Celestron Accessory Kit by Celestron
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Digital camera reviews of Celestron Accessory Kit
Digital camera Review: Celestron eye-piece accessory
Summary: 5 Stars
I have used all 5 of the eyepieces and the Barlow 2X with my Celestron Nexstar 8" SCT. I am pleased with the variety of eyepieces provided and found the 6mm, 9mm, 15 mm and 32 mm to perform very well. The 4mm has been used less frequently. To have a family of eyepieces to choose from at the price of $119 is a good value. The 2X barlow works very well with 9mm and above eyepieces and also with the 25 mm standard eyepiece. I have not had a chance to really use the filters yet but am confident they will provide enhancements as designed. The same item was found on Hungate's website at $149 and was priced at $199 in the local Hungate store. I purchased at Amazon for $119 and free shipping. The time of order to delivery was about 1 week. I would highly recommend to a beginner that is anxious to have a variety of eyepieces to view the planets. Better quality is available but the kit provides a handy storage and travel case with expansion spaces. I even store my camera's lens adapter there. After all is said, I am glad I bought the kit and consider it a very good value.Digital camera Review: Celestron kit
Summary: 5 Stars
Celestron Accessory Kit
This is a perfect kit for the beginner astronomer, as it contains most of the eyepieces neeeded for casual viewing. The 32mm Plossl eyepiece, provides great views and a wide angle. The package arrived on time and is as advertised. I am happy
Digital camera Review: Decent Lens Kit
Summary: 5 Stars
This kit provides all the range needed for a beginner - I even combined the smallest lens (4mm) with the barlow, for great images of craters on the moon (on a very clear night). This theoretically exceeds my F9 scope's usable magnification, but works farily well anyway (with the reflector mirrors properly collimated). Tried a few filters with OK results - perhaps they would produce more dramatic changes on a scope larger than my small 3" Newtonian reflector. These lenses have a very nice "machined" feel, and the range of included sizes is about right for my purposes. Actually I decided on one or two lenses (in combination with the barlow) for 75% of my viewing - mostly planets and the moon, with my limited experience so far. The two lenses included with my Celestron scope compare closely to these, although optically these are somewhat cleaner across the view field and are better-built. I keep the two original lenses in the same case in the spare slots, along with a small flashlight in the other slot. Definitely a great buy to expand lens selection if you are starting out and limited to just a few basic varieties. An experienced enthusiast would likely want to spend time researching a fewer number of more expensive lenses, especially with a higher-end scope. I recommend a case even if you buy individual lenses, for convenience and protection - this one is really nice and included along with all the filters and lenses for just over $100.Digital camera Review: Disappointing...
Summary: 1 Stars
After reading the reviews a bought the accessory kit. I compared the eyepieces and the barlow with standard inexpensive plossls (orion, knigth owl, gso) and the celestron's optics looked the worst one. I sold the kit after 2 weeks...Digital camera Review: Eh... I guess if you have money to waste
Summary: 2 Stars
The kit is overpriced. The 4mm eyepiece that comes with it is completely unusable. The eye relief (the space between your eye and the eyepiece) requires you to push your eyeball into the lens. As a matter of fact, nearly all of the eyepieces have horrible eye relief. The one I use most from the kit is the 9mm lens. You have to be pretty close to the opening in order to see anything. All of the eyepieces feel cheap. It seems like they're made in China - completely out of plastic. A few times, pulling the protective cover off of the 9mm, I felt as if I was going to break it. The barlow suffers from the same problem. It's cheap. But at least it's decent. Optically, it's alright. I could see paying $20 for one.
The case everything comes in is actually really nice. It's well built, kind of tough, and has ample space in it. You could easily add a few more eyepieces. Of everything that came with the kit, I plan on holding on to the case for sure. I'm not sure of why or what I should use the filters for. After some reading of the instructions, I discovered I should use the lunar filter (it's blue) to take a picture of the moon with my cell phone. It cut down on the brightness but gave the moon a slight blue tinge. The picture I took looks like it's in grey scale. Before, the moon was way too bright to snap a picture of, so I guess that's one reason to use a filter. I tried out a few more and I don't think I liked them. I'm sure some people know how to use them, but I don't see myself getting much milage out of them for the time being.
If I could do it over again, I'd probably only buy two or three really nice eye pieces. My 6se came with a 25mm. So then I'd get a 10mm X-Cel eyepiece (with more eye relief), a barlow lens, and maybe a wide field eyepiece from Celestron's Ultima LX series. An X-Cel 10mm lens costs $50, a better quality barlow will set you back $35. Already, you'd have a nice set of magnifications with real quality eyepieces that's 40-50 dollars less than the kit. You'll get tons more use out of just those two eyepieces (plus the lens included with your scope) than you will with the kit. I guarantee it. If you wanted to splurge, you could get a wide view eyepiece for $120. After viewing a few messier objects, I'm going to want one.
In conclusion, skip the kit. Figure out which eyepiece you'll want by taking the focal length of your scope and dividing it by the eyepiece. For instance, my scope is a Celestron 6se. It's focal length is 1500mm. So, we find that with the included eyepiece, it has a magnification of 60x. With a 10mm eyepiece, you'll get 150x. With the barlow, you can get 120x and 300x (probably pushing it). You now have a good range of magnifications to see just about anything in the night's sky. If you choose to spend a little more and get a wide field lens as well, you'll be loving life.