New Pentax ED vs. SP? (1 Viewer)

How much better than the SP can the ED be? It seems like everything but the ED glass and prism coatings is the same. It wouldn't take much improvement for them to rival the top guns.

Not that the SP is weak in these areas, but I think these are the improvements neccessary to join Nikon and the other three at the top:

1) edge performance - brighter, sharper and less CA
2) more walk-in view
(will ED glass do these? maybe 1, but not 2??)

I am very disappointed that the strap lugs appear to be in the same place - they are in the way for me. I'd prefer them rotated down (despite tilting effect when hanging), or better yet, streamlined like the Trinovids.


If anyone gets a chance to try these, please post.

It seems that the SP prices have fluctuated down since the ED came out. Are we about to see a discontinued SP, to be replaced by a renamed, tweaked, higher priced ED? I'm for it if the tweaks address key issues above. Otherwise, we're IMO just removing one of the few affordable quality roofs. I know this is speculation, but look what just happened to the Nikon EII.

Depends on 12x or 10x or 8x. At 8x you dont need ED so much.

APSmith said:

1) edge performance - brighter, sharper and less CA
2) more walk-in view
(will ED glass do these? maybe 1, but not 2??)

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I doubt it. There will be less color fringing, but everything else will be more or less the same. To get better edges and "walk in view" the entire system needs to be redesigned.
Notably, the 330 ft field of view for the 8x. Someone must be out of their mind to pay $900 for that.

Have you looked at a SLC 8x30 lately?

In my opinion the field of view and edge performance are probably the two issues that separate the SP from the European models. Neither of those issues is probably going to be remedied via a different style of glass or coatings. Lucas is correct. An entire redesign would be needed to remedy those two issues.

..and at the risk of sounding like a ranting idiot, I know Pentax advertised the SP series as having ED glass somewhere in the design so I really would like to put an SP next to an ED to see how much the image has been improved.

The FOV in the SP 32mm is 393' I think - not too bad. The 8x43 is the narrow one - agreed, don't see how this will sell.

Luca,
I have looked at the SLC. I wonder how many (more) of these could be sold if they had a conventional focus position. I am stuck in the mode where I would spend $800-1000 (maybe more??) on a roof with EII optical quality and good ergos. The SLC isn't there. IMO It's optically better than the SP, but not so much so to warrant the price - plus the focus thing hurts. The Trinovid BN and the Premier LXL are both closer to working than the SLC. But, I can't pay ~1K for a bin which doesn't give me a comparable view my EII with good handling, or a better view, or something novel like 10x mag, or some combination of these.

I think the bin which is closest to being "just right" is the one you like - Swaro EL 8x32 - I've liked it best consistently when I've tried in stores. I basically agree with everything you've said about it. The Zeiss FL is up there too, if you happen to pick up a cherry sample - but, the service has gotten some bad marks. These two are just too expensive from my current standpoint - still waiting, thinking about 10x options, wondering if the market is going to come up with an answer.

There is a new EII ($275) and a mint E ($200) on sale on fleabay. They will last you a lifetime.

Luca said:

There is a new EII ($275) and a mint E ($200) on sale on fleabay. They will last you a lifetime.

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I have one (8x30) and love it. I just need something to compliment it.

The 8x32 and 10x43 ED configurations look quite interesting to me. They use the same 5 element, 3 group eyepiece which has a reasonably wide 60 degree AFOV and 17mm ER, if the specs are accurate. The simple 3 element, 2 group 50 degree AFOV eyepiece in the 8x43 and 10x50 makes those much less attractive. I'm not sure what I think about using an aspheric "hybrid" eyepiece element which I assume means aspherizing on the cheap by bonding a molded aspheric plastic surface to a spherical glass element. I suspect using an additional "field-flattener" element, like the Nikon SE, works better. On paper the 8x32 ED has all the bells and whistles of the Zeiss 8x32 FL, ED glass of some unspecified type (surely Hoya) in a triplet objective, dielectric mirror coating and Pentax' excellent SMC lens coating.

Henry -- That's a very interesting observation. If I'm not mistaken, the configurations are the same as the current SP's, but without the ED glass. I own the 8x32s which I love, but I was never particularly impressed with the 8x43s. Perhaps that's part of the explanation -- does that explain why the 8x43s have such a narrow FOV? I'm looking forward to trying the ED's, but I'm hoping that they won't be so much better that I feel compelled to buy them!