Zeiss Abbe orthos 1,25"

Does anybody have any experience with this EP (lower FL) for planetary viewing, compared to TMB Supermonos. I have SM, UO orthos and TAK LE EP's used with an 5" APO. Does the Zeiss Abbe add any gain compared to the SM's, beside from the greater FOV.

Henrik

Hi Henrik,
Yes.
The ZAO definitely has advantages over the TMB Supermonos (and Tak's) as far as quality of image when used with a quality scope on nights with very good or better conditions.
If you have a few weeks to wait, I believe Floyd may be able to give you a direct comparison report.
Generally I have found the ZAO has better transmission and edge clarity than the TMB (IMHO). Other advantages are more subtle and only become apparent when using high end scopes on nights with great conditions. Some of the differences are not always observed by folks new to high end eyepieces who only try them for a few minutes. As with observing, it sometimes takes some learning/training to notice the difference.

Clear Skies, Bill

Henrik said:

Does anybody have any experience with this EP (lower FL) for planetary viewing, compared to TMB Supermonos. I have SM, UO and TAK LE used with an 5" APO. Does the Zeiss Abbe add any gain compared to the SM's, beside from the greater FOV.

Henrik

Not familiar with TMB, UO, but I do have Tak LE’s 5, 7.5,18 & 24mm, also have ZAO’s in 16, 25 & 34mm. The Tak LE 7.5 is my main planetary eyepiece with my 6” AP refractor, just about ideal in a binoviewer for Jupiter, (232x) very sharp, good contrast and extremely comfortable for extended viewing despite its rater short focal length.
I use ZAO’s with long focus Maksutovs, the 25mm is my main planetary eyepiece (250x), unlike Tak LE’s which exhibit an ever so slight warmer tones, ZAO’s are totally neutral in color, great transparency and edge to edge sharpness in long F scopes.
I also have sets of Pentax SMC Orthoscopics in 6, 9, 12 & 18, these eyepieces are equal to ZAO’s in every respect and cost about 1/3 on the used market.
For me Pentax SMC 9mm represents the lower limit for eye relief in Ortho's, anything shorther than that is a pain, the Pentax 6-O is a superb planetary eyepiece but I can not deal with it for more than 5 minutes at a time due to short eye relief.

Thanks,
Vahe

There was a fairly careful review done on Cloudy Nights of the Supemonos, Pentax SMC's, UO's and ZAO's. I believe that it was by Albert Beq. That review found the ZAO's and Supemonos to be be very close in image quality at 10 mm with the Super Mono's gaining a subtle, but increasing advantage at the shorter focal lengths. That review placed the ZAO's slightly ahead of the Pentax SMC's. The UO's are still the best buy.

It would be worth your time looking for the review.