While they are called “orthoscopic” super wide eyepieces, they are not classic Abbe-type four-element orthos. The term “orthoscopic” here is used in the sense of meaning “free from optical distortion.” It comes from the prefix “ortho,” meaning straight, plus “scopic,” from the Greek “skopein”, to see. “Orthoscopic” literally means to see straight. And these new eyepieces do. Their radical new 6 element/4 group design eliminates almost all optical aberrations, much as a classic true ortho does. However, their true 68° field (far wider than the 35° to 50° field of an Abbe-type ortho) gives you the sharp and wide angle view of the heavens that ortho enthusiasts have been dreaming about for years.

Every Paragon air to glass lens surface has state-of-the-optical-art broadband multicoatings. The coatings are the best available, with ultra-high light transmission, giving you clear, bright views of the heavens. The coatings have 99.98 to 99.99% light transmission per surface (less than 0.02% loss), compared to the typical 99 to 99.5% transmission of conventional multicoatings. All lens edges are blackened to reduce internal reflections. All internal spacers and the field stops have flat black anodizing and micro-baffles on the edges to reduce reflections and off-axis flaring.

Each Paragon has a soft rubber two-position eyecup that snaps up for conventional use and snaps down for long eye relief use with eyeglasses. There’s a tapered safety undercut in their hard black anodized 2” barrels. This engages the thumbscrew of your telescope focuser to keep the eyepiece from falling to the ground should the thumbscrew accidentally loosen during use. Each TMB Paragon has a serial number engraved on the barrel. Their black anodized all-aluminum bodies are light weight and good looking. The lettering identifying each eyepiece name and focal length is highly visible in red light, so it’s easy to pick out the appropriate eyepiece in your accessory case. Dust caps for both ends of the eyepieces are standard equipment.