Pentax

[Diver (Paul)]

Hi.

Hs anyone had any bad experiences with Pentax Lenses?http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/....eyepopping.gif

[dannat (Daniel)]

Wrong link I think it's goes to a eye pop face

[JethroB76 (Jeff)]

I have owned several pentax EPs over the years (XF, XL etc), all were super performers, really comfortable to use in terms of eye relief etc and all felt like they were extremely well made.
So no, no problems here.

[Screwdriverone (Chris)]

Hi Paul,

I have a Pentax XF 8.5mm and its a glorious piece of kit.

Beautifully made and the performance of it is astonishing.

Mine cost $230 new so it is a great bang for your buck proposition.

Cheers

Chris

[mercedes_sl1970]

Hi Paul

I have had experience with the XF8.5mm and echoing Chris, it is a lovely lens at a great price. I ended up selling mine only because I managed to find a secondhand XW10mm and the 8.5mm wasn't being used. The XW10mm is a fabulous lens and works exceptionally well in my 200mm f6 dob and 100mm f13 refractor. The views are very sharp, contrasty and stars seem to sparkle.

Can't comment on others except for a Pentax 8-24 zoom which was also rather good.

Andrew

[skies2clear]

Paul,

my experience is a bit like the link. Had to rest my eyeballs for a while.

But seriously, no issues with the XW's I have. All excellent.

[Greenswale (Wren)]

I have four Pentax XW.

No issues whatsoever, no intentention of going to anything else. Very comfortable to use, superb views.

[Waxing_Gibbous (Peter)]

I diverge.
I find that they (XWs)positively demand correct eye position. I found them quite tiring and they gave me neck-ache.
I confess that I'm in the minority here and I am not really slagging them, as, when I did get them 'working', the views were outstanding.
Very high contrast and a nice flat field.

[bobson (Bob)]

I am with Peter in this. I have 10 mm XW.
Some people here think that one shoe fits all. Just because majority of people think so doesn't mean you will too. The best way to find out is to try first. Go to star party and have a look yourself before you make a decision.

cheers

PS

When I say "some people" I didn't think anyone in this post in particular. There was similar discussion before where a few of them could not believe someone doesn't like Pentax eyepieces as much as they do.

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

Originally Posted by Waxing_Gibbous

I diverge.
I find that they (XWs)positively demand correct eye position. I found them quite tiring and they gave me neck-ache.
I confess that I'm in the minority here and I am not really slagging them, as, when I did get them 'working', the views were outstanding.
Very high contrast and a nice flat field.

Hi Peter/Diver,

If you aren't used to using them and don't adjust the twist up eyecup correctly, they can be a little difficult to use. The long eye relief can make it difficult to hold the exit pupil. Once you get used to using them they are simplicity itself and very comfortable to use for long periods.

If you don't wear eye glasses the first thing to do is wind the eye cup right up to minimise the eye relief. You then need to learn to back off the eyepiece a little. Most people who haven't used them before just "mash" their eyeball hard up against the eye guard. The last thing you need to do is "learn to keep your head still" and not move it around like Noddy the Clown. You will get "blackouts" if you do.

I have 5 Pentax XW's (5,7,10,14 and 20) and an 8.5mm Pentax XF. The 14mm and 20mm need a paracorr (which I have) to deliver their best in a fast newtonian. The 5mm,7mm and 10mm XW's are outstanding in every respect and about as good as it gets IMO. The 8.5mm Pentax XF while cheaper than the XW's is also an excellent eyepiece.

And to prove I am not biased, I also have 9 Televue eyepieces and accessories. 31mm Nagler T5, 27mm Panoptic, 22mm Nagler T4, 17mm Nagler T4, 13mm ETHOS, 12mm Nagler T4, 8mm TV Radian, TV Paracorr, 2.5X TV Powermate, 1.8X TV Barlow.

At the 14mm and 20mm focal lengths if you don't have a paracorr their are better options IMO. At the shorter end of the scale, 5mm to 10mm and 8.5mm XF, they are exceptional eyepieces.

Cheers,
John B

[Merlin66 (Ken)]

I use the Pentax SMC XW 8-24mm Zoom for solar observing. I tried the TV/ Meade/ GSO and the Pentax was miles better!
So convienent....

[Greenswale (Wren)]

I concur with John's comment on eye location and use of the eyecup. After experimenting with series of EP, including many with short eye relief, the change to the Pentax reqired a bit of an adjustment.

By experiment, I found that I like the eyecup wound up a fair bit, this enables me to rest my nose against the outside of the eyecup for critical work, where eye position needs to be very stable.

One of the main reasons for going with Pentax was comfort. I can spend a heap of time at the eyepiece with no eye strain, something that I did not experience with a lot of other makes.

One of the joys of the XW (or indeed most wide field of view EP with reasonable eye relief) is 'looking around' in the eyepiece to take in the entire view - this is really spectaclar with my 30mm. Sort of like flying around the firmament, if one lets go a little...............!

[Simon Holmes (Simon Holmes)]

Can anyone comment on this two eps?
I have a Baader Hyperion and thinking of adding a Pentax to my collection.
Both made gives about the same fov,Hyperion 69 deg against Pentax 70 deg.
I am happy with my Hyperion 17mm purchase, as it cost me less then $200.
Wish I have a Pentax side by side with my Hyperion so I can do an A,B comparison.the Pentax cost almost twice and it would havevto out perform the Hyperion convincingly for me to part with my cash.
Would anyone have a chance to own both and gives some feedback?

[dannat (Daniel)]

Wasn't a big fan of the Hyperion I had (glad I didn't buy it new), what focal length xz r u considering & in what scope

[GWING (Greg)]

The other night I tested the Pentax 10mm against a Russell Optics 2" 10.5mm Super-Wide Konig 65° FOV:http://www.russell-optics.com/two_inch.html on the Orion Nebula. No doubt the Pentax is a great ep, however the differnce between them was so minor I can't see sending the extra money. -Greg

[Ian Flowes]

So, is the Pentax XW a superb ep, as I am about to but one from Optcorp for US$340 delivered?
Or perhaps, I should just purchase an ES 82 fov ep for just $99?

[Suzy]

I haven't tried the Explore Scientific range but I hear good things about them. To my knowledge (this has come up before) I don't know of anyone on this forum yet that has an XW to compare with an ES. I wouldn't mind trying out an ES 82deg 5mm so I may just buy one at some stage- such a great price at $99.

I have both the XW10 & 7mm. Love them. They'll be buried with me.
Seriously, and many Nagler owners suffer this problem too, you'll quickly get over getting used to any fussy eye positioning problems you may encounter. My 10mm has never been a problem for me, my 7mm when I first used it I was grrrrrr this is tricky, but guess what ... yes, I soon got used to it. Once the cup is adjusted to the desired height, you just leave it, works for me.

There is very good reason why Naglers and Pentax are highly regarded. Both are mighty fine eyepieces. However your choice will dictate comfort/preference levels.
My own personal reasons I chose to go with the XW's over the Naglers were: I had to have the 20mm eye relief which Naglers couldn't give me (if you're an eyeglass wearer, you will need this), I have a 15mm eye relief eyepiece and I don't like the short distance. I prefer 70 deg over 85 deg as I don't have to work so hard to look around the eyepiece, 70 deg it seems for me, gets everything in just perfectly. I also don't want too much sky around an object I'm trying to observe, it distracts me. In a 30mm however, I love my 85deg as I can sweep the skies with it (not observe).
The stars through an XW are super sharp and even when the seeing is not so good, it's been a trooper for me and stayed sharper than my other premiums. Even being able to split the E & G stars within the Orion Nebula's Trapezium with it when the seeing has been poor. And that "G" star is a mag. 14.5! I don't know why, it just seems to cope better under poor seeing conditions than all my other eyepieces. Same with dew problems, never had a problem with dew on that eyepiece, whilst others have suffered poorly. It's super comfy and I can go the whole night observing through it.

Review for the XWs here from Cloudy Nights forum.

Final thoughts
No doubt that the venerable Nagler cut us loose from the tyranny of the narrow past, setting a new world-class standard most others have only yet modestly mimicked. I'm grateful that at least one company, Pentax, has taken the Tele Vue challenge completely serious and designed us a whole new breed of truly premium, perfection-quality eyepieces. In doing so, they have provided us with some exciting new standards of their own making; like modernization of the exterior and optical coating technologies pushed into new territory. Meade has also recently offered the Series 5000's. Their similar design to the XW would indicate that Pentax is a force to be reckoned with. No ocular is perfect, yet the XW's come as close as any - bar none in my humble opinion.
In recommending the Pentax XW's to you I hearken back to my first year in astronomy - 1972. A TV commercial was heard then to say:
"Try it, you'll like it!"

Ian, OptCorp are terrific to deal with, I'm sure you'll be happy with their service. They are prompt at replying emails and delivery is generally quick (I've gotten my orders inside a week) and they're extremely well packaged. I can't believe the XW7mm was selling here last year at over $700 yet I got it from OptCorp last year for only $340 delivered. Crazy!

P.S.
Take note of what John Bambury (Ausastronomer) has had to say here (and not by any means taking away from anyone eles's imput thus far)- he knows eyepieces very well and can back up his experience with over 30 years of observing. He's steered me well over the years.

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

Originally Posted by GWING

The other night I tested the Pentax 10mm against a Russell Optics 2" 10.5mm Super-Wide Konig 65° FOV:http://www.russell-optics.com/two_inch.html on the Orion Nebula. No doubt the Pentax is a great ep, however the differnce between them was so minor I can't see sending the extra money. -Greg

Hi Greg,

You need to compare them on a lot more targets than just one and more specifically a few targets that are threshhold targets for the aperture you are using, and not something that gives you sunburn of the eyeball. Not saying the Russell isn't a good eyepiece, just that you can't form any conclusions after viewing one target that is visible "naked eye".

Cheers,
John B