Vixen Lanthanum 5mm

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Brand and Model:Vixen Lanthanum 5mm
Price ($USD):$104.50
Type:Plossl
Focal Length:5 mm
Barrel Size:1.25 in
Apparent FOV:45.0 degrees
Field Stop Dia.:0.0 mm
Eye Relief:20 mm
Elements:7
Weight (lbs):0
Description:

Vote Highlights Vote
Vixen Lanthanum 5mm
So so eyepiece.

Magnificent fit and finish, great eye relief, very comfortable, and that´s all.

Constrast could be better, it´s not as sharp as a good quality plossl, not to say an ortho, field of view is too narrow, and shows too much lateral color.

Only recommended if you must wear glasses.

Overall Rating: 7
Optics:7 Value:7
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=349594

Vixen Lanthanum 5mm
Good eye relief, clean optical result... light and small... all I wanted to have.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:8 Value:9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=55572

Vixen Lanthanum 5mm
Some time ago I was testing several high mag. eyepieces on my short focus Apo, (who really can separate the meatballs from the sauce).
The Vixen really was a little lost in sharpness & contast, compared to the Ultima and Radian 5mm, not to mention my Vixen 6mm Ortho 0.96".
But by golly, the eye relief on the Lantanium is a mile better than the Ultima and the Ortho (which is horrible on anything else than planets & moon/sun)
If I had the money to spend, my preference would absolutely be a Tak LE or the Radian 5mm. If you dont care to much about eye relief, the 5mm Ultima gives you value for the money, and probably the lens I will buy shortly!

Overall Rating: 7
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=44209

Vixen Lanthanum 5mm
I am rating an Orion 5.2 mm version. Very good in terms of sharpness and contrast, providing very nice black sky background, and with very comfortable and usable eye relief. No ghosting. Image brightness and color purity is not as good as many similar focal length Orthoscopics (Pentax, UO). Compared to a Pentax 5.2 mm XL, the XL was brighter and sharper with a wider FOV, but the LV had better contrast. One nice thing about the Orion version is that it's rubber eyecup is softer and more pliable than the black Vixen models, which means that one can really roll down the eye cup if desired. If you wear eye glasses or just prefer a more comfortable extended viewing experience, this is a very respectable eyepiece option.

I've compared quite a few eyepieces in f/5.4 and f/5.3 refractors, and am basing my ratings on image quality, not FOV.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=44208

Vixen Lanthanum 5mm
I found the 5mm VL a big disapointment at first, and found my standard 10mm plossl and X2 barlow much brighter (using 150 f8 refractor)...as many have said since I bought this EP!! :-(
On unscrewing the barlow from this EP I noticed the 'tiny' inside barlow lense to be a bit dirty (seemed odd as it was a new EP), using a cotton bud and lense cleaner I carefully cleaned it. I found it was covered with a fine coating of black (dust),probably from the internal blackening. WOW what a transformation..now brighter than my 10mm & X2 barlow! Perhaps this is a manufacturing problem?
Its a keeper now :-)

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=44207

Vixen Lanthanum 5mm
I have the Lanthanum 5mm for 6 months. I was very happy with this eyepiece
,but I wanted something with more field. So I decided to buy a radian 5mm which
has more field and was supposed to deliver better images of the planets. So
I have tested side by side the Lanthanum 5mm with the Radian 5mm. In my scope, a
200/1000 Newton, the details in the planets were more evident in the lanthanum than
they were in the radian. I think I have this phenomena because it's a bit more
difficult to achieve a perfect focus with the radian than it is with the lanthanum?!
The lanthanum deliver with less difficulties of focus images crisper than the radian.
So, if you don't have a good focuser, the radian will not be optimum for your scope.
This first experience with radian tell me a lot about opinions.
To buy the radian, i listen to the informations in this web site and others
about this eyepiece. The conclusions were obvious: the radian was opticaly the
winner!!
WARNING, WARNING, WARNING!!!!
It's not true. It is not the total winner in my scope. OK, it has as expected
more field of view (with a lot of color at edges), but opticaly, it's the same
as the lanthanum, for my eyes.
In my humble opinion (alias IMHO), nobody can tell that a premium eyepiece
is better than other without telling something about the scope in which
it is used.
So, if you could learn just one thing about my post: try the eyepiece you
plan to buy in your scope, and make yourself your own opinion about the
stuff. The combination scope/eyepiece is the most important thing to obtain
the best and contrasty images. The radian 5mm would certainly be a outstanding
eyepiece in some scope, but not in all of them!!! The same for the Lanthanum!!
Don't hesitate, send me some feedback.
Last word, sorry for my bad english: i'm french!

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=44205

Vixen Lanthanum 5mm
I have the Orion 5.2mm version of this eyepiece. I also have several other Orion Lanthenum eyepieces in both short and long focal lengths. I also own several Radians, Panoptics, Naglers, Pentax, UO's, and many, many, others. I'm quite perplexed by some of the poor ratings some of these eyepieces are getting. Could there be a difference between the new Orion and the non-Orion Lanthanums? Outside of some additional lateral color on bright objects (on the Lanthanums), I could find very little significant difference between the Lanthanums and the Radians. I spent hours comparing the two across multiple focal lengths, and yes, the Radians are ever so slightly better, but NOT THAT MUCH BETTER! The only real difference (again outside of lateral color issue), was the field of view advantage of the Radian, which of course, is to be expected.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=44199

Vixen Lanthanum 5mm
I was a little disappointed with the performance of this eyepiece. Granted it is very comfortable to use, but I found the images it gave to be bettered by common plossls at less than half price and it is absolutely pounded by the TeleVue Radian and Tak LE in the same focal lengths, although it must be noted that the Lanthnums are half the price of these high end eyepieces. It's not bad, but it's not as great as the higher price tag (than common plossls) would have you believe. I do like the longer focal length Lanthanums but below 10mm I think there are too many better options out there. Try before you buy.

Overall Rating: 7
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=44198

Vixen Lanthanum 5mm
To the previous reviewer don't worry about your English you got your points accross just fine. I liked what you had to say and find it an intellegent and excellent review. I fully agree scope eyepiece combinations are very important. Thanks for an excellent review.

Overall Rating: No Vote
Weight: <none>
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=44206

Vixen Lanthanum 5mm
Just an observation. We all have favorites and brand loyalty to a degree. One thing that might make reviews more meaningful is mentioning the scopes used for the test A classic example, my friend has an 8 in. SCT I have a 5 inch SCT both f10's. Frequently I will try one of his favorite eyepieces ie a Vixen in my scope and find I prefer my Celestron, he finds the same result but testing both in his 8 we both prefer the Vixen. Perhaps the eyepiece telescope combination should be taken more into account especially when comparing faster and slower scopes with the same eyepieces. I know many reviewers already do this I just wish it was more universal.

Overall Rating: No Vote
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=44204

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