Best eyepiece for Diascope 85mm. (1 Viewer)

Hello,

I m searching the "best" eyepiece(very relative this term)for the Diascope 85mm model, I have doubt between a fixed eyepiece and the more versatile zoom eyepeice 20-60X.

Which fixed eyepiece is best for this aperture model?

Pul

Hello Pul,

I own a 65 mm Diascope. I have had the zoom eyepiece as well as both fixed eyepieces, 23x/30x and 30x/40x. The zoom eyepiece which yields a 15x-45x magnification on 65 will yield 20x-60x on your 85 scope. IMO it is better than the fixed 30x ( 40x on the 85 scope).
I now use the 23x ( 30x on the 85 scope ) exclusively, which I prefer over the zoom. It's got better eyerelief than the zoom, better edge sharpness and is a tad sharper. On the 65mm scope it has a 52m/1000m FOV, on the 85 it has a 40m/1000m FOV.
If you feel you want to ID birds at great distances, than the zoom will be the best option, with high magnification up to 60x.
I personally felt the 30x/40x was a bit disappointing. Too dark compared to my friend's Leica 32x fixed/ Televid 77 combination.

I hope I've been helpful,

Regards,

Ronald

Hello Pul,

I have a 85 mm Diascope with two eyepieces: the zoom and the 40x fixed. My most important intention was, to have the second, fixed ocular, to use for seawatching. I am very satisfied with both oculars. The 40x fixed ocular has better FOV than the zoom at 40x magnification, and I think that it is not darker than the zoom -at least in the bigger telescope body. The clarity of the picture, the sharpness is very good. Many birders say that the Zeiss has a little bit blurry image edges, but the big FOV offers good results to cath a birds, and is more important, than a little fuzzy feeling at the edges. But this latter case depends on you eyes too, I wear glasses and I am so happy to have Zeiss that is so comfortable for me.

The 23/30x fixed ocular now is discontinued, probably you can buy one of the last pieces in the shops, but every day you have less and less chances. Many users wrote very good opinions about its image quality and resolution.

Regards

Vámi

Vámibimbero said:

Hello Pul,

The 23/30x fixed ocular now is discontinued, probably you can buy one of the last pieces in the shops, but every day you have less and less chances. Many users wrote very good opinions about its image quality and resolution.

Regards

Vámi

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Very good piece of advice. I now use the 30X exclusively on the 85mm.
At 30-40X the zoom has a terribly short eye relief making it very unsuitable for eye glass wearers. The fixed 30X has a pleasant long eye relief and is brighter and sharper than the zoom.

cheers

Tom

There's a couple of really good threads in this forum about using Baader Hyperion eyepieces with Zeiss telescopes, have a read they are very interesting and a lot cheaper than Zeiss eyepieces.

Regards

John

bralk said:

At 30-40X the zoom has a terribly short eye relief making it very unsuitable for eye glass wearers.

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Not sure I agree with this - while the eye relief on the zoom is certainly less than on the fixed mag lenses, the zoom is completely usable if you wear glasses. I do, and have had no problem at all.

Zoom eye relief

dbradnum said:

Not sure I agree with this - while the eye relief on the zoom is certainly less than on the fixed mag lenses, the zoom is completely usable if you wear glasses. I do, and have had no problem at all.

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Yes - my statement was too sweeping. Eye glasses come in different prescriptions and have different physical form factors - as have the faces they are mounted on. These factors make the experience highly individual.

The zoom has a very pronounced drop in eye relief in the 30-40x range, that could cause problems for some eye glass wearers.

cheers

Tom

dbradnum said:

Not sure I agree with this - while the eye relief on the zoom is certainly less than on the fixed mag lenses, the zoom is completely usable if you wear glasses. I do, and have had no problem at all.

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Agreed!

One problem I have with the zoom is that it is an absolute b**tch to remove, taking a worrying amount of force to rotate and a vicious amount of wiggling to get it out. I only need to remove it when I fit my Meade astro eyepiece (gives 107x) - surprisingly useful, provided it's not too dull.

Pete