Eyepiece Question

This is probably a dumb question but it's one that I’ve been curious about for a long time. I've been thinking of upgrading to a better set of eyepieces (Ultrawides, Panoptics....) How well do these eyepieces perform with a 120mm refractor? I've not, as of yet, had the chance to test them myself but love he view they provide form scopes at star parties equipped with them. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks and Clear, dark, steady skies to you

David,

I've used some Panoptics and borrowed a few Naglers and similar eyepieces at star parties. One thing I have noticed is that all of them are effected to some degree by the focal ratio of the telescope. If your telescope is a 120mm F8.3 model, you have quite a few options whereas if you have an F5 model, only a few of the most premium eyepieces will give you a sharp image across the entire field. Here's a short list of ones to consider in order of decreasing ability to compensate for a fast (like F5) telescope: Naglers, UWA, Panoptics, SWA, Widescans, Erfles, Konigs. The last three seem to vary a lot but can probably be lumped together as ones that won't do well with scopes faster than about F6 or 7. I'm sure there will be much disagreement over the exact pecking order since every scope/ eyepiece combination is different. I personally prefer the view through Panoptics and Pentax XL's over Naglers most of the time. Naglers seem a bit "soft" to me although the newest type 6 ones seem better in this regard.

Joplin