5mm eyepiece choice...

Hi all,

I'm trying to decide which eyepiece I want, either the Takahashi LE-5mm or the Siebert Optics 4.9mm. I hear glowing reports on both. It will be used with my Mewlon 250 on those wonderous nights when I can seemly use infinite power . Does anybody have any experience with these. For the price of the Tak, I can get two Sieberts but I wonder if the Tak is twice as good than the Siebert (if at all). I have the Tak 25mm and it is a superb eyepiece. I have an 8mm Radian which I'm not particularily thrilled with as well.

Oh yes, 99% of my viewing is of the planets and globular clusters.

Thanks!!
Paul Maxson

I've been considering a 5mm eyepiece as well and I would like to read comments on the two in the above post as well as any comments on the pentax xw and xo models.
I read a recent review of a pentax versus the radian in cloudy nights and the pentax models reportedly did alot better, especially in viewing galaxies. Differences in eyepiece performance are ususally subtle but in the latter case it appeared dramatic.
Any comments on the 5mm pentax xo and/or xw?

Hi Paul,
You might want to just give the Siebert EPs a try, he has a money back guarantee on them. So if not satisfied, just get a refund.
You know, there are such little differences between so many EPs that it is not easy to find a clear winner. But eye relief and other comfort factors can make a choice easier.
Truth is, I have read lots of reviews about an EP only to find that my opinion was not the same at all. I have heard ravings about an EP that I found to be not very good. I have heard bad reviews on EPs that I thought were great. I am not sure now that I believe reviews that much anymore.
I have not used either EP so I can not give a proper opinion.
I have the UO HD Ortho 5mm, Pentax XL 5.2mm and the Radian 5mm and truthfully, I don't see a great deal of difference in the on axis view. FOV of course is different and maybe off axis is slightly different, but I can see almost the same thing in each EP on axis. Since on axis is what is used in planetary, I find that I choose the EP to use by comfort factors alone. Usually it is either the Radian or the Pentax, due to the UO Ortho's tight eye relief.

I don't think you'll go wrong with either of those eyepieces.

I bought a TAK 5mm LE last year, primarily for the eye relief and price (I couldn't afford a Nagler at the time). It is an excellent piece of equipment and you won't be disappointed if you choose one. However, keep in mind that over time you'll probably buy other short fl eyepieces, perhaps a UO ortho or a Nagler or a Siebert, or all of the above, so don't sweat it.

Hi all,

I have really, really enjoyed this thread and thanks to everyone for their input. I exchanged email with Harry Siebert and decided to buy the 5.9mm Starsplitter. This will give me about 515x on the Mewlon and about 150x with my ED100. Somehow I can't imagine needing more power than that, but if I do (LOL!!) I have a 2.5x and 5x Powermate and 3x Televue Barlow. Guess I can heal my need for power that way!!

Thanks again!! I'm sure this will not be my last eyepiece purchase.

Paul Maxson

Paul Maxson said:

Hi all,

I'm trying to decide which eyepiece I want, either the Takahashi LE-5mm or the Siebert Optics 4.9mm. I hear glowing reports on both. It will be used with my Mewlon 250 on those wonderous nights when I can seemly use infinite power . Does anybody have any experience with these. For the price of the Tak, I can get two Sieberts but I wonder if the Tak is twice as good than the Siebert (if at all). I have the Tak 25mm and it is a superb eyepiece. I have an 8mm Radian which I'm not particularily thrilled with as well.

Oh yes, 99% of my viewing is of the planets and globular clusters.

Thanks!!
Paul Maxson

Pete,
I agree with that. I recently picked up the 4mm and 5mm Burgess/TMB planetary eps, and am really very pleased with them.

On a recent clear steady night, an observing buddy and I compared the two Burgess eps to his 3.5mm and 5mm Pentax XWs in his Starmaster V8 with a Stevens mirror and we were both pretty well amazed at the results. The 60 degree field of view, coupled with the 16mm of eye relief made the Burgess very comfortable to use.

While the contrast in the Pentax may have been slightly better, it was extremely close. I think that I can speak for both of us when I say that the difference certainly wasn't 3x as great, which is the price difference between the Burgess and the Pentax XW. Light scatter was virtually identical, meaning hardly there, and the field was nice and flat. The tone on Jupiter and Saturn was pretty well neutral in the Burgess ep, which pleased me as I don't care for "warm" eyepieces like the Radians.

Looking back on it, we didn't look specifically for lateral color, but none stands out in my mind.

I consider these eyepieces to be a real bargain, and I don't just mean "for the price", as you often hear associated with lower priced eyepieces.

Now the downside; my 4mm arrived with a definite rattle coming from the eyelens. This is reportedly a common problem, but one that is pretty easily fixed by tightening the retaining ring. Still, it was an annoyance that shouldn't have been present. But, in spite of that, I just picked up a used 6mm Burgess and look forward to using it.

Sorry for the long winded response, but I thought that this might help somewhat.

Doug
Midway, FL

Peter Hallock said:

Any Glowing reports on Burgess Planetary 6mm, 5mm, 4mm? I have all three...No Nagler, Radian, whatever can beat the 4mm in IMHO.

Pete

The 6 that's available used is not up to full spec - but folks do seem to love them. I have the 4 and 5 and while they're the least expensive eyepieces I own, I find they're the first ones I reach for when I'm using higher powers.

Howdy Paul.

On a lark, in the wake of the Synta acqusition of Celestron, dicountinuation of the Ultima eyepiece line, glowing reviews of these oculars from Todd Gross and in Sky & Telescope a few years back, and my own multi-year enjoyment of the 35mm Ultima and 15mm Ultima Wide Angle (pre-Axiom), I decided to snap up as many of the focal lengths of the Ultima line as I could from those few retailers that still have inventory. My intention was to hae an affordable, mid-grade, high-quality set for star parties, public viewings and the like.

I am now the proud owner of 5mm, 7.5mm, 12.5mm and 35mm Ultimas, with a 10mm, 18mm and 30mm on the way. I used the 5mm for the first time last night. It was absolutely wonderful. I was expecting short eye relief and only good, not great, contrast. It easily surpassed my expectations. I used it in both a Takahashi FS-78 and Orion 100 ED on the moon, Jupiter and Saturn.

It was so good all alone that I decided to pull out the 5mm University Abbe Ortho, 5.2mm Orion (Vixen) Lanthanum and an old school 6mm University Plossl I used with great success for the 1988 Mars opposition. It was the best of the bunch. It had eye relief slightly longer than the 5mm University Ortho, considerably longer than the 6mm Plossl, and a whole lot shorter (obviously) than the Lanthanum. It was sharper than any of the others which suprised the heck out of me, given that it had one extra lens element and the widest AFOV in the bunch (the University Plossl oddly has a dinky 45 degree AFOV).

I recommend it as there are a few new old stock units left in the channel if you hunt for them.

Good luck,

Jim

To follow up on this nice discussion, I received my Siebert 5.9mm eyepiece today. Naturally the wind is blowing about 30 mph so testing will be delayed at least a day... **grin**

I love the carrying case!
Paul Maxson