Anyone Ever Compare The APM 30mm UFF Against Same Focal Length Eyepieces?
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Anyone Ever Compare The APM 30mm UFF Against Same Focal Length Eyepieces?
- Jones
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Re: Anyone Ever Compare The APM 30mm UFF Against Same Focal Length Eyepieces?
Triple lensed fracs are so yummy when looking at planets.
- Don Pensack
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Re: Anyone Ever Compare The APM 30mm UFF Against Same Focal Length Eyepieces?
Field stop diameters:
APM 30---36.4mm
Pentax XW 30---36.2mm
TeleVue Nagler 31---42.0mm
Baader Hyperion 31---38.0mm
I use glasses at that focal length, so used glasses in my test.
Scope was the 12.5"
The Hyperion was strongly astigmatic from about the 50% point to the edge. I think this is an eyepiece for
The Pentax had good contrast, but a bit of residual astigmatism at the edge of the field.
The Nagler had the widest field but I was interested to note that, in comparison with the APM and Pentax, the field looked concave, as if all the stars were in a bowl.
I only noticed that when switching back and forth. After a few seconds, this was not seen. It was very sharp to right at the edge.
The APM struck me as having a map-flat field, which was interesting.
And the contrast was amazing. It had the darker background sky of a shorter focal length.
That flatness and superb contrast prompted me to do an analysis:
here are my notes on the 30mm APM UFF:
spherical aberration--none
inherent
astigmatism induced by the
field curvature noted--none. Flattest field of all of them.
distortion type (daytime)--typical pincushion like most astronomical eyepieces--no noticeable angular magnification distortion. Excellent.
chromatic aberration--none on axis, and none lateral
eye relief--long enough for glasses when the eyecup is folded down.
light scatter control--excellent. Very slight flare from Rigel just outside the field stop. No eyepiece completely passes this test.
spherical aberration of exit pupil--none
chromatic aberration of exit pupil--none
tint (daylight use)--none
vignetting--none
thermal issues--none
field stop focus--sharp (excellent)
edge of field brightening--none
sharpness on axis--excellent
sharpness at 50% field--excellent
sharpness at the edge--excellent
apparent contrast--excellent
It was better in most parameters than the Pentax XW 30mm.
It was significantly better than the Baader 31mm Hyperion Aspheric in all parameters.
It was easier to use with glasses than the 31mm Nagler, though that is the other eyepiece I found excellent as well.
The APM is close to 1/2 the weight of the Nagler, though.
I have used the entire set of UFF eyepieces. The 30mm is the best of all of them.
Currently using a 12.5" dob and a 4" apo refractor
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Re: Anyone Ever Compare The APM 30mm UFF Against Same Focal Length Eyepieces?
- Don Pensack
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Re: Anyone Ever Compare The APM 30mm UFF Against Same Focal Length Eyepieces?
No, I haven't. I do remember the 22mm as being much better than its price implies.Refractordude wrote: ↑Sat Aug 28, 2021 3:59 pm Thanks for the time Don. I really love my Celestron 30mm UFF clone. Definitely a keeper. Have you ever compared the Olivon 22mm against the Nagler 22mm type 4?
It is available under many different labels still, even though Olivon is now history.
It is a great successor to the oft-touted Vixen LVW 22mm.
It is a 2" eyepiece, though.
Labels I see still available:
Arcturus Ebony**
Astromania SWA
Omegon Redline
Skywatcher SWA**
Tecnosky SWA
Telescope Service Expanse ED
I marked with ** the 2 versions to avoid if you wear glasses because the eyecups cut off too much of the eye relief.
Currently using a 12.5" dob and a 4" apo refractor
- 25585
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Re: Anyone Ever Compare The APM 30mm UFF Against Same Focal Length Eyepieces?
Effective eye relief is similar. On the TS, I replaced its OE eyecup with a Baader Morpheus one, both are screw in M42 thread. TS Expanse range is for afocal use as well, like Morpheus are.
The 22mm 70° do give a noticably larger view. In a 10" F5 its easy to see both M81 & M82 and some surrounding sky in the same view. 70° starts to show some
I use my 22/70 more than Nagler 22T4 or Orion LHD 80°. The 22/70 is very user-friendly, for me & whoever. At the magnification 22mm gives, 10° less
To start however, I use 30-something
Eyepieces from: Aero, Antares, APM, Baader, Brandon, Bresser, Celestron, Datysun, Docter, Explore Scientific, GSO, I R Poyser, Meade, Nikon, Orion, Pentax, Rodenstock, Siberia, Sky-Watcher, Taiso, Takahashi, TAL, Tele Vue, TS, Vernonscope, Vixen, Zeiss.
Scopes from: Altair, Bresser, Lumicon, Orion Optics UK, Sky-Watcher, Takahashi, Tele Vue, TS, Vixen.
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