Telescope Eyepieces

Choosing the right eyepieces is important, but beginners tend to think the most expensive is best.  However, each type of eyepiece has its own use. There are different designs and lenses for different views. Buying eyepieces which suit your own viewing is important. So, knowing what you want to observe is important. In most cases, beginners should have two or three at most. This simple guide will tell you about the different eyepieces and costs involved.

For general use, Orthoscopic lenses have been considered the best. Using four elements and having a 45 degree field of view, they are excellent for viewing planets. A lens of this type will set you back by $40 to $100.

Kellner is also a good general purpose lens and one of the cheapest at just $30 to $50. It drawback, though, is its 3 element design limiting the viewing range to 40 to 45 degrees.

The Ramsden and Huygenien have a two element design with a limited field of view, but are good for observing the sun. They are also the cheapest lenses costing just $25 to $40.

The most popular are Plossl lenses. With four or five elements it has a wider field of view than a Orthoscopic lens, ranging from 50-52 degrees. Though they are more expensive costing between $50 and $150.

Barlow lenses double or triple the magnification of your eyepiece, but cost between $60 and $100. Erfles are not as popular as they were but offer a field of view of between 60 and 65 degrees having 6 elements. They run between $75 and $150.

Televue has come up with a rival to this there six element Panoptic has a 67 degree field of view but costs between $200 and $400. The seven or eight element Naglers has a 82 degree field of view and is cheaper at $175 and $425. Pentax also makes a seven element lens, the SMC-XL, that costs about $250 and can possibly exceed the Televue in performance.

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