[Roughneck-BF]

I have the hard-to-find adapter to use regular 1.25" eyepieces in my Swarovski 65 spotter. What kind of eyepieces would be optimal to use? I don't mind buying the best eyepieces, since they are probably cheaper than the Swarovski equivalents. I'm looking primarily for fixed power eyepieces, since I already have the Swaroviski zoom lens.

Thanks for any inputs...

[rmel66]

A good series of eyepieces at a very moderate cost is the Astro-Tech Paradigm series. The eyepieces are priced at $60 US and range from 5mm to 25mm focal length. I have the 15mm version that I use in both of my spotting scopes to good effect.

[Kevin Purcell]

Baader Hyperion EPs are another step up from the Astro-Tech Paradigm at just over $100.

Middle class. Not waterproof though.

The Pentax XW series are a step above that (and are weather resistant) at around $300.

[John Russell]

I suggest you don't try to go below about 10 mm focal length, which would give you 46x magnification and a 1,4 mm exit pupil. Anything less and it starts to get rather dim.

If you are looking for wide field and lower magnification the Televue 19 mm and 24 mm Panoptics are also excellent. I wouldn't think the latter (19x mag.) would vignette to any extent as Swarovski used to offer a 20x eyepiece.

John

[Roughneck-BF]

Thanks, guys. I might start out with a Televue Plossl between 20 and 40MM. If those look promising, I might go with the more expensive Televues.

[John Russell]

Originally Posted by Roughneck-BF

Thanks, guys. I might start out with a Televue Plossl between 20 and 40MM. If those look promising, I might go with the more expensive Televues.

Don't forget the 40 mm Plössl only has 43° AFOV; the 32 mm has the full 50°.

John

[Bob D]

I'm trying to recall my experience with my Swarovski scope and the astro adapter.

Something in the back of my mind was that I was told that not all astro eyepieces when used with the Swaro adapter would achieve infinity focus. Just not sure if my recall is correct.

[John Russell]

Originally Posted by Bob D

I'm trying to recall my experience with my Swarovski scope and the astro adapter.

Something in the back of my mind was that I was told that not all astro eyepieces when used with the Swaro adapter would achieve infinity focus. Just not sure if my recall is correct.

I'm sure you're right. I have no experience with the Swaro adapter but have tried various astro eyepieces on a Zeiss Diascope. I was told that Baader Eudiascopics (similar to Celestron Ultima and Tak LE) would not reach infinity focus and suspect there would be problems with 1 1/4" eyepieces with very long barrels or dual 1 1/4" and 2" barrels like Televue Ethos.

On the Diascope, however, Televue Plössls allow a lot of overtravel and 19 mm and 24 mm Panoptics, Vixen LVs and NLVs and some LVW also work, probably quite a few more.

John

[Roughneck-BF]

Originally Posted by John Russell

I'm sure you're right. I have no experience with the Swaro adapter but have tried various astro eyepieces on a Zeiss Diascope. I was told that Baader Eudiascopics (similar to Celestron Ultima and Tak LE) would not reach infinity focus and suspect there would be problems with 1 1/4" eyepieces with very long barrels or dual 1 1/4" and 2" barrels like Televue Ethos.

On the Diascope, however, Televue Plössls allow a lot of overtravel and 19 mm and 24 mm Panoptics, Vixen LVs and NLVs and some LVW also work, probably quite a few more.

John

I'm going to try a used TV Plossl to see what happens, probably a 32 if I can find one. I don't want to spend a lot of money on an experiment. Hope to have it put together before the songbirds show up in the Spring.

[woodhornbirder]

do a search on:

Celestron X-Cel LX 12 mm Telescope Eyepiece New Design

~$70 each and above ave quality.

[Roughneck-BF]

Well, I picked up a used Televue 32 MM Plossl. It works like a charm on the Swarovski ATS 65 spotter. It works out to 14.4 X magnification with a wide and bright field of view. Can't complain for an $80 eyepiece.

[woodhornbirder]

14.4 X magnification

dont wish to sound pedantic, but why bother? thats hardly more than most peeps bins.

Surely the min useful mag in a scope is a 20x ? 30-40x wide is optimal for fixed mag in most 80mm scopes. and 27- 33 in a 65mm.

Unless you are using this to take widefield shots, i cant see the use tbh....enlighten me)

[Neil]

The Televues are good and the 32mm Plossl is good for digiscoping but a bit light on for viewing. Go for it and get one of the Radians. I'm hoping to buy/have made an adapter to use my 12mm Radian on the Kowa lens/scope.
If you want power then there is an old 77x Swarovski telescope eyepiece that you can find sometimes and a 30x (15mm).
Neil

[Roughneck-BF]

The low power EP is certainly not a replacement fr a 20 to 60 zoom. The low power view is much wider and brighter, though, than the zoom is at 20X. You can cover a lot more area quicker. Of course, if you need to reach out further, you still need to pop in the standard high power eyepiece. The most interesting thing is that the view is every bit as good as the Swaro eyepiece, but it only cost me about $65. A higher power astro EP would be just as good a deal, and would be way brighter than the zoom EP at 60X.

A new Swaro fixed power EP would be great, but they cost more than some of the TV Naglers.

[Quisque]

I have a 60mm Takahashi FS-60C that I use as a spotting scope. I use mostly my Pentax XW eyepieces, primarily the 20mm XW (18x) and 10mm XW (36x). I also use a 8-24mm XW zoom. I've compared them to my Televue plossls, Radians, and several other eyepieces. All are outstanding eyepieces, but the 20mm is almost always the one in the scope. It has a wide 70 degree apparent FOV (quite a bit larger than even the best zooms at that power), great eye relief, is color free, with no apparent CA, and sharp edge to edge. The plossls are very sharp, but have a much narrower FOV with less eye relief. The Radians are sharp and have good eye relief, but are "warm" with a yellow-brownish cast and occasional kidney beaning/blackouts when used in daylight.