To post or not to post, that is the question?

It seems that there is some concern about the quality of personal observations regarding eyepiece evaluation. I am now hesitant to post any findings that I have gleaned from hours of careful study with these eyepieces. One would hope that you are correct in your findings, but after expert testimony about the possibility that my Dob might not be up to the task of properly displaying the potential of eyepieces, I am undecided whether to post my review or not.
One thing that I do not want to do is to start some kind of controversy over the validity of personal observation. It would seem that my presenting my views on these eyepieces might just open this type of dialog. So for now I will not pursue the testing of eyepieces on this forum and leave that to the experts in the field. :S
I guess that each of us just has to buy a set of eyepieces and find out for themselves whether they are good or not?

BS Floyd!! Go right ahead and test, ie, ",make observations", and then share your observations with us!
Isn't that what these "Forums" are all about?

Walt

I used to be an XC ski racer in Michigan. As a result, recreational skiers would ask me advice about ski selection. After a few questions concerning whether they wanted waxable or waxless skis I would recommend that they picked the prettiest skis they could find in their price range. To a racer, the skis were critical, to a recreational skier there were different criteria.

I am an observer using a reasonably fast 12” F/5 dob and am concerned about which view is prettiest. Well, not quite, I am interested in an EP in my price range that is adequate for my purposes. Being a visual user, if the difference can be “SEEN” then I am at least interested. If the differences are so subtle that it takes something more sophisticated than the eye to determine, then my interest wanes rapidly. I seem to follow the genre of “Fit for Purpose”. I don’t have a turret and I am not going to get one so that I can make discriminating decisions about eyepiece selection. I tried to take a picture of a star test the other night with my digital camera, but it was not suited for the purpose. It sounds like I am deliberately painting myself into a corner (probably).

What I do have is someone willing to take the time to evaluate eyepieces in a manner that is meaningful to me. I’ll send him every eyepiece I have and steal my friends if necessary.

What Floyd Blue is doing for me and a lot of other people is using his experience and knowledge to do something I cannot. He is providing us with valuable information that I can use. It is based on visual examination and a fit for purpose approach. Bravo Floyd!! If anyone else is willing to step up to the plate and provide useful information for me and viewers like me (Quoting PBS) then I am all eyes!

[COLOR="Aqua"]FWIW Floyd, if I were in your position I too would not post.

Don't get me wrong, I have the highest respect for you. But this seems to be close to a no-win situation. Besides, reviews in general get too much emphasis IMHO. Your last comment is dead-on, "I guess that each of us just has to buy a set of eyepieces and find out for themselves whether they are good or not". Or at least borrow a set for a short while. [/COLOR]

Hi Mike,
Thanks for the words. I too feel that this is a no-win situation that is getting controversial and going no where fast.
If people want, I will post the review, but I will not ask that it be considered the "truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth", but an opinion of one observer.

Hi Jim,
Thanks for the support.
Truth is, I am not an expert but a novice and amateur Astronomer at best. I have not got the technical training and background to stand toe to toe with experts in the field of optics and the testing of them.
I was only offering to post an opinion on a set of EPs that I decided to buy and try because of the big sale that was going on and the fact that some people I knew had lots of good things to say about them. I felt that if I had the eyepieces at hand to compare them, then it might be interesting and informative to do so. However, I am not equipped to do the kind of testing that is apparently required to do professional evaluation of this type. So I am reluctant to post something that might make people feel that an EP is not as good as they would have liked it to be or maybe even be making a mistake in my reporting that might result in people not buying or even selling an EP based on my findings.
I will be willing to make a post as long as it is understood that this is an opinion and not a compelling study meant to be a buyers guide.

Floyd, may I remind you that all observations are PERSONAL? NO MATTER WHO DOES IT... 8)

I appreciate all that you and all experts (and NO experts) do, specially when using their time to provide us with a report on equipment that we don't have, or maybe we do...(but would like to check and see how it stacks up against other equipment)

All Personal tests should be taken "with a grain of salt", since there are way too many variables involved in each and every test, but it should give us a pretty good idea of performance with a given range of scopes.

People that take all these reports like GOSPEL are simply wrong, as they are NOT meant to be treated like that...

Most of all, these things are done because we love our hobby, and for fun...


So, how about you share with us your report?
You have many here that are eager to read it, and after all, this is THE EYEPIECE Forum, you need to keep it alive, and your reports will keep it that way...


Clear skies, mi amigo! 8)

Floyd,

I don't read everything, so I miss a lot of "concern" like this. I think there are some requirements, like stating the equipment used and conditions. This puts everything in context, and you did that. It's not about absolute truth, its about "seeing". If you think you see something, it doesn't matter if we have it all figured out. The POINT is that I might think I see the same thing under those conditions with that equipment as well. We should all understand that "transporting" findings to different f-ratios and telescope designs is a tricky thing. People shouldn't get uptight about it. I can tell you about (the relative lack of) lateral color and field curvature of my B/TMBs in my 7" f/6.7 and 10" f/5. When somebody asks about using an f/4-ish Newt, we can cite your results. It will help. Please keep it up.
--
Mike

Floyd Blue said:
It seems that there is some concern about the quality of personal observations regarding eyepiece evaluation. I am now hesitant to post any findings that I have gleaned from hours of careful study with these eyepieces. One would hope that you are correct in your findings, but after expert testimony about the possibility that my Dob might not be up to the task of properly displaying the potential of eyepieces, I am undecided whether to post my review or not.

This sounds a little nutty. Are people honestly complaining about the quality of personal eyepiece reviews on a free web site? As long as the review says what the context is, I can't see what there is to complain about. One can always ask questions if the context is unclear...

Floyd; I'm From Brooklyn N.Y. 8) and if I would have done all the work you did trying to shade a little light on the same question that is asked just about every day here on Astromart and other forums ... well I would just tell the na-sayers to stick it were the sun don't shine :C but thats just because I'm from Brooklyn

KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK. you have been a great help to me and I know for a fact you have been the same for lots of others.

Bob

Floyd Blue said:
It seems that there is some concern about the quality of personal observations regarding eyepiece evaluation. I am now hesitant to post any findings that I have gleaned from hours of careful study with these eyepieces. One would hope that you are correct in your findings, but after expert testimony about the possibility that my Dob might not be up to the task of properly displaying the potential of eyepieces, I am undecided whether to post my review or not.

Floyd,

FYI (to all others) - A definition...
Noun
S: (n) expert (a person with special knowledge or ability who performs skillfully)
http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=expert

I believe, that you certainly qualify as an expert by that definition...especially when we are referring amateur observational astronomy. I might raise the point, other than the experienced amateurs in the hobby, who else would be an expert? Afterall, professional astronomers rarely, if ever, use an eyepiece. When they do, it's usually for pleasure rather than serious study in their professional field. So, do you have special knowledge and perform skillfully? Based on the review you wrote on the TMB/Planetary EPs I'd say that would be an easy answer...YES! I thought it was balanced enough and it also qualified the conditions and limitations. People need to take that in context. If they don't, then I suppose they just did not read critically enough. I would also have to ask the question, if as you say others might feel you cannot properly analyze and EP due to your scope not being able to relay the potential of the EPs, then who's scope is up to that potential? Further, does anyone have this scope? If they do, exactly how rare is it? I suppose it is the perfect scope. Bottom line is who cares how something performs under perfect conditions since those conditions never exist! That was quite drilled into us in the USAF as a pilot. Every flight you calculated your aircrafts performance envelope based on the prevailing conditions and the standard formulas which are based on a "perfect" (i.e. homogenious" atmosphere). Then after that you repeated to yourself "Remember, the perfect atmosphere never exists." So you always carried with you the knowledge that theory and practice are different, and to be prepared for that.

Anyway, lots of babble on my part just to say...Hogwash! Of course you should keep posting reviews you do. In fact, I think you should feel obligated to. How else can the greater community of users benefit from the experience of our peers unless we communicate....and communicate freely.

Anyway (again)...good job. Keep it up.

-Bill