Need Eyepiece recommendations

I have a 4"APO refractor with a F/L of 900mm and F/ratio of 8.8. What are my best choices for three eyepieces of low, medium and high power. I wear glasses (not always) and have some astigmatism(not bad). Price should not enter in the choices you recommend. I have a quality scope and it needs quality eyepieces. My focus is on luner and planets. Your recommendations will be very much appreciated. Thank you!

I also have a four inch APO and here is what I like:

Low power: 32mm TV Plossl or 30mm Celestron Ultima. Simple, bright and clear, and they both fill the field of view (50 degrees) with what I can see without moving my head around for the "space walk" feeling. Also excellent eye relief.

Medium power: 19mm Panoptic. Stunning sharpness and clarity. All around favorite eyepiece, particularly in the longer focal length scope you have.

High power: 6mm Radian, or if you have *really* good seeing perhaps a 3-6mm Nagler zoom. The Radian has good eye relief and is comfortable to use.

Some people might disagree with me here, but I also like the TV 8-24mm zoom. It is very nice for terrestrial since you don't have to change eyepieces. The only shortcoming I find is that the field of view at 24mm is rather small at 40 degrees.

In any event, have fun!

Edward J. Portka said:

I have a 4"APO refractor with a F/L of 900mm and F/ratio of 8.8. What are my best choices for three eyepieces of low, medium and high power. I wear glasses (not always) and have some astigmatism(not bad). Price should not enter in the choices you recommend. I have a quality scope and it needs quality eyepieces. My focus is on luner and planets. Your recommendations will be very much appreciated. Thank you!

Hi

I'd like the 14mm UWA (Series 4000 if you can find one) for medium power.

On a shorter eyepiece, I'd go for a TMB supermonocentric. These have a narrow field of view, but incredible contrast for planets. The problem will be eye relief - they don't have much. They're available in a variety of focal lengths - I'd go for something in the general range of a 5. If you can, it would be great to borrow one from a friend first.

An alternative for high power is the Burgess/tmb planetary eyepieces, but there is a reflection problem in current production - it can be fixed with some Krylon flat black spray paint - or you can wait a while for Bill to get them fixed. (Bill isn't known for fast fixes) The first night with decent seeing where I could try mine, it wasn't an issue because I was observing through thin fog. But on a clear night, it was annoying. This eyepiece has a wider field of view than the super monocentrics, and plenty of eye relief.

I'd also suggest a TMB 1.8 barlow. It's the nicest barlow I've ever used. I also like the 2x clave barlow.

On low power, you might look at a 41 Panoptic or a 31 Nagler. Both will give a nice wide field of view.

Edward,
I have to chime in here and say the Pentax XL's and XW's are fantastic. If price isn't an option, I would say the 40mm would be great for wide field such as open clusters, large nebula and galaxy clusters (M81 and M82). The 20mm and 14mm for medium power, such as globular clusters and galaxy's. And the 7mm for planets. All of the eyepieces would be great for lunar observing, but definitely get a set of Neutral Density fliers for that.

thats my two cents.

Jay

Thank you to all who responded....I will take each of your suggestions under serious consideration. My focus will be on which eyepiece brings out the best in my scope and eye relief. Clear skies.....many thanks....Ed