William Optics DCL 28 versus Scopetronix Maxview 40 (3 Viewers)

MS722 · Dec 10, 2003

Greetings!
First of all, let me say that as someone relatively new to the world of digiscoping, this forum has been immensely helpful! So many of my questions have been answered just by browsing through the board.

Now on to my question:

I have a Pentax 80 with the zoom eyepiece and a Coolpix 4500. Overall I am quite pleased with the scope, with one major exception. DO NOT be fooled by the Pentax factory claim of 22mm of eye relief for the zoom eyepiece. No matter what zoom level the eypiece is set at, it does not come close to this distance. This has led to an unsatisfactory amount (at least for me) of vignetting. I tried fiddling with various adapters, but have decided to go with a different eyepiece instead.

I've narrowed it down to the William Optics DCL 28 (which already has 28mm thread rings for the Nikon camera) and the Maxview 40 Pentax variant. The William's eyepiece will give me 21X magnification, while the Scopetronix will get me 12.6X.

Is there anyone out there who has had experience with one or the other (or both) who could give me some more insight? I'm leaning toward the William's because its about $90 less, and has the 28mm threads.

Any opinions/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Michael Smith
Gallatin, TN
USA

Jay Turberville · Dec 11, 2003

MS722 said:
Greetings!
I've narrowed it down to the William Optics DCL 28 (which already has 28mm thread rings for the Nikon camera) and the Maxview 40 Pentax variant. The William's eyepiece will give me 21X magnification, while the Scopetronix will get me 12.6X.

Is there anyone out there who has had experience with one or the other (or both) who could give me some more insight? I'm leaning toward the William's because its about $90 less, and has the 28mm threads.

Any opinions/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Michael Smith
Gallatin, TN
USA

I have no personal experience with either, but the WilliamOptics page says that the DCL 28 has only 16mm of eye relief. This would seem to be well less than ideal.

The Scopetronix STWA18 looks like it might be a decent solution. It apparently is able avoid vignetting over nearly the entire zoom range of a CP99X/4500 camera. The eye relief is 19mm which is just barely short of the 20mm that you would be looking for, but the 66 degree AFOV means compensates for this somewhat. This eyepiece would yield 28x with your scope which is on the long side of what you want for magnification. But because you can use it at the lower zoom settings, it should provide you a range of around 1100mm to 4400mm equivalence. If you show restraint and don't zoom past the 3X point, this eyepiece will probably give you very good results.

Of course, it would be best if you could get a testimonial from someone using this eyepiece. But the number suggest this would be a good match and the price seems pretty reasonable.

MS722 · Dec 11, 2003

Jay,

Thanks for the reply...this sounds like a good alternative for me. Whichever one I decide on, I'll try to post some pics once I get the eyepiece and take some shots.

Michael Smith

normjackson · Dec 12, 2003

Here's an old thread at StevesForums that might be of interest :
http://www.stevesforums.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=8539

wjober · Dec 19, 2003

I have the DCL-28, the Pentax scope and the cp4500. I am new to digiscoping and have only had the opportunity to use this equipment for a few days in my backyard. The DCL-28 seems to be a good match. It has more eye relief than the zoom eyepiece that comes with the Pentax. There is some vignetting at 1X (7.8mm) as shown by the attached pic. I think it disappears somewhere around 10-12mm but I haven't made the effort to pin this down.

Were you able to eliminate vignetting at any zoom setting with the Pentax eyepiece? I’ve thought about getting an adapter for it, but I don’t know if it is worth it if the vignetting is too severe.

Bill

MS722 · Dec 19, 2003

"Were you able to eliminate vignetting at any zoom setting with the Pentax eyepiece?"

Bill,

The only way I found to eliminate the vignetting using the Pentax zoom eyepiece was to unscrew the eyeguard from the front of the eyepiece. But even then I had to zoom in the camera somewhat. Since (for now anyway) I consider myself a birder first, this was not an arrangement that I was satisfied with.

I just ordered the Sopetronix Maxview 18mm Pentax variant, which according to the reviews I've read (on the Scopetronix website), pretty much eliminate vignetting throughout the entire zoom range. Once I receive the eyepiece and have had a chance to test it out, I'll post some pics.

Regards,
Mike

Doug Greenberg · Dec 28, 2003

I have a similar setup to yours, including a Coolpix 995 and the Pentax PF80-ED scope. I decided on the William Optics eyepiece because it was my impression that the 18mm. Scopetronix eyepiece provides more magnification than I can handle, particularly as a digiscoping novice.

It's true that at the lower zoom range of the Coolpix there is vignetting, but the truth is that when I shoot bird photos I nearly always want to crop to the center of the frame anyway.

What I have found is that I get my best results with this setup at the lower-to-mid zoom range of the Coolpix. When I zoom out toward 3x and further the images almost invariably get softer.

MS722 · Dec 31, 2003

Thanks to all of those who replied.

I got my Scopetronix eyepiece last week, and I've attached one of the pics from my first set of shots. It is totally un-edited, all I did was re-size it a little bit.

The bird is a Lapland Longspur taken at approx. 8-10 meters.

Comments/opinions are welcome since I am new to this and could definitely use some pointers.

Good Birding,
Mike

wjober · Jan 1, 2004

MS722 said:
....I got my Scopetronix eyepiece last week......

Do you have the version of the Maxview 40 designed specifically for the Pentax scope? Is it free from vignetting over the entire zoom range of the cp4500?

Are you satisfied with the sharpness at 3x and 4x? Many cp4500 users report that sharpness is degraded at higher magnifications. That is also my impression with the Williams DCL 28.

Bill

Paulyoly · Jan 5, 2004

if you want the best possible pictures using the pentax 80ed then you need to spend the $200-$240 and get the pentax xl-28(18x) eyepiece, all these digiscopeing eyepieces can't match the pentax, but if your pics are exceptable with the scopetronix then don't bother, here's one taken using the pentax scope with pentax xl-28 and cp990

http://www.pbase.com/image/21511422

here's my gallery

http://www.pbase.com/paulyoly/digiscoping_with_pentax_80ed&page=1

there is almost no vignetting with the xl-28(less than the picture posted above), i normally shoot in macro mode at around half zoom.

that tern was much closer than 10 meters, probably 5 meters. here's a duck taken from atleast 10 meters.

http://www.pbase.com/image/17199455

The digiscoping eyepieces are attractive because they come threaded, but if you want sharp pics then get the pentax xl-28 and adapter. When i was looking for an eyepiece someone tried to sell me a dcl-28 because they bought the xl-28 to compare them, I figured i'd better buy the xl-28 after that.

Doug Greenberg · Jan 5, 2004

Paulyoly said:
if you want the best possible pictures using the pentax 80ed then you need to spend the $200-$240 and get the pentax xl-28(18x) eyepiece, all these digiscopeing eyepieces can't match the pentax, but if your pics are exceptable with the scopetronix then don't bother, here's one taken using the pentax scope with pentax xl-28 and cp990

What adapter(s) do you use to attach the xl-28 to your Coolpix and Pentax scope? I currently am using the William Optics DCL-28 but am interested in something better if it's out there.

Paulyoly · Jan 5, 2004

Doug Greenberg said:
Paulyoly said:

if you want the best possible pictures using the pentax 80ed then you need to spend the $200-$240 and get the pentax xl-28(18x) eyepiece, all these digiscopeing eyepieces can't match the pentax, but if your pics are exceptable with the scopetronix then don't bother, here's one taken using the pentax scope with pentax xl-28 and cp990

What adapter(s) do you use to attach the xl-28 to your Coolpix and Pentax scope? I currently am using the William Optics DCL-28 but am interested in something better if it's out there.

Click to expand...

doug i sent you an email. try posting in the digiscoping adapter forum and ask what adapters will work with the pentax xl-28, the one i know for sure is the eagleeye L1 adatper www.eagleeyeuk.com , but they are way overpriced.

William Optics DCL 28 versus Scopetronix Maxview 40 (3 Viewers)

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