Trying the Meade ETX-70AT (1 Viewer)

Not sure if this is appropreiate for this section, if not...my apologees.

Thinking my spotting scope to be of inferior quality(it is, feel free to say it, I can), I took my adapter and placed it on the Meade ETX-70AT with the only eyepiece I have available(9mm). While the eyepiece is too strong(38.8x), I had to give it a try. Vignetting with the Nikon Coolpix L20 is pretty bad! I'll look for another eyepiece, maybe something in the 14 to 17mm with a longer eye relief.

Here is what happened when the shutter released(using the 10sec timer):


I do not think that the problem is with the scope or the camera(not focusing), but with myself. The eye relief is so inadequate, I can not wear my glasses...and what I think is in focus, is actually not? If that makes sense??

Any suggestions? I figure I'll need about 20mm of eye relief on a 14mm eyepiece. What should I look for, and I am on a strict budget at this time?!?!




Scott (bad eyes stink) B

I doubt you could find a 14mm with that much eye relief on a tight budget. Something like a basic 15mm plossl will have around 13mm eye relief but it varies depending on brand. Generally a 20-25mm eyepiece will yield 20mm of eye relief. I guess your 9mm eyepiece is only giving about 3mm of eye relief so any basic plossl around 15mm or more should give enough compared to your 9mm.

Paul.

That's some not so good news....

Been digging around on CloudyNights Swap-n-Shop forum for hours this morning, and have come up empty-handed. I'll do some more research today around the 'net to see what is out there....thanks for the tips.

On a side note, took the Nikon back and swapped it out for a Kodak 1485. It has a manual focus function and manual aperature! Maybe if the sun comes out today? I can get some quicker shutter speeds to see if the 'blur' from motion will disappear.....



Scott (ten days of rain and counting) B

At the cheaper end of the market look for either Zhumell Z Series Planetary Telescope Eyepieces or the Skywatcher LET eyepieces. Both of those have 20mm eye relief as far as I can tell. The Zhumell ones seem to be popular but both get good reviews.

Paul.