Tele Vue Panoptic 35mm 68° Eyepiece - 2"

The 35mm Panoptic: A 68° Field Defined by a 38.7mm Field Stop

Al Nagler's guide gives Panoptics a 68° apparent field, against 50° for Plössls and 82° for Naglers. The 35mm's 38.7mm field stop sets the true field, a low-power view for large deep-sky objects.

To calculate the true field of view (TFoV) in your telescope, use the formula: TFoV = (Eyepiece Field Stop ÷ Telescope Focal Length) x 57.3. For an 8" SCT with a 2032mm focal length, the Panoptic 35mm yields a 1.1° true field at 58x, about twice the full Moon's width. The Pleiades (M45), about 2° across, need a shorter telescope: in a 1000mm telescope the field is 2.2°.

24mm Eye Relief for Full-Field Views with Eyeglasses

With 24mm of eye relief, more than the 15mm to 20mm suggested for observers who wear glasses to correct astigmatism, the Panoptic 35mm suits eyeglass wearers.

The eyepiece accepts Dioptrx (Y in the chart), which attaches and locks onto the top and replaces glasses for astigmatism. You're more likely to see a sharper, higher contrast image with Dioptrx than with eyeglasses.

The Paracorr Type-2 in Newtonians

Newtonian and Dobsonian telescopes show coma, which makes off-center stars look like little comets; no eyepiece removes it. Tele Vue's Paracorr Type-2 eliminates it and lets an f/3 mirror perform like an f/12 without it.

Scopes faster than f/5.0 see the greatest results. The Paracorr has a 1.15x magnification factor, so the 35mm acts like a 30.4mm, and in an f/4.5 scope the exit pupil drops from 7.8mm to 6.8mm, inside the 7mm limit for reflectors.

2x to 5x Magnification with Tele Vue Barlows & Powermates

Instead of buying a full set of short focal length eyepieces, you can use the Panoptic 35mm with Tele Vue's image amplifiers to achieve higher powers. Al Nagler's guide suggests choosing a long focal length eyepiece with comfortable eye relief and using image amplifiers to increase power.

Tele Vue makes Barlows and Powermates in 2x, 2.5x, 3x, 4x and 5x. A 2x makes the Panoptic 35mm act like a 17.5mm eyepiece.

Panoptic 35mm vs. 41mm & 27mm: Building Your Eyepiece Set

Comparisons from Tele Vue's chart:

• vs. Panoptic 41mm: The 41mm has a 46.0mm field stop, the 2" maximum, and 27mm of eye relief. The 35mm gives more magnification and a smaller exit pupil; at f/5.2 the 41mm reaches 7.9mm while the 35mm gives 6.7mm.
• vs. Panoptic 27mm: The 27mm has a 30.5mm field stop and 19mm of eye relief, more magnification and a smaller true field.

Build and Accessories

The Panoptic 35mm has 6 elements in 4 groups. Do not unscrew the chrome barrel, or the lenses will fall out, voiding the warranty.

Tele Vue's insert says it accepts BandMate filters (Nebustar, O-III, H-Beta), which pass select wavelengths and darken the sky so nebulae "pop out".