Forgot Password
Pentax Camera Forums Home
 

Reply
Show Printable Version Search this Thread
05-24-2011, 12:15 PM   #1
New Member




Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: London, Ontario
Posts: 3
Pentax Binocular's

Hello

I am in the market for some new binocular's. I hear Pentax has some pretty good binocular's. I will be using them for mostly general purpose/hiking/birding. I am thinking somewhere around 8x-42's. Does anyone have experience with Pentax Binocular's or binocular's in general for that matter. I am new to buying binocular's. I was also looking at a pair if Minox/Steiner one. Not sure which is better/personal preference. Some people like the German glass better.. Any thoughts?

05-24-2011, 12:30 PM   #2
Senior Member




Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Annapolis MD (USA)
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 247
Unlike testing a camera lens, your own eyes are the best guage for how well you'll like a set of binoculars. Visit a big retailer (in the US, I'd try Cabela's or Bass Pro Shop) and ask the clerk if you can leave your credit card or a wad of cash as a deposit. Take several pairs outside and see which ones give the best image, the worst image and rank them by quality. Then walk back into the store and buy the pair with the best image that fits your budget.

I'm partial to the Kahles brand from Austria but have found that the 80/20 rule applies: you may find a pair of Konus or Alpen or ??? that gives you 80% of the qaulity of Euro-glass for 20% of the price. Don't pay for supposedly better quality that you can't see with your own eyes.

Sig

Last edited by Sigmoid; 05-24-2011 at 12:32 PM. Reason: typo
05-25-2011, 12:58 AM   #3
Veteran Member




Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Southern England
Posts: 623
Yes, if you're spending a fair amount of money, I would say you definitely need to have a good test drive of the various candidates.

Things to look out for are:

1. Sharpness across the field of view.

2. Field of view (how "wide-angle" are they).

3. Brightness of image.

4. Colour fringing (e.g at edges of tree branches against bright sky).

5. Eye relief (how far can you move your eye away from the eyepiece - especially for spectacle wearers).

6. How accurately collimated (i.e. both optics pointing in the same direction). Very important to avoid eyestrain. Check for eyestrain by keeping each pair glued to your eyes for a decent period. Even good (but mass-market) makes (Pentax, Nikon etc.) can be poorly collimated.

Also, you should check that the optics are multicoated for all elements, and that there is decent UV protection.

Good luck and have fun choosing!
05-25-2011, 07:00 AM   #4
Banned




Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Virginia
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 1,363
All of the above are true..

We were looking for a decent but inexpensive pair for my wife's birding habit last year. We ordered some Nikon's but she didn't like them, ended up with a pair of pentax's for about 120 bucks and got a 25.00 gift card too. She loves them, were considering a second pair for me since we're planning on watching the hawk migration this year. The only negative is that the lens caps just plain suck. I think that there are rebates on them until June.

05-25-2011, 10:17 AM   #5
Site Supporter
Site Supporter




Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: SE Michigan USA
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 1,300
Several years ago, I bought a pair of Pentax "Papilio" 8.5x21 binocs for butterfly chasing. They are extremely close-focusing (1.6ft) and excellent. Took them to Italy/Greece for close-up viewing of paintings and sculpture in museums and architectural details. They are small, discrete and work great in-doors, as well. No complaints.
05-26-2011, 06:03 AM   #6
Veteran Member
LFLee's Avatar

Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Southern California
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 2,292
QuoteOriginally posted by Michaelina2 Quote
Several years ago, I bought a pair of Pentax "Papilio" 8.5x21 binocs for butterfly chasing. They are extremely close-focusing (1.6ft) and excellent. Took them to Italy/Greece for close-up viewing of paintings and sculpture in museums and architectural details. They are small, discrete and work great in-doors, as well. No complaints.
+1 !! Papilio series is really amazing. In close focus, its like bring a microscope with you, great if you visit botanic garden. I have one and was amazed by its quality.
The only complain I have with it is it is no water proof.

But there are several Pentax WP bino available and I believe they are equally good. Like old pentax camera, the bino is of high value. I bought mine from cameralandny.com great service - they even send me a bag of coffee, a Pentax sticker, and a Pentax cap - after I put in the comment box to tell them this is my first binocular.

You will not regret. My friend bought a bunshell one with similar price, and the quality is not comparable to the Pentax one.

Lee
05-26-2011, 09:04 AM   #7
Veteran Member
Ratmagiclady's Avatar

Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: GA
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 13,563
QuoteOriginally posted by LFLee Quote
+1 !! Papilio series is really amazing. In close focus, its like bring a microscope with you, great if you visit botanic garden. I have one and was amazed by its quality.
The only complain I have with it is it is no water proof.

But there are several Pentax WP bino available and I believe they are equally good. Like old pentax camera, the bino is of high value. I bought mine from cameralandny.com great service - they even send me a bag of coffee, a Pentax sticker, and a Pentax cap - after I put in the comment box to tell them this is my first binocular.

You will not regret. My friend bought a bunshell one with similar price, and the quality is not comparable to the Pentax one.

Lee

Ah, well, it's nice to see some good reviews. Those Papillo binocs are one of those things I'd like to try and get for my sweetie.

05-27-2011, 08:17 AM - 1 Like   #8
Veteran Member
LFLee's Avatar

Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Southern California
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 2,292
QuoteOriginally posted by Ratmagiclady Quote
Ah, well, it's nice to see some good reviews. Those Papillo binocs are one of those things I'd like to try and get for my sweetie.
That is what I get mine for...
so that when we go hiking I take pictures she can use the bino to look for interesting stuff and not get bored.... it works, she like it.

After a while I am looking one for myself too. Note that it is also good for far distance object. However, it give a unique '3d look' for objects like within 20ft-30ft - if you look at a flower, it is like the flower is printed on a card and all the background have a nice bokeh.
05-27-2011, 10:09 AM   #9
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Ahab's Avatar

Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Arnold, Md.
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 762
The Pentax mid-range priced bino's can go head to head with the high end bino's of other mfg's. And yes, the Papllio's are nice.
05-29-2011, 05:55 PM   #10
Veteran Member
Ratmagiclady's Avatar

Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: GA
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 13,563
QuoteOriginally posted by LFLee Quote
That is what I get mine for...
so that when we go hiking I take pictures she can use the bino to look for interesting stuff and not get bored.... it works, she like it.

After a while I am looking one for myself too. Note that it is also good for far distance object. However, it give a unique '3d look' for objects like within 20ft-30ft - if you look at a flower, it is like the flower is printed on a card and all the background have a nice bokeh.

I was thinking it might also save some steps for the examining-things purposes, (Occasionally some of those few steps would seem to be harder to traverse than others. ) I probably wouldn't mind a pair for me, (I used to have pretty remarkable eyesight, and I do miss it sometimes. But, anyway. )

Funny how Pentax marketing seems to be working, if perhaps a bit backwards from expectations, it's not brand loyalty, really, but
I'm the Pentax SLR user and because of this, I see all these clever little things they make that my dear one's right in the target market for. (Those little compacts like the WG-1 and W90 would also be great, I've been eyeing those for the same person for a while, now. )
06-03-2011, 02:56 PM   #11
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
ChrisPlatt's Avatar

Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Rockaway Beach NYC
Posts: 7,682
We own three pairs of Pentax binoculars of various types.
They are a good value but no match for the premium brands.

One look through a pair of Minox binoculars and you will understand...

Chris
06-05-2011, 10:12 PM   #12
Loyal Site Supporter
Loyal Site Supporter
david94903's Avatar

Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: San Rafael, CA
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 806
I have the Pentax 8x40 PCF WPII binoculars and absolutely love them. Here is a bit of advice that I'd recommend to anyone in the market for binoculars (this is true for any brand) - make sure they are snow/rain/fog/water proof. I live in an area that get's a lot of heavy fog, and I have learned through experience that if you don't have WP/FP binoculars, you may as well not have binoculars.

That being said, I did not buy my binoculars because they're Pentax, I bought them because they were exactly what I needed (and the ones that met all my criteria re: quality/cost) in a pair of good binoculars - the fact that they're Pentax is just luck.
06-06-2011, 10:47 AM   #13
Veteran Member
LFLee's Avatar

Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Southern California
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 2,292
QuoteOriginally posted by ChrisPlatt Quote
We own three pairs of Pentax binoculars of various types.
They are a good value but no match for the premium brands.

One look through a pair of Minox binoculars and you will understand...

Chris
Chris, can you recommend a model? ... price wise similar to Pentax one?
The papilio is my first (quality) bino so I have no experience in other brand.

Lee
06-06-2011, 11:30 AM   #14
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
ChrisPlatt's Avatar

Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Rockaway Beach NYC
Posts: 7,682
We use the Pentax Papilio 6.5x21 binoculars mainly for birding and occasional butterfly observation.
I chose these mainly for their exceptional close focusing ability, but they are a good general purpose model.
They are fairly compact, lightweight and inexpensive.
However they are not terribly bright, and so can be fatiguing to use at dawn or dusk.

We also own the Pentax 8x40PCF binoculars. They are much brighter, but also far larger and heavier.

Lastly I have a pair of Pentax 8x24 compacts. These are pretty dim but small enough to keep in the glove compartment.

In my experience for any given size the premium priced German-made binoculars are generally much brighter.
Though I cannot afford a nice pair of Leitz or Minox binoculars, for my occasional use the Pentax will do.

How to buy binoculars

Chris

Last edited by ChrisPlatt; 06-06-2011 at 11:54 AM.
06-07-2011, 12:48 AM   #15
Veteran Member




Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Flyover America
Posts: 4,469
I have been birding for 40 years. I own seven bins at this point - everything from 50 buck Nikons to to my wife's Zeiss 7x42s to my Leica 8x32s.

First to the inexpensive Asian glass vs costly German glass. I have watched over the years as the relative difference in image quality between say 300 buck bins and 1500 buck German glass get smaller and smaller. So much so that today a $350 chinese bins such as this:

Atlas Optics Intrepid ED 8x42 Binocular from Eagle Optics

Would probably give all the practical quality in a bin that you would ever need.

I would suggest you strongly consider for a field glass something smaller than a 8x42. Perhaps an 8x32 or 8x30. If you are going to be bashing through woods all day with bins hanging off your neck weight becomes a big deal and the difference in brightness is not all that big an advantage. An exit pupil of about 4mm is all you really will need.

Also for serious birding don't buy any with a FOV of much less than 400ft at 1000yds. About 7.5 degrees TFOV.

Also in general a porro prism bin will almost always give more bang for the buck optically than a comparable roof.

One man's opinion.

Last edited by wildman; 06-07-2011 at 01:04 AM.
Reply

Bookmarks
  • Submit Thread to Facebook Facebook
  • Submit Thread to Twitter Twitter
  • Submit Thread to Digg Digg
Tags - Make this thread easier to find by adding keywords to it!
pentax, tripod
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 07:16 PM. | See also: NikonForums.com, CanonForums.com part of our network of photo forums!
  • Red (Default)
  • Green
  • Gray
  • Dark
  • Dark Yellow
  • Dark Blue
  • Old Red
  • Old Green
  • Old Gray
  • Dial-Up Style
Hello! It's great to see you back on the forum! Have you considered joining the community?
register
Creating a FREE ACCOUNT takes under a minute, removes ads, and lets you post! [Dismiss]
Top