begin to get difficult to use. i did buy an astro-tech 3.2 paradigm ed from a cloudynights.com forum member. You are looking through a LOT of atmosphere which distorts the image. I would wait till you get the scope and use the included eyepieces. I loved my Baader Mark-IV 8mm-24mm Zoom+Barlow combo in my 8" EdgeHD. Best suited for telescopes with f-ratios f6 or slower. Low focal ratio scopes deliver the light rays to the eyepiece at an ever-increasing angle as the focal ratio number goes down. At that price point, it couldnt compete with other 5-element devices like Erfle and Nagler eyepieces that had better performance. Are Plossl eyepieces any good? This might contain more of what you need. This SVBONY eyepiece review should get you up to speed with the budget stargazing options. Plssl eyepieces are affordable and they're outstanding additions to amateur telescopes. This is why we recommend you try to locate the object first at low power, then use a higher magnification if you likethe wider field of view on the sky provides more context in terms of asterisms and reference stars and makes it more likely that youll catch the object you are looking for. This may be enough for many eyeglass wearers. I am not aware of any such solutions for Newtonian reflectors. I can recommend these with confidence. And since this article is intended as an aid to beginners rather than a rigorous optics lesson, I think the context I provided works well enough. These are matters of individual preference and budget. FOR SALE! You can email me also. In the case of the Celestron, you get all the focal lengths from 24 to 8mm in one eyepiece that costs $100. You really understood the material. The TFOV of the Hyperion will be greater than the TFOV of the Plssl, but the magnification will be about the same. - 32mm plossl. . short answer: yes. Take the AFOV of the eyepiece (provided by the mfg) in your case 82 degrees Plossl eyepiece is one of the reasonable options when it comes to telescope eyepieces for stargazing or astronomy. 32 mm = 18.75X12 mm = 50X8 mm = 75X6 mm = 100X4 mm = 150X3 mm = 200X. Just search on Astronomy Club and you will probably find one in your area. That's how cost-efficient the entire package is! Plossl against Kellner eyepieces in a previous article, 5 Budget Telescopes That Are Sneakily Powerful. Magnification or power = focal length telescope / focal length eyepiece, Focal ratio = focal length telescope / aperture telescope, maximum practical aperture = aperture X 2, Edges of the optics are blackened for increased contrast, which prevents internal reflections, Anti-reflection, fully multi-coated optics provide enhanced light transmission for bright and clear images. Do you think it would be sensible for me to look at getting a higher magnification specific eyepiece? Read our full affiliate disclosure here. 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. The Plossl eyepiece has 4 lenses, consisting of 2 identical double lenses. 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. Tele Vue offers several series with apparent fields of view from 50 degrees to 120 degrees. For visual use, 1.5X, 2X, 2.5X, and 3X Barlow lenses are common. Comparing to Plossl, the Expanse eyepiece is a lot more expensive. However, sometimes i am at the end of the range of the binocular focus adjustment. There is always more to learn but it helps if you go in with a good base understanding, and that was my goal. After these, we have mostly proprietary designs from various eyepiece companies. For it's cost, a 32mm Plssl eyepiece is hard to beat. Eyepieces are a religion. It may be a bit less than that in reality but for practical purposes that is close enough. 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. Im just starting out with astronomy and this really helped my understanding. In the box you'll receive 5 1.25 eyepieces at following sizes, a 32 mm Plossl Eyepiece, 17 mm Plossl Eyepiece , 13 mm Plossl Eyepiece, 8 mm Plossl Eyepiece, 6 mm Plossl Eyepiece, a 2X Barlow Lens 1.25. The Wiki article(s) were very good if anyone else is confused. Required fields are marked *. I have several 10mm eyepieces in my eyepiece boxalmost all of them are eyepieces that came with some telescope I boughtand I will almost always choose to use one of the Kellners over one of the Plossls, because the Kellners have a longer eye relief, which is comparable to the focal length. Thanks so much. Or we say that F10 would be easier or less demanding on the eyepiece than the F5. Major telescope brands such as Celestron supplies Kellner eyepieces with their r least expensive telescopes and still may. 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. If you do choose to go with a Plossl eyepiece, I highly recommend spending some extra cash to get yourself a decent good quality branded Plossl eyepiece rather than going for a cheap, generic eyepiece which is a Plossl only for the namesake. A very good quality eyepiece for a reasonable sum. 2. We will use 10 mm as the eyepiece focal length, but we will look at three different 10 mm eyepieces, each with a different apparent field of view, AFOV. How important a consideration is this when deciding on an eyepiece? The Big Bang Optics was started because of our love for astronomy and to help others like us find the best telescope and accessories. Other brands have joined and have used the Super Plossl label, but they all keep the original 4-piece design. I have an SCT and my eyepiece case only hasPlssls (and one Ortho) in it. short answer: yes. A couple of them felt fancier, but the jump in performance was either insignificant or non-existent. If you don't like the reflections, there really aren't many other budget options at its focal length beside a Plossl which will be super uncomfortable to use, or spending over $100 for something like a Meade UWA. I just ordered Hyperion 13mm and 21mm but I really like how sharp and crisp view is in plossl 40mm. Very often, those eyepieces will be in the outdated 0.965 format rather than the modern 1.25 or 2 diameter barrel format. I dont know if they make anything like this anymore, but as a kid, I had plastic slides with images on them (the Milky Way, Horse Head Nebula, etc.) I need your advice on it. I havent been into the hobby for long but my experience is in line with whats been said. (Compare, for instance, 20mm of each type, or 10mm of each type.) When I had a 6mm Kellner, I found the eye relief annoyingly short, sure, but when compared to the 6mm Plossl that often comes with eyepiece kits, it was luxurious. My 20, 26, and 32mm Plossls will probably stay around. Using this approach, you would buy a 2X Barlow and hold off on the 4 mm and 3 mm to see if you can reach these magnifications often enough to justify buying an eyepiece. These are the workhorse eyepieces of today. This is a fairly inexpensive zoom that I wanted to try. Some include: Parks Gold Series, Celestron Ultima's, Meade Series 4000 Super Plssls (depending on year / origin / style) and a few others that I don't remember. I started with the Celestron zoom. If you cant use 2, that 32 mm Plossl, which has a 50 degree AFOV, will give you about as wide a field of view as you can get in a 1.25 eyepiece. Then set your maximum based on your aperture and split it up. As a kid, I loved looking at the moon (which can be seen any time of day, regardless of ones bedtime) so make sure that the field of view is wide enough to see the whole shebang. On many occasions, that will be too high power for the atmospheric conditions. In High School, they told me that F=MA In college I learned that F=dp/dt But F=MA works well enough for most situations and that is how I think of it. Put the zoom on the Barlow for the high range. Etc.? They have a 60deg apparent field, long eye relief, adjustable eye shield and extremely well corrected. If you look up transparency and seeing in the context of telescopes you can learn more about how atmospheric conditions will affect what magnifications you will choose on any given night. What I can say is that, in general, eyepiece characteristics are inherent to the eyepiece. You can read a thorough review of Goldline eyepieces here. A four-element eyepiece was made by putting together two achromatic doublets with different focal lengths. This saves money and helps you shop in an organized manner. Do you have any additional comments to help me? Also, as the apparent field of view gets wider, the image will require more correction. You can add the specialty single FL eyepieces later if you wish. Remember that visual and AP have very different requirements, so plan on at least two different optical tubes. The TFOV will be as wide as your 40mm Plssl, but with greater magnification and a slightly darker sky background. In the world of eyepieces, when you want the very best, turn to Tele Vue, but be prepared to pay a truly premium price. In some cases, an object is so large (i.e., the Moon, the Pleiades, the Orion Nebula, the Andromeda Galaxy) that a narrow field of view can only show you part of the object, whereas a wider field of view could show the whole object at the same magnification. Heres the short answer Plossl eyepieces are generally better than Kellner eyepieces, but they also tend to be more expensive. 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. There is the 56mm Meade Plossl which magically turns my short FL refractors into their own finder scopes. They are also really sharp. Lets illustrate with an example using a 1200 mm FL telescope. Hayppy that now I have more facts to put in my decision. They are most useful in medium and longer focal lengths for terrestrial, planetary, and lunar viewing. Kellner eyepieces use three glass elements in two groups to minimize color fringing. Kellners are the other popular design for amateur stargazing, go ahead and check out that article if you want to dive deeper into the subject. I owned an XT8 Intelliscope which is the same optical tube on a PushTo mount. It was grueling, because I couldnt even get the entire field of viewI had to keep my eye hovering above the exit pupil. This Super Plossl design was better than regular Plossl eyepieces, but not by much. Centuries of improvements led to achromatic refractors, where the primary lens is made up of two lenses of different types of glass, which reduces false color fringing and allows the telescope to be made considerably more compact. They have good center sharpness but exhibit some field curvature and astigmatism. In 1860, Georg Simon Plossl invented the Plossl eyepiece. The biggest advantage is much better ER in a large ocular. The one exception I would keep in mind would be when working with Newtonian reflector telescopes below F5. I would recommend the Orion Q70 series over that. Now looking for a couple of decent eyepieces. Even if you did need a 4mm focal length (for high powers in an f/4 telescope, of course), neither a Kellner nor a Plossl would have long enough eye relief for that to be comfortably usable! Pentax K-70 Astrophotography: The Ultimate Camera on a Budget! But you need to know, first, if you will be wearing glasses when you observe. 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. I have just one Meade product currently and that is a series 4000 1.25 inch UHC type filter which I use for outreach. I dont own nor have I used it, but Orion has a very good reputation. 4mm Eyepiece vs 20mm Eyepiece. The Plossl optical design is very good for long and medium focal length eyepieces, delivering a sharp, flat field and an apochromatic image. Astrophotography with Nikon D3200: Can It Be Better? 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. Something in the 30 to 38 mm range with a 65 to 70 degree AFOV. Again, this is more noticeable in lower focal ratio scopes. The image will be reversed left to right so you will need to get used to that. If you read the article you know how to calculate the magnification and field of view. I also have an older smoothtop 20mm Meade 4000 that is also 5 element, and it is a fine eyepiece too, compared to another 20mm of the same vintage. You could base this on 3, 4, 5, 6 or more focal lengths/magnifications. By the 1980s, amateur astronomy equipment suppliers were still selling new telescopes with Huygens and Ramsden eyepieces, not merely because they were cheap but because they lacked internal reflections. Am I correct? 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. Not all are Plossls, but excellent eps at f/10. There is no problem using a Celestron eyepiece in a Meade telescope, for example. Of course, the entire eyepiece must be manufactured and finished correctly to realize the design's full potential. Here's the short answer - Plossl eyepieces are generally better than Kellner eyepieces, but they also tend to be more expensive. No price limit. It may very well last you a lifetime and in the long term, you will definitely consider it to be a worthwhile investment. Omni 15mm Eyepiece - 1.25" Learn More. Like going from a 32 TV to a 65? The magnification range that is appropriate to your scope. The Plossl eyepiece is a type of optical system that was invented by Ernst Abbe. To get the best performance, you have to be willing to pay the price. Look at the apparent field of view specs and understand what this means for the field of view. I would like to know what is best for a 7 year old that would be getting his first telescope. Ive read reviews about my scope. If you are on a strict budget, this is a good choice as a zoom eyepiece. 2019-2023 Little Astronomy. Typically, these will be 25 mm and 10 mm or something close to that. Now we just divide it up and fill in some sample focal lengths. That is why I suggest, if you can use 2 eyepieces, you will want one or two low power wide view 2 eyepieces. Its quite long but that is what we are aiming for and hopefully, it was useful to you. NEW. I possess an embarrassing array of fine eyepieces with names like Ethos and Nagler and Delos. And remember, when all else fails, read the instructions. Other than the limited AFOV, which you are apparently fine with, and limited eye relief in the shorter focal lengths there is certainly no reason not to choose Plssls. Some of these series also offer 2 eyepieces for telescopes that can accept 2 eyepieces. I like my 38/70. Over time, you may wish to add a specialty eyepiece here or there, but I would not make that a priority until you have filled out your magnification range. Personally I think they're still worth it. The 4000 SWA's were way overpriced for their performance IMHO. In this article, were going to talk about what is a Plossl eyepiece, what are its components, how do they work, how many types are there and how youd buy a good Plossl eyepiece. The longer FL Plossls (>15mm) have some distinct advantages over more complex designs without the major disadvantage of Plossls which is short ER. Then you can judge for yourself if it is worth it. For super Plossl eyepiece, the field of view is typically 40 to 60 degrees. You can build a full set of these with good results, but be aware of eye relief, especially if you wear glasses. Free shipping for many products! Jupiter and Saturn are low in the sky now. They are just OK, but I dont recommend them, especially in a low focal ratio scope. I am a BIG fan of zoom eyepieces, especially if you dont have many. Apparent Field of View: This is a measure of how wide a view the eyepiece will provide as compared to alternate eyepieces.