Pentax 20-60 zoom or not?? (1 Viewer)

Congratulations young Ian! I'm going on my first proper birding trip with mine this weekend and have been very impressed by the limited use I've had so far. I'm sure you'll enjoy yours too.

That was brave of you to try out the Hyperion zoom - sorry you haven't managed to achieve focus.

Tim

I don't see that anyone has directly answered the intial question of this thread: "Pentax 20 - 60 zoom or not ??"

I understand that the Baader 8 - 24, while the consensus best zoom, won't work on the Pentax 65ED. What then is the best alternative?

Nigel G apparently used a Pentax 20 - 60 zoom "for a year or so" and found it dark compared to the Pentax XW 20mm (not suprisingly). The Pentax XF 20-60, however, is a new lens, so it seems unlikely that Nigel can be referring to long acquaintance with that current model.

I can get a good $$$ deal on the Pentax XF 20 - 60, but its specs for afov and eye relief look rather lame, at least compared to the Baader. So, price independent, what zoom would you equipment experts choose?

In particular, has anyone directly compared the Pentax XF 20-60 zoom to the Vixon 8-24 that seems to be at the top of most lists? Is the Meade 8-24 internally identical to the Vixon, or are the materials / coatings different? Preferences between the two?

I am not an optics expert and thus just want to get the best zoom for the Pentax 65ED so I get back out in the field and see the wildlife that is out of range of my Leica 8x32s. I don't wear glasses so eye relief is less of a concern to me.

I appreciate any information that you folks who are optics experts can provide. Thanks. PAR

young ian said:

I then tried the Hyperion Zoom. Sadly,this eyepiece would
not reach focus.

Click to expand...

Thanks - at least last we now know this unfortunately won't work on the Pentax.

It seems a missed opportunity by Baader to design a great zoom which for birders only works without adapters on the zeiss diascope which already has a widefield zoom and the snynta/celestron ultima scopes which are are of lesser quality than Pentax. Yet the fixed eyepieces from Baader work fine on the Pentax, strange.

Oh well you win some...

PARAlaska said:

Nigel G apparently used a Pentax 20 - 60 zoom "for a year or so" and found it dark compared to the Pentax XW 20mm (not suprisingly). The Pentax XF 20-60, however, is a new lens, so it seems unlikely that Nigel can be referring to long acquaintance with that current model

Click to expand...

Just to clarify I bought my pf80 with the 20-60 ep as a package 3 years ago (May 04). Not sure therefore whether that makes it the XF lens or a previous model.

I hardly use the zoom

Hi,
I have a PF80 and I use the Williams Optics DCL28 ( 24mm ). It screws right into the CP4500. Real nice. I just got a XW20 and am anxious to try it out. I also have a XW14 but I find it's magnification a bit too much.

Like the title says: I hardly ever use the zoom even for just observing. I even have 2 DCL28s..... one that stays on the camera and one for just viewing... makse it easier to remove the viewing one and plug in the camera.

Gary