(SNES) Harry Siebert Eyepieces

[Albireo54@aol.com]

Hi Barry,

Les Lytton gave you a very thorough overview of the magnification question - 
and I agree with his assessment. My own rule of thumb has always been that 
the optimum magnification on any given night will be LESS than you'd like or 
expect.  30X per inch is usually a good guide - occasionally 40X. But it is a 
rare night indeed when you can satisfactorily reach the old rule of 50X per 
inch. You may recall that even in the 16" at FDO we rarely observe above 340X 
- just 21X per inch! Occasionally we have observed the planets at 600X - 
about 38X per inch. But I can't say that the view at that power has actually 
been better than several lower powers.

As far as the Siebert eyepieces go, I've heard generally favorable comments 
about them - though I've never used one. For the price they appear to be a 
steal, and well worth a try - as you're not risking much money. 

Here is the text of a Siebert review that I had saved some time ago:

=============================================================
Review

I've been into astronomy for 30+ years now and have seen and used a good many 
different eyepieces. Being primarily a planetary observer in my early years, 
I used only Orthos. I remember the eyepiece that I would use all the time on 
the 12 1/2" f/10 scope, would be the Meade 12.5mm Ortho. Saturn would look 
great through this eyepiece. A few years later, University Optics (UO) Orthos 
caught my attention, so I bought a set and have used them since. These UO 
Orthos were the best going eyepieces and were hard to beat. Even when using 
Zeiss Orthos, I would always revert back to the University Optics Orthos. So 
it just goes to show that you do not have to spend an astronomical amount of 
money to get great eyepieces. 

When it comes to the planets, Orthos are definitely the way to go (or so I 
thought) for sharpness contrast and brightness. The only thing I was looking 
for in eyepieces when observing the planets was good eye relief. Well, I 
finely found the eyepieces that give the eye relief, brightness, sharpness 
and the contrast. These eyepieces are made by Siebert Optical. Not only is 
the owner Harry a joy to do business with ( which is hard to find today ) but 
you can personally talk with the designer about the eyepieces that he makes.

After asking Mr. Siebert which eyepieces he would recommend for observing 
this coming Mars opposition, he recommends his 7mm, 10mm, 12.5mm to be used 
with my 6" f/8 refractor. I've read some good reviews on his 10mm eyepiece 
being used on M42 with great results and the same with his 12.5mm, so knew I 
would be able to use these for my deep sky observing also. Well, enough about 
all of this, and onto my results of the testing that I did with these 
eyepieces. 

My testing began with the 12.5mm Siebert against the Meade 12.5mm Ortho, UO 
12.5mm Ortho and a Meade 12.5mm Plossl. The eye relief of the Siebert was 
more comfortable to view through than either of the Meade eyepieces and the 
UO Ortho. I began testing the eyepiece for coma near the edge of the 
eyepiece. This was a main concern I had after reading that this was a minor 
problem with the Siebert in fast scopes. In my f/8 refractor stars were pin 
points all the way across the whole field of view with no coma seen at all. 
With the Meade Plossl there was coma near the last 10% of the field of view, 
while there was no coma at all in the Meade or UO 12.5mm Orthos. As for sky 
blackness, the Siebert was the best. I then moved onto Jupiter to compare 
sharpness and contrast among the four 12.5mm eyepieces. At 384x with the help 
of a 4x TV POWERMATE, the Plossl was in the back seat compared to the two 
Orthos and the Siebert 12.5mm eyepiece. The Siebert was sharper and was a 
good deal brighter than the Meade Ortho and was running head to head with the 
UO Ortho. In brightness the Siebert out did the Meade Plossl and was a tad 
bit brighter than the UO Ortho. The Siebert beat the Plossl in contrast and 
had just a tad bit more contrast than the UO Ortho and the Meade Ortho (the 
difference was slight but noticeable among the three). I find myself using 
this Siebert 12.5mm eyepiece a lot for globular clusters in my 9 1/4" SCT 
also. 

The Siebert 15mm eyepiece ( that I got for deep sky observing ) is everything 
that the 12.5mm is, but with a slight ghosting on Jupiter. It is brighter 
than the Meade 4000 series 15mm SP and the sky is much blacker also. When 
compared to the Zeiss 15mm Ortho on Jupiter, the only problem it has is the 
ghosting like I said earlier. As far as brightness goes it is equal to the 
Zeiss Ortho, but because of the ghosting it loses out on sharpness and 
contrast. Where the Siebert 15mm excels, is on deep sky objects. When 
observing open clusters with the 15mm Siebert and the 15mm SP Meade, the 
Siebert is sharper and with no coma at all across the whole field of view. 
The Meade had no coma also, but where the Siebert beats the Meade is in the 
blackness of the sky which makes the stars sharper. 

My two new favorite Lunar and planetary eyepieces are the Siebert 7mm and 
10mm wide angles. All I can say is that the 7mm is great. It is very sharp 
and shows a lot of sharpness on Jupiter and Saturn. Contrast is a must see to 
appreciate kind of thing with this eyepiece, with a lot of detail being seen 
easily. I compared this eyepiece against one of the greatest planetary 
eyepieces out there, which is the one and only University Optics 9mm Ortho. 
Boy was it a fight to the end, no way did I ever think that this would be the 
best duel going for me during this comparison. I thought for sure when it 
came to these two eyepieces that the University Optics would walk all over 
the Siebert in contrast and sharpness. (I was only thinking this because I've 
compared the UO 9mm Ortho to a good many high-priced eyepieces and it always 
won) Well, it now had an eyepiece that not only ran neck in neck with it in 
the contrast arena but also in sharpness and brightness. When it was all done 
and over, the Siebert made me a believer that there was an eyepiece out there 
that could do it. 

The end result showed that the Siebert 7mm Wide Angle was as sharp and had as 
much contrast as the old University Optic 7mm Ortho did. Siebert Optics just 
edged out the UO in brightness, and the background sky was blacker in the 
Siebert 7mm Wide Angle than in the UO 7mm Ortho. The Siebert 7mm has a 65 
degree field of view compared to 45 degree field of view for the UO Ortho. 
The same results were to be had with the Siebert 10mm comparison, with the 
only difference being in brightness. University Optics 9mm Ortho was a bit 
brighter between the two eyepieces. 

I highly recommend the Siebert 7mm, 10mm, and 12.5mm for planetary observing 
and the 15mm for bright nebulas and tight open clusters. With the 4x TV 
POWERMATE the 15mm is a good globular cluster eyepiece when the seeing allows 
that kind of power to be used. I used the combo of the 4x POWERMATE and the 
15mm in my 6" f/8 Refractor on M13, what a sight it was, totally resolved 
right to the core with dark lanes running through the cluster. 

I've read so many reviews where people say that in the looks department the 
Siebert's wont win any contest's, but I must say that this is not all that 
true. These are nice looking eyepieces and very well built with a good solid 
feel. They are very light weight which is good as far as I'm concerned. The 
other thing that gets me is when reviewers write things like, these are nice 
sharp eyepieces for the money. 

Come on now, these are great eyepieces even if they were $200 instead of $40 
to $45. You do not hear this kind of comment about the University Optics 
Ortho's which sell at $55 to $65, and these are great eyepieces which have 
stood the test of time. Mr. Siebert is doing use all a favor by making a good 
line of eyepieces at a very good price, keep up the good work Harry. I own 
the whole line of Meade 4000's and all the University Orthos, the whole line 
of Vixen LV eyepieces and now I'll be owning all the Siebert's. 

Review by Don Regan, Director of the Deep Sky Observatory, and also new 
Director of the Deep Sky Observatory's planetary section. Main scope is a 12" 
SCT and two 6" APO refractors and a 9" APO.
Submitted by Don Regan - deepsky@scsinter.net <'> - New York

=============================================================

See you soon,
:o)
Doug
=====
Post to the entire list by writing to snegazers@brainiac.com.
Unsubscribe by mailing to majordomo@brainiac.com with the message body
"unsubscribe snegazers"