Eyepiece question

max2121 · September 28, 2021

I’m new and trying to figure out my first new eyepiece purchase. I have been doing a lot of research. While looking on telescope.com I noticed something about Tele Vue. Although I’m not yet ready to spend this much but there were a lot of different lines of Tele Vue pieces. Like Panoptic, Nagler, Ethos, Delos, DeLite and a Tele Vue Plossl. I thought Plossl was a brand name. Is it not? Is this a type or style of lense? I recently bought an 8 inch Dobsonian that came with a Plossl. I was under the understanding that telescopes normally come with a cheap eyepieces and so want to upgrade/increase magnification.

Thanks

AstronomyUkraine · September 28, 2021

1 hour ago, max2121 said:

I’m new and trying to figure out my first new eyepiece purchase. I have been doing a lot of research. While looking on telescope.com I noticed something about Tele Vue. Although I’m not yet ready to spend this much but there were a lot of different lines of Tele Vue pieces. Like Panoptic, Nagler, Ethos, Delos, DeLite and a Tele Vue Plossl. I thought Plossl was a brand name. Is it not? Is this a type or style of lense? I recently bought an 8 inch Dobsonian that came with a Plossl. I was under the understanding that telescopes normally come with a cheap eyepieces and so want to upgrade/increase magnification.

Regarding the different types of Tele Vue eyepieces, each different type has a different apparent field. The Ethos range are 100° & 110° Apparent Field Eyepieces, going down all the way to the Plossls which are 50° Apparent Field Eyepieces.

Plössls, especially at shorter focal lengths, suffer from short eye relief – a measure of how close to the eyepiece you have to place your eye to see the full feld of view. This is why they are usually at the cheaper end of the price range, and bundled with new scopes.

I'm no eyepiece expert, many on here are far more knowledgeable, but magnification isn't everything, too much or too little will degrade the target you are viewing. Also a 24 or 28mm eyepiece can produce fantastic wide views of large objects like the double cluster, or the Milky Way.

Edited September 28, 2021 by AstronomyUkraine

Nightspore · September 28, 2021

1 hour ago, max2121 said:

I’m new and trying to figure out my first new eyepiece purchase. I have been doing a lot of research. While looking on telescope.com I noticed something about Tele Vue. Although I’m not yet ready to spend this much but there were a lot of different lines of Tele Vue pieces. Like Panoptic, Nagler, Ethos, Delos, DeLite and a Tele Vue Plossl. I thought Plossl was a brand name. Is it not? Is this a type or style of lense? I recently bought an 8 inch Dobsonian that came with a Plossl. I was under the understanding that telescopes normally come with a cheap eyepieces and so want to upgrade/increase magnification.

Thanks

Most 'Plossl' eyepieces are basically a four element asymmetrical and have little in common with the original symmetrical design. There's an awful lot of gibberish talked about the design. Although Simon Plössl designed the original eyepiece for microscopes I believe. Clave and Tele Vue made their respective versions of the Plossl eyepiece more popular in the 1980's. Its chief advantage was good visual acuity with at least 50 degrees of field of view. They were never particularly cheap. TV Plossls aren't now.

Eventually cheaper Chinese mass produced 'Plossls' became prevalent on the market. For some reason they tend to be perceived as an inferior eyepiece even though few entry level scopes are actually bundled with inexpensive 'Plossls'. 'Plossls' are easier to mass produce than orthoscopic eyepieces and have advantages over earlier designs such as Kellners and Ramsdens.

There's nothing wrong with a good set of Plossls.

Tele Vue have probably done the most to popularise wide angle eyepieces. Al Nagler's designs have been highly influential and most wide angle eyepieces made today probably owe something to them.

I don't know the focal ratio of your 200mm Dobsonian but I'd start off with two or three Plossls giving magnifications of around 25x (or less), 50x and 100~150x. Then worry about wide angle eyepieces later.

max2121 · September 29, 2021

Thanks for the clarification.

max2121 · September 30, 2021

What are the best online retailers you guys shop at?

AstronomyUkraine · September 30, 2021

20 minutes ago, max2121 said:

What are the best online retailers you guys shop at?

Depends what country you are in. Not everyone on here is from the UK.

Marmot · October 1, 2021

I can’t help you out with your best retailers as I believe you are in The USA whereas I am in the UK. However, I would say that there is a thriving used market in all things astronomy. I only entered into this hobby a few months back and like you I had all sorts of questions with regard to updating the eyepieces supplied with my scope. There seemed to be so much to consider: Magnification, field of view, eye relief, what EPs work with fast scopes or slow scopes, budget, etc, etc.

In the end I decided to utilise the used market enabling me to experiment with a few different eyepieces and then just selling on the ones that didn’t suit me without any noticeable loss.

I did try some Plossles, but I found the short focal lengths to be quite uncomfortable (for me anyway). I do, however, have a 32mm Plossl which I actually really like for low power views.