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Pentax XW 5mm

Started by fblue, 06/20/2004 08:57PM
Posted 06/20/2004 08:57PM Opening Post
I got a chance to try out the Pentax 5mm XW last night in a 14.5" f/4.2 DOB. On the Cat's Eye Nebula, it beat the 5mm UO Ortho and 5mm Orion Ultrascopic by quite a margin in detail, brightness and contrast. It was crisp, contrasty, bright and showed fine details at 310x. The night was not the finest I have seen and there was a bit of light pollution. So this was to me a good test of the capabilities of this EP.
I would have to say that I have not yet looked through a better 5mm EP.
Floyd

[SIZE="Large"][/SIZE][COLOR="Blue"][/COLOR] Floyd Blue grin
Amateur Imager
Posted 06/21/2004 01:14AM #1
Floyd,
I would have thought the comparo between the pentax XW and the UO ortho/Orion ultrascopic would have been closer except for the greater AFOV and eye relief of the pentax. I compared my 10mm speers-waler with the pentax 10mm WX on Jupiter at Pinos on Friday in my 12.5" dob, just before I sold the dob. My subjective impression was a greater amount of contrast with the pentax XW and I didn't see the lateral color another reviewer had seen in the pentax XW. I am already on my second box of eyepieces so don't post on how great the pentax units are lest I buy another. On the other hand, if I don't buy more accessories, I will just blow the money from the dob sale on another scope!