Excellent advice, Michael. And not just the personal touch, but the telescope itself matters. Remember that any given eyepiece will perform much differently on an f/4 instrument than it will on an f/15 of the same aperture. Those long FL eyepieces that are a pain in the keyster on a short-focus Newtonian will show a different side of their personality on the Bogdan refractor at SPOC- and no secondary shadow at all. I used to use a homemade 4.25" f/5 Newtonian for low-power sweeping- until I got my ED 80mm refractor. Now I can use those long-FL 2" eyepieces without a secondary shadow. The 4.25" Newt is now decoration on my dresser. And sometimes, mind you, the raver doesn't know a good image from a so-so one. It cost a lot so it must be good, in their mind. List members excluded, of course. We ARE a discriminating bunch! --- Michael Carnes <michaelcarnes@earthlink.net> wrote:
Just goes to show you how personal the match may be between observer and equipment. I've often gotten a so-so view with an eyepiece someone else is raving about--even when it's obvious that eyepiece is really showing them a lot. This is why you have to be cautious about recommendations.
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