A few weeks ago, the new line of Abbe orthoscopic eyepieces was presented on the official website of the well-known Japanese company Takahashi. For more information on this interesting optical design, I recommend rereading Raffaello Braga's article, republished months ago on the pages of Astrotest.it.
SkyPoint, the official distributor of Takahashi products, sent me almost all of the available focal lengths this afternoon: 6, 9, 12.5, 18, 25, and 32 mm. Unfortunately, it won't be possible to test the 25 mm focal length.
I remind readers that this optical design is much loved by lunar and planetary observers, as it has always received special attention from German and Japanese manufacturers of medium- to high-end astronomical optics. Thanks to the simple 3+1 lens design, these interesting accessories should provide excellent sharpness and excellent stray light reduction. Their apparent field of view is stated at 44°. The company also notes that these new eyepieces will work very well when paired with the Takahashi 2x Barlow.
Precisely to verify this assertion, I purchased this last accessory from Skypoint which, as visible from the photographs, will also be compared with other Barlow lenses.
The article, which will be published in the next few weeks, will also include a comparison with various eyepieces suitable for high-resolution observations: TMB SupoerMono, Abbe Circle-T, Baader Genuine Ortho, Takahashi LE, Clavè, Zeiss Abbe I and more.
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Piergiovanni Salimbeni - Journalist and independent tester, founder of Binomania.co.uk, with over 25 years of experience in evaluating optical and digital instruments. It offers practical reviews and personalised advice for informed purchasing choices.