Anyone using Meade 8-24mm Zoom eyepiece

addy · Post by **addy** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 10:52 am

Hi all,

Wish to hear from the users of this zoom eyepiece.. In the photography world the primes (fixed focal length) are any time considered better than the zooms unless they are L glasses..

so I was wondering whether the zoom eyepieces considered good for astronomy purposes.. Anyone of you using this specific Meade 8-24mm eyepiece? How's the quality of views and the eye relief.. Any vignetting around the edges or other issues you have experienced while using it..

On the last note, is anyone selling it... ;-).

cheers .. have a good day

harlequin2902 · Post by **harlequin2902** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 11:21 am

so I was wondering whether the zoom eyepieces considered good for astronomy purposes..

Same in astronomy, we usually discourage the use of zoom eyepieces for the same reason and also due to the relatively narrower fields of view given by the zoom at the longer focal lengths. They are convenient, a nice-to-have and maybe quite useful during public star parties, but for quality personal observing with your own scope, I think you should still go for the standard fixed focal length ones.

I'm told that all these Japanese made 8-24mm you see in the market are pretty much from the same source - they're just shipped to different manfacturers and labelled differently. I may be wrong though.

Anyway, you may want to check these reviews out :

Comparison of various zoom eyepieces http://www.cloudynights.com/eyepieces/zooms.htm

Solo review of the TeleVue 8-24mm zoom
http://www.cloudynights.com/eyepieces/tvzoom.htm

As with all Meade products, it's quite difficult or somtimes overly expensive to get them locally/regionally. But if you really want to get the Meade zoom, you could wait around Astromart or if you are considering the Vixen 8-24mm as an alternative, you can approach our local Vixen dealer - Starmatrix

Hope this helps.

addy · Post by **addy** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 11:42 am

Thanks Samuel.. that was quite informative.. I have checked the Televue zoom reviews... quite informative and the other zoom Leica - wow that looks great....

I actually like the idea of having two zooms - one in the range of 8-24mm and other in the range 24-40mm.. These might come in very handy when you are travelling and dont want to carry your entire eye-piece set.. sadly we dont have a good quality zoom from 8-40mm...

harlequin2902 · Post by **harlequin2902** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 7:23 pm

Actually, if you like the Leica zoom, I can ask my European contact to get one for you

But the price will be at European prices though. Nowhere close to the price listed by that reviewer ... unfortunately.

(in fact, I haven't announced it on the vendor section yet but I will be adding some exotic and rare eyepieces from world class optics to our 'Eyepieces' section soon. Expect things like Zeiss, Nikon, Olympus etc...and of course, well respected optics from Leica

).

dew · Post by **dew** » Sat Oct 11, 2003 12:25 am

Actually, if you like the Leica zoom, I can ask my European contact to get one for you But the price will be at European prices though. Nowhere close to the price listed by that reviewer ... unfortunately.

(in fact, I haven't announced it on the vendor section yet but I will be adding some exotic and rare eyepieces from world class optics to our 'Eyepieces' section soon. Expect things like Zeiss, Nikon, Olympus etc...and of course, well respected optics from Leica ).

wow really? will you be bringing in the lecia and nikon zooms as well? if you are, at how much?