( 1 reviews )
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jun 12 2007
If you're looking for a quality wide field low power eyepiece, and you can use 2" eyepieces, this is one of three you should consider. The others are the Pentax 40mm XW and the TMB 40mm Paragon. Televue eyepieces provide a warm tone to things you're observing. The effect is not unlike adding an 81a or 81b filter. Some like this, others don't. The 68 degree afov gives you a nice wide field of view, and this type of eyepiece is the one to choose for looking at something like the Veil nebula, or the Andromeda galaxy. The 41 Panoptic has a little lateral color, but not enough to be objectionable. The main drawbacks are weight (33.6 ounces) and pincushion. Pincushion is typical in a wide field eyepiece because it's impossible to correct for every kind of flaw at once. You'll end up with some pincushion, or angular distortion with any wide field eyepiece. For daytime observing, Pincushion would drive you bonkers because lines aren't straight. It'll also make the Moon look like an egg if you put it near the edge of the field of view - but odds are you wouldn't be using this eyepiece for looking at the Moon, and if you centered it, it would look fine. Few people notice pincushion on star fields. After comparing the 41 Panoptic to the 40 Paragon, I decided to sell the Panoptic and keep the Paragon. It's much lighter, half the price, and I prefer the more natural color rendition, and I'm happy to trade a little angular distortion to eliminate pincushion so I can use it for daytime nature viewing. But my advice is if you can, get to a star party, and observe with all three of the eyepieces I mentioned because different people will like different products, and all of them are well made quality products.
