Too Many Eyepieces?

Amateur astronomers seem to develop real eyepiece fetishes. Folks get into "collect the whole set mode," which is expensive - even more so when you have a binoviewer (the manufacturers love you folks!).

I'm curious. Of the eyepieces you own, what percentage actually gets used on a regular basis? What percentage gets used once in a while, and what percentage has spent their life in your eyepiece case or hidden away in a closet? (I'll take a look at my holdings and figure all that out.)

I probably wouldn't count the eyepieces you've been waiting to sell in the "near" future. Actually, that might be interesting too.

Thanks!

Clear skies, Alan

On any given scope, I think three eyepieces are enough.

I tend to spend most of my time in a 22 Pan, and a 9 Nagler. For really wide fields I have an inexpensive (BW Optics I think is its name, but it is available from others) 30 mm 82 degree FOV. I use that for star hopping and such. But I usually observe with the 22 or the 9.

Alex

I have 21 main EPs, not counting Reticles, Finder EPs and binovier pairs.
I use the Naglers the most with the Pentax XL, Radian and Planetary set being equally used on good nights. The UWA 14 and 8.8 are used a bit, but not always as much as the others.
Because I have two Dobs of different size and f/l as well as two refractors of different f/l I tend to use most of the EPs.

I only have WO UWANs in 4mm, 7mm, and 16mm sizes and a 33mm SWAN - I guess maybe I have eyepiece envy :S

Timm

Alan,

I have a rather diverse collection of eyepieces and until recently believed that my fascination with collecting them was a bit unhealthy. Lately, however I have been experimenting with them much more than in the past and have come to some unexpected results.

First, being over 50 my eyes are not what they used to be and by that I mean yesterday. Lately when I spend a night under the stars I have noticed that some EP's are just plain uncomfortable. And this changes from scope to scope and night to night.

This past weekend I did the obligatory marathon and took out my AP 130EDT f8.35 scope. I brought along my usual group of Zeiss AO's along with a few Televue Naglers and Tak LE's. For some reason I grabbed my 31mm Nagler. Which I would normally never use with this scope and it proved to be the most comfortable and useful throughout the evening.

My point is, if I had the eyes I had when I was 20, I do not think I would be so sensitive to whatever EP I was using. At least I don't remember being sensitive at all. Now that my eyes are older and seem to tire more easily having a broad range of eyepieces available is more than just a luxury.

Besides there cheaper to collect than telescopes.

Regards,

Mike Mandall

OK, Alan. I'll bite.
My primary EP case contains 15 EP's, mostly Naglers.
31, 26, 20, 17, 12, 11, 9, 7, 5mm. Plus Radians in 6, 5, 4, 3mm. And 10.5, 5.2 XL's.
Seeing conditions limit the higher power usage on most nights, and I might only use 50%. There are some nights where I use less than that, if it's a short session for some reason - work nights in the back yard, for example.
On the other hand, Saturday night I had above average seeing, and was able to use high power. So 90% of them saw some photons. Having just installed ServoCat on my Starmaster, I was enjoying the Radians without having to manually chase objects across the sky. I particularly enjoyed tracking Saturn at 607x. I think the Radians will be seeing a lot more use now.
Linton

p.s.- the Binovue did not get out that night

Alan French said:
"Amateur astronomers seem to develop real eyepiece fetishes."

Well, I think I'm the other side of the coin. I've just 3 eyepieces and one barlow for my only telescope TEC 140 (or should I've said "tango-echo-charly").

WO UWAN 28, WO UWAN 16, Leica zoom 22...7.3mm, and Baader VIP barlow.

For deep sky I use my WO UWAN 16 solo (61x, 1.3° TFOV) or barlowed to yield 9mm (108x, 0.73° TFOV) and 6.3mm (155x, 0.51° TFOV). Rather seldom the UWAN 28 (35x, 2.3° TFOV) comes into action.

For solar system the Leica will be used barlowed 1.7x to give 13.2mm/74x/31' TFOV down to 4.4mm/222x/19' TFOV. Additional T2 rings will give additional barlow factors of 2x or 2.3x.

This gives me any desired focal length.

BTW, I'm glad we are back to eyepieces.

Andreas

We definitedly have quite a few eyepieces, perhaps a few more than we need. We both do amateur astronomy, we've been doing it for a combined total of 70 years, and we have a number of telescopes.

We both had almost complete sets of the original TV Plossls when we got married, and these are now our binoviewer collection. The binoviewer gets used in an 8" f/11.45, and the 17 and 13mm TV Plossls usually get the nod. Longer focal lengths are also used, but the 10.4 and 7.4s rarely get used, and spend most of their time in the case.

The case for my little 90mm f/5 includes 35 and 27mm Pans, an 11mm Nagler, either a 7mm Nagler or a 7mm Pentax XW, and a 5.2mm Pentax XL. The 27 Pan and one of the 7mms are used often, but the 11mm rarely gets out under the sky. I also have a 3mm Radian that I use for high power with the 90mm.

We have a few Radians. They get used in my 10" f/9.5, and on cold nights when their greater eye relief helps prevent dewing from the eye's moisture.

Aside from the shorter TV Plossls, we seem to use most of our collection. Fortunately, we don't seem to be lusting after new eyepieces.

Clear skies, Alan

Alan: Interesting question...

I have about 5 eyepieces I use on a regular basis. 32mm TV Widefield, 16mm Nagler, 9mm Synta Widefield, 7mm Nagler, 4.8mm Nagler... Add in couple of barlows and a Paracorr a couple more widefields... thats about my main eyepiece case.

Last time I counted I had around 50 eyepieces of a variety of types. Most a pretty simple. For example I like to keep the 18mm and 9mm AR's that came with my RV-6. I have 20mm Erfle that my wife gave me... I have the 20mm Plossl that came with my Pronto.

But I don't consider myself an eyepiece collector, more of a scope collector, I currently have around 20 scopes, most pretty basic but enjoyable to use none the less. I tend to buy anything that is a deal and then either keep it or pass it on to someone else... When you have 20 scopes and in the back of your mind there is this thought that some of them will find a home someday, well they each need a couple of eyepieces...

As far as getting used...

I would say probably around 20 or so get regular use. I have a set of Circle T orthos that I use with older slow scopes and I have a set of eyepieces that I keep along with a "grab and go" scope so I can just grab the case and a tripod and be out the door.

I am sure I could have "better equipment" and spent less money doing it if I had say 2 scopes instead of 20 but the fact is, I enjoy the variety... It's like having a harem...


jon

Aaaah....back to eyepieces! At various times I've had anywhere from a dozen to two dozen to even as many as three dozen eps in my case at one time. There came a point in time for me where I was spending more time trying to decide WHICH ep to use than I was looking THROUGH the ep. At that point I started selling off, consolidating, and upgrading. Here's what I find useful for now:
1) A low power finder ep, 5-7 mm exit pupil.
2) Something about twice that power, as I find a 2x
jump significant at that end of the power spectrum.
3) Something around 2 mm exit pupil, as has been
discussed here many times.
4) Something about 1.4x the previous power.
I find that a good barlow, with these eps, gives me the powers that I use the most often. Only problem is, that wth three telescopes and a binoviewer, I STILL end up with over a dozen eps. Four will work for me on
any given night, with any given scope.

Larry