DISCLAIMER
PLEASE READ: The following pages contain a short review and my personal opinion of the equipment I've had a chance to use. I claim to be by no means an expert. Due to my eye condition I am not able to see exactly as well as others with normal vision. However, I am able to see certain things which the average person cannot. For example, the crystalline lens in the human eye naturally acts as a filter for certain bands of ultraviolet (UV) light. Since the lenses of both my eyes have been removed I am particularly sensitive to UV.
These reviews are mainly for my
use to keep a record of my experiences. I will not be held responsible for
any damages caused by decisions made arising from these reviews.
Most of the equipment here is rented from a local dealer.
Equipment List
- Eyepieces
- Filters
Celestron Eyepiece Kit - Price $99US, ~$200CAN
This kit contains 5 eyepieces 6
color filters + 1 moon filter and carrying case
All the eyepieces in this kit are fully multicoated.
32mm -This is my favorite eyepiece from this kit. It had really good eye relief and images are very sharp. It provides a wide field of view with virtually no distortion at the edges. Fringing is near non-existent. Chromatic aberration is minimal
15mm - This is also a nice eyepiece. Seems well constructed and provides a decent FOV.
9mm - For observing this makes a good high power eyepiece.
6mm - This makes a good high power eyepiece for photographic use.
4mm - most people find this very difficult to use because of the small exit pupil, but for myself I have no problem, since my pupil is rather large, my eye seems to have very little problem reconstructing the image.
Pros:
A great starter kit
Well priced.
Nice carrying case.
Cons:
none I can think of.
40mm wide angle from 'La Maison De L'astronomie' (LMDA) - $50CAN
Pros:
This eyepiece provides a very wide FOV and excellent eye
relief.
Great value for the money.
Cons:
I'm able to see the shadow of the secondary with the C9.25
Not multicoated
6mm and 9mm wide angle eyepiece AFOV 60deg from LMDA - $50CAN
Pros:
I found this eyepiece to provide a larger FOV and good eye
relief.
Price is right if it works for you.
Cons:
I found that exit pupil is a bit diffused (maybe because
of the eye relief) my eye cannot reconstruct the image properly. It's like
looking at Jupiter, only instead of a nice round sphere, the edges are jagged.
Also Chromatic aberration is apparent at the edges of the FOV. These
are not fully multicoated.
Celestron 10mm and 5mm X-Cel - Price $100
Pros:
I'm impressed with this eyepiece. I feel it's
of excellent quality. The eye relief is great and the light does not seem
to be so diffused as the LMDA versions. Fully multi-coated. Seems to
work well for planetary observing.
Well priced.
Cons:
Pretty big and heavy :)
Vixen LV Series Lantham 10mm - ~$180
Pros:
This is a very nice eyepiece as well. Good detail
and contrast can be seen on planets. I found it to be the same as the
X-Cel's. As I understand the only real difference is an extra coated lens
element.
Cons:
Price ?
Televue Nagler 7mm - ~$450
Pros:
Okay, so far I've been trying low-mid range eyepieces.
This is the first expensive one I've had a look through. Anyone out there
know how much I can get for a kidney ? Yes it's that good. I
was actually able to see a couple of Jupiter's moon which I could not see with
my regular Celestron plossil. The image is very crisp.
Planetary viewing is great and the best I've seen yet. It almost
feels like you could put your head in the eyepiece and look around.
Cons:
For me, the price.
Filters
Orion UltraBlock (Narrowband Filter) - $100
Pros:
This filter brings out detail very well. Makes the
sky darker. In general works on the most number of objects.
Cons:
none
Antares Oxygen III filter - $175
Pros:
Makes the sky look almost black where there is a lot of
light pollution. Aa bit darker sky and maybe a bit more detail than the Orion
Cons:
Doesn't work on many objects. Works only on specific
kinds of nebulae.
