PENTAX 65 ED vs. PENTAX 80 ED (1 Viewer)

Zolarcon · Feb 25, 2005

Hi BF,

Today I drove and drove to test the Pentax 65. They had a Pentax 65 ED with 28X WA (new model eyepiece- forgot the name) and Pentax 80 ED with SMC XL 20x - 60X. I put both side by side. By the way the Pentax 65 ED is the smallest "high end" optics scope I've ever seen. Very very small in comparisson to the 80.

I zoomed the 20x- 60x eyepiece on the 80 to 30X and the 65 had the new 28X.

For some reason I could resolve more detail with the 65 then I could with the 80?

How can that be, is it because it is fixed e.p.?

Also on the 80 there was a yellow color cast and the 65 was very neutral in color. Is this the eyepiece or the scope?

Both were sharp, good contrast and brightness both could be a bit snappier. I assume Nikon will pull that off.

Between the 65 and 80 in brightness was like splitting hairs. The little 65 is a great contender and possibly a better choice. Still waiting to get the Nikon FS3 ED/ 30x wa next to it and see what it can do.

Best regards,
Carlos

hinnark · Feb 25, 2005

Zolarcon said:
Hi BF,

Today I drove and drove to test the Pentax 65. They had a Pentax 65 ED with 28X WA (new model eyepiece- forgot the name) and Pentax 80 ED with SMC XL 20x - 60X. I put both side by side. By the way the Pentax 65 ED is the smallest "high end" optics scope I've ever seen. Very very small in comparisson to the 80.

I zoomed the 20x- 60x eyepiece on the 80 to 30X and the 65 had the new 28X.

For some reason I could resolve more detail with the 65 then I could with the 80?

How can that be, is it because it is fixed e.p.?

Also on the 80 there was a yellow color cast and the 65 was very neutral in color. Is this the eyepiece or the scope?

Both were sharp, good contrast and brightness both could be a bit snappier. I assume Nikon will pull that off.

Between the 65 and 80 in brightness was like splitting hairs. The little 65 is a great contender and possibly a better choice. Still waiting to get the Nikon FS3 ED/ 30x wa next to it and see what it can do.

Best regards,
Carlos

Carlos,

the opinions about the Pentax 80 ED are widespread from great (see for example the review at betterviewdesired) to poor (Alula review). I have only one time the opportunity to try the 80 (the Pentax scopes seem to be hard to find in Europe) and was disappointed about this scope´s performance but I know some credible persons who are satisfied with their piece. This indicates that their might be a sample variation issue with this scope. I guess the samples with not convincing performance like yours just aren´t in perfect adjustment. The optical construction of the 65 Pentax is brandnew and I guess the engineers of Pentax made an optical design that is different from the years older 80 version. Nowadays most users don´t like color casts with their optics but a few years earlier this was quite common and hunters still prefer yellow casted optics because this increases contrast in the dawn. I would like to see more reports about the new Pentax and a comparison with recent top small scopes like Nikon, Leica and so on would be very interesting. So keep us posted about your further findings.

Steve

zack2 · Feb 25, 2005

Did you try swapping the eyepieces (fixed 28x in the PF-80ed, zoom in the 65ED), and see if what effect this had on the view through each scope? This would help determine whether the differences you saw are attributable to the scope or the eyepiece...

Zack

Zolarcon · Feb 26, 2005

zack2 said:
Did you try swapping the eyepieces (fixed 28x in the PF-80ed, zoom in the 65ED), and see if what effect this had on the view through each scope? This would help determine whether the differences you saw are attributable to the scope or the eyepiece...

Zack

I did swap and found that the zoom was still not up to par to the new 28x eyepiece. The zoom looked a little better in the 80 and the 28x still looked better through the 65. Weird wonder why?

zack2 · Feb 26, 2005

Zolarcon said:
I did swap and found that the zoom was still not up to par to the new 28x eyepiece. The zoom looked a little better in the 80 and the 28x still looked better through the 65. Weird wonder why?

That is weird. Possibly the zoom was a bit darker, and therefore benefitted more from the additional light gathering ability of the 80ED??

I'm a bit confused by your reference to the 'new' 28x eyepiece. The new XF eyepieces which Pentax released for the 65ED are 8.5mm (46x) and 12mm (32.5x). The Pentax eyepiece which would yield 28x on this scope is the 14mm XW, one of their large premium astronomical eyepieces which is also used with the 80ED. The 14XW has a huge field of view and a reputation for being one of the finest astronomical eyepieces available (it's also quite large!) -- is it possible that this is the fixed-length eyepiece you were using?

Zack

Zolarcon · Feb 26, 2005

zack2 said:
That is weird. Possibly the zoom was a bit darker, and therefore benefitted more from the additional light gathering ability of the 80ED??

I'm a bit confused by your reference to the 'new' 28x eyepiece. The new XF eyepieces which Pentax released for the 65ED are 8.5mm (46x) and 12mm (32.5x). The Pentax eyepiece which would yield 28x on this scope is the 14mm XW, one of their large premium astronomical eyepieces which is also used with the 80ED. The 14XW has a huge field of view and a reputation for being one of the finest astronomical eyepieces available (it's also quite large!) -- is it possible that this is the fixed-length eyepiece you were using?

Zack

I am confused as well. I was under the impression that the wide angle eyepieces are new. And that is why I mentioned the 28x as new e.p. Can you tell me more about this 32.5x? Maybe its even better opticlly? I have not heard about it. THis eye piece stuff is very confusing to me. Can you give model # or model description>

Yes fixed length.

Carlos

HokkaidoStu · Feb 26, 2005

Zolarcon said:
I am confused as well. I was under the impression that the wide angle eyepieces are new. And that is why I mentioned the 28x as new e.p. Can you tell me more about this 32.5x? Maybe its even better opticlly? I have not heard about it. THis eye piece stuff is very confusing to me. Can you give model # or model description>

Yes fixed length.

Carlos

The 32.5X is called the XF12. It's the one I use on the 65mm scope-it's half the price of the premium XW eyepieces.. The XW ones are fairly newish I think and probably replaced the XL ones. There are also XO eyepieces too (you can find XL/XO on e-bay easily). Still confused? I am.

Look at

www.pentax.co.jp/english/products/sougan/scope

I bought a 8-24mm zoom eyepiece off e-bay (an "unbadged" Vixen according to the seller) for $80.......I'll post how good (or bad!) it is when I receive it........

zack2 · Feb 26, 2005

stuprice68 said:
The 32.5X is called the XF12. It's the one I use on the 65mm scope-it's half the price of the premium XW eyepieces.. The XW ones are fairly newish I think and probably replaced the XL ones. There are also XO eyepieces too (you can find XL/XO on e-bay easily). Still confused? I am.

The XW series did replace the XL series, about 18-24 months ago. They have a larger field of view than the XL's (70 degrees versus 65 degrees), and apparently the coatings were also slightly improved. Otherwise very similar - large, heavy, waterproof, and expensive!. The XW's come in 7mm, 10mm, 14mm, and 20mm lengths. They all have 20mm eye relief

The new XF eyepieces are roughly half the size, weight and cost, are not waterproof (I think), have a 60 degree field of view, and 18mm eye relief. They currently come in 8.5mm and 12mm lengths.

Zack

Zolarcon · Feb 28, 2005

Nikon FSIII wins for me.

Hi BF,

I spent half the day at a pond with the Pentax 65 ED (A) with XW 14mm (28X). Not too impressed but for the price it's a very fine instrument.

The Pentax 65 ED- view has good contrast but could be better. Sharpness, color was very good but not up at the top. Also Brightness was excellent- really excellent brightness! I absolutely love the weight and size of this scope it's amazing what they pack in a small size. I can't remember what the size of the new FS3 is but I'll take it. I think I will end up with the Nikon FS3 ED A with 30x/wa.

For an extra 200 some- odd dollars the Nikon FS III ED is the only choice.
The times I look through the Nikon FS ED I am always pleased and impressed. I remember the views through the Nikon FS3 months later.

Carlos

RedBishop · Feb 28, 2005

I find this whole story around the Pentax PF-80 ED with the zoom eyepiece to be very odd.
I own one, and I'm more then pleased with it.
I compared it side by side to a Zeiss 85 (zoom eyepiece) and to Swarovski 65 ATS (zoom eyepiece) and found it to be no less clear then these two.
Yes, it's a little bulky and heavy, but It's light gathering is very impressive and the details are pin sharp from edge to edge, focus wheel is fantastic and the price is half and more then any other top-end, moreover, in my birding I hardly find myself more then 500 meters away from my car, so weight is no considiration for me (extra weight is about 500g)

The one difference I did noticed is that once zooming to full power you need to refocus a little, something that was not required in the Swarovski scenario. But I pay this price any day with this price margin !

zack2 · Feb 28, 2005

Zolarcon said:
I spent half the day at a pond with the Pentax 65 ED (A) with XW 14mm (28X). Not too impressed but for the price it's a very fine instrument.

The Pentax 65 ED- view has good contrast but could be better. Sharpness, color was very good but not up at the top. Also Brightness was excellent- really excellent brightness! I absolutely love the weight and size of this scope it's amazing what they pack in a small size. I can't remember what the size of the new FS3 is but I'll take it. I think I will end up with the Nikon FS3 ED A with 30x/wa.

This surprises me. I've heard from several people that if anything they slightly preferred the PF-65ED optically to the Nikon FieldscopeIII 60ED, and that was without using the Pentax XW14 eyepiece -- and the XW fixed length eyepieces are generally considered the best wide-view eyepieces made, with the possible exception of the Tele Vue Nagler eyepieces. Were you directly comparing the PF-65ED to any other scopes at the pond? If not, is it possible that viewing conditions were mediocre, and this had an effect on your evaluation of the scope?

Incidentally, how was the balance of the scope when you used it with the XW eyepiece? I've been thinking about this combination myself, but that eyepiece is a big chunk of glass -- it weighs a third of what the scope itself weighs -- and I'm concerned it might make the scope WAY back-heavy.

Zack

Zolarcon · Feb 28, 2005

zack2 said:
This surprises me. I've heard from several people that if anything they slightly preferred the PF-65ED optically to the Nikon FieldscopeIII 60ED, and that was without using the Pentax XW14 eyepiece -- and the XW fixed length eyepieces are generally considered the best wide-view eyepieces made, with the possible exception of the Tele Vue Nagler eyepieces. Were you directly comparing the PF-65ED to any other scopes at the pond? If not, is it possible that viewing conditions were mediocre, and this had an effect on your evaluation of the scope?

Incidentally, how was the balance of the scope when you used it with the XW eyepiece? I've been thinking about this combination myself, but that eyepiece is a big chunk of glass -- it weighs a third of what the scope itself weighs -- and I'm concerned it might make the scope WAY back-heavy.

Zack

Wow I never heard that about the 65 ED. I even made a posting about these 2 scopes and no one ever said that. Where did you hear it?

The conditions were a little less than perfect but not by much. Eye placement was important. Balance of this little scope was a dream.

If you have any threads comaparing the Nikon FS3 60 ed to the pentax 65 ed I would love to read it. Also found no reviews on the Pentax 65 ED? Brightness and color were excellent everything else was little under excellent? I like the eyepiece. It is large but well balanced.

Still no scope has been so color neutral to my eyes. Wow.

As far as the 80 goes it's a bit too much scope for the slight differnce in performance.

Just one opinion that I hope helps,
Carlos

zack2 · Feb 28, 2005

Zolarcon said:
Wow I never heard that about the 65 ED. I even made a posting about these 2 scopes and no one ever said that. Where did you hear it?
Carlos

Well, take with several very large grains of salt. I spoke with one dealer who preferred the PF-65ED to the Fieldscope, in part (I think) because of the color rendition. He had no stake in this, since at the time I talked to him he didn't have a PF-65ED in stock to sell! I've heard of one other informal report as well that the PF-65ED compared favorably to the Fieldscope, but can't remember exactly where/when. And you're right, I'm don't think there are any published reviews of the Pentax yet.

I suspect that any optical differences between the Nikon and Pentax may be due more to the various eyepieces used than the scopes themselves. Good to know that you found the PF-65ED handled ok with the XW eyepiece.

Zack

PENTAX 65 ED vs. PENTAX 80 ED (1 Viewer)

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