PF-80a with Televue zoom
Hello All,
I've just gotten a PF-80 ed angled used for a very good price. The deal came with the Pentax 8-24mm zoom and the fitted bag. My other scope is a TV ranger with the TV 8-24mm zoom. I've had a chance to do some brief 4-way comparisons (2 scopes, 2 zooms). In resolution tests, the best combination was the Pentax/Pentax, followed very closely bythe Pentax body/TV zoom. The ranger body faired quite well given its smaller objective, but color correction was not nearly as good at 50-60x, with a considerable blue haze showing up. The fitted bag for the pentax works quite well, better than the Televue fitted bag.
In star testing, my pentax appears to be a good sample (thank goodness, b/c I got it used, sight unseen, though at a price that I wasn't worried about reselling if necessary).
To my surprise after reading the BVD reviews and other threads on zoom eyepieces, I found that my favorite combination was the Pentax body with the TV zoom. The Pentax eyepiece requires eye placement that is just-so. Moreover, the large diameter of the barrel causes me to frequently bump the eyepiece and jiggle the image with my nose-eyebrow. Kimmo's review was right on in the summary of this eyepiece-- for me it is a bit fatiguing. The TV zoom has a much more open comfortable view (I do wear thin glasses and both have adequate eye relief for me). Consequently, I think that many of the lukewarm reviews of this scope may more relevant to the zoom than the body (though the quality control issue does appear to be real). Kimmo, if you're still following this thread, have you had a chance to evaluate the pentax with zooms of other brands? Any thoughts?
At any rate, I'm planning to keep the pentax body - tv zoom combination and can hardily recommend this combo, especially for the price. I am toying with the idea of getting a zeiss zoom with astronomical adaptor (astronomics.com) instead for the increased FOV, though...
Cheers,
Chris C.
Hello All,
I've just gotten a PF-80 ed angled used for a very good price. The deal came with the Pentax 8-24mm zoom and the fitted bag. My other scope is a TV ranger with the TV 8-24mm zoom. I've had a chance to do some brief 4-way comparisons (2 scopes, 2 zooms). In resolution tests, the best combination was the Pentax/Pentax, followed very closely bythe Pentax body/TV zoom. The ranger body faired quite well given its smaller objective, but color correction was not nearly as good at 50-60x, with a considerable blue haze showing up. The fitted bag for the pentax works quite well, better than the Televue fitted bag.
In star testing, my pentax appears to be a good sample (thank goodness, b/c I got it used, sight unseen, though at a price that I wasn't worried about reselling if necessary).
To my surprise after reading the BVD reviews and other threads on zoom eyepieces, I found that my favorite combination was the Pentax body with the TV zoom. The Pentax eyepiece requires eye placement that is just-so. Moreover, the large diameter of the barrel causes me to frequently bump the eyepiece and jiggle the image with my nose-eyebrow. Kimmo's review was right on in the summary of this eyepiece-- for me it is a bit fatiguing. The TV zoom has a much more open comfortable view (I do wear thin glasses and both have adequate eye relief for me). Consequently, I think that many of the lukewarm reviews of this scope may more relevant to the zoom than the body (though the quality control issue does appear to be real). Kimmo, if you're still following this thread, have you had a chance to evaluate the pentax with zooms of other brands? Any thoughts?
At any rate, I'm planning to keep the pentax body - tv zoom combination and can hardily recommend this combo, especially for the price. I am toying with the idea of getting a zeiss zoom with astronomical adaptor (astronomics.com) instead for the increased FOV, though...
Cheers,
Chris C.