TeleVue eyepieces

My eyepiece collection is a bit of a mixed bag of Panoptics (35mm and 22mm), a Plossl (15mm), Naglers (12mm and 9mm - Jimi might remember the 9mm, he sold it to me!) and Radians (5mm and 3mm) and I am largely happy with this collection - except the Plossl which I'd ideally like to replace with an equivalent Delos or Nagler. The 15mm Plossl gives a magnification of 132x.

I am wondering though, whether I would also be better off replacing the Radians, too, with a Delos (I want to stick with TeleVue) such as the 4.5mm or the 3.5mm. I use the 5mm quite a lot and the 3mm when the seeing allows and when I am observing small objects such as tiny galaxies, PNe and small globs, etc. In my 18", the 5mm and 3mm Radians give magnifications of 395x and 658x respectively while 4.5mm and 3.5mm Delos eyepieces would give magnifications of 439x and 564x.

I have compared Deloses with equivalent eyepieces, such as Radians, at TSP last year and also at my own local star party, and I found the contrast in the Delos was better although these were longer focal length eyepieces than the ones I'm considering.

So, would you replace the 15mm Plossl and what with, and would you also trade the 5mm and 3mm Radians for similar focal length Deloses? Or even something else (although I'd rather stick with TV)? Do I even need so many eyepieces - they all get used but the 22mm, 12mm, 9mm, 5mm all get used more than the others...?

Btw, I wear glasses for observing because I find it a real PITA to keep putting them on and taking them off again, so good eye relief is an important consideration.

:thinking:

Hi Faith,

The Nagler T4 17mm has plenty of eye relief, possibly giving it the nod over the T5 16mm, which is closer to your target magnification but has less eye relief. Both are nice eyepieces.

As for wearing glasses at the eyepiece, my experience is that removing my glasses gives me a substantially better view through the eyepiece. Just as having tracking allows me to see deeper, so does getting the eyeglass lenses out of the way. It's a non-trivial improvement. For night use, I buy cheap single-vision glasses with sturdy frames and attach a lanyard to the temples. Removing the glasses then becomes a matter of dropping them and letting them dangle on my chest, hanging from the lanyard. Putting them back on is equally effortless.

Jim

Thanks Jim. I'll take a look at these.

As for the glasses, I shove them on top of my head out of the way on the times I do take them off (when using eyepieces that have bad eye relief) but, having long hair means they get tangled, so I need a better option and a lanyard sounds like it.

Another thought - I could replace the 5mm and 3mm with the 3-6mm Nagler zoom. What are people's thoughts on this eyepiece?

If at all possible, test one before you buy. I used to own a 3-6mm Nagler zoom and found I much prefer individual eyepieces to cover that range. Being a fan of the Nagler T6s, I sold the zoom in favor of a 2.5 and 3.5, once they became available, and don't regret it.

Hi Faith, I recommend the Delos over anything else. They are a MAJOR upgrade over the Radians.

Ok, thanks Jim and Alvin. So, it looks like a Nagler 16 or 17 (would prefer 16 as it's quite a bit cheaper, for some reason) and maybe a 4.5 or 3.5 Delos.

TV is superb.... Iast night I used TV Pan 27mm to scan Leo trio. Excellent viewing. I
could find NGC 3628 by direct vision but non of others exept Celestron zoom would able
to show that directly.