Vixen Lanthanum 30mm

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Vixen Lanthanum 30mm
I'm not a fan of the shorter focal length Lanthanums, but I do like the 2" 30mm very much. Sharp to the edge and it seems more contrasty than the standard 1.25" versions. There is also noticably less light scatter, but that could be attributed to it being a lower power eyepiece than the others I've tried. I wanted to buy the 31mm Nagler type 5 but it was far too heavy for my liking as I didn't want one eyepiece in my collection that requires me to re-balance everytime. It may not have the 82º field of view but it gives very little else up to the big TeleVue eyepiece, evident after doing side by side comparisons with an observing buddy. 95% of the performance for 25% of the price with no kidney beaning - no contest for me, and for a wider field I'm going to buy a 2" 42mm 72º LVW or Pentax 40mm 65º with what I've saved and it'll still be half the price I was going to pay. Highly recommended.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Vixen Lanthanum 30mm
I don't use the 30mm "2", but i have use de 50mm and it had the shrpness image I never see!!!1

Overall Rating: No Vote
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Vixen Lanthanum 30mm
Here's a simple but hopefully detailed review of the eyepiece.

First, the environmental variables during testing:
Observing site
- limiting magnitude about 4 to 4.5 (rough estimate)
- sky conditions: clear & cloudfree
Telescope
- 8" f/4 reflector ~ optics should be better than 1/4 wave
My experience with eyepieces and equipment - I know the basics, but not very much about the details. What I believe to be important about reviewing this eyepiece is the realization that eyepieces work in different ways with different types of telescopes. However, the RFT should in general, give the most sensitive test of the eyepiece's performance (due to small focal ratio).

With an 8" f/4 RFT, the 30mm gives a little too much exit pupil (7.35?)
Result is I can vaguely see the dark sillhouette of the secondary mirror floating in front of me through the eyepiece view.

The 30mm coupled to the 8" gave ~ 26.7X mag. with 2.24 degree FOV (AFOV 60deg).
Through my telescope, stars remained sharp until the outer 70% to 75% of the view. If you can tolerate this (and some coma), the views are spectacular. Sweeping the milky way is a breathtaking experience. I also coupled the eyepiece to a 2X barlow and the views are spectacular. With the barlow, the eyepiece won't reach focus unless I pull the barlow out and tighten the focuser's securing screws around halfway between the barlow's barrell's midpoint to the barlow's edges bottom edge.

Mechanically, the eyepiece is very well built. There is a niche in the barrell where the focuser screws can hold on better to the eyepiece. However I find it a little annoying when removing the eyepiece because I never seem to unscrew the focuser's securing screw far enough. one thing to note is that this eyepiece has no rubber eyecups.

This eyepiece can be special ordered from Orion (www.telescope.com) - I'm in no way affiliated with this company, just a happy customer. Price of this eyepiece when I bought it was about $173 including shipping and a 2 month wait.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=44215

Vixen Lanthanum 30mm
Center of FOV sharpness and contrast is very good, providing very nice black sky background, and with very comfortable and usable eye relief. At f/5.3 star image quality remains high until about 2/3 rds of the way to the edge of the FOV. Fairly flat field with good color purity. This is a well-built eyepiece and while fairly large and substantial in weight (about 1 lb.) - it's size looks like it would be heavier than it is. However, it is not a super-heavy weight like the 31mm Nagler and 35mm Panoptic. Similar performance to the 32mm Meade SWA and TV Wide Field.

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: 7
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=44216

Vixen Lanthanum 30mm
I have used this eyepiece to death and must say it is my work horse in this size. Not the best eyepiece I have ever used but darn good.


John Marshall

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:9 Value:8
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=431468

Vixen Lanthanum 30mm
Buyed it for 160,- Euros on a convention, called HTT in germany.
For that money, the build quality and the performance its a pure 10!!!
(And to keep the average up against junkeyepieces from china)

Lamont

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Value:10
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=495490

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