Eyepiece favorites

To get things back on track I decided to post a list of some of my favorite less expensive eyepieces.
The scopes I use change over time and have ranged from 8" f/4.5 and f/6 newts, a few 6" long fl newts, a few SCTs, a few smaller Maks (<= 5"), and both long and short fl refractors. I'm not going into the detail Floyd did. That's work! This is opinion. I'm on a budget so you will not see a Nagler, Pentax, Zeiss, etc. Not that I don't dream but...perhaps in due time.

20mm Meade RG Erfle - A retired classic but can be had used. I use this a lot, even with smaller f ratio scopes.
10.5mm Orion Megavista - Why did they ever stop making this one (and it's 16mm cousin)?? Sharp images, good field, decent eye relief.
8 mm Brandon - The "cool" factor, yes. But I love it for tighter double stars and planets and only bothered slightly by the narrower FOV. Ok, I know, some may consider this a "premium". but I got it for $50.
4 and 6mm WO/TMB Planetary - very good performance at a great price with the bonus of eyerelief that makes me want to retire some older ortho's.
30mm Eudiascopic ( Ultima twin) - I love this paricularly in my shorter fl scopes.
16mm Konig - Gets that maximum field in the moderate range for the minimal money
2.8 Klee barlow - Light and short with some "juice".
Larry ( now dated from the above listing)

My Favorites...

1. 6mm Siebert Star Splitter...just never ceases to amaze me.
2. 7mm Nagler smoothside. Loved it on the Moon and on M42. But its eye relief just too tight to view the entire afov so had to let it go. Perhaps a 12mmT4 will be in my future to replace with a good 2x barlow to compliment
3. 11mm Siebert Ultra...probably not the "best" in any category, but is great in absolutely "all" categories! Makes it quite unique and always grabbed every evening out. Don't know if it should be considered inexpensive though at $150ish.
4. 13mm RKE...really tight star points and lots of throughput. Also barlows better than any other EP.
5. 16mm UO Super Erfle. Lots of contrast...lots! Nice wide field, good edge correction in a fast scope, and under barlow amazing on Jupiter's cloud belts.
6. Old 24mm TV Wide Field smoothside. Lots of edge distortion on the outter 30% afov. But still, something about the image makes it look like things are hanging in space. So unique from that standpoint. Almost sold it, but then couldn't.
7. 41mm Surplus Shed Erfle. Only $24 and incredible edge considering my fast f4.7 scope and a good wide afov.
8. 2.8x Klee Barlow. Only barlow I have, but never seems to amaze me as being totally transparent.

ps - Larry...have you ever compared the 20mm Meade RG Erfle to the Celestron counterpart from that era or to the UO Super Erfle? Would be interested in your thoughts if you have, or what you may have heard.

In the spirit of simpler eyepieces..

1. 40mm Meade Multi-Coated Japanese MA the one with the Blue lettering. Yes it has a narrow field of view but it provides some very special views in my RV-6. It goes nicely with a set of Meade none-RG Orthos.

2. Synta 9mm Widefield. This is an inexpensive 66 degree widefield but it is a Negative-Positive type and it does a nice job even in a fast scope, i use it regularly in my 12.5 inch F/4.06 (F/4.7 with a Paracorr)

3,4,5. 32mm, 24mm and 15mm TV Widefields. These do a decent job in a fast scope, a great job in a F/7 or slower refractor. The 32mm provides a "big view" that is pretty awesome, in my 12.5inch F/6 it right at 60x and just does a beautifull job on stuff like M46-M47 and M93.


6. I also have a Celestron 20mm Erfle that I use in slower scopes like the RV-6. It provides decent views but there is something just a bit off with the sharpness, just doesn't quite make it the way the Orthos or the TV WFs do.

Jon

UO Orthos... specially if you have a tracking mount... 8)
For less than $50 a piece, a bargain...