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Cley Spy Home Page > Our Products > Telescopes And Eyepieces

Telescopes And Eyepieces

Choosing A Telescope
Telescopes offer the advantage of higher magnifications than that of your binoculars, there are however some things that need to be considered. Firstly the size of the telescope; telescopes can be divided roughly into three sizes those with large objective lenses (objective lens is the large front lens and is measured in mm) these are normally over 70mm in diameter, small telescopes that have an objective lens between 60mm and 70mm and smaller travel telescopes with objective lenses around 50mm. As with binoculars the larger the objective lens then the more light that will enter the telescope and therefore the brighter the image however the heavier the telescope will be. There is also a choice of glass nearly all but the entry level telescopes have the choice of standard optical glass or the higher quality glass often referred to as ED or HD, this type of lens offers an improved image quality but will add to the price of the telescope.

The magnification of a telescope is determined by the eyepiece most offer the option of interchangeable eyepieces allowing the user to vary the magnification. Eyepieces with a fixed magnification are often classed as wide angled eyepieces and offer a wide field of view (field of view is the width of the image seen) and are normally available in several magnifications starting at around 16x and going up to about 50x. Zoom eyepieces offer a range of magnifications in one eyepiece without the need to change the eyepiece to vary the magnification and often have magnifications like 16x-48x or 20x-60x a disadvantage of a zoom eyepiece is that the field of view is often narrower than fixed magnification eyepieces. Nowadays most eyepieces feature twist up style eyecups which are far more suitable for spectacle wearers.

When choosing a telescope it is best to spend some time comparing several models there is often a choice between angled or straight body styles this is a personal choice and if unsure it is best to try both. Finally do not forget that nearly all telescopes will need a tripod to support them if you don’t already own a tripod then you will need to allow for this when deciding on your budget.