I’m somewhat of a newbie and I just really want to tell you how much I appreciate your work. I’ve made earlier comments about how I wish every teacher AND pundit or journalist approached their calling the way you do. You have a gift. You can impart vast amounts of knowledge onto people quickly without sounding pompous, long winded, boring, intrusive or annoying. Thank you. If I ever feel the need to teach anyone anything about something i know and they don’t, I will definitely try to emulate Ed Ting energy.
Book_ Davies Exactly right. All of what he says is very sound advice. I had to chuckle because Ed (and others) always caution against chasing high power, and I ignored that advice when I started many years ago. Now that I'm older, and hopefully wiser, I offer the same advice to beginners and I can see them doubting me. Maybe that's one lesson you have to learn by trial and error.
Hello, Mr. Ting; Thank you for all you do. I've been watching your videos since I 'discovered' you & subscribed. Often you discuss astrophotography which doesn't appeal to me. So your videos, like this on, dealing w/ eyepieces, mounts, & 'scopes are my faves. I was surprised to hear you recommend a lower power eyepiece. I had done the math & decided a 32mm would give the better exit pupil & a wider view. So I bought an inexpensive Gosky. It turned better than I expected it to, considering the price, but I'm on disability so, cheap. It helped me view some DSOs, unbelievably. I think the wider view simply helped me locate them. I've tried to select eyepieces that will give me a broader range of viewing options. There isn't a star club near me so I've had to read, study, & figure it out mostly on my own. Believe me when I say I *REALLY* appreciate you sharing your experience & knowledge. I live on the edge of a small town (w/ far too much light pollution). Apparently there are no amateur astronomers nearby either. So your videos are the next best thing to having someone by my 'scope. I really mean it, "THANK YOU!". Have a GREAT day, Neighbor!PS You so FUNNY! Behave!
Really great advice on buying your first scope. I did the department store purchase for my first scope. I fought with that mount every night I was out there and I lost many battles during this war. The scope was only good for moon viewing. This was before the internet and "scope information" was far and few between. So glad I stayed with the hobby and learned. Please listen to Mr. Ting!
Thanks so much for all your guidance Mr. Ting! Got my boy and I our first telescope and went with the Orion XT8. It is awesome!!!! It came with two eyepieces, a 24 and a 35 wide view. We love using the 35mm wide view the most. Sure glad I found your channel and followed your advise! Thanks again!
Great advice about eyepieces. I would add that eyepiece kits are almost always a horrible waste of money. The focal length spacing between eyepieces is usually very small. So for a 10 eyepiece kit, you can throw out 4-5 eyepieces as duplicates. Also, the thing about premium eyepieces (TeleVue) is that the used market has great bargains. There's a high premium to having the first view through a quality eyepieces. And buying a used TeleVue or other good eyepiece is more like "borrowing" than owning. I have a Panoptic 24mm bought in 2005. I could sell it today for the same price I bought it. That's very different from the steep price depreciation curve of astronomy cameras. Finally, your advice about getting quality ($$) eyepieces is sound. People who decide the view through their scope isn't improved by a quality eyepiece might have poor skies, poor collimation, poor mount or poor vision. A quality eyepiece can't solve those problems.
Thank you so much for your invaluable advice! I went with the Tele Vue 10mm Delos and the 27mm Panatropic. Also, I took your advice after countless research and got a 8“ Dobsonion from HPS but an Apertura. The Orion was not available and the Apertura comes with a 2-speed focuser. A 8x50 RAIC, and I ordered the optional secondary mirror collimating knob upgrade.
Thank you so much! You are so much fun to watch and listen to! I have been a very occasional amateur astronomer since 1978, and I have seen all of those wonderful Meade, Celestron, TeleVue, and Takahashi ads over all of those years. Now I can finally enjoy those expensive telescopes and lenses vicariously through you! And I am greatly relieved to hear your concise and clear explanations for why I have been enjoying my hobby perfectly fine with my modest instruments! (1989 Meade SN8 Schmidt Newtonian with a few very nice lenses, along with two $200 wide field Nikon binoculars on a monopod). I am grateful for all that you do! I wish you a long, healthy, happy life. ("live long and prosper", as Spock says).
My first skywatcher telescope came with 10 and 25 mm eyepiece, eye relief was terrible. Very quickly got a badder Zoom mk 4, a little expensive but but much better eye relief which makes life so much easier. Also saves buying a lot of eyepieces at beginning. Thanks for another great video.
I really enjoy your Videos Mr Ting; seems like you buy, collect and sell scopes like my wife does used furniture. I used to work at a company where we dealt in and made telescopes. I always maintained that one of the most important facets in seeing more; or getting the best out of your telescope is that you have to be as comfortable as possible. Having the right eyepieces is key in this. I have to whole heartedly agree with Mr Ting with what he said about eyepieces. The first benefits you tend to get with a better eyepiece are things like more eye relief (the distance between the eyepiece and your eye to comfortably see through it) and usually a wider apparent field of view (the image presented to you looks wider). If you are more comfortable and having to worry less about managing the equipment then the more you can comfortably concentrate on; seeing and enjoying the objects. I've had a long break from practical astronomy and recently bought a used scope. I wasn't expecting much from the eyepieces that came with the scope as these tend to be the cheaper ones that originally come as part of the package. The selling owners of a used scope typically hold on to the nicer ones they had later bought, to use on the new scope that they got to replace the used one the new owners are now buying. But when I tried these eyepieces my heart sank. Not out of disappointment for myself; I was anticipating getting some nicer ones soon after anyway. No, my reaction to these was the realisation of how many people would being trying this hobby for the first time and becoming disenchanted because they would have these same exceptionally poor eyepieces and not realize these were causing most of their disappointment in their exploration of this hobby. However one thing I would say is yes the Teleview range is superb and an ideal choice of eyepiece manufacturer. But in my opinion you don't have to go to that expense. There are lower cost good options that would give a good experience say in the $150-250 price range. Also you don't have to get more than 1 or 2 to start with. In Fact just one or two to familiarize yourself with before deciding if and how you may wish to expand your collection. If you're looking at a first scope and say as an example finding it hard to choose between something like an 8" or 10" Dobsonian. Lean toward the 8" and use the difference in cost on a nicer eyepiece. Lastly, on the subject of wives and scopes. What's wrong with getting your spouse involved in this hobby. In fact I remember one chap who bought a scope. Must have been a year later when the wife bought an instrument for herself. Bigger aperture and better mount than his! but at least they still could share the eyepieces.
I couldn't resist the urge to get an additional eyepiece, but I watched enough of these videos to know that high power wasn't the best way to go. My starter telescope came with a 25mm and 10mm. I got a 13mm eyepiece, but it has a 68° field of view. The 10mm field of view in the stock eyepiece was so narrow it was very limited. With that wide field of view, the 13mm lens gives me an even wider view than my stock 25mm lens. It's now the lens I use more than either of the other two. I have no regrets about my lens purchase.
Ed always makes good arguments and a solid case for his advice. But my experience differs regarding a first scope. I found that the best choice is the scope you use the most. And that was a decent quality doublet 80mm refractor. Eight inch dobs go a lot deeper obviously, but they are big beasts and lugging them out of the house and into the car after a workday didn't appeal to me. I knew the most likely outcome was that it would sit in the corner of the living room. But the 80mm refractor on a decent alt-az (Vixen Porta II) can be picked up with one hand--with the scope attached--and be under the stars in a couple of minutes. It also has the advantage of being an excellent set up for terrestrial use, with a correcting diagonal. Finally, it can be attached to an eight-inch dob a year or so later once the user has confirmed that s/he is interested enough to continue with astronomy. That makes the eight inch dob a perfect *second* scope!
Just watched this video and was absolutely shocked! I was sure I had subscribed when watching your other videos, but apparently not. Situation new rectified. True story.
ALWAYS A GREAT SHOW. WHERE WERE YOU YEARS AGO WHEN I FIRST GOT THE BUG. YOU ARE CORRECT SO MANY WAYS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME HELPNG ME AND MANY OTHERS.
Hi Ed. I'm the newbie with the Orion 4.5 missing the 10mm. The set of eyepieces came in today, with Jupiter and Saturn in the evening sky, and Mars is close to overhead at 5:30 am for first real use. I'm going to next get a 32 or 40mm as you suggest. Maybe the scope isn't capable of gathering much light in deep sky, but I'm taking your advice and buying a better piece, so it'll be here for the next scope. Thanks again for your informative videos.
Awesome video, awesome channel. Discovered it as I was looking at getting back into astronomy. Good suggestions for eye pieces. I do regret selling my Ethos 10mm several years ago. That thing was a beast and the field of view was amazing. It was like I had to stick my head into the eye piece to see the edges. haha
One of my first eyepieces was a 32 mm Plössl, one of my best decisions ever. I usually recommend Plössl eyepieces since they are cheap but still give a great view. But I have to admit: once you have good quality eyepieces you stick with them. for me, these are the Baader Hyperion for low magnifications and some long eye relief planetaries for higher magnifications.
I recommend the gold-line eyepieces as the price tends to be about the same as a Plossl but the eye relief and FOV is better. Beginners don't care that much about eyepiece correction
I was so close to buying an Apertura AD8 but my storage options are limited... Instead I pulled the trigger on a Celestron 5" reflector on a tripod. As you've said many times, "the telescope that shows the most is the one you use the most" and I need to be portable. Under the assumption the eyepieces included would be "meh" quality, I did go ahead and add higher quality eyepieces, a 25mm and a 12mm... and a Barlow for moon closeups. The view of Jupiter's moons and the faint fuzz of Andromeda Galaxy through my monocular was the final motivation to finally get a "real" scope.
An advancing beginner (?) chiming in about the eyepiece thing. I absolutely agree with Ed's suggestion - but would like to carve a little exception. Right after buying my first (real) scope I found a used set of Baader planetarium "Classic" eyepieces: a 32 mm Plössl, and 18, 10 and 6 Orthos, plus a good 2.25x Barlow. I paid the equivalent of 190$ for the whole thing … 4 very well-regarded, solid EPs for about 45$ each, not counting the Barlow and a nice box that will come in handy on countless occasions! In my 150 f/5 Newtonian, it gives me a whole range of magnifications from very low to very high. Yes, I mostly reside on the 32 mm and 18 mm, but I do enjoy the occasional time when conditions allow for higher mag and what I'm looking at calls for it. If one of those boxes pops up at a good price around you, give it a thought. It put any thought of buying more eyepieces out of my mind for a few years coming (so I can concentrate on other gadgets :D)
Ed I’m using my wife’s account I texted you photo of wagon mount awhile back you said would make mount of the month… anyway I have the TeleVue panoptic 24mm and love it and it has a handful of great reviews on TH-cam , also new to astronomy in my older years after some fun looking at the heavens over 50 years ago. So to extend my question.. now I’ve got the 31 mm nagler (huge) with TeleVue 2” Everbright diagonal on my C8 with the wagon mount but wanted a wow eyepiece for my for my 5” refractor which I had my TeleVue 24mm panoptic set in it with the TeleVue 2” Everbright diagonal so I had to sneak in the 41mm TeleVue panoptic from my wife (I did get caught since Amazon Elexa tells your notifications to anyone in the house) it’s as large as the huge 31mm nagler but I’m wondering why no reviews on it ? Have you used it? It appears awesome although I haven’t compared yet waiting for clear sky’s just south of you Pepperell, thank you for any thoughts Mike
Totally agree. The higher the power of my eyepiece, the less I use it. My highest power eyepiece is a 7mm Nagler. 95% of the time it spends the evening in the case.
17-22mm is the sweetspot on my 6in f5, ive only went high power a few times with saturn and it was cool but dso are my thing so 17 to 22mm maybe even a 42mm to get a huge patch of sky to find objects
Thanks for sharing this. I have a similar scope and just starting out I've been wondering what the sweetspot would be for DSOs. I was looking at 10mm but I'll dial that back on your suggestion.
I was married w/5 kids so I ordered a Pyrex blank w/ 2nd blank, abrasive of all grits and 30 yrs until completed...but...I made EVERYYHING GROUND UP. Xcpt lenses. One of a kind is a personal best...
Lower power is good advice indeed. My first (and so far only) scope is a 70mm f/10 refractor, the SkyLux 96-18800. It came with a 20mm which is perfectly fine, a 4mm and a x1.5 erecting eyepiece. The 4mm alone puts it to x175 magnification which is FAR beyond the ability of the scope. Seeing the blurry image at 4:02 I straight away thought, "hm, that's familiar". My next purchase before looking at buying a Dobsonian is to get a couple of decent 1.25" eyepieces (maybe 8mm + 20mm) to get some more mileage out of the refractor.
Totally agree, but personally I would rather recommend a good quality zoom eyepiece 8-24mm. Yes it give a smaller field of view than non-zoom eyepieces of the same focal length in general do ... but it's basically a full set in one with less fumbling in the dark, optimal flexibility and ... the least money spend when you're new to the hobby. I myself started with such an eyepiece and a barlow lens and am still using them today. I got the now no longer made 'Televue 8-24 mm zoom' and the 'Televue 2.5x powermate'. I've used them for decades. Based on the reviews I've read the 'Baader 8-24' seems a very good one with lots of functionality. When you get more serious, you should get a few dedicated focal length eyepieces of the magnifications you can successfully use at your location since they will give the best viewing ... yet ... when things have to go quick, the zoom will still be preferential.
My ADHD hyper focus says that I should just buy everything and collect multiple telescopes only for it all to take up space and collect dust. Mr. Ting’s counseling restraint is the only reason I haven’t😂
Great content Ed! Absolutely agree with you on not buying a department store telescope. Having said that when I was a young boy back in 1960’s I got a Tasco small refractor for Christmas. I must have been lucky as I had nice views of the planets and Moon. I was pleasantly surprised that I could track 4 visible moons of Jupiter. Was there a time when Tasco made quality scopes? Thanks again for sharing your knowledge. Really great stuff! Ed.
Thank you for the advice. My Celestron 8” dobsonian came with just one eye piece, a 25mm. The planetary views are a bit small so I went ahead and bought a 9mm tele vue delite. Hopefully that will last me a while!
It seems like eyepieces with telescopes are like lenses with cameras. Get a good eyepiece/lens because you will use it if you change telescopes/cameras (except you don’t have to be locked in or need an adaptor like you would with the camera analogy. I haven’t bought my telescope yet, but I’m prioritizing a good mount (probably a Sky Watcher equatorial), a good all around telescope (probably a Celestron 8” Edge HD, and a couple of eyepieces from Tele Vue (a short one, ~6-9mm, a 24~26mm, and a 2x Barlow). I recently got a pair of Canon 15x50 IS binoculars to start learning the night sky. I’ll go to my local astronomy club’s viewing parties to confirm or revise my initial research before I pull the trigger. I’ll retire in about 2-3 years and plan to get a conversion van to be able to get to dark skies in the western US and want to be comfortable with my setup and how to use it before I go on my “Star Trek”😊. Thanks.
@0:01--Thanks Scotty Kilmer. Will you be peeking out of a 30" Newtonian and remind us to, "Ring that Bell!"? Scotty now spends some time near you in Rhode Island. You should bring your telescopes to him, so he can run an OBD Scan Tool on them. ( ;>D)
i just bought my 2nd scope a c8se and it came with one eyepiece 1.25 inch and moving up from 4.5 inch reflector i ran into a problem, the eye piece it came with is great and all but the 20 mm i use with the old scope is no where near the magnification with the 25mm on the new scope, for over 40 years i am used to a small image that made it easy to find things, fortunately i had the foresight to also but a corrector/reducer but its still to powerful. i think im going to have to get a 2 inch so i can get something close to an 50 mm or bigger. i havent figured out how to use the software yet so im using it the old fashion way and finding deep sky stuff aint easy cause im at the mercy of the motor speed
I like his advice. Just got 8inch dob, and before i used it I was looking for a barlow and high power lense...until i took it outside and looked. the 30mm SuperWide FOV lense that came with the telescope allowed me to see some spectactular shots, way more than the 10mm lense. SO i think i'm gonna upgrade the crap out of my low power lense in order to enjoy those views even more
For the beginning the 32mm super plössl was great for how cheap it is (30€). After some time I upgraded to 21mm ethos and it's really on another level... my most used eyepiece!
If that's what Ed looks like carrying around a 12" Newtonian, I can only imagine what I looked like lugging my old one around. I use a 10" most of the time now. That's my personal limit to "reasonably moveable" with solid tube dobs.
When I began amateur Astronomy, my first Eyepieces have been some Plössl and Revised Keller (RKE) and I could not understand why People are willing to pay for one single Eyepiece more than I paid for my first Telescope (incl 2 eyepieces. Btw. that was an "Astroscan" By Edmund Scientific). Then I had a nightsky friend who had a Tak Sky-90 and some real good Eyepieces. He told me that Telescopes (OTA's) might come and go, but good Eyepieces will stay (same as good objective-lenses for cameras. Bodies come and go, good lenses will stay) so it's worth to invest a little more. After a view to Andromeda galaxy (which looked nice in my Astroscan with the 28mm RKE) through his Sky-90 with his 40mm Pentax wide angle eyepiece, I knew what he meant. When I had enough in spare to buy my 2nd telescope (a 12" GSO Dobs) I had also spared enough to buy a 2" Pano-27 (and a Telrad Finder) together with that scope. Never regretted buying this Eyepiece or the Telrad. Meanwhile I have 5 Eyepieces in my "first-grade box": 27mm PanO, 19mm PanO, 13mm and 9mm Nagler Type 6 and a 8-5mm Speers-Waler Zoom (first gen). That's imo a very good set for my Newton Telescopes (between f/8 and f/4,4). And I also have some orthoscopic Eyepieces (Kasai) primary for Moon, Sun (with ND5 Filter!) and planetary use. The angle of view is poor and they are not very good on "fast" Telescopes, but on the 6" f/8 Newton or the 80/1200mm Lens they have brilliant contrast.
Now that I exeperienced navigating some constellation in the sky under, say, Bortle 7. I totally agree with Sir Ed on the eyepiece. I thought first that 20mm or 25mm is good enough. But when I’m tried to navigate the constellations I literary change my mind, yeah, a lower eyepiece would be great probably 32mm or 40mm as you can see more stars.
Meh, I'll disagree with the "get a new eyepiece" advice. The eyepieces that come stock with the scope are definitely good enough, and there are better things to spend that money on than new eyepieces as your very first purchase. For that 10" dob, get Turn Left at Orion instead, and a red light headlamp. Get a variable polarizing filter for use on the moon. Get a mylar solar filter so you can observe the sun. Get a smartphone adapter to take some quick pics of the moon and planets. Get a hurricane blower and lenspen for cleaning the two eyepieces you already have. Get an eyepiece case to store this stuff. Lots of better things to spend your money on than new eyepieces right out of the box.
For a beginner with a cheap basic telescope, I recommend they buy a 35$ set of three 62 degree field Chinese aspheric eyepieces, some unbranded and some SVbony brand. They come 23mm, 10mm and 4mm and the price is right. The 23mm and 10mm are great for the price but the 4mm is usually too much power. I've used them with f5 and above scopes.
Id recommend the a 32mm and or 25mm SVbony or 'UNBRANDED' plossls(Sirius Plossl) and a SVbony gold banded UWA 9mm (Orion Expanse). Well under $100 all-in and still an upgrade for just about any kit supplied eyepieces. Most of the sub $100 1.25" eyepieces on the market are all made at one or two Chinese optics mfrs and are available on ebay as SVbony or UNBRANDED, for a fraction of the price. The main difference Ive found is than none of the SV plossls Ive checked, had the lenses edge blackened; while the Sirius Plossls have only some and usually *very* poorly applied edge blackening.
Ed - it may be of use for your viewers - the right USB serial adapter will have a FTDI chipset. Avoid the Prolific PL2303. Those do not do the proper RS232 handshaking and often the drivers are not even available on modern OSes. In fact, just insist on FTDI and you'll be good.
Ed, I have what I think is a finished collection of eyepiece for my Orion SkyQuest 8”. They are a Explore Scientific 32mm, Svbony 26mm, Tele Vue Nagler 13mm and a Celestron X-Cell 9mm. I was going to buy a Tele Vue 2X Barlow, but I am not sure if it will help in planetary viewing with the 13mm and 9mm eyepieces. Do you think it would be a smart investment to get a Barlow?
I have really enjoyed the information you have freely given. I need some advice. I am looking at low powered eyepiece especially for helping me find DSOs. I was looking at 32mm range with a 52 degree field of view. My budget is tight so I can’t afford a Tele Vu. Would it be wiser to get a 1.25 eyepiece to add a 2X Barlow to and create a 16mm and fill a void or spend a little more and get an Orion Deep View 2” 35mm with a 56 degree AFOV and have no chance of filters and Barlow use? I got the Orion XT8 used but they only had the 25mm and Barlow with it. Try to find Andromeda last night was impossible with the 25mm.
I have 8 eye pieces which I'm sure you would think is way to many but theres only one I regret buying and that's a 5mm Orion plossl. It has almost no eye relief. And I just had to have an 9mm abb orthoscopic for planets even though I have a 9mm with super wide angle too.
Actually the 25mm eyepiece that came with my Skywatcher ED100 is very very good .. but I’ve only used it in my Tele-Vue TV-85 so far 🙄 (long story), and my 50 year old Schaefer mount with an 8” Ed Buyers RA worm gear and tangent arm dec drive running on Hurst Type C motors has remained error free the whole time 😬 But let me get back to you in a couple years regarding my EQ6-R Pro made in China.
Ed, Ed, Ed.... I am very often exasperated by your advice. Yet, it is INVALUBLE. I'm relatively new to the hobby and want to give you my sincerest thanks for your guidance and sharing of wisdom. I did spend my first year with binoculars, loved it and got to start learning the night sky. I have a trip to Jasper National Park in Alberta later this month and decided to get a telescope - a used 6" Nexstar SCT and am considering upgrading my eyepieces. I HATE and LOVE the advice about replacing the stock eyepieces and am gritting my teeth over *not* getting a high(er) power eyepiece with Saturn in opposition and Jupiter in the night sky. Thanks for the tough love, I'd very much be the undisciplined newbie buying all sorts of stuff without your steadying presence.
For a beginner with a cheap basic telescope, I recommend they buy a 35$ set of three 62 degree field Chinese aspheric eyepieces, some unbranded and some SVbony brand. You can find them on ebay. They come 23mm, 10mm and 4mm and the price is right. The 23mm and 10mm are great for the price but the 4mm is usually too much power. I've used them with f5 and above scopes. They have a wider field of view than the usual stock eyepieces and won't break the bank. To get a wider field of view, you have to spend much more money. On my large dobsonians, I use Naglers but they are too heavy for smaller telescopes. The aspheric eyepieces are very lightweight.
I got 20mm Kelner EP with my cheap scope , its the only thing i was satisfied with , yes it has a kind of limited specs , its not as wide view , and you need to center it to get best image , but its bright , brighter then your Televue so its wonderful for Deep sky indeed better then your 100x more expensive one . The same thing is with Camera Lenses , we have Canon 15x element lenses , and they are good and sharp , but they ae not as fast as old ones that have 3 or 2 elements instead of 15 you know . Same goes for your EP , its just physics
Ed, where did you get that blk strap with the attached handle on the Dobsonian Telescope you carry in at the beginning and out at the end? I just bought an eight inch xt8 and with my severe arthritis problems it’s at my limits for picking up and moving it around. Thanks so much for all of your guidance. I find your videos truly helpful. Dusty Morrison. Southern California.
Im not sure about changing eyepieces. My first scope that’s currently my only one is a 76/700 bresser newtonian came with terrible eyepieces so i took 1 svbony 20mm 68 deg afov and an svbony 7-21mm zoom which really made the views quite better. (the EPs they gave in the kit were 20mm, 12.5mm and 4.5mm which all had a bad optics quality)
Your scope is similar to the Orion Space Probe (see review elsewhere on this channel). The limiting factor on these inexpensive models is usually the wobbly mount. If you get another eyepiece, go lower in power. Get a 25mm or a 32mm. The views should be easier to see and you can always keep them if you switch scopes.
@@edting Thanks for your reply. Mine actually has those very wobbly altaz mounts, whenever I use it with some moderate wind my observations become tougher. I’m going to upgrade my scope though but I still don’t know which one to get because I’d need something that’s rather compact and with an equatorial mount. I was aiming for either a skywatcher 150P/PDS or a Skymax 127 both on an EQ3-2 mount. Which one would you tend to recommend?
Neither are ideal but they should be at least OK. The Mak's focal length is too long, and there are QC issues with those Chinese-sourced 6" f/5 mirrors. I'd still recommend a 6" or 8" Dob.
Re: eyepieces - should warn people about not buying these "eyepiece kits" (esp the budget ones). One or 2 high quality eyepieces will serve anyone much better than a dozen mediocre or low quality ones yet I see so many beginners trip up in that area.
I would go for a 7mm,,15mm,,25mm, 40mm, plus a 2 times Barlow. Start with maybe Plossels, then in the future if you have money, go for Teleview Naglers..
My suggestions about eyepieces are a bit different: Don't replace the 25 mm "Super", just add a new one. Why? When observing the moon or the sun, dust particles in the eyepiece are annoying if visible, but in the 25 mm "Super" they are almost invisible. On the other hand a 10 mm "Super" or some very cheap 9 mm Kellners should be replaced, as you will notice the difference to budget Plössls. And this is the key word: budget Plössl. They are usually of decent quality and their low price allows buying a few ones so that you can adjust the magnification to the seeing or the surface brightness of a deep-sky object or the seeing.
@Ed Ting, other TH-cam reviews seem to suggest getting a zoom eyepiece like the Baader to replace the Plossls. It apparently gives you access to several powers (increasing convenience), slightly better FOV although fairly similar eye relief. Is that something you would consider ? (I have a 10" Dob, 1600mm with 3 Plossls, 25mm 10mm & 6.4mm and focusing on planetary viewing)
I'm shopping for a new telescope It's not a first scope. Just a better one than the one I had previously. On the fence between the Orion 8 inch Dobsion and the Skywatcher of the same size
@@edting it will have to be the Orion. Skywatcher is always out of stock Hope you don't mind my questions. My uncle taught me celestial navigation from the time I was 12 at my request. That and astronomy were an obsession with me. He died when I was 17.
I have an Orion XX14G telescope. Everyone tells how to put them together but no one tells you how to align one. I have been using go to telescopes for many years but am having a really bad time in trying to get the telescope to align. Any chance you can show how to align this scope?
My first scope was a 127EQ... I actually did get pretty good views of Jupiter and Saturn. My second scope was an Apertura AD8. I want to get an Apo refractor, what would you recommend for a good one?
I have an Orion XT6, should I go with 32mm or 40mm, my concern is that is 6 inches, Im not sure about how effective they would be. Please somebody advise !! Thanks
I’m somewhat of a newbie and I just really want to tell you how much I appreciate your work. I’ve made earlier comments about how I wish every teacher AND pundit or journalist approached their calling the way you do. You have a gift. You can impart vast amounts of knowledge onto people quickly without sounding pompous, long winded, boring, intrusive or annoying. Thank you. If I ever feel the need to teach anyone anything about something i know and they don’t, I will definitely try to emulate Ed Ting energy.
New people: Listen to Mr. Ting. He's right. I made the mistakes myself.
Book_ Davies Exactly right. All of what he says is very sound advice.
I had to chuckle because Ed (and others) always caution against chasing high power, and I ignored that advice when I started many years ago. Now that I'm older, and hopefully wiser, I offer the same advice to beginners and I can see them doubting me. Maybe that's one lesson you have to learn by trial and error.
Some of those mistakes are so common they are now diagnosable conditions like "aperture fever"!
Scammers in the chat
@@NOLASkaGuitarist I reported, but we'll see if it does any good
He helped me pick my orion xt 6 plus recentally current ally it’s bean to cold to use it (-20 to -30) I live in North Dakota
Hello, Mr. Ting;
Thank you for all you do.
I've been watching your videos since I 'discovered' you & subscribed.
Often you discuss astrophotography which doesn't appeal to me.
So your videos, like this on, dealing w/ eyepieces, mounts, & 'scopes are my faves.
I was surprised to hear you recommend a lower power eyepiece.
I had done the math & decided a 32mm would give the better exit pupil & a wider view.
So I bought an inexpensive Gosky.
It turned better than I expected it to, considering the price, but I'm on disability so, cheap.
It helped me view some DSOs, unbelievably.
I think the wider view simply helped me locate them.
I've tried to select eyepieces that will give me a broader range of viewing options.
There isn't a star club near me so I've had to read, study, & figure it out mostly on my own.
Believe me when I say I *REALLY* appreciate you sharing your experience & knowledge.
I live on the edge of a small town (w/ far too much light pollution).
Apparently there are no amateur astronomers nearby either.
So your videos are the next best thing to having someone by my 'scope.
I really mean it, "THANK YOU!".
Have a GREAT day, Neighbor!PS
You so FUNNY!
Behave!
Thanks for your nice comments!
Really great advice on buying your first scope. I did the department store purchase for my first scope. I fought with that mount every night I was out there and I lost many battles during this war. The scope was only good for moon viewing. This was before the internet and "scope information" was far and few between. So glad I stayed with the hobby and learned. Please listen to Mr. Ting!
Thanks so much for all your guidance Mr. Ting! Got my boy and I our first telescope and went with the Orion XT8. It is awesome!!!! It came with two eyepieces, a 24 and a 35 wide view. We love using the 35mm wide view the most. Sure glad I found your channel and followed your advise! Thanks again!
Great advice about eyepieces. I would add that eyepiece kits are almost always a horrible waste of money. The focal length spacing between eyepieces is usually very small. So for a 10 eyepiece kit, you can throw out 4-5 eyepieces as duplicates.
Also, the thing about premium eyepieces (TeleVue) is that the used market has great bargains. There's a high premium to having the first view through a quality eyepieces. And buying a used TeleVue or other good eyepiece is more like "borrowing" than owning. I have a Panoptic 24mm bought in 2005. I could sell it today for the same price I bought it. That's very different from the steep price depreciation curve of astronomy cameras.
Finally, your advice about getting quality ($$) eyepieces is sound. People who decide the view through their scope isn't improved by a quality eyepiece might have poor skies, poor collimation, poor mount or poor vision. A quality eyepiece can't solve those problems.
Ed: I LOVE you! :-D What fantastically useful advice you are providing! I have thoroughly enjoyed all your videos. Thank you so very much!
Thank you so much for your invaluable advice! I went with the Tele Vue 10mm Delos and the 27mm Panatropic. Also, I took your advice after countless research and got a 8“ Dobsonion from HPS but an Apertura. The Orion was not available and the Apertura comes with a 2-speed focuser. A 8x50 RAIC, and I ordered the optional secondary mirror collimating knob upgrade.
Thank you so much! You are so much fun to watch and listen to! I have been a very occasional amateur astronomer since 1978, and I have seen all of those wonderful Meade, Celestron, TeleVue, and Takahashi ads over all of those years. Now I can finally enjoy those expensive telescopes and lenses vicariously through you! And I am greatly relieved to hear your concise and clear explanations for why I have been enjoying my hobby perfectly fine with my modest instruments! (1989 Meade SN8 Schmidt Newtonian with a few very nice lenses, along with two $200 wide field Nikon binoculars on a monopod). I am grateful for all that you do! I wish you a long, healthy, happy life. ("live long and prosper", as Spock says).
My first skywatcher telescope came with 10 and 25 mm eyepiece, eye relief was terrible. Very quickly got a badder Zoom mk 4, a little expensive but but much better eye relief which makes life so much easier. Also saves buying a lot of eyepieces at beginning. Thanks for another great video.
I really enjoy your Videos Mr Ting; seems like you buy, collect and sell scopes like my wife does used furniture.
I used to work at a company where we dealt in and made telescopes. I always maintained that one of the most important facets in seeing more; or getting the best out of your telescope is that you have to be as comfortable as possible. Having the right eyepieces is key in this. I have to whole heartedly agree with Mr Ting with what he said about eyepieces.
The first benefits you tend to get with a better eyepiece are things like more eye relief (the distance between the eyepiece and your eye to comfortably see through it) and usually a wider apparent field of view (the image presented to you looks wider). If you are more comfortable and having to worry less about managing the equipment then the more you can comfortably concentrate on; seeing and enjoying the objects.
I've had a long break from practical astronomy and recently bought a used scope. I wasn't expecting much from the eyepieces that came with the scope as these tend to be the cheaper ones that originally come as part of the package. The selling owners of a used scope typically hold on to the nicer ones they had later bought, to use on the new scope that they got to replace the used one the new owners are now buying. But when I tried these eyepieces my heart sank. Not out of disappointment for myself; I was anticipating getting some nicer ones soon after anyway. No, my reaction to these was the realisation of how many people would being trying this hobby for the first time and becoming disenchanted because they would have these same exceptionally poor eyepieces and not realize these were causing most of their disappointment in their exploration of this hobby.
However one thing I would say is yes the Teleview range is superb and an ideal choice of eyepiece manufacturer. But in my opinion you don't have to go to that expense. There are lower cost good options that would give a good experience say in the $150-250 price range. Also you don't have to get more than 1 or 2 to start with. In Fact just one or two to familiarize yourself with before deciding if and how you may wish to expand your collection.
If you're looking at a first scope and say as an example finding it hard to choose between something like an 8" or 10" Dobsonian. Lean toward the 8" and use the difference in cost on a nicer eyepiece.
Lastly, on the subject of wives and scopes. What's wrong with getting your spouse involved in this hobby. In fact I remember one chap who bought a scope. Must have been a year later when the wife bought an instrument for herself. Bigger aperture and better mount than his! but at least they still could share the eyepieces.
First eye piece purchased was a 32mm plossl then my 2nd was an expensive 22mm Vixen wide angle - my all time favorite
This was hilarious!! At the end I was on the floor laughing!!
I’ve read a lot of your articles. Great work. Thanks for all you do!
Words of wisdom and experience. I will work with this information to buy my first eyepiece. Televue 27mm is where my journey starts.
I couldn't resist the urge to get an additional eyepiece, but I watched enough of these videos to know that high power wasn't the best way to go. My starter telescope came with a 25mm and 10mm. I got a 13mm eyepiece, but it has a 68° field of view. The 10mm field of view in the stock eyepiece was so narrow it was very limited. With that wide field of view, the 13mm lens gives me an even wider view than my stock 25mm lens. It's now the lens I use more than either of the other two. I have no regrets about my lens purchase.
Love the last bit, very funny. Love your presentations.
Love the opening!! 😂 Walking in with that monstrous tube! Hilarious 😆
Ed always makes good arguments and a solid case for his advice. But my experience differs regarding a first scope. I found that the best choice is the scope you use the most. And that was a decent quality doublet 80mm refractor. Eight inch dobs go a lot deeper obviously, but they are big beasts and lugging them out of the house and into the car after a workday didn't appeal to me. I knew the most likely outcome was that it would sit in the corner of the living room. But the 80mm refractor on a decent alt-az (Vixen Porta II) can be picked up with one hand--with the scope attached--and be under the stars in a couple of minutes. It also has the advantage of being an excellent set up for terrestrial use, with a correcting diagonal. Finally, it can be attached to an eight-inch dob a year or so later once the user has confirmed that s/he is interested enough to continue with astronomy. That makes the eight inch dob a perfect *second* scope!
Just watched this video and was absolutely shocked!
I was sure I had subscribed when watching your other videos, but apparently not.
Situation new rectified.
True story.
ALWAYS A GREAT SHOW. WHERE WERE YOU YEARS AGO WHEN I FIRST GOT THE BUG. YOU ARE CORRECT SO MANY WAYS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME HELPNG ME AND MANY OTHERS.
Hi Ed. I'm the newbie with the Orion 4.5 missing the 10mm. The set of eyepieces came in today, with Jupiter and Saturn in the evening sky, and Mars is close to overhead at 5:30 am for first real use. I'm going to next get a 32 or 40mm as you suggest. Maybe the scope isn't capable of gathering much light in deep sky, but I'm taking your advice and buying a better piece, so it'll be here for the next scope. Thanks again for your informative videos.
Awesome video, awesome channel. Discovered it as I was looking at getting back into astronomy. Good suggestions for eye pieces. I do regret selling my Ethos 10mm several years ago. That thing was a beast and the field of view was amazing. It was like I had to stick my head into the eye piece to see the edges. haha
That last bit just cracks me up! Good one...
My high dollar eyepiece is a 17 Nagler . For general viewing on my cpc1100 it’s great !
My Orion came with a 25mm and a 10mm. I recently added a 32mm from the astronomy shop and it really opens up the sky.
One of my first eyepieces was a 32 mm Plössl, one of my best decisions ever. I usually recommend Plössl eyepieces since they are cheap but still give a great view. But I have to admit: once you have good quality eyepieces you stick with them. for me, these are the Baader Hyperion for low magnifications and some long eye relief planetaries for higher magnifications.
I recommend the gold-line eyepieces as the price tends to be about the same as a Plossl but the eye relief and FOV is better. Beginners don't care that much about eyepiece correction
So much fun to watch, and very useful advice from your long years of experience. Thank you, Sir! :-)
I was so close to buying an Apertura AD8 but my storage options are limited... Instead I pulled the trigger on a Celestron 5" reflector on a tripod. As you've said many times, "the telescope that shows the most is the one you use the most" and I need to be portable.
Under the assumption the eyepieces included would be "meh" quality, I did go ahead and add higher quality eyepieces, a 25mm and a 12mm... and a Barlow for moon closeups. The view of Jupiter's moons and the faint fuzz of Andromeda Galaxy through my monocular was the final motivation to finally get a "real" scope.
I followed your advice, got a 32mm 2", 8-24 zoom and a cheap 6mm gold-line planetary... seems to cover the bases.
Is the 6mm gold line better than a 10mm plossle
An advancing beginner (?) chiming in about the eyepiece thing. I absolutely agree with Ed's suggestion - but would like to carve a little exception. Right after buying my first (real) scope I found a used set of Baader planetarium "Classic" eyepieces: a 32 mm Plössl, and 18, 10 and 6 Orthos, plus a good 2.25x Barlow. I paid the equivalent of 190$ for the whole thing … 4 very well-regarded, solid EPs for about 45$ each, not counting the Barlow and a nice box that will come in handy on countless occasions! In my 150 f/5 Newtonian, it gives me a whole range of magnifications from very low to very high. Yes, I mostly reside on the 32 mm and 18 mm, but I do enjoy the occasional time when conditions allow for higher mag and what I'm looking at calls for it. If one of those boxes pops up at a good price around you, give it a thought. It put any thought of buying more eyepieces out of my mind for a few years coming (so I can concentrate on other gadgets :D)
Ed I’m using my wife’s account I texted you photo of wagon mount awhile back you said would make mount of the month… anyway I have the TeleVue panoptic 24mm and love it and it has a handful of great reviews on TH-cam , also new to astronomy in my older years after some fun looking at the heavens over 50 years ago. So to extend my question.. now I’ve got the 31 mm nagler (huge) with TeleVue 2” Everbright diagonal on my C8 with the wagon mount but wanted a wow eyepiece for my for my 5” refractor which I had my TeleVue 24mm panoptic set in it with the TeleVue 2” Everbright diagonal so I had to sneak in the 41mm TeleVue panoptic from my wife (I did get caught since Amazon Elexa tells your notifications to anyone in the house) it’s as large as the huge 31mm nagler but I’m wondering why no reviews on it ? Have you used it? It appears awesome although I haven’t compared yet waiting for clear sky’s just south of you Pepperell, thank you for any thoughts Mike
Yes, on eyepieces, get lower power wide field eyepieces. I have a 40mm one and love it.
The 27mm Panoptic, best eyepiece ever👍
Totally agree. The higher the power of my eyepiece, the less I use it. My highest power eyepiece is a 7mm Nagler. 95% of the time it spends the evening in the case.
That's great 0:01 and I was complaining that my C6 was too big xD
17-22mm is the sweetspot on my 6in f5, ive only went high power a few times with saturn and it was cool but dso are my thing so 17 to 22mm maybe even a 42mm to get a huge patch of sky to find objects
Thanks for sharing this. I have a similar scope and just starting out I've been wondering what the sweetspot would be for DSOs. I was looking at 10mm but I'll dial that back on your suggestion.
Excellent video. Your first question answered mine after buying the xt8 (on your recommendation). Thank you. All I need is a clear sky now…:)
I was married w/5 kids so I ordered a Pyrex blank w/ 2nd blank, abrasive of all grits and 30 yrs until completed...but...I made EVERYYHING GROUND UP. Xcpt lenses. One of a kind is a personal best...
Lower power is good advice indeed. My first (and so far only) scope is a 70mm f/10 refractor, the SkyLux 96-18800. It came with a 20mm which is perfectly fine, a 4mm and a x1.5 erecting eyepiece. The 4mm alone puts it to x175 magnification which is FAR beyond the ability of the scope. Seeing the blurry image at 4:02 I straight away thought, "hm, that's familiar". My next purchase before looking at buying a Dobsonian is to get a couple of decent 1.25" eyepieces (maybe 8mm + 20mm) to get some more mileage out of the refractor.
Totally agree, but personally I would rather recommend a good quality
zoom eyepiece 8-24mm.
Yes it give a smaller field of view than non-zoom eyepieces of the same focal length in general do ... but it's basically a full set in one with less fumbling in the dark, optimal flexibility and ... the least money spend when you're new to the hobby.
I myself started with such an eyepiece and a barlow lens and am still using them today.
I got the now no longer made 'Televue 8-24 mm zoom' and the 'Televue 2.5x powermate'.
I've used them for decades.
Based on the reviews I've read the 'Baader 8-24' seems a very good one with lots of functionality.
When you get more serious, you should get a few dedicated focal length eyepieces of the magnifications you can successfully use at your location since they will give the best viewing ... yet ... when things have to go quick, the zoom will still be preferential.
My ADHD hyper focus says that I should just buy everything and collect multiple telescopes only for it all to take up space and collect dust.
Mr. Ting’s counseling restraint is the only reason I haven’t😂
Same
Great content Ed! Absolutely agree with you on not buying a department store telescope. Having said that when I was a young boy back in 1960’s I got a Tasco small refractor for Christmas. I must have been lucky as I had nice views of the planets and Moon. I was pleasantly surprised that I could track 4 visible moons of Jupiter. Was there a time when Tasco made quality scopes? Thanks again for sharing your knowledge. Really great stuff! Ed.
Thank you for the advice. My Celestron 8” dobsonian came with just one eye piece, a 25mm. The planetary views are a bit small so I went ahead and bought a 9mm tele vue delite. Hopefully that will last me a while!
Excellent presentation 👏
just ordered a barlow 😆 what I really need is a moonfilter for my 6" dobs, that thing burns my eyes out!
It seems like eyepieces with telescopes are like lenses with cameras. Get a good eyepiece/lens because you will use it if you change telescopes/cameras (except you don’t have to be locked in or need an adaptor like you would with the camera analogy. I haven’t bought my telescope yet, but I’m prioritizing a good mount (probably a Sky Watcher equatorial), a good all around telescope (probably a Celestron 8” Edge HD, and a couple of eyepieces from Tele Vue (a short one, ~6-9mm, a 24~26mm, and a 2x Barlow).
I recently got a pair of Canon 15x50 IS binoculars to start learning the night sky. I’ll go to my local astronomy club’s viewing parties to confirm or revise my initial research before I pull the trigger. I’ll retire in about 2-3 years and plan to get a conversion van to be able to get to dark skies in the western US and want to be comfortable with my setup and how to use it before I go on my “Star Trek”😊.
Thanks.
Wonderful advice on new EPs, but not what many people want to hear.
Hi Ed ,
Agree with Televue eyepieces, specifically Nagler 31 mm T5.
@0:01--Thanks Scotty Kilmer. Will you be peeking out of a 30" Newtonian and remind us to, "Ring that Bell!"?
Scotty now spends some time near you in Rhode Island. You should bring your telescopes to him, so he can run an OBD Scan Tool on them. ( ;>D)
i just bought my 2nd scope a c8se and it came with one eyepiece 1.25 inch and moving up from 4.5 inch reflector i ran into a problem, the eye piece it came with is great and all but the 20 mm i use with the old scope is no where near the magnification with the 25mm on the new scope, for over 40 years i am used to a small image that made it easy to find things, fortunately i had the foresight to also but a corrector/reducer but its still to powerful. i think im going to have to get a 2 inch so i can get something close to an 50 mm or bigger. i havent figured out how to use the software yet so im using it the old fashion way and finding deep sky stuff aint easy cause im at the mercy of the motor speed
You're a very good source for information on this topic.
Ending makes me laugh every time.
I like his advice. Just got 8inch dob, and before i used it I was looking for a barlow and high power lense...until i took it outside and looked. the 30mm SuperWide FOV lense that came with the telescope allowed me to see some spectactular shots, way more than the 10mm lense. SO i think i'm gonna upgrade the crap out of my low power lense in order to enjoy those views even more
For the beginning the 32mm super plössl was great for how cheap it is (30€).
After some time I upgraded to 21mm ethos and it's really on another level... my most used eyepiece!
If that's what Ed looks like carrying around a 12" Newtonian, I can only imagine what I looked like lugging my old one around. I use a 10" most of the time now. That's my personal limit to "reasonably moveable" with solid tube dobs.
This has been very helpful.
When I began amateur Astronomy, my first Eyepieces have been some Plössl and Revised Keller (RKE) and I could not understand why People are willing to pay for one single Eyepiece more than I paid for my first Telescope (incl 2 eyepieces. Btw. that was an "Astroscan" By Edmund Scientific).
Then I had a nightsky friend who had a Tak Sky-90 and some real good Eyepieces. He told me that Telescopes (OTA's) might come and go, but good Eyepieces will stay (same as good objective-lenses for cameras. Bodies come and go, good lenses will stay) so it's worth to invest a little more.
After a view to Andromeda galaxy (which looked nice in my Astroscan with the 28mm RKE) through his Sky-90 with his 40mm Pentax wide angle eyepiece, I knew what he meant. When I had enough in spare to buy my 2nd telescope (a 12" GSO Dobs) I had also spared enough to buy a 2" Pano-27 (and a Telrad Finder) together with that scope.
Never regretted buying this Eyepiece or the Telrad.
Meanwhile I have 5 Eyepieces in my "first-grade box": 27mm PanO, 19mm PanO, 13mm and 9mm Nagler Type 6 and a 8-5mm Speers-Waler Zoom (first gen). That's imo a very good set for my Newton Telescopes (between f/8 and f/4,4).
And I also have some orthoscopic Eyepieces (Kasai) primary for Moon, Sun (with ND5 Filter!) and planetary use. The angle of view is poor and they are not very good on "fast" Telescopes, but on the 6" f/8 Newton or the 80/1200mm Lens they have brilliant contrast.
Great explanation! I like your huge scopes :)
"NO, SIR! I BOUGHT IT FROM HIM!!!"
Best part.
Haha!
Now that I exeperienced navigating some constellation in the sky under, say, Bortle 7. I totally agree with Sir Ed on the eyepiece. I thought first that 20mm or 25mm is good enough. But when I’m tried to navigate the constellations I literary change my mind, yeah, a lower eyepiece would be great probably 32mm or 40mm as you can see more stars.
Love your videos! Haven't found anything on Celestron 8SE. I am new in the hobby and wanted to know more.
An optical designer will tell you that a telescope without an eyepiece is a thin lens. Add an eyepiece and it becomes a telescope.
This is your most useful video. You should do another one that is similar.
I have a number of videos in the Q&A series, check them out!
Meh, I'll disagree with the "get a new eyepiece" advice. The eyepieces that come stock with the scope are definitely good enough, and there are better things to spend that money on than new eyepieces as your very first purchase. For that 10" dob, get Turn Left at Orion instead, and a red light headlamp. Get a variable polarizing filter for use on the moon. Get a mylar solar filter so you can observe the sun. Get a smartphone adapter to take some quick pics of the moon and planets. Get a hurricane blower and lenspen for cleaning the two eyepieces you already have. Get an eyepiece case to store this stuff.
Lots of better things to spend your money on than new eyepieces right out of the box.
For a beginner with a cheap basic telescope, I recommend they buy a 35$ set of three 62 degree field Chinese aspheric eyepieces, some unbranded and some SVbony brand. They come 23mm, 10mm and 4mm and the price is right. The 23mm and 10mm are great for the price but the 4mm is usually too much power. I've used them with f5 and above scopes.
Id recommend the a 32mm and or 25mm SVbony or 'UNBRANDED' plossls(Sirius Plossl) and a SVbony gold banded UWA 9mm (Orion Expanse). Well under $100 all-in and still an upgrade for just about any kit supplied eyepieces. Most of the sub $100 1.25" eyepieces on the market are all made at one or two Chinese optics mfrs and are available on ebay as SVbony or UNBRANDED, for a fraction of the price. The main difference Ive found is than none of the SV plossls Ive checked, had the lenses edge blackened; while the Sirius Plossls have only some and usually *very* poorly applied edge blackening.
Great Q & A session Ed!
Ed - it may be of use for your viewers - the right USB serial adapter will have a FTDI chipset. Avoid the Prolific PL2303. Those do not do the proper RS232 handshaking and often the drivers are not even available on modern OSes. In fact, just insist on FTDI and you'll be good.
Ed, I have what I think is a finished collection of eyepiece for my Orion SkyQuest 8”. They are a Explore Scientific 32mm, Svbony 26mm, Tele Vue Nagler 13mm and a Celestron X-Cell 9mm. I was going to buy a Tele Vue 2X Barlow, but I am not sure if it will help in planetary viewing with the 13mm and 9mm eyepieces. Do you think it would be a smart investment to get a Barlow?
I have really enjoyed the information you have freely given. I need some advice. I am looking at low powered eyepiece especially for helping me find DSOs. I was looking at 32mm range with a 52 degree field of view. My budget is tight so I can’t afford a Tele Vu. Would it be wiser to get a 1.25 eyepiece to add a 2X Barlow to and create a 16mm and fill a void or spend a little more and get an Orion Deep View 2” 35mm with a 56 degree AFOV and have no chance of filters and Barlow use? I got the Orion XT8 used but they only had the 25mm and Barlow with it. Try to find Andromeda last night was impossible with the 25mm.
I have 8 eye pieces which I'm sure you would think is way to many but theres only one I regret buying and that's a 5mm Orion plossl. It has almost no eye relief. And I just had to have an 9mm abb orthoscopic for planets even though I have a 9mm with super wide angle too.
You might do a piece on bird-jones scopes marketed as Newtonians, and why they should be avoided.
Actually the 25mm eyepiece that came with my Skywatcher ED100 is very very good .. but I’ve only used it in my Tele-Vue TV-85 so far 🙄 (long story), and my 50 year old Schaefer mount with an 8” Ed Buyers RA worm gear and tangent arm dec drive running on Hurst Type C motors has remained error free the whole time 😬 But let me get back to you in a couple years regarding my EQ6-R Pro made in China.
Best comment to eyepeaces I ever heared 😁👍👍👍
Legit video, Ed.
Ed, Ed, Ed.... I am very often exasperated by your advice. Yet, it is INVALUBLE. I'm relatively new to the hobby and want to give you my sincerest thanks for your guidance and sharing of wisdom. I did spend my first year with binoculars, loved it and got to start learning the night sky. I have a trip to Jasper National Park in Alberta later this month and decided to get a telescope - a used 6" Nexstar SCT and am considering upgrading my eyepieces. I HATE and LOVE the advice about replacing the stock eyepieces and am gritting my teeth over *not* getting a high(er) power eyepiece with Saturn in opposition and Jupiter in the night sky. Thanks for the tough love, I'd very much be the undisciplined newbie buying all sorts of stuff without your steadying presence.
For a beginner with a cheap basic telescope, I recommend they buy a 35$ set of three 62 degree field Chinese aspheric eyepieces, some unbranded and some SVbony brand. You can find them on ebay. They come 23mm, 10mm and 4mm and the price is right. The 23mm and 10mm are great for the price but the 4mm is usually too much power. I've used them with f5 and above scopes. They have a wider field of view than the usual stock eyepieces and won't break the bank. To get a wider field of view, you have to spend much more money. On my large dobsonians, I use Naglers but they are too heavy for smaller telescopes. The aspheric eyepieces are very lightweight.
hi. great video and great channel. what do you think of eyepices with +90 degree AFOV?
I got 20mm Kelner EP with my cheap scope , its the only thing i was satisfied with , yes it has a kind of limited specs , its not as wide view , and you need to center it to get best image , but its bright , brighter then your Televue so its wonderful for Deep sky indeed better then your 100x more expensive one . The same thing is with Camera Lenses , we have Canon 15x element lenses , and they are good and sharp , but they ae not as fast as old ones that have 3 or 2 elements instead of 15 you know . Same goes for your EP , its just physics
Omg astronomer drama! Spill that tea! 😂
Ed, where did you get that blk strap with the attached handle on the Dobsonian Telescope you carry in at the beginning and out at the end? I just bought an eight inch xt8 and with my severe arthritis problems it’s at my limits for picking up and moving it around. Thanks so much for all of your guidance. I find your videos truly helpful. Dusty Morrison. Southern California.
Those are called Scope Totes and I'm not sure they are still made. Check the used market.
Ed, wives have telescopes too and are into the hobby - as are young women and girls. Let's not discourage them. Thx great content!
That giant scope is very dangerous: you could fall in and get stuck!😟😥😭😵
9:30 If you are making these arguments...you have too many. LOL
Im not sure about changing eyepieces. My first scope that’s currently my only one is a 76/700 bresser newtonian came with terrible eyepieces so i took 1 svbony 20mm 68 deg afov and an svbony 7-21mm zoom which really made the views quite better. (the EPs they gave in the kit were 20mm, 12.5mm and 4.5mm which all had a bad optics quality)
Your scope is similar to the Orion Space Probe (see review elsewhere on this channel). The limiting factor on these inexpensive models is usually the wobbly mount. If you get another eyepiece, go lower in power. Get a 25mm or a 32mm. The views should be easier to see and you can always keep them if you switch scopes.
@@edting Thanks for your reply. Mine actually has those very wobbly altaz mounts, whenever I use it with some moderate wind my observations become tougher. I’m going to upgrade my scope though but I still don’t know which one to get because I’d need something that’s rather compact and with an equatorial mount. I was aiming for either a skywatcher 150P/PDS or a Skymax 127 both on an EQ3-2 mount. Which one would you tend to recommend?
Neither are ideal but they should be at least OK. The Mak's focal length is too long, and there are QC issues with those Chinese-sourced 6" f/5 mirrors. I'd still recommend a 6" or 8" Dob.
@@edting I know the dobs are the best way to go. However my problem is mostly that they’re not compact enough for my needs.
Re: eyepieces - should warn people about not buying these "eyepiece kits" (esp the budget ones). One or 2 high quality eyepieces will serve anyone much better than a dozen mediocre or low quality ones yet I see so many beginners trip up in that area.
I would go for a 7mm,,15mm,,25mm, 40mm, plus a 2 times Barlow. Start with maybe Plossels, then in the future if you have money, go for Teleview Naglers..
Dude, your awesome.
Hahaha hahaha hahaha hahaha..
Humm... I need you to buy a few of my telescopes!!!
My suggestions about eyepieces are a bit different: Don't replace the 25 mm "Super", just add a new one. Why? When observing the moon or the sun, dust particles in the eyepiece are annoying if visible, but in the 25 mm "Super" they are almost invisible. On the other hand a 10 mm "Super" or some very cheap 9 mm Kellners should be replaced, as you will notice the difference to budget Plössls. And this is the key word: budget Plössl. They are usually of decent quality and their low price allows buying a few ones so that you can adjust the magnification to the seeing or the surface brightness of a deep-sky object or the seeing.
@Ed Ting, other TH-cam reviews seem to suggest getting a zoom eyepiece like the Baader to replace the Plossls. It apparently gives you access to several powers (increasing convenience), slightly better FOV although fairly similar eye relief. Is that something you would consider ? (I have a 10" Dob, 1600mm with 3 Plossls, 25mm 10mm & 6.4mm and focusing on planetary viewing)
I have never been able to warm up to zoom eyepieces myself. The Baader is the best of the bunch however.
that scope is big as you!
I'm shopping for a new telescope
It's not a first scope. Just a better one than the one I had previously. On the fence between the Orion 8 inch Dobsion and the Skywatcher of the same size
Either one! At this point, get the one you can find in stock.
@@edting it will have to be the Orion. Skywatcher is always out of stock
Hope you don't mind my questions. My uncle taught me celestial navigation from the time I was 12 at my request. That and astronomy were an obsession with me. He died when I was 17.
The end😂😂
If serial adapters do not work that means you need to install the driver for it.
I have an Orion XX14G telescope. Everyone tells how to put them together but no one tells you how to align one. I have been using go to telescopes for many years but am having a really bad time in trying to get the telescope to align. Any chance you can show how to align this scope?
lower power great advice! my televue 32mm is most used eyepiece in my entire case. love it!
My first scope was a 127EQ... I actually did get pretty good views of Jupiter and Saturn. My second scope was an Apertura AD8. I want to get an Apo refractor, what would you recommend for a good one?
I have an Orion XT6, should I go with 32mm or 40mm, my concern is that is 6 inches, Im not sure about how effective they would be. Please somebody advise !! Thanks
How about through the camera in thrush and get a camera?
Is the televue 31mm nagler too much for an Orion xt8 or is it ok?