What’s up with Pentax binocular deals today? (1 Viewer)

[dozercsx]

Greetings,

I checked Amazon today and there are crazy deals with Pentax binoculars- at this moment you can get a Pentax UCF R 8x21 compact (sister to the Papilio) for $39 and a Pentax PCF WC 10x30 small Porro (think Kowa YF or Leupold Yosemite) for same! The 8x30 is $5 more.

Does anyone have any experience with the UCF R reverse Porro compacts? These seem almost too good to be true... but I have read that these are exceptional examples of compact Porros.

Any news on Pentax?

 

[Binastro]

Pentax reverse Porros vary a lot from very good, even superb, Japanese early ones to dreadful Chinese made 8x25 say 8 years ago to who knows now.
I would not compare a Papilio to these. They are different.

Try them is all I can suggest.
I think Pentax may be Ricoh now
Some Ricoh compact cameras were dire.
In the camera shop I visited they failed pretty regularly at 14 months. The warranty was 12 months.

B.

 

[PeterPS]

Greetings,

I checked Amazon today and there are crazy deals with Pentax binoculars- at this moment you can get a Pentax UCF R 8x21 compact (sister to the Papilio) for $39 and a Pentax PCF WC 10x30 small Porro (think Kowa YF or Leupold Yosemite) for same! The 8x30 is $5 more.

Does anyone have any experience with the UCF R reverse Porro compacts? These seem almost too good to be true... but I have read that these are exceptional examples of compact Porros.

Any news on Pentax?

I owned a Pentax UCF R 8x21 about 6 years ago and it was not bad at all. It can be an entry bino for someone with a limited budget.

 

[richard866945]

Pentax part of Hoya Corp

Just fixed a Papillo and it says Hoya Corp.

 

[lmans66]

Pentax reverse Porros vary a lot from very good, even superb, Japanese early ones to dreadful Chinese made 8x25 say 8 years ago to who knows now.
I would not compare a Papilio to these. They are different.

Try them is all I can suggest.
I think Pentax may be Ricoh now
Some Ricoh compact cameras were dire.
In the camera shop I visited they failed pretty regularly at 14 months. The warranty was 12 months.

B.

The Ricoh GR...fantastic camera for street photography....fantastic....
https://jimlehmann.squarespace.com/

 

[jan van daalen]

Pentax reverse Porros vary a lot from very good, even superb, Japanese early ones to dreadful Chinese made 8x25 say 8 years ago to who knows now.
I would not compare a Papilio to these. They are different.

Try them is all I can suggest.
I think Pentax may be Ricoh now
Some Ricoh compact cameras were dire.
In the camera shop I visited they failed pretty regularly at 14 months. The warranty was 12 months.

B.

In 2007 bought Hoya Pentax for 1 billion dollar and sold the camera division in 2011 to Ricoh.

Jan

 

[jring]

In 2007 bought Hoya Pentax for 1 billion dollar and sold the camera division in 2011 to Ricoh.

Jan

And the sports optics division was part of the deal and went to Ricoh too.

http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/products/binoculars/u-series/index.html

Joachim

 

[johnbaz]

I have a Pentax 8-20x24mm zoom binocular, The views are ok but the zoom is as many others, Not very good as the bino needs refocusing when used!

I should really stop buying zoom bins but I can't help myself, I need a help group to ween me off binoculars! :smoke:


John :t:

 

[iveljay]

Ricoh GR started as fixed 28mm film camera in 1990s, 2006 saw a pretty identical digital version produced, now much the same with 24 Mpixel APC sensor, still with fixed 28mm equiv lens. One of the worlds greatest cameras, but not a lot of use for most birders. Pentax produced great 35mm slrs a long time ago, but since then, they never really achieved greatness in the eyes of the buying public. Like many camera manufacturers they used their optics division to produce binoculars trading on their cameras reputation. Like Ricoh they produced 'me to' cameras and binoculars for the masses, and like Ricoh, they produced a few items which were good, nothing quite as legendary as the GR but very useable.

Of the binoculars/cameras branded Pentax I owned, I have a nice non-zoom reverse porro from way, way back and two pairs of Papilios Mk 1 and 2,left.
The lowest price I can find for a new 8x21 UCF R in the UK is about £66 most are around £79. If I needed a pair of small reverse porros at $39 I might be tempted to take a gamble. At full price I would want to try them first!

It appears I was mistaken, just the Mk2 Papilio left, the other two must have been sold at some time. I still have too many binoculars!