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EYEPIECES

"EL" stands for eye relief.

"FOV" stands for apparent field of view.

"FC" stands for fully coated optics.

"FMC" stand for fully multi-coated optics.

A note about eyepieces. Orion Ultrascopic, Antares Ultimas and Celestron Ultimas all come from the same factory in Japan. Orion Sirus and Omcon Super Plossls come from the same factory in Taiwan. Speers-Walers are Japanese cut lenses, but assembled in Canada by Sky Instruments and are Canadian designed.

Note: Speers-Walers and Omcon Erfles:

One distinct advantage about these two lines of eyepieces, is if they are ever damaged, they can be sent back to Sky Instruments for repair and servicing. As far as I know, Tele Vue (which I do not carry) is the only other brand of eyepieces to offer this service.

Low Cost Stuff

Sky Watcher Kellners - 3 element, China, 1.25" or 0.965"

10, 12.5, 17 or 25 mm ..................................................$30.00

Orion Explorer II Kellners - FC, 3 element, China, 1.25"

25, 17, 13, 10 or 6mm...................................................$40.00

SkyWatcher Superset long EL Kellners, 3 element, China

3.6, 10, 20 or 25mm.....................................................$30.00

Mid-Range Stuff

Eye Relief note: I do not have exact measurements, but I find that eye relief on most plossls is nearly equal to or a little shy of the focal length of the eyepiece. In other words, most 32mm plossls will have around 30mm of eye relief, give or take.

Sky Watcher Plossls - 4 element, MC, China, available in both 1.25" and 0.96

"32 or 40 mm .................................................................$50.00

25, 20, 17, 10, 6.3mm....................................................$45.00

Omcon Super Plossls - 4 element, FC, Rubber Eye Cup (Fixed) Taiwan

7.5, 10, 12.5, 17, 20 or 25 mm ......................................$65.00

32 mm ............................................................................$75.00

ORION Sirius Plossls - 4 element, FC, Rubber Eye Cup (Fixed) Taiwan

7.5, 10, 12.5, 17, 20 or 25 mm ......................................$75.00

32 or 40mm........................................................................$85.00

ORION HIGHLIGHT PLOSSLS - Taiwan

Fully multicoated on all surfaces - and nice coating they are too, also they have some very nice machining and very precise fitting & alignment on all lens to metal surfaces. On practical use, I do notice a bit more "snap" to them compared to most other mass produced plossls. Not worth trading in old plossl for, but I would reccomend these over most others if you are starting out new.

7.5mm to 25mm - $85 Cdn

32mm - $95 Cdn

SkyWatcher "UltraWides" - fully multicoated, 66 degree AFOV, not sure how many elements, made in China, comfortable on the eye, but you do have ot hold steady, long eye relief - I estimate around 15mm on average. They seem to be almost parafocal with themselve and the SkyWatcher LE series. Very good eyepiece for first time telescope buyers or people looking for a good budget eyepiece. Not sharp to the edge at or below F6, but not terrible either

6mm, 9mm, 15mm and 20mm ....................... $40 US Each or $70 Cdn each

Antares Orthscopics.

$75 Cdn or $50 US each - 1.25" size, 6, 7, 9 and 12.5mm only.

These are Japanese made 4 element orthos, identical to other brands of orthoscopics I have seen. I think they all come from the same factory. Multi-coated. I personally I have been using an older model, different brand name, 9mm ortho, and I find the new Antares ones identical in optical performance, in side by side testing. The only real difference is my older ortho, the eye lens is set in a bit recessed from the top of the eyepiece, whereas the newer Atnares ones, the eye lens is just about flush with the top of the eyepiece. As with all orthos, excellent shaprness & contrast, short eye relief, 45 degree apparent FOV. Highly reccomended for planetary & lunar fanatics.

Antares Ultima / Maxima (or whatever they call them) Plossls - 5 Element, FMC, made in Japan , Rubber eyecup (removable). 52 degree FOV.

7.5, 10, 15 ,20 or 25mm each......................................$95.00

5mm, 7 element...........................................................$110.00

ORION ULTRASCOPICS -5 to 7 element, FMC, Japan

35mm.......................................................................... $210.00

30mm........................................................................... $190.00

25mm, 5mm or 3.8 mm.............................................. $140.00

20, 15, 10 or 7.5mm..................................................... $130.00

ORION LANTHANUMS - Long Eye Relief

Made in Japan, chome body, 20mm eye relief on ALL sizes, soft rubber eyecups, 1.25" size, 50 degree FOV. Work best at F8 and above. For F6 and below I recommend SW lanthanums

Below 7.5mm they are only 45 degree FOV, so I recommend 7.5mm and above..

2.3, 21 or 25mm............................................................$200.00

3.8, 5.2, 7.5, 9.5, 10.5, 12.5 or 14mm..........................$185.00

OMCON 2" ERFLES

6 element, full MC, Japanese lenses, designed and assembled in Canada, work best at F6 and above, but I have used them in F4.4 scopes. They are not panoptics, but impossible to beat for the price.

52mm, 50 degree FOV., ..............................................$135.00 Cdn or $90 US

42mm, 55 FOV.............................................................$135.00 Cdn or $90 US

32mm, 62 FOV............................................................$135.00 Cdn or $90 US

32mm-W, 70 FOV.........................................................$135.00 Cdn or $90 US

ORION OPTILUX 2" Wide Angle

These are all four element eyepieces, called "modified plossls", but they look to me like a Konig variation.

50mm or 40mm.........................................................$210.00

32mm.........................................................................$220.00

Expensive Stuff

SPEERS-WALER - Made In Canada, Fully MC, 8 element FOV varies form 70 to 80 degrees, average eye relief is around half of an inch. The 10mm is my personal favourite. The major drawback is some of the SW line needs a lot of in-focus on some Newtonian telescopes only, I have not encountered this problem with refractors or SCT designs.. There are low-focus versions of the 14 and 18mm SW. If you have any questions, ask ahead of time.

A new design, the WA series has just come out. Physically they look the same, but inside they have a new set of lenses, providing 80 degree apparent FOV. The new design also address the in-focus issue on some newtonians. As before, 8 elements, fully multi-coated, made in Canada. Overall I ahve coem to perfer them over the regular SW line as everythign in them has been "tweaked" just a wee bit to make the whole greater than the sum of all it's parts.

SW 5-8 mm Zoom ..... $260 US or $360 Cdn

SW 7 or 12 mm - old version ......no Longer in Production. :(

SW 10mm, ...................... ........................... $160 Cdn or $115 US

SW 14mm ...................... ........................... $175.00 or $135 US

SW 18mm....................... ........................... $160.00 or $115 US

SW 24 mm .................................................. $145.00 Cdn or $100 US

WA Series of Speers-Walers

SW 7.5mm , 10mm or 14mm......................................$175 Cdn or $125 US

ORION (VIXEN) LATHANUM SUPERWIDES

20mm eye relief, 65 apparent FOV, 8 element, MC, Japan

These are my personal favourites. I think the 8mm is the best one. Tack sharp to the edge even at F4.

3.5mm, 5mm, 8mm or 13mm...................................... $345.00

17mm or 22mm........................................................... $355.00

2", 42mm...................................................................... $490.00

Specialty Stuff

ILLUMINATED GUIDING EYEPIECES

Orion 12mm Kellner - wireless......................................$160.00

Orion 12.5mm Plossl - wireless....................................$210.00

Orion Ultrascopic 10mm - wireless...............................$210.00

Orion Ultrascopic 5mm - wireless.................................$220.00

Antares Kellner 12mm - wireless, Japan......................$140.00

Antares Plossl 10mm - wireless, Japan.......................$160.00

Barlows

ANTARES ULTIMA BARLOWS - Shorty Style, Japan

2X Ultima Barlow ..........................................................$85.00

3X Ultima Barlow............................................................$90.00

2X, 3 element Ultima Barlow................................ ........$100.00

2-3X variable Ultima Barlow..........................................$90.00

TWO inch, 1.6X Shorty Ultima .......................................$145.00 Cdn / $95 US

Sky Instruments

Omcon 2X barlow...........................................................$60.00

ORION Barlows

Shorty Plus, 3 element , 2X..............................................$110.00

Tri-Mag 3X........................................................................$75.00

Deluxe 2X Long barlow, 1.25"........................................$75.00

Deluxe 2X Long Barlow, 2" version................................$150.00

Vari-Power, 2x-3x barlow, 1.25"................................... $100.00

DIAGONALS

Orion (Vixen) 1.25" mirror diagonal, Japan....................$60.00 US / $90.00 Cdn

Orion 2" Mirror diagonal .......................................$90 US / $140.00 Cdn

Omcon erect image prism, 90 degree.............................................$35 US / $45.00 Cdn

Omcon Hybrid - 0.965 to 1.25".......................................$35 US / $45.00 Cdn

Omcon 45 prisim 1.25"...................................................$35 US / $45.00 Cdn

Omcon Hybrid 45 - 0.965 to 1.25".................................$35 US / $45.00 Cdn

Antares (Canada) mirror 2"..............................................$65 US / $90 Cdn

StellarVue PREMIUM 2" star diagonal, fully tested, premium 1/10th (or better) wave optics, with or without di--electric coatins - to be announced.

FILTERS

Light Pollution Filters

I am not a big fan of the general all purpose filters, save for astro-photo use. If you are considering spending the money on one of these filters, go for the Ultra-Block. A couple of thoughts. First, as weird as it sounds, these filters work best under dark skies, away from light pollution. Second, they seem to work best at low and medium powers. Finally, they work best and only on nebulae. Galaxies, globular clusters and the like will not benefit from the UltraBlock filter.

Orion UltraBlock 1.25"..............................................$60 US / $95 Cdn

Orion UltraBlock 2" ..................................................$80 US / $110 Cdn

Moon Filters

Personally I use the variable polarizer, as I allows me to adjust the incoming light from the ever increasing waxing moon. Whatever your choice, simply to save your night vision and observing comfort, a moon filter is highly recommended for any and all sizes of telescopes. In the Antares line, choose the ND 13 (13% light through) for 8" and larger telescopes, whiel the ND 25 is useful for telescopes below 8".

Orion ND Moon Filter 1.25"............................................$25.00

Orion variable polarizer 1.25".........................................$60.00

Antares ND25 (25%) Moon Filter.................................. $20.00

Antares ND13 (13%) Moon Filter...................................$20.00

Antares 1.25" polarizing filter.........................................$45.00

Colour Filters

There is an endless debate over which colour filters, if any, are useful for planetary observing. Unless you are a dedicated planetary observer, four colours will do just about all you need. They are blue, red, yellow and green (or yellow-green). Now, do you choose dark amber over light yellow, well, that's a personal choice. As I am colour blind, my advice might not be what you really need here. :)

Orion sets of four colour filters, 3 sets , 1.25"....per set.. $75.00

Antares Colour filters - 1.25", seven colours.....each $15.00

Antares set of FOUR colour filters (your choice)........$55.00

Antares 1.25" polarizing filter.....................................$40.00

Sirius Optics Specialty Filters

These are made in the USA to precision standards. By use of nanometre thick di-electric optical coatings, the people at Sirius Optics have created a set of filters for astronomical use. Sirius Optics mainstay is actually industrial and commercial optical coatings, but one of the owners is an amateur astronomer so we are fortunate to have a new line of filters.

All Sirius Filters are the same price:

1.25" Are $75.00 US or $120.00 Cdn.

2" Are $120.00 US or $190.00 Cdn

Minus Violet - MV1 For visual use on refractors. This filter allows roughly 90% light throughput. It chops off about 7% of the extreme violet and about 3% of the extreme red end of the spectrum, the two areas where most achromatic refractors suffer the most. It will NOT allow higher powers to be used, but it will make your current, top useable power a little more crisp and clear. Works well as a planetary filter as well.

CE1 - Contrast Enhancement - general light pollution filter. Gives you a bit of extra contrast for all objects when observing from or near the city. Visual or photographic.

NEB1 - Nebular Filter. Made specifically for emission nebula (M42m, Eable Nebula, etc), this filter competes directly witht he Orion UltraBlock or the Lumicon UHC. It works just as well, but differently. I do recommend this one. Visual or photographic. Bandpass is exaclty ahlf way between a narrow band UHC and a OIII filter.

PC1 - Planetary Contrast. Quite by accident, the MV1 and CE1 filters proved to be useful to a limited degree in planetary observing. Based on this, the PC filter underwent several beta testings in actual field use until it was developed. Recommended for all hard core planetary observers.

IR1 -Infrared Filter. Cuts out IR light for CCD cameras.