I had about every eyepiece I wanted except for a good low power wide angle type. I didn't want to spend a lot of money so I took a chance on this one from Owl Services. How big a chance is $57.00 insured and shipped priority mail? This eyepiece has to be the BEST BARGAIN going. It is well made and optically a gem. Just over 11X in my Stellarvue 80, making it great for sky sweeping. It also looks like it will be a nice addition to my digiscoping endeavors.
GSO 2"barrel 42mm superwide.
Started by streets, 07/09/2006 01:06AM
Posted 07/09/2006 01:06AM
Opening Post
Posted 07/09/2006 02:37AM
#1
Ron
The GSO 42mm superwide is my star hopping EP. It gives me a 1.5 degree FOV at 36X. It is reasonably sharp out to +80% which is adequate for my purposes. Of course, the long FL of the EP gives rather pin point stars so it serves my purpose. A good evaluation is hard to do in my neck of the woods since we rarely have excellent skies in upstate SC. The 30 Superwide also seems to perform as well. However, the 32mm and 26 mm would be ones I would avoid. I observe with an F/5 12" dob. I have not done any side-by-side comparisons with other favored EPs so it is not for me to make that analysis; however, I find it a usable EP. It will stay in my case until my other fantasies are fulfilled.
The GSO 42mm superwide is my star hopping EP. It gives me a 1.5 degree FOV at 36X. It is reasonably sharp out to +80% which is adequate for my purposes. Of course, the long FL of the EP gives rather pin point stars so it serves my purpose. A good evaluation is hard to do in my neck of the woods since we rarely have excellent skies in upstate SC. The 30 Superwide also seems to perform as well. However, the 32mm and 26 mm would be ones I would avoid. I observe with an F/5 12" dob. I have not done any side-by-side comparisons with other favored EPs so it is not for me to make that analysis; however, I find it a usable EP. It will stay in my case until my other fantasies are fulfilled.
I Yam What I Yam!
Posted 07/09/2006 06:57AM
#2
Is this the 42mm GSO Superview that you are talking about???
I have a 42mm Superview. The effective Apparent Fielf of View on this eyepiece is actually only about 58 degrees rather than the claimed 65 degrees. (I as well as several other folks have measured it in a variety of scopes in a number of different ways..)
My own experience is that it has reasonable edge correction in a F/10 scope but in a relatively fast scopes, it is rather ragged and never really super sharp except at the very center. This evening I used it for a short while in my 130mm F5 along with a Paracorr, I notice defects at less than 50% from the edge.
Note that in an F/5 scope, this eyepiece yields an 8.4mm exit pupil, few observers advantage of this.
My favored widefield eyepiece is a 32mm TeleVue Widefild. In comparison to the 42mm Superview, the TV32mm seems sharper over a larger area. The edge is not perfect at F/5.75 but only very bright stars near the edge of the view are didstracting.
For $60 it is a bargin but I would have to say it is not great eyepiece...
jon
I have a 42mm Superview. The effective Apparent Fielf of View on this eyepiece is actually only about 58 degrees rather than the claimed 65 degrees. (I as well as several other folks have measured it in a variety of scopes in a number of different ways..)
My own experience is that it has reasonable edge correction in a F/10 scope but in a relatively fast scopes, it is rather ragged and never really super sharp except at the very center. This evening I used it for a short while in my 130mm F5 along with a Paracorr, I notice defects at less than 50% from the edge.
Note that in an F/5 scope, this eyepiece yields an 8.4mm exit pupil, few observers advantage of this.
My favored widefield eyepiece is a 32mm TeleVue Widefild. In comparison to the 42mm Superview, the TV32mm seems sharper over a larger area. The edge is not perfect at F/5.75 but only very bright stars near the edge of the view are didstracting.
For $60 it is a bargin but I would have to say it is not great eyepiece...
jon
Funding Member
