Recommend a Spotting Scope Eye Piece

[SporterII]

I have a Pentax 80 ED w/ 20 to 60 zoom.
Way too much I think.
Is there a very good variable eye piece in a lower mag range that is fairly excellent quality?

 

[huntsman22]

just 'cause you have 60x, don't mean ya have to use it.......

 

[FourT6and2]

The Pentax uses the universal eyepiece mount, right? So you should be able to use any astrological eyepiece. But yeah, just because it goes to 60x doesn't mean you have to use it at 60x...

 

[SporterII]

Yes it is a standardized eye piece type and that's why I ask. If there is a preferred eyepiece with specs favorable to our usage here.
Wide fov, forgiving/ample eye relief,and of course compatable with this astronomy adaptable type. 15-50 Mabie?
I want to avoid buying a 15x bino

 

[SporterII]

just 'cause you have 60x, don't mean ya have to use it.......

Just cause I gots 20x dont mean I dont want less.Thats the point of different eye pieces.

 

[smoothy8500]

It seems eyepieces come in three basic styles, the 20-60 zoom, the 30X (depending which mfr) Wide Angle View, or the 25/27X Long Eye Relief. The 20-60 zoom seems to be most popular and possibly the more versatile. There are some 10-30X zoom but that may not be what you want or compatable. The Long Eye Relief (LER) is good for target/match shooting so you don't need to remove safety glasses to look into eyepiece. Wide Angle gives an expanded field of view.

BH Photo video is where I ended up buying a LER eyepiece for my Kowa. They have a wide selection. Not sure if the Pentax uses a 1.25" barrel but they may have an option for you. Worth a call to their tech people.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/E...ope%20eyepiece

 

[SporterII]

Good link. They describe a reduced fov with the xl eye relief.
I will speak with them.

 

[lash]

I have two eye pieces for my old Kowa, a 20x and a 30-60x (I believe from memory). For match spotting and general spotting, I find that I pretty much keep the fixed 20x on there and the 30-60x has found its way out of my kit and into a box at my house. I do think that a 10-30x would sometimes be useful, like when it gets really hot and the mirage starts to get too greasy. At those times, I'd like the option to back the power down some more.

 

[smoothy8500]

The FOV for the LER is less, so there is a trade-off. However, the LER is nice that you can be in position, and without breaking position, glance into the eyepiece and see your target. No need to get your eye directly on the eyepiece.

 

[NukeMMC]

I have a Kowa TSN-1 with a 25x LER. I use that spotter for the same thing I did shooting conventional rifle; evaluating conditions, looking for details (some competitions include gathering information) and watching impacts for other shooters.

It works and works well.

 

[NY700]

Celestron makes a 27x LER for $120


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[SporterII]

I called Pentax. B&H gave me some info and the number. Pentax was very helpful. The are draging out some eye pieces and going to set up a 80ED like mine. They Know what I need and sound very interested in sending me an eyepiece I will be happy with.
Second company to enthuisastically try to support my needs. Very happy already.

 

[smoothy8500]

Good to know that.

 

[daved]

There was an excellent post a few years ago by a moderator on the topic of eyepieces. The jist was that if you have a standard 1.25" mount on the body (which the Pentax does), you have a wide variety of eyepieces to choose from. The writer's personal favorite was the Pentax EW series for a numbers of reasons but particularly the quality of the optics. Sounds like you've gravitated to Pentax, so check out that line of eyepieces.

 

[SporterII]

Pentax 20xw has interesting specs. 25x on my scope, 147'@ 1000yds fov. More eye relief by a tad. Also a lot of optical stuff why it works focal length for one with my 80ed.
I will look at the ew series. Thanks.

 

[physhphude]

Pentax 20xw has interesting specs. 25x on my scope, 147'@ 1000yds fov. More eye relief by a tad. Also a lot of optical stuff why it works focal length for one with my 80ed.
I will look at the ew series. Thanks.

Not sure if you found a solution. But get the 20xw. It beats the Zeiss and kowa spotting scopes I have looked through. Have not seen a Swarovski.

 

[crunchy]

The perfect eyepiece for me would be 15-? power. My spotter is a Swaro 20-60X65 and I usually glass at 20 until I find something that needs a little closer look. With your 80mm objective I would have thought 20 at the low range would be pefect.

 

[SporterII]

Wow, Yeah.
I sold the 20 x 60 eyepiece. Bought the 20xw. It is like HD TV at 1000. one position shows entire large a frame with hanging steel. Could not ask for more.
ETA; this combo is about 25x. far better image quality and FOV.

 

[Freediver111]

I had that scope. The only eyepieces I enjoyed, and I tried a lot, were the fixed powers by Pentax. I believe I had a 30x on my 65mm.

 

[Deleted member 113831]

I have a Pentax 80 ED w/ 20 to 60 zoom.
Way too much I think.
Is there a very good variable eye piece in a lower mag range that is fairly excellent quality?

The Baader Hyperion are a good start. The eyepieces are sold by focal length. The focal length of your scope body is 500mm. You divide that number by the focal length of the eyepiece to get your apparent magnification. So 500mm scope / 24mm eyepiece = 20.8x.

B&H has a good selection: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...nomical_hyp_24_hyperion_68_24mm_eyepiece.html

Variable eyepieces may seem to be the way to go for versatility, but you will see just how good your scope is when you put a quality fixed eyepiece in it. Resolution is better, field of view is better, light transmition is better.