Humboldt Jim
Well-known member
My first fair trial of the Pentax PF-65 ED AN scope and XF-12 eyepiece took place today on the south side of Humboldt Bay from the Public walkway about ten feet above the outgoing tide. Weather was hazy-bright with very little breeze and in the mid 60’s F. Observation was, to say the least, comfortable. My views were with the sun at my back and to the right at right angles to the sun.
My first impression of the view was of color neutrality and clarity. The best bird of my short session was a male Common loon at least 100 meters away with the sun on my right. I was able to see two filaments of down stuck to its bill from preening. The spectacular black and white back pattern had no false color from the scope that I could detect.
A Western gull about 30 meters away in the same direction offered a CA test (No, it was not a CA gull!). The gull was facing the sun and its brilliant white breast contrasted with the blue bay water and the distant Redwood covered hills. I looked intently for CA at the breast/blue interface and thought that there might have been a hint of orangish CA noticeable if I changed focus slightly. But then, maybe I was looking too hard.
The XF-12 eyepiece provided just enough eye relief to allow a full field view with my glasses on. I’m glad I chose it rather than the XF Zoom for my use.
For anyone wanting a compact, reasonably priced, waterproof, high quality scope, I would recommend the PF-65 ED. To my eyes, there is little difference between this and some scopes costing over twice as much. Save yourself $500 to $1000 and take a trip to that exotic birding location!
Almost as good as the scope was the operation of the Manfrotto 701rc2 head. What a joy to smoothly move to the target and have it stay there by just doing nothing!
When I get more acustomed to the scope I’ll report on other eyepieces.
:t:
My first impression of the view was of color neutrality and clarity. The best bird of my short session was a male Common loon at least 100 meters away with the sun on my right. I was able to see two filaments of down stuck to its bill from preening. The spectacular black and white back pattern had no false color from the scope that I could detect.
A Western gull about 30 meters away in the same direction offered a CA test (No, it was not a CA gull!). The gull was facing the sun and its brilliant white breast contrasted with the blue bay water and the distant Redwood covered hills. I looked intently for CA at the breast/blue interface and thought that there might have been a hint of orangish CA noticeable if I changed focus slightly. But then, maybe I was looking too hard.
The XF-12 eyepiece provided just enough eye relief to allow a full field view with my glasses on. I’m glad I chose it rather than the XF Zoom for my use.
For anyone wanting a compact, reasonably priced, waterproof, high quality scope, I would recommend the PF-65 ED. To my eyes, there is little difference between this and some scopes costing over twice as much. Save yourself $500 to $1000 and take a trip to that exotic birding location!
Almost as good as the scope was the operation of the Manfrotto 701rc2 head. What a joy to smoothly move to the target and have it stay there by just doing nothing!
When I get more acustomed to the scope I’ll report on other eyepieces.
:t:
Last edited:
