• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Best zoom for the PF65ED (1 Viewer)

John Fleet

Finally reached 300!
England
OK guys, let's have your thoughts. I currently have an Astro Engineering zoom on my PF65ED 95 % of the time. The flexibility of the zoom just does it for me. But this zoom is NOT parfocal which is a real pain.

I'm ready to upgrade. I don't want either of the Pentax jobs a) because they cost a fortune b) they are huge and c) in the case of the cheaper model, I understand that eye relief is way too short for a spectacle wearer such as myself to use comfortably.

so in essence I would like - 20 mm eye relief - at least 60 AFOV, light weight, (no point having a lightweight scope if you add a hand grenade of a lens) and above all Parfocal throughout the zoom range.

and it should be noticeably sharper and brighter than the one I've got to make the extra investment worthwhile.

suggestions and informed recommendations please!!

John F
 
John,

It has been a bit since I delved into the Pentax 65 ED threads so pardon my lack of experience at the present. I still have mine but have been using it with various fixed magnification eyepieces. What I do remember when I was really into the spotting scope forum last summer was that the Vixen Lanthanum zoom (around $180 IIRC) came fairly highly recommended because of the exotic glass and possibly the consistently good eye relief throughout the zoom range. I do not remember if it was/is parfocal though so I do not know if it will suit your needs but I thought I would mention it regardless.
 
FrankD said:
the Vixen Lanthanum zoom (around $180 IIRC) came fairly highly recommended because of the exotic glass and possibly the consistently good eye relief throughout the zoom range. I do not remember if it was/is parfocal though so I do not know if it will suit your needs but I thought I would mention it regardless.
Yes, I have this eyepiece and it is excellent, with excellent eye relief throughout its range. However, it is NOT parfocal. I have a feeling that you won't find such an eyepiece for much less than what the Pentax costs.
 
You could possibly be searching for the holy grail of zoom eyepieces with the desired feature set you list.

A thread from early last year includes one opinion that the astro engineering zoom is the equal of the vixen, so the vixen may not pass your requirement of substantial improvement:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=51051&highlight=Astro+Engineering+zoom

If you have a astro telescope supplier that stocks a decent range of 1.25" EP's within a reasonable driving distance, my advice would be to take your scope and current zoom shopping with you and take a look through a selection of EP's.

cheers
Paul
 
I have used the Pentax XF 6.5-19,the swarovski astro zoom 7.1-23 and the Vixen LV 8-24...the pentax xf was not nice to use for me,due to ER(short),the swaro is excellent ,but out of production and expensive ,the LV Vixen is cheap and very nice to use,very bright,great color rendition,in fact is very close to the swaro.recommended
 
Thanks for all the input guys; keep it coming!

Can anyone confirm whether the Vixen or indeed the TeleVue are, or are not parfocal? If they are not, then Paul may well be right and I may be as well sticking with my Astro Engineering Zoom. I'm not having any joy finding this on the web to enable me to assess whether or not my particular AE zoom lens is the same one which has been judged by one observer to be on a par with the Vixen lens

John
 
Hi John,

I'm actually considering purchasing a zoom but at this stage your selection criteria of being parfocal isn't high on the list of requirements.

That said, a quick google turns a few bits of info that indicate the Tele-Vue 8-24 is "not parfocal with itself". The Vixen, Meade and Tele-Vue 8-24 zooms are all apparently slightly customised versions of a zoom designed and manufactured by one Taiwanese company.
See this page for more detailed infos & review: http://www.astrosurf.com/luxorion/reports-tvzoom.htm

cheers
Paul

ps there is a nice zoom review here:

http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=1221
 
Last edited:
John ,stay with the astro engineering EP .I have that plus 2 pentax & 1 TV 8-24 & i have to refocus a bit on all off them when i zoom in or out . I think the AE is as good as the TV [vixen] same EP. Plus if your astro eng is the same as mine you have the added advantage of the 28mm thread for digiscoping .
Brian.
 
RAH said:
Well, I guess I can't really confirm something I myself said,

whoops! sorry RAH, didn't spot the comment re the Vixen; so that's out - looks as if this thread may have either saved me a deal of money or potentially cost me even more! - saved me money on buying another zoom, but now left me wondering if I should start saving my pennies for the mythical (to me, as I've yet to see one in the flesh) Pentax XW14 or learn to be content with that which I have!

John F
 
John Fleet said:
...but now left me wondering if I should start saving my pennies for the mythical (to me, as I've yet to see one in the flesh) Pentax XW14 or learn to be content with that which I have!

John F

If you do decide to squirrel away the pennies I don't think you would be the slightest bit disappointed with a XW14. The view through the combination of PF65 ED and XW14 is really quite stunning.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 17 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top