Celestron Omni series eyepieces
I'm putting together a smallish, dedicated eyepiece assortment for my solar observing kit, so I don't have to lug around my heavy, regular night-time eyepiece case, or play mix-and-match when I want to head to a sun viewing session. Since I use tracking mounts for solar observing (an old, small GEM or Orion Teletrack), wide-field EPS aren't necessary, too, the PST gives better results with old-school eyepieces such as Plossls, orthos, and Kellners, from my experience. Fewer internal reflections, less glare. Fewer elements in these classic designs also means higher throughput, which can be an issue with the small aperture of a double-stacked PST. Agena has the Celestron Omnis on-sale so I just bought the 9mm, 12.5mm, and 15mm for my solar kit. I'll be trying them out this afternoon. Anybody else have experience with these modestly-priced eyepieces? Solar or night-time? I already have the Omni 2X Barlow and it's a pretty nice shorty for the budget price. Clear aperture could be a tad larger but its not a deal-breaker.
Chuck, Does Celestron make pretty good barlows? I may be in the market for one this coming fall. Thinking of getting a 3X 1 1/4 inch apo barlow for imaging. TeleVue's 3X runs $125 so I was looking for one a bit cheaper. Hope you enjoy your new eyepieces. Kind of like trying out new fishing lures, right? Debbie On Thu, Apr 25, 2013 at 7:04 AM, Chuck Hards <chuck.hards@gmail.com> wrote:
I'm putting together a smallish, dedicated eyepiece assortment for my solar observing kit, so I don't have to lug around my heavy, regular night-time eyepiece case, or play mix-and-match when I want to head to a sun viewing session.
Since I use tracking mounts for solar observing (an old, small GEM or Orion Teletrack), wide-field EPS aren't necessary, too, the PST gives better results with old-school eyepieces such as Plossls, orthos, and Kellners, from my experience. Fewer internal reflections, less glare. Fewer elements in these classic designs also means higher throughput, which can be an issue with the small aperture of a double-stacked PST.
Agena has the Celestron Omnis on-sale so I just bought the 9mm, 12.5mm, and 15mm for my solar kit. I'll be trying them out this afternoon.
Anybody else have experience with these modestly-priced eyepieces? Solar or night-time? I already have the Omni 2X Barlow and it's a pretty nice shorty for the budget price. Clear aperture could be a tad larger but its not a deal-breaker. _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy
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Debbie, the only Celestron Barlow I have any experience with is the 1.25", 2X Omni. It appears to do very well for visual use, though the entrance aperture is smaller than I would have liked to see, so there might be some edge-of-field light loss on very wide-angle or low-power eyepieces. But I haven't had it long so the jury is still out. I also use an Orion Tri-Mag 3X Barlow, VERY old University Optics 2X 2" Barlow, and the original iteration of the 2.8X Klee Barlow, which was designed for very fast systems only. All of them work well visually. I can't help you on an imaging recommendation unfortunately. I doubt you'd go wrong with TeleVue but, yep, it's gonna make a deeper dent in the pocketbook. Funny that you mention fishing lures. From my experience, the one that works best is always the last one picked! I guess that's sort of like always finding something lost in the last place you look for it... On Thu, Apr 25, 2013 at 8:41 AM, Debbie <astrodeb@beyondbb.com> wrote:
Chuck,
Does Celestron make pretty good barlows? I may be in the market for one this coming fall. Thinking of getting a 3X 1 1/4 inch apo barlow for imaging. TeleVue's 3X runs $125 so I was looking for one a bit cheaper.
Hope you enjoy your new eyepieces. Kind of like trying out new fishing lures, right?
Chuck, you might be interested to know that I spoke with the guy at University Optics today (called about returning the 8" mirror cell they sent me instead of the 10" I thought I ordered); anyway, he said he's soon planning to carry a new ("somewhat more expensive") line of Orthoscopics from another Japanese manufacturer. I agree with you -- best planetary high-power details I've ever seen were through an ortho. /R ________________________________ From: Chuck Hards <chuck.hards@gmail.com> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2013 8:53 AM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Celestron Omni series eyepieces Debbie, the only Celestron Barlow I have any experience with is the 1.25", 2X Omni. It appears to do very well for visual use, though the entrance aperture is smaller than I would have liked to see, so there might be some edge-of-field light loss on very wide-angle or low-power eyepieces. But I haven't had it long so the jury is still out. I also use an Orion Tri-Mag 3X Barlow, VERY old University Optics 2X 2" Barlow, and the original iteration of the 2.8X Klee Barlow, which was designed for very fast systems only. All of them work well visually. I can't help you on an imaging recommendation unfortunately. I doubt you'd go wrong with TeleVue but, yep, it's gonna make a deeper dent in the pocketbook. Funny that you mention fishing lures. From my experience, the one that works best is always the last one picked! I guess that's sort of like always finding something lost in the last place you look for it... On Thu, Apr 25, 2013 at 8:41 AM, Debbie <astrodeb@beyondbb.com> wrote:
Chuck,
Does Celestron make pretty good barlows? I may be in the market for one this coming fall. Thinking of getting a 3X 1 1/4 inch apo barlow for imaging. TeleVue's 3X runs $125 so I was looking for one a bit cheaper.
Hope you enjoy your new eyepieces. Kind of like trying out new fishing lures, right?
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That's good news Rich, thanks for the heads-up. On Apr 26, 2013 4:43 PM, "Richard Tenney" <retenney@yahoo.com> wrote:
Chuck, you might be interested to know that I spoke with the guy at
University Optics today (called about returning the 8" mirror cell they sent me instead of the 10" I thought I ordered); anyway, he said he's soon planning to carry a new ("somewhat more expensive") line of Orthoscopics from another Japanese manufacturer. I agree with you -- best planetary high-power details I've ever seen were through orthos.
participants (3)
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Chuck Hards -
Debbie -
Richard Tenney