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Originally Posted by PeteMo
I'm looking at the 12-13mm eyepiece range and am drawn to the Pentax XF 12mm and Hyperion 13mm as they are both $215
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My main concern about the XF range is that Pentax state that this a bird watching eyepiece for spotting scopes, yet Frontier Optics tout it as a Planetary Eyepiece. Is this also OK for Deep Sky, Nebulae, Clusters and dare I ask Galaxies?
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It will be awesome on galaxies and nebulae. The XWs are also marketed by Pentax mainly as spotting scope EPs.
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Am I correct in treating the XF as an XW with only a 60 degree Apparent Field of View, with an excellent bank to buck ratio compared to the more expensive wider angled Pentax sibling?
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The XW is also better i.t.o. comfort but the XF is pretty good already. The 10mm XW has no visible field curvature the 14mm XW has more than the 12mm XF. I don't find the FC of the 12mm XF bothersome except perhaps on the moon which comes close to filling the FOV in a 1200mm FL scope.
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The scope will be an F4.72 SkyWatcher/Saxon 10" dob, which is why I picked on Steve.
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Hey! Stop picking on me!
If you can afford the 10mm XW, go for it - it's the best DSO and whole-moon-in-fov lunar EP for that scope IMO - but if not the 12mm would be a great general purpose DSO EP also. Leaves the 13mm Hyperion well behind IMO. OTOH the Vixen LVW is worth considering as an alternative. Different characteristics and style of EP. I like both the XFs and LVWs for different reasons. Could not pick a winner but for my purposes the XF suits better. Best if you try compare taking your time with each EP.