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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Can't decide Pentax PH65 ED or Nikon Fieldscope III (1 Viewer)

heres something to think about down the road......

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2-1-25-Ultra-...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4cec27dbd3

get one with a focal length of 16mm or 18mm. SHop about tho, as they are about for £150

ALso worth experimenting with....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Telescope-Mea...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item518f9bb728

Quite a few 80degree lens around, in the 150-200 dollar price bracket, there are some in the $100 bracket, but no idea if they any good.

DO a search for lanthanum eyepieces.
 
I am going to keep my eye out for a XW10 or a XW14,

After some reconfiguring I've now got an XW10 and XW20. W/ the Pentax 65 that's approx. 40x and 20x respectively. Add in a set of 10x bin's and we've got a pretty decent magnification range. I had the xw14 before this whole shake-up and that is an AWESOME ep. If I were to have just 1 EP for this scope, that would be it. 28x is a very good compromise where power and FOV is concerned. I just wanted a little more versatility and I felt that zooms gave up too much. Now after a few days in the field I'm sure I made the right decision. The Xw20 is unbelievably crisp and clear and the xw10 is probably about as far as you can go X-wise. The 8.5xf was just too much.
Just my 2 cents.
Good Luck!
 
Youngtrout, I would get the XW 14 and not look back! Will cover 99% of your viewing any more than that and the atmosphere will win 9 out of 10 times! Check other post's in different optics forums on here as well, most people myself included prefer about 30x in a wide fov EP. And this is with any scope not just the Pentax! This little scope shines within these types of magnafications, any more than 40-45x is pushing the limit on most 65mm scopes any ways!!! Bryce.
 
I had the xw14 before this whole shake-up and that is an AWESOME ep. If I were to have just 1 EP for this scope, that would be it. 28x is a very good compromise where power and FOV is concerned.

Youngtrout, I would get the XW 14 and not look back! Will cover 99% of your viewing any more than that and the atmosphere will win 9 out of 10 times!

Bingo!

To those who have looked through it, the XW14/PF65 combo is a little bit of magic.
 
Nobody's mentioned the Baader Hyperion zoom.

Perhaps because it mostly doesn't work at infinity on the PF65 (unfortunately, as its otherwise a great EP). There has been a lot written about this.

But there is that medinabrit report of it working with a corrector that bumps the magnification a little. But I've seen no followup on that from anyone else.
 
There has been a lot written about this.

But there is that medinabrit report of it working with a corrector that bumps the magnification a little. But I've seen no followup on that from anyone else.

Plus, I'm pretty sure someone posted about changing the o-ring in the scope (pics and all) to let the ep slide in another 1/8" or so to allow focusing @ infinity.
Trying to find it...
 
Good point, Yipeekiay. I'd forgotten about that one. One of Snyd's posts, IIRC?

meade 5000 uwa ep is a nice EP. I have one.

The Celestron X-Cel's also look good and are inexpensive too though they are quite large!

The old SWAN are very nice and very wide. Similarly the EWA (Knight Owl and others).

All have been mentioned in the subforum.

Plus adding a $10 corrector to the Baader zoom means you don't have to modify the scope.
 
I am going to keep my eye out for a XW10 or a XW14, I know these will preform better in the scope. One reason, at the start of this thread with going with the pentax was the ability to use different eyepieces, always figured I'd end up with more than one

Go with the 30x. You loose too much light with the 40x on a 65mm scope.

finno
 
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