BW-Optik 30mm 80Ëš Ultrawide

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BW-Optik 30mm 80Ëš Ultrawide
I got mine from the Chinese factory which made it.

I've a Japanese Widescan to compare side by side. The Widescan is lighter, and have a larger field stop, the eye relief seems a bit longer with the BW Optiks but I later found that it is not.

With the Widescan, the whole field cannot be seen at once and it gives me a feeling that its eye relief is shorter, but in fact, it's the field of the BW Optik is smaller so it is easier to see it whole!

Detail comparison shows that, the barrel on the BW Optik is thicker, so giving a smaller field stop and thus a smaller field. The eye relief is the same, but with the smaller field, you can easily see to the field stop, giving an impression that there's more eye relief.

At 1/3 the price, the BW Optik is a MUCH BETTER buy.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:8 Value:10
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=250276

BW-Optik 30mm 80Ëš Ultrawide
I am new to astronomy and still finding my way around, so please read this review with that in mind. I went to Anacortes Telescope but they were out of stock. I ordered the BW from them on-line and it arrived within a few days. I have a 5.9 - 8” Newtonian. My first reaction after popping it in was “Wow”. This is my first “wide field” ep so I was pleased at the gorgeous wide view. Yes, the stars at the edges were somewhat warped, but that did not diminish the experience. I had previously been considering a short-tube refractor for wide fields, but this eyepiece gives me the same effect for a bargain price. I am very pleased. It’s great for just slewing around and taking in the sights, or excellent as a finder. The plastic bolt case it comes shipped in, and the caps seem of lesser quality, but better than none. The finish is ok, about a 7 from 1 – 10. This is my new favorite ep.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Value:10
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=256233

BW-Optik 30mm 80Ëš Ultrawide
This is a duplicate of another vote that I made when I was not logged in. But I have one other fact to add: I bought this eyepiece used via Astromart for $85 shipped.

I'd echo pretty much all the comments of the other voters. This is a fine wide-field eyepiece. I would add, though, that it is pretty large and heavy. 1.2 pounds doesn't sound like that much, but it's by far the biggest eyepiece in my collection -- bigger than the 32 mm UO Konig that it replaces. This size is no problem for me, but it will make it cumbersome to barlow. Unfortunately I do not have a 2" barlow so that test will have to wait.

Compared to the UO 32 mm Konig, the BW has better contrast and much more comfortable viewing. The eye relief is just short of perfect, and the field is definitely much wider.
I did not notice the softness at the outer 25% of the field until I specifically went looking for it. Yep, it's there. But you probably won't notice it in practice unless you are nuts.

Very good eyepiece, superb value, a solid "true" 9.

Regards,
MTB

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:8 Value:10
Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=277206

BW-Optik 30mm 80Ëš Ultrawide
I received this EP this past week from Anacortes, and have been using it with an 8inch f/5 newtonian. The optics are very sharp in the inner 75% of the field, but starts to go soft in the outer 25%. This eyepiece is almost identical to the Apogee/Kasai (SP?) 30mm widescan II in every respect. The lenses have the deep green/blue appearance typical of good multicoatings, and the lenses are blackened on the edges. Fit and finish is very good.

As the ad states, there is no kidney bean effect when using this eyepiece. I also tested it on Jupiter and noticed no ghosting or reflections whatsoever. This eyepiece is the equal of the widescan II at half the cost, and with a wider fov. Nice, sharp optics and incredibly wide FOV.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Value:10
Weight: 12 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=238146

BW-Optik 30mm 80Ëš Ultrawide
This eyepiece is not even close to sharp on axis in a well colimated F/5 Newtonian (when compared against an eyepiece of known high quality), and it gets FAR worse from there. Try it side by side against a Celestron 30mm Ultima Plossl on the moon, and it will reveal itself to be an utter joke. Soft throughout, yielding up a truly "blue moon", and with horible color fringing to boot. At the same time the Ultima is truly tack sharp throughout, completely color neutral, and exibits no color fringing. When the Ultima costs ~$20 less (at Adorama at least), why would anyone want one of these pieces of trash. 80 degree AFOV vs. 52 degree AFOV is no excuse to toss good money after bad.

Overall Rating: 4
Optics:4 Value:4
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=302362

BW-Optik 30mm 80Ëš Ultrawide
Spending a couple hours with this in my premium 8" f/6 newtonian with very sharp optics, I realistically thought that only the center was truly sharp--perhaps 15 or 20%. Outside of that, it gets progressively worse. The center ~50% I consider "useable"--i.e. if you want to actually look at stars beyond that, they are just too smeared to enjoy. I seem to remember my two previous Widescan IIs were slightly sharper farther away from center and they might have had a tad higher contrast after I edge-blackened them.

But edge sharpness is not the point with this eyepiece, in my opinion. If you are a premium eyepiece and equipment fanatic with deep pockets and are intolerant of aberrations of every kind, you should look elsewhere. But as is noted in numerous other eyepiece reviews, you simply don't need to use the edge of the field when the view is wide enough, and it's nice to have the extra stars there. It does what it was made to do--create a palpable "spacewalk" effect. I took this to a star party a couple months ago and tried it in numerous telescopes and everyone was impressed with the views for the price of this eyepiece. "It's really only $100?" was something I heard many times. I agree, at $100 +/-, it is a best buy and a no-brainer.

Overall Rating: 7
Optics:5 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=302895

BW-Optik 30mm 80Ëš Ultrawide
Excellent eyepiece on an f10 scope, with only mild edge softening. Image softens at the edge dramatically with increased speed however, so that I found this ep completely unuseable on an f4.5 dob. Will serve its purpose very well for a SCT, MCT or slower refractor, but I wouldn't recommend it at all for f5 or faster scopes. My rating is for a slower focal ratio scope only. Don't spend the money on this if you've only got a fast reflector.

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:7 Value:9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=324004

BW-Optik 30mm 80Ëš Ultrawide
This is a must get eyepiece if you own a Chinese 6" f/8 refractor. The views are comparable to panoptics at a fraction of the cost, with a wider FOV. Good edge sharpness @ F/8. I do not recommend it for faster systems, though. I have an 8" f/5.6, and the edge sharpness falls off rapidly at about 65% FOV. Panoptics and Naglers come into their own on faster systems, but if you own a scope slower than F/6, this is the eyepiece to get! Highly recommended!

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:8 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=347301

BW-Optik 30mm 80Ëš Ultrawide
I was amazed at the quality of the images viewed in a heavy light pollution area. There are better, but you are going to pay a lot more for only a slight gain.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=347368

BW-Optik 30mm 80Ëš Ultrawide
The closest to a Nagler 31mm T5 that I'll ever get, and a really terrific price . . . the WOW factor is in major play when observing through this eyepiece!

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:9 Value:10
Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=353888

BW-Optik 30mm 80Ëš Ultrawide
I own the Celestron 9.25" SCT, and because of its slow focal ratio of f/10 this eyepiece is superb. I actually had the opportunity to compare this eyepiece to the 31 Nagler at WSP. When looking at the Orion nebula, it seemed to have a bit more contrast then the Nagler. I tried to tell myself that there is no way this EP could compare to Televue, so I had a friend take a look and he must have read my mind because he said the same thing.....slightly more contrast. The Nagler was sharper of course and this EP is much lighter then the Nagler....no need to rebalance. I'm not saying this EP is a Nagler by any stretch, but for the difference in price ($520) it is an incredible value for someone on a budget.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:8 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=355206

BW-Optik 30mm 80Ëš Ultrawide
Overall a fairly respectable eyepiece for the money. I was quite surprised. The throughput is very good, coatings seemed good, comfortable to use, and very nice for daytime use too.

However at night, it's very obvious that it doesn't come close to the 31 Nagler in performance (or the UO 40mm MK-70), especially at the edges, and in faster scopes. While very sharp on axis (I was impressed there), the BW starts to exhibit softness around 50% out from center and continues to get worse towards the field stop. The last 7%-10% is almost unacceptable, and shows astigmatism too, even in an f/7 scope. The eyepiece also suffers from quite a bit of curvature, and there's just no way to make the stars appear to be anywhere close to in focus all the way across the field.

One thing I did notice is that the eyepiece appeared to be more like a 32mm-35mm rather than 30mm. Several objects appeared to have smaller angular size than in the 31mm Nagler, and I'm not sure the AFOV is really 80* either. The difference between the 82* of the 31 Nag and the supposed 80* of the BW is significantly more than what I expected, and I'd say mine is probably closer to 75* - not much larger than the AFOV on the MK-70. I have not verified this with star timings, but objects just appear to be less magnified than in the 31.

It's a good value no doubt, and I'd say it's worth it even for daytime use only, where I think it is better suited. But I think there's other eyepieces out there that aren't too much more expensive that will perform noticeably better for astronomical use. I'll be selling mine very soon.

Overall Rating: 7
Optics:7 Value:9
Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=354966 

>Overall a fairly respectable eyepiece for the money.  I was quite surprised.  The throughput is very good, coatings seemed good, comfortable to use, and very nice for daytime use too.
>
>However at night, it's very obvious that it doesn't come close to the 31 Nagler in performance (or the UO 40mm MK-70), especially at the edges, and in faster scopes.  While very sharp on axis (I was impressed there), the BW starts to exhibit softness around 50% out from center and continues to get worse towards the field stop.  The last 7%-10% is almost unacceptable, and shows astigmatism too, even in an f/7 scope.  The eyepiece also suffers from quite a bit of curvature, and there's just no way to make the stars appear to be anywhere close to in focus all the way across the field.
>
>One thing I did notice is that the eyepiece appeared to be more like a 32mm-35mm rather than 30mm.  Several objects appeared to have smaller angular size than in the 31mm Nagler, and I'm not sure the AFOV is really 80* either.  The difference between the 82* of the 31 Nag and the supposed 80* of the BW is significantly more than what I expected, and I'd say mine is probably closer to 75* - not much larger than the AFOV on the MK-70.  I have not verified this with star timings, but objects just appear to be less magnified than in the 31.
>
>It's a good value no doubt, and I'd say it's worth it even for daytime use only, where I think it is better suited.  But I think there's other eyepieces out there that aren't too much more expensive that will perform noticeably better for astronomical use.  I'll be selling mine very soon.
BW-Optik 30mm 80Ëš Ultrawide
Great eyepiece in slower telescopes. Even in my fast ones it does well, with the only problem being some softness at the edges. Even then it does a good job at contrast and overall transmission.

I don't understand the complaints - there is no other eyepiece in this focal length and price that comes close to this good of performance.

Don't expect it to be a $500 Nagler - but expect it to best the KK 30mm, and the popular Erfle sold by Hands On Optics.

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:8 Value:10
Weight: 7 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=419920

BW-Optik 30mm 80Ëš Ultrawide
As already made clear in previous votes, performance from this eyepiece is entirely dependent on the telescope being used. My voting score is based on an average of all telescope focal lengths. But if i was to narrow it down it would look like this:

f4-f6 reflector/refractor - only central portion, perhaps 20% is sharp. Steadily gets worse as it goes out. Last 15% unuseable. In a telescope this fast i would urge people not to buy this eyepiece. 2/10

f7-f9 - used in my f9 ED100 this eyepiece is now starting to perform nicely. Edge deteriotation is now confined to the outer 25% only. It also barlows up nicely. 7/10

f10+ - now in its optimum focal ratio telescope. Performs wonderfully in my C8 and barlows a treat for widefield look at Saturn. 9/10

A good eyepiece in the right scope.

Overall Rating: 7
Optics:6 Value:7
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=510664

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