are plossl eyepieces good

The 4000 SWA's were way overpriced for their performance IMHO. People may have heard, and rightly so, that Huygens or Ramsdens are crummy eyepieces and that they should get a Plossl instead, and they may believe the same applies to Kellners, but the truth is that Kellners are often good eyepieces. Even when I upgraded to a 6mm Goldline, I kept the Kellner around because of pretty annoying kidney-bean blackout issues on the Moon with that eyepiece. I dont think so. https://telescopicwatch.com/?s=barlow, Best of luck with your new telescope. My Baader Hyperion Zoom is my most used and favorite eyepiece. As we go up in price range, we gain capabilities that may not be immediately obvious. If your telescopes focal length is different, just change the focal length in the formula. The Hyperions work well in SCTs and you can't beat that large eyelens and eye relief ,JMO. There is no shortage of accessories for the Nexstar series. A rubber safety cap protects the lens when not in use while also providing additional grip on this 35 mm Plossl eyepiece. Since there are so many different types of eyepieces available on the market, choosing the right one for your situation can prove to be a harrowing task. I guess my curiosity is mostly about the diagonal. I saw Jupiter today and its 4 moons but when I looked at saturn I struggled to get a really clear image and it was very small. On the inside, they are exactly the same design. This will become more apparent the wider the AFOV is of the eyepiece, in my experience. Etc.? 30 = 60 = 1.3 They are not that expensive I would pay about $100 for both eye pieces. These "other" ones I speak of, aren't technically that, they are a 5 element eyepiece, of a different design. We are a reader-supported organization. You will see these under many brands, including Orion, Celestron, GSO, and others. If that is the case, it will give me another reasonably good, inexpensive zoom to recommend to beginners. If you just want eyepiece recommendations and dont care about the details, Im adding that section right below before we go into the specifications that answer the above questions and make use of the formulas. Plossl eyepieces are perfect for astronomical viewing because the field of view is wider. We enjoy binoculars for the moon, but having never looked through another telescope, my kids and I do not know what internal reflection, ghosting, vignettes, or diffraction spikes look like! There are so many others at comparable or higher prices, many of which are quite good and some rather poor. Using this approach, you would buy a 2X Barlow and hold off on the 4 mm and 3 mm to see if you can reach these magnifications often enough to justify buying an eyepiece. Be sure to read the following as you consider your eyepiece purchases. And the zoom provides every magnification in that range without having to change eyepieces. 4mm Eyepiece vs 20mm Eyepiece. Hello sir, thanks for your article its realy helpful. These and the essentially identical AT Paradigm are universally praised as good quality eyepieces with a wider 60-degree apparent field of view. In the box you'll receive 5 1.25 eyepieces at following sizes, a 32 mm Plossl Eyepiece, 17 mm Plossl Eyepiece , 13 mm Plossl Eyepiece, 8 mm Plossl Eyepiece, 6 mm Plossl Eyepiece, a 2X Barlow Lens 1.25. I did sell them all when I adopted Dioptrx, and the Naglers are amazing! Or is this overkill and am I better off saving money and going forward something like the Celestron Zoom? Your eyepieces do not need to be the same brand as your telescope. Hi Ed, The availability of good quality relatively wide field-of-view inexpensive eyepieces has kind of put them in the second tier of eyepieces, but they still hold their own in the longer focal lengths and excel if one does not demand a wide field-of-view. I have Celestron and the Baader Hyperion. The Plossl eyepiece is a type of optical system that was invented by Ernst Abbe. And new proprietary designs come out from time to time. Major telescope brands such as Celestron supplies Kellner eyepieces with their r least expensive telescopes and still may. You can email me also. Understanding and using a Barlow Lens Kellner and Plossl- both are two different types of eyepieces for telescopes. but the meat of the article is about understanding the considerations and specifications to know when selecting eyepieces. That is a really interesting picture. You can do that by using this long focal length eyepiece. Generally, dont mess around with solar projection unless youre okay with damaging the instrument. We have a range of 32 mm to 3 mm. Conclusion. Kellner vs Plossl Eyepiece - What is the Difference? Orion Sirius Plossl 10mm telescope eyepiece 1.25" in very good to excellent 185794462395 Nice, thank you again for the additional inputs. Eyepieces under $100 each are generally considered budget or low-cost eyepieces. Inexpensive Plossls that are manufactured using low-quality lenses are susceptible to internal reflections when viewing bright objects at high magnification. Explore Scientific recently extended this offering by adding a series of 82 degree eyepieces labeled LER, or Long Eye Relief. Most of Celestrons entry-level telescopes are sold with Kellners (and other cheap but reasonable-quality designs like RKEs or Konigs), whereas their more expensive SCTs tend to come with a single 25mm Plossl. A super Plossl eyepiece is a top-performing eyepiece that can be used for a variety of tasks, from viewing objects in the distance to looking at microscopic things. For super Plossl eyepiece, the field of view is typically 40 to 60 degrees. You see the object in a wider expanse of space with more stars. There is no guarantee that you will be able to get a good image of any given target at that level of magnification on any given night. I currently own a Mak127 ( that can't use 2"eyepieces) and a 80ED ( that one can hold 2"eyepieces). These will normally be higher priced and may be outside the price range we show here. Elena is a Canadian journalist and researcher. Note that we also gained a 16 mm magnification at no additional cost. Thanks in advance I really appreciate it! Good value. FOR SALE! Does having a 70 vs 52 fov make a noticeable difference for double the price? A 32mm plossl eyepiece and a 2x barlow lens should be enough to give you a good range of eyepieces for every use case. ES 82 degree series plus 1 meade uwa @20 mm with 1800 focal length optical tube lowest mag 51 x / highest mag 300. There are three types of Plossl eyepiece: the regular, Super, and Orthoscopic. I have used these in my F6 and F5 Dobs and find them a good value for the price. How important a consideration is this when deciding on an eyepiece? Plossls and Kellners, like other simple eyepiece designs, have moderate fields of view and tend to have short eye relief as you scale them down to shorter focal lengths. I often recommend the 2 in this series as excellent low-power wide view eyepieces, especially in scopes at focal ratios below F8. Offered in both 2 and 1.25, these are excellent eyepieces. Free shipping for many products! Buy Astromania 1.25" 4mm Plossl Telescope Eyepiece - 4-Element Plossl Design . They have a pop-up eye guard and they are threaded to accept filters. Whether it is cars or telescope eyepieces, there are inexpensive ones, upgraded models, and very expensive ones. There is the 56mm Meade Plossl which magically turns my short FL refractors into their own finder scopes. If we look at the range I provided above, we see that we could replace several eyepieces with one zoom. It also was considerably more expensive. Many compare these favorably to eyepieces that are much higher priced. These lenses are connected together. How do you focus - I would have expected helical focusers in the eyepiece holders but don't see any? A typical zoom eyepiece has a focal length range of 8 mm to 24 mm. This is important to keep in mind because it means brands have to try really hard to one-up each other because the competition in a niche hobby such as astronomy can be fierce. Focal length telescope / focal length eyepiece = magnification or power. Learn more about our story and the team behind the scene. This eyepiece was even better at correcting false color fringing, but because of internal reflections, the glare was even worse. This SVBONY eyepiece review should get you up to speed with the budget stargazing options. Just start with 32 mm for your low-power eyepiece. Lets give an example. 600 mm / 200X = 3 mm This will be the focal length of our highest power eyepiece. In this case, I am going to define this by the focuser and eyepiece size. If you cant use 2, that 32 mm Plossl, which has a 50 degree AFOV, will give you about as wide a field of view as you can get in a 1.25 eyepiece. (Compare, for instance, 20mm of each type, or 10mm of each type.) Plssl eyepieces are good all-around performers, producing sharp images at the center of the field, but they have only four lens elements. In that respect, they are similar to the Explore Scientific 82 degree mentioned earlier. How Good Are Super Plossl Eyepieces for Astronomy? Planetary eyepieces: Ploessl or Orthoscopic and which brand No results, please adjust your filters. In stargazing, eyepieces are as important as telescopes are. So yeah, they are good.. and some are even better than others, and more collectible. They are referring to how much or how little distortion is visible as you look from the center of the image out toward the edge. Can You See The ISS With A Telescope? I really enjoy usingPlssls. 4. The Regular Plossl eyepiece is made to be a basic type of scope for viewing objects that are nearbysay within two feet or so from where youre looking through it. This is where the second formula comes into play. As I discussed earlier, the zoom lets you explore your target over a wide range of magnifications without having to change eyepieces. that I could slide into my telescope and look at. That can only be shown through actual testing. Divide that by the magnification of that eyepiece in that scope. Be aware of the focal ratio of your scope. Some accept 2 and have an adapter that allows you to also use 1.25. These are just a few examples of eyepieces that I have used, and some that I own. Thinking in a super ploss 32mm and maybe something between 9mm and 15mm . The reason a plano-convex lens is good for using with a telescope is that it provides for both magnifying and erecting the images. Below 20 however, the eye relief makes it difficult for me and my glasses so Ive been replacing my 5-15 EPs with 82 degree EPs with more relief. You can do the calculation which will show that the 70 will have a significantly wider field of view as compared to the 52. Some include: Parks Gold Series, Celestron Ultima's, Meade Series 4000 Super Plssls (depending on year / origin / style) and a few others that I don't remember. The three-lens eyepiece that came out of this was much better at controlling false color fringing and other distortions, even in telescopes with short focal lengths. Hi - I bought these from another AM'er 1 year or so back, thinking I will get into visual astro, But never found the inclination, So here it is for sale 9mm Nagler type 6 mint with box and caps,16mm Nagler type 5,optics are exc. This wider field of view will make it easier to find your targets, allow you to view larger deep-sky objects, and provide a more immersive experience for everything that you view. Plssl's were top of the line at one time, and are still being sold today, so that says something too. These sport a 60-degree apparent field of view, about a 20% wider apparent field of view than Plossl eyepieces. The big problem with Plssls is that the eye relief is about 0.75 times the focal length. Or, if you are buying from an online like Amazon, then look at the eyepieces I recommend and see if any suit your needs. The Big Bang Optics was started because of our love for astronomy and to help others like us find the best telescope and accessories. Ive read, and re-read, and re-re-read this page. Orion Sirius Plossl 1.25" eyepieces are ideal for all types of telescopes: reflector, refractor, and catadioptrics such as Maksutov-Cassegrains. This general purpose design gives good colour correction and an adequate feld of view at reasonable cost and they are often bundled with new telescopes. We can see that 2 eyepieces have an advantage over 1.25 eyepieces when designers are making wide-view eyepieces. Plossl vs Super Plossl Eyepieces. Which One is Better? - Little Astronomy A 32mm Plssl is worth it. These companies rebranded them under their own names. AP is all about the mount and accurate tracking. Read our full affiliate disclosure here. Question: would an 18mm Baader Classic Ortho mostly used for Moon and planets loose sharpness and contrast if used with a short F5 telescope like the Celestron Astro-Fi 130? They are also good for those who have astigmatism because they are designed to be more forgiving with eye placement. Generally, to maximize the number of stars you see in an eyepiece with a given telescope, both the magnification and field of view should be maximized. If you were considering a Meade Super Plossl, in that case just get the regular one also by Meade. Despite one being fundamentally superior to the other in terms of image correction, Kellners and Plossls are generally quite comparable in terms of the image you actually see. I dont have a specific diagonal to recommend and I am not aware of any specific issues with the one that is included with the scope. There is a little bit more to it than that and there are other design . This was my first zoom eyepiece and the one that caused me to fall in love with zoom. Eyepiece Field of View Simulator astronomy.tools Field of View Simulator Change Telescope Reset Change Target Add Equipment Most modern telescopes use a focuser, or diagonal, that accepts 1.25 eyepieces. You can add the specialty single FL eyepieces later if you wish. Youd have to look into more complex designs which include a barlow lens, or simply use a longer focal length eyepiece with a quality barlow. Under my sky it was rare that I would be able to get over 225X and still maintain a good quality image, except on the Moon. Plossl eyepieces are often included in better telescope packages as the starter eyepieces. The Baader offers wider fov, but at quite the price premium. What focal length eyepieces should I buy? Am I correct? I would expect it to be similar to the Celestron in image quality. The downside to this type of lens is that they can cause chromatic aberration which creates colored spots around bright objects such as planets or stars due to the different wavelengths not going through equally. Lower power almost always looks better than higher power. Many Kellners are made with field stops opened up to 50 degrees, in which case it can truly compare to a Plossl in any telescope with a focal ratio of f/6 or slower. Despite this, I also have some Plossls which are indispensable. Look those up, seeing and transparency in the context of astronomy. I wont go into all the types of aberrations that can be there. She has been looking at the sky for years and hopes to introduce more people to the wonderful hobby that is astronomy. 40mm Orion Sirius Plossl Telescope Eyepiece | Orion Telescopes I must also warn you that some of these bad Plossls may actually turn out to be worse than any run-of-the-mill Kellner. The Big Bang Optics also participates in affiliate programs with Clickbank and other sites. Why two sizes? But the longer FL units are certainly useful. For what it's worth: I believe the Omni 1.25 inch 2x Barlow is one of the Shorty Barlows manufactured by GSO. A Plssl is probably as good as any 32mm eyepiece in a 1.25 inch focuser. Disclosure - If you buy something via our link, we may earn a commission with no additional expense to you. We also joined our local Astronomy Club and look forward to joining others under the night sky when the opportunity presents itself again. An Austrian inventor Georg Simon Plossl came up with the Plossl eyepiece design in 1860. Also, as the apparent field of view gets wider, the image will require more correction. If you don't like the reflections, there really aren't many other budget options at its focal length beside a Plossl which will be super uncomfortable to use, or spending over $100 for something like a Meade UWA. Most likely it will be used as a loaner eyepiece to go with one of my two loaner telescopes. But I have one little niggle. As to a more immersive experience, yes, I would say a wider FOV does provide a more immersive experience. Astromania 1.25" 4mm Plossl Telescope Eyepiece - amazon.com Plus the FOV expands as you zoom to the higher powers. Are plossl eyepieces still worth it? The longer FL Plossls (>15mm) have some distinct advantages over more complex designs without the major disadvantage of Plossls which is short ER. Does this sound like something you would recommend based on the telescope I have? Super Plossl eyepieces are generally a little smaller than this at around 16-20 mm in size, which is why theyre sometimes referred to as wide-angle or low power plossls. The 5-lens-element pseudo-Masuyamas that telesonic mentioned are/were fine eyepieces. The longer FL Plossls (>15mm) have some distinct advantages over more complex designs without the major disadvantage of Plossls which is short ER. I was just wondering if plossls are still worth it or should get a better eyepiece in a 30mm range. However, Orion has managed to make one that is quite compatible with most styles of telescope. They can also be found as Orion Expanse sporting a blue line rather than gold. Well, I'll just say it. thanks for all your help. Omni 56mm Eyepiece - 2" Learn More. Or, you can have three properly sized eyepieces and use a Barlow lens to achieve three more magnifications, which is usually a less expensive way to go. Now we have a maximum established. Have Any Astronauts Been Lost in Space Forever. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Meade telescope maksutov eyepiece ETX-105EC Super Plossl 6.4mm 1.25" w capsule at the best online prices at eBay! Most people will be fairly comfortable with eye relief of 12 mm or higher. This can be especially helpful in telescopes of focal ratios below F8. I can recommend these with confidence. These are effectively simple designs like Plossls, Kellners, Konigs, and RKEs, with long focal lengths, that have a lens included to increase their focal length. It may very well last you a lifetime and in the long term, you will definitely consider it to be a worthwhile investment. So your 600 mm example (f/6) becomes, in effect, an 1800 mm focal length, f/18 but it does not change the focal length of the eyepiece. However, I have eyepieces that have larger exit pupils than 7 mm and they work well. 130 mm scope will have a max of 260X for planning purposes. Goldline series of eyepieces provides the best value in this price range, better than Plossls. This will give you a maximum target for planning purposes. The combination of high-quality optics and accessible prices have made them the favorite design for amateur astronomers and even professionals. 32mm (20x & 40x). Features : 5 superior-grade Plossl eyepieces: 1.25-in, 4-element design with a 52 AFOV (32mm has 44)4mm, 6mm, 9mm, 15mm, and 32mm . Even if we were next-door neighbors this would take weeks of discussion and planning. 6.5-ish mm (100x & 200x) It uses two symmetrical pairs of glass elements (one convex and one concave) to pass the light. As for tabletop scopes, dont forget that you need a table, stool, or bench to place them. I often recommend a 32 mm Plossl as a good low power wide view eyepiece for scopes with a 1.25 focuser. The price ranges we show here are the typical prices. Let us know in the comments if there is anything else you want to ask or share your thoughts on this post, always looking forward to feedback from others who will benefit from it as well! Because some objects look better at low power, some at medium power, some at high power, and some at very high power. I need some eyepieces with long FL for low magnifications. I already got the 10mm super wide because of the added eye relief but at 15mm both have the same eye relief. Low focal ratio scopes deliver the light rays to the eyepiece at an ever-increasing angle as the focal ratio number goes down. i didnt have all this simply-put information when i bought my orion st-80 as my christmas present to myself in 2020. i started out with several pair of binoculars i bought used off ebay, then bought the scope. Kellners are often sold with cheaper, even more entry-level telescopes than Plossls. These are the workhorse eyepieces of today. Great article on eyepieces but I am still undecided exactly what eyepiece & Barlow to buy and from where since some buying sites dont provide all the info you cite in your article. But the one I am recommending here is the Tele Vue Nagler series. Plossl eyepieces are often included in better telescope packages as the starter eyepieces. Now put the zoom on a 3X barlow and you have: Using the zoom approach with a Barlow your eyepiece set would consisit of a 32 mm low power eyepiece. 6.7 = 268 = .3 Even though the design has existed for more than a century, it has stood the test of and is still today the standard against which other eyepiece designs are measured. Remember that visual and AP have very different requirements, so plan on at least two different optical tubes. Those that still come with Huygens and Ramsdens are generally cheap and low quality, since practically the only reason to use those designs in modern times is that they are extremely cheap to manufacture. In some cases, the eyepieces are waterproof to protect them from internal contamination caused by heavy dew conditions. Better edge correction with a short-focus telescope is one of the things you pay extra money for, and sophisticated eyepiece designs have as many as eight elements. Comparing Orion Telescope & Binoculars options, it appears that a Kellner can be found for almost half the price of a Plossl of the same focal length, although there are also equally cheap Plossls available from various sellers on Amazon that are highly comparable. a breath of fresh air! In 1849, Carl Kellner invented the Kellner eyepiece, which is essentially a Ramsden eyepiece where one lens has been replaced with an achromatic doublet made of two different types of glass. Even though both eyepieces are very common in beginner telescopes, it has become harder to find Kellner eyepieces on their own in the last two years, whether they come from a brand name or the original equipment manufacturer or a reseller. I found an ES 70 degree AFOV 35mm eyepiece and am wondering whether I should get this or the Orion 38 70. 20 = 90 = .8 There are certainly much better options out there but at a significant cost. Was compairing the Apertura standard 15mm Plossl with their 15mm super wide angle eyepiece (70 afov). https://telescopicwatch.com/celestron-starsense-explorer-dx-102-130-reviewed/, If I was to upgrade these lenses, I was planning on working toward something like this: But in this scope, the 32 mm doesnt work well. It comes with 1.25 Plossls 25mm (26x) and 10mm (66x) eyepieces. Regular Plossl eyepieces with maybe just a slightly better coating or build quality. For modern eyepieces, the differences between Plossl and Super Plossl is going to depend on the manufacturer. 1.25" Power mates with T ring adapter. This is the link to the eyepiece I am looking at potentially buying, would you recommend this over the Orion one or vice versa do you think? Perhaps you have read about planetary eyepieces, DSO eyepieces, and other types of specific eyepieces. It all comes down to cost-benefit. The way a Plossl eyepiece works is by using the convex lens and concave lenses to create an image that has both total magnification of what youre viewing, as well as erect images. We often end up spending more on eyepieces than we did on the telescope. The Plossl eyepiece has 4 lenses, consisting of 2 identical double lenses. Again, this is more noticeable in lower focal ratio scopes. Non-eyeglass wearers can usually tolerate Plossls as short as about 10-12mm before their eyelashes start brushing the ocular lens. The Plossl's are very easy to modify, allowing me to use the bino-viewer on, all my refracting telescopes without having to cut down the tube length, p.s. The Plossl optical design is very good for long and medium focal length eyepieces, delivering a sharp, flat field and an apochromatic image. You use the 8-24 zoom for the midrange. This is my all-time favorite eyepiece and the one I use more than all the others put together. If you are investing for the future, get the BH zoom. How you divide up your magnification range is up to you. Sony A7III vs A7RIII Astrophotography: Which One to Shoot Infinity! If you read the article you know how to calculate the magnification and field of view. The 66-degree AFOV of the Gold Line series provides a 32% wider field than Plossl eyepieces. Typically a Barlow does not add or subtract from this, but there again we have bad Barlows and Good Barlows. Put the zoom on the Barlow for the high range. This can be very helpful for star hopping. Kellners can be as little as half the price of a Plossl in the same focal length, but they are generally very comparable, especially in recent years as telescope prices have fluctuated in response to changing supply chains and demand. Sooooo helpful! But with 2 eyepieces and a Barlow, you have the full effective range of your telescope. Omni 9mm Eyepiece - 1.25" Learn More. Was $38.99 - $99.99 Now $31.19 - $84.99 Compare Orion Edge-On Planetary 1.25" Eyepieces But, at least get the 32mm Plssl. It costs a lot to get that last 10% of performance. Celestron 1,25 pollici Omni Plossl telescopio astronomico britannico 32 https://www.amazon.com/Orion-8879-1-25-Inch-Enhanced-Telescope/dp/B000BMPBLK/ref=sr_1_8?crid=3KKUJRXYYN7DI&dchild=1&keywords=telescope+diagonal+1.25&qid=1610887695&sprefix=telescope+diagonal%2Caps%2C512&sr=8-8, Excellent article and very good recommendations. Brilliant article and I thank you for it, I was literally really confused prior to reading it. The ES is actually slightly cheaper than the Orion but my understanding from your reviews and replies is that ES might actually be the better eyepiece have I got that right? If I had to give them all up and keep only one eyepiece, It would be the BH Zoom. Fully coated with magnesium fluoride on every air-to-glass surface for excellent light transmission and high contrast views. A 10mm or shorter Plssl is probably not worth it unless you want to see how you personally cope with short eye relief. For that purpose it is probably easier to find one to borrow. No surprise there. It's no surprise that the eyepieces in our Sirius Plossl line are our best-selling telescope eyepieces. Oh the pain of uh having access to really cool eyepieces.). I have a variety of eyepieces, including Explore Scientific and Meade 82 degree series so I have choices. In retrospect, I should have included Tele Vue. i dont have 1 of everything, and i bought the best i could afford on a low budget; meade and orion. If you are just testing the waters or on a tight budget, get the Celestron, which is still pretty good. I would wait till you get the scope and use the included eyepieces. Explore Scientific, like many eyepiece providers, have higher-priced and budget lines. Every review suggests replacing the 10mm Kellner eyepiece (and possibly 25mm Kellner) that comes with it. I have four telescopes, but I use the same eyepieces in all of them. Or, you may find that you like the 8 mm and 6 mm used with the Barlow and can avoid the expense of two eyepieces. A four-element eyepiece was made by putting together two achromatic doublets with different focal lengths.