Vixen Lanthanum 4mm

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Brand and Model:Vixen Lanthanum 4mm
Price ($USD):$114.50
Type:Plossl
Focal Length:4 mm
Barrel Size:1.25 in
Apparent FOV:45.0 degrees
Field Stop Dia.:0.0 mm
Eye Relief:20 mm
Elements:6
Weight (lbs):
Description:

Vote Highlights Vote
Vixen Lanthanum 4mm
Great eyepiece for planetary work. The long eye relief ensures that my eyes are comfortable, allowing me to see more detail. The images are sharp as well. Doesn't have the biggest field of view, but who cares as this is obviously for planetary work.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Value:8
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=156690

Vixen Lanthanum 4mm
I am rating an Orion 3.8 mm version. Very good in terms of sharpness and contrast, providing very nice black sky background, and with very comfortable and usable eye relief. No ghosting. Image brightness and color purity / lateral color are it's storngpoints, and overal image quality is not as high as the Zeiss and Meade RG 4mm Orthos, but I can barely tolerate the 4mm Ortho's eye relief even without glasses. A Tak 4mm Hi-Ortho did not really offer that much of a better or brighter image, but was at a disadvantage in terms of eye relief to the LV. One nice thing about the Orion version is that it's rubber eyecup is softer and more pliable than the black Vixen models, which means that one can really roll down the eye cup if desired.

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: 8
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43204

Vixen Lanthanum 4mm
Excellent planetary Eyepiece.I have seen outstanding views of saturn and Juputer.Fantastic eye relief.A very well made Eyepiece.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Value:8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=409849

Vixen Lanthanum 4mm
Had a Apogee 3.6 Super Easy View which I sold as I grew tired of the uncomfortable eye relief. Had the two side by side one night, and make no doubt about it, the LV is optically vastly superior. Images snap into focus quite easilly. In comparison the SEV never quite seemed to get into focus. Image fidelity is quite impressive for something with this much glass. There is some minor lateral color. Contrast and brightness are surprizingly good. No ghosting noted. Images are sharp across the entire field. Eye relief is incredible. Extremely easy to find the view and hold it - very forgiving of positioning. FOV is small, probably a trade off for the eye relief and price.

In summary performance wise this eyepiece is likely not on par with the very best orthos or the new monocentrics, but quite frankly the 20mm eye relief makes for a much more comfortable view. Having the best eye piece in the world makes no difference if it is barely useable and full of eye lash gunk, or fogged over due to the proxmity of your eye. There is no doubt in my mind I will see more detail through this eyepiece simply because it is comfortable to look through so I will be looking for more than 10 seconds at a time.

Optics 10, Value a 9 due to Chineese clones floating about (although I have read they have some problems). Overall I'm very happy with this eyepiece so a 10.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Value:9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=298554

Vixen Lanthanum 4mm
I kinda really like this eyepiece. When I don't take out my big
scopes or just going camping, I always take it out with my
Takahashi FCL-90. Good choice for a high power eyepiece, great
eye relief.

daSentinel

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43205

Vixen Lanthanum 4mm
I just received the Orion 3.8 mm version of this eyepiece. I've only had it out one night so far, but I'm quite impressed with it. While I didn't make a direct comparison with any of my Radians, it seems to have *Radian like* performance. I let stars drift past the field stop and they remained point like all the way to the very edge until they just winked out, even in my fast F/5.6 refractor. Contrast was also very good. Much detail was visible against a black sky background with this eyepiece. Of course, eye relief was as good as it gets, without any black-outs. There was however, a little bit of stray light visible from time to time on bright objects like Jupiter. Still, I have noticed this same effect with my Radians. For those who charish long eye relief but cannot afford wide field designs, these are *THE* eyepieces to get.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43203

Vixen Lanthanum 4mm
Superb eyepiece! I have side-by-side tested the Vixens against Radians and they are just as good in every category. Stars are tack sharp right to the edge of the field with no fall-off in brightness. I have the entire set.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43202

Vixen Lanthanum 4mm
Good eye relief thats about all. better images for about half the price with a univesity optics ortho

Overall Rating: 6
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43201

Vixen Lanthanum 4mm
Very sharp and good contrast; eye relief is a real plus.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43198

Vixen Lanthanum 4mm
Great on the Moon under very good seeing.
Very good eye relief, but you can't put it into a photographic adapter tube, because of the rubber eye-cup.
If the seeing is less than excellent, just forget it, you see only strongly magnified turbulence.
It is also dificult to focus, naturally.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43197

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