Orion 80ED eyepiece choices

Hello,
Newbie here . . This will be my first scope and my goal is to eventually image with it. I'd like to pick some really nice eyepieces but am kind of lost in the ocean of choices. I hear all the recommendations for 3 ep's, low mid high, but what about 2 or one really nice one to start? I like the idea of the Powermate too, not sure which power would be best. I have decided on a 2" diagonal (Willam Optics) and wonder what recommendations for eyepieces you all might have?

A couple standouts after lotso of looking, are possibly the Panoptic 35mm, one 11mm-15mm Nagler and one 5-10mm Radian of some sort? Am I even close to being on track? Better options? I know these are really expensive ep, but I wanted to shoot high and then trim off the excess . . .then I'll have my Xmas list done!

I guess in my mind I'd like to get one top of the line piece to start and then fill in the others with 2nd shelf that are similar to those? Or one top shelf and a nice barlow/Powermate to expand its use?

Please help!!!

Thanks,
Jeff Green

That's an awful lot of money to start out spending on eyepieces. Personally I would recommend start with something more like a 32mm plossl, and an 11mm plossl and a 2x barlow (plain old), televue, siebert, or celestron for example (not a "shorty" barlow). That gives you 18x (and almost 3 degrees), 36 x, 55x, and 110 x. All for about $150 (or less)if you get them used on Astromart. (And you can sell them for about what you paid for them if you chose.) Those other eyepieces won't give you sharper more contrasty views (probably less so), they will only give you wider views.

Then, find out where your frustrations lie, and purchase to (try and) alleviate those frustrations. If you reall want the powermate, get the 32 and a 15 mm plossl.

I think everyone needs some good Plossls or similar ep's to start. Even when you get the fancy ones, most folks like to have more basic ep's on hand as well (good to travel with, for example).

Then, after you figure out what is important to you, get the right big money ep's.

A couple of good plossls or similar (I like the Ultimas/Ultrascopics) plus a good barlow (or a 2.5x Powermate - they aren't *that* expensive) will get you going.

I think you're right to aim high, though. But I think a little time spent with more basic ep's will allow you make a smarter choice for the high-end stuff.

On the other hand, if you have money to burn, the combination of ep's you mention probably won't dissapoint.

Jeff,

Something in the 30 to 40mm range is going to fix you up for wide angle. I’ve been using a Meade 32mm Super Plössl in my 80ED which gives about a 2.7 degree field. I had a 40mm Super Plössl but didn’t like the larger exit pupil. From my light polluted skies it made the sky background look blue instead of black. I recently upgraded to a BW-Optik 30-80 which will give about a 4 degree field. I can’t comment on it much as I haven’t got my 2” diagonal and have yet to be able to use it.

I also find something in the 18-20mm range very useful. I have a Criterion 18mm ASP (which is basically a Plössl) that has served me well in this range. I’ll probably upgrade it at some point to a wide field design. Possibly a 20mm Nagler.

For higher powers I use Orthoscopics. I find the higher quality eyepieces really show their stuff in the 80ED. I have Orthos from all manufactures and the premium Pentax and Zeiss Orthos which performed very similar to the Meade and Celestrons in my C8 and Meade 12 really show their superiority in the 80ED. It really takes better optics to benefit from these higher quality eyepieces. That being said you can pay about as much for a single high quality Pentax as the 80ED costs.