Hello,
I've always been a Pentax fan. Camerawise, I've owned a 6X7, two LXs an a couple of spotmatics back in th early 70s and lots and lots of pentax camera lenses. I've always thought their optics were very underrated as I considered them the equal of Nikon, Olympus, etc.
Well, since becoming interested in astronomical equipment again, I've been a bit apprehensive about the very high cost of the Pentax oculars. I've used Naglers and know they perform well, but until last Friday night I had not used a Pentax lens.
I was at the local observatory, like I do many Friday nights, working with our club showing the public some of the better sky objects through one of the Meade 10" GPS CATS the club/observatory owns. We were viewing M2 through a Meade 26mm plossl, the sky was clear, though a bit bright, and the gc looked really good. The guy with me said he would like to see it under higher magnification but we didn't have another lens with us. He disappeared into the observatory which houses the clubs 20" RC and came back with a Pentax 11mm (if I remember correctly). When he popped it into the scope I couldn't believe the difference in the view. The image appeared much brighter even though the magnification was more that double and the resolution was greatly increased. I assume the image appeared brighter because of increased contrast, but I don't know for sure. The eye relief was great and the lens provided a much more comfortable view.
This rather long story (Heck, I'm Cajun and it takes us five minutes to say hello) relates the fact that I am now disatisfied with the complete set pf Meade eyepieces that came with my 10" CAT (which is still too heavy and I am still deciding what to do about that.) and I see many greenbacks flying out of my bank account to purchase Pentax and other eyepieces of equal quality.
I guess I have just joined the eyepiece hunters club in the classified section of this site.
Anyway, I guess with premium eyepieces you do get what you pay for. I wish everything was like that.
BTW, for those of you in the know. What are some of the top quality manufacturers/eyepieces that should be considered when building a top notch set? I know Nagler and Pentax, of course, but what other brands are in that class?
Thanks. If you read all this stuff I just wrote, I really appreciate your time.
Good skies everyone.
Tom B.
I've always been a Pentax fan. Camerawise, I've owned a 6X7, two LXs an a couple of spotmatics back in th early 70s and lots and lots of pentax camera lenses. I've always thought their optics were very underrated as I considered them the equal of Nikon, Olympus, etc.
Well, since becoming interested in astronomical equipment again, I've been a bit apprehensive about the very high cost of the Pentax oculars. I've used Naglers and know they perform well, but until last Friday night I had not used a Pentax lens.
I was at the local observatory, like I do many Friday nights, working with our club showing the public some of the better sky objects through one of the Meade 10" GPS CATS the club/observatory owns. We were viewing M2 through a Meade 26mm plossl, the sky was clear, though a bit bright, and the gc looked really good. The guy with me said he would like to see it under higher magnification but we didn't have another lens with us. He disappeared into the observatory which houses the clubs 20" RC and came back with a Pentax 11mm (if I remember correctly). When he popped it into the scope I couldn't believe the difference in the view. The image appeared much brighter even though the magnification was more that double and the resolution was greatly increased. I assume the image appeared brighter because of increased contrast, but I don't know for sure. The eye relief was great and the lens provided a much more comfortable view.
This rather long story (Heck, I'm Cajun and it takes us five minutes to say hello) relates the fact that I am now disatisfied with the complete set pf Meade eyepieces that came with my 10" CAT (which is still too heavy and I am still deciding what to do about that.) and I see many greenbacks flying out of my bank account to purchase Pentax and other eyepieces of equal quality.
I guess I have just joined the eyepiece hunters club in the classified section of this site.
Anyway, I guess with premium eyepieces you do get what you pay for. I wish everything was like that.
BTW, for those of you in the know. What are some of the top quality manufacturers/eyepieces that should be considered when building a top notch set? I know Nagler and Pentax, of course, but what other brands are in that class?
Thanks. If you read all this stuff I just wrote, I really appreciate your time.
Good skies everyone.
Tom B.
The EP is the most important piece of equipment in the inventory. It can make the difference between a good and a great view.
Are you going to Deep South Regional Stargaze at Percy Quinn next week. If so, you'd be welcome to look thru my Pentax eyepieces there. I have a 21, 10.5 and a 5.2.