Why Choose Tele Vue Eyepieces?

Televue Eyepieces

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Why Choose Televue Eyepieces?

"Your eyepiece is half the telescope, use the best -- Tele Vue" - said Jack Marling, founder of Lumicon Co.

 "Fast" telescopes (f/4-f/6) of all types -- refractors, reflectors, Schmidt Newtonians, Mak-Newtonians require the finest eyepieces for sharp, full field viewing.

Every Tele Vue eyepiece is personally tested at f/4 by our quality control staff to ensure the sharpest full field possible. It is the nature of optics that being the best in fast scopes also always assures the best performance in "slow" scopes. While every Tele Vue eyepiece type will yield the critical center sharpness so necessary for planetary viewing and splitting double stars, observers get the added bonus of a sharp wide field and comfortable eye relief with the different design models.

The Tele Vue Plössls are patented to be sharper over a larger field than any competing brands of Plössls or Orthos. Tele Vue 60° Radians, 68° Panoptics, 82° Naglers and 100° Ethos are the eyepieces of choice, along with the 50° Nagler 2mm--4mm and 3mm--6mm zoom, for full field sharpness.

The finest performance requires the finest materials such as high index lanthanum and fluorite type glasses, in some cases costing up to 15x more than ordinary glass types. At Tele Vue we ask "how can we make it better", rather than "how can we make it cheaper." We think you'll agree that the views are worth it.

Design
An optical design incorporates a number of lens elements utilizing different glass materials and shapes. Elements cemented together are called a group. Each Tele Vue design is configured to achieve the sharpest full field, with the number of elements and groups minimized, while yielding the largest possible true fields and eye relief.

Some design types are "scaled", that is, one form is "scaled" to provide a range of focal lengths. Note that eye relief, size and weight "scale" along, but image quality and apparent field remain constant. Examples of "scaled" Tele Vue designs are Plössls, Panoptics and the Nagler type 5.

 Other designs set a particular characteristic, such as eye relief, and tailor each focal length in the series as individual designs. The size, weight and number of lens elements will vary little within a given series. Examples are: Radians, with 20mm eye relief, Nagler type 4 models with approx. 18mm eye relief, Nagler type 6 eyepieces with 12mm eye relief, and Ethos eyepieces with 15mm eye relief.

We are gratified that Tele Vue eyepiece designs over the past 20-years have reached almost iconic status. New innovative designs, improved materials and coating techniques have allowed Tele Vue to continually produce what many consider to be the best eyepieces available in the world. As a result, discontinued eyepieces, such as the "Wide Fields" and original Nagler and Nagler type 2 models, have often become collector items that can sometimes sell for more than their original cost.

 The "Backyard Astronomers Guide" notes: "Al Nagler has introduced more innovations in telescope eyepiece design than anyone else in the history of amateur astronomy." Indeed, every Tele Vue Plössl, Wide Field, Panoptic, Radian, and Nagler eyepiece is based on patents by Al Nagler. Other accessories -- such as Barlows, Powermates, and the Paracorr (coma corrector for fast Newtonians) -- are also original Nagler designs.

Paul Dellechiaie, long-time Tele Vue employee working under Al's guidance, designed the Ethos series.

Design Types

1. Plössl
50° apparent field (43° in 40mm focal length). Focal lengths available: 55mm (2"), 40mm, 32mm, 25mm, 20mm, 15mm, 11mm, and 8mm. Eye relief is approximately 70% of focal length. 4 elements in 2 lens groups.

2. Radian

60° apparent field, 20mm eye relief in all models. All have 1-1/4" barrels. 6 elements in 4 lens groups: 18mm, 14mm, 12mm, 10mm, and 8mm focal lengths. 7 elements in 5 lens groups: 6mm, 5mm, 4mm, and 3mm focal lengths.

3. Panoptic
68° apparent field, focal lengths available: 41mm (2"), 35mm (2"), 27mm (2"), 24mm, 22mm, 19mm, and 15mm. Eye relief approximately 70% of focal length. 6 elements in 4 lens groups.

4. Nagler type 4

82° apparent field, 17mm or more eye relief in all models. Focal lengths: 22mm (2") and 17mm (2") have 7 elements in 5 groups. 12mm has 6 elements in 4 lens groups.

5. Nagler type 5

82° apparent field, focal lengths available: 31mm (2"), 26mm (2"), 20mm (2"), and 16mm. Eye relief is approximately 62% of focal length. 6 elements in 4 lens groups.

6. Nagler type 6

82° apparent field, 12mm eye relief in all models. Focal lengths available: 13mm, 11mm, 9mm, 7mm, 5mm, 3.5mm, 2.5mm. 7 elements in 4 groups.

7. Ethos

100° apparent field, 15mm eye relief in all models. Focal lengths available: 17mm, 13mm 10mm 8mm 6mm. Ethos concept by David Nagler, Paul Dellechiaie principal designer under the guidance of Al Nagler.

8. Nagler Zoom

50° apparent field 3mm--6mm and 2mm-4mm focal length ranges. 10mm eye relief. 5 elements in 3 lens groups.

9. 8mm-24mm Click Stop Zoom

40° apparent field and 10mm eye relief at 24mm, 55° apparent field and 15mm eye relief at 8mm. 7 elements in 4 lens groups.

Digiscoping and DIOPTRX

Over 25 Tele Vue eyepieces with long eye relief have eyeguard styles that accept Tele Vue digital camera adapters and DIOPTRX (lenses to correct eyesight astigmatism without needing eyeglasses).

Construction

Every Tele Vue eyepiece is fully multi-coated, has blackened lens edges and anti-reflection threads for maximum contrast. Chrome plated barrels, which resist scratching and marring better than black anodized barrels, include safety undercuts and threads for filters. Upper barrels are black anodized aluminum with a rubber grip ring, engraved identification, and fold down rubber eyeguards. All Nagler type 4 and Radian models include an "Instajust" eyeguard with click-stops for ideal eye positioning. Protective caps are included for top and bottom as well as the "pupil guide" accessory. Many of the 1-1/4" models across Plössl, Radian, Panoptic and Nagler models are parfocal for convenience.

Manufacture and Quality Control

All Tele Vue eyepiece designs are proprietary and are manufactured in factories in Japan and Taiwan that do not make competitive products. To assure outstanding manufacturing and flawless image quality, our in-house NY staff performs optical and cosmetic testing on every eyepiece made, using our patented 5" f/4 flat field "MPT" test refractor. We even ship Japanese made eyepieces to our Chester, NY facility for 100% quality control and then re-ship them back to our Tele Vue Japan distributor for sales in Japan.

In fact, focal length control is so uniform that we have never seen a mismatch that would affect use in a binoviewer, when using any vintage version of a given eyepiece model with a newer one of the same model.

Warranty

A 5-year warranty applies on all Tele Vue products for the original owner. You also have the security of knowing that every current Tele Vue eyepiece can be repaired, serviced, or cleaned at the factory. Tele Vue eyepieces are also great investments, returning high resale values, when you want to upgrade or modify your collection.