What A Cracking Little Eyepiece!

[Damo636]

I took delivery of a Pentax XF 8.5mm from FLO yesterday morning (excellent service as usual ) & had the opportunity to try it out last night. I had originally preordered an 8mm Delos from another vendor but decided to try one of these in the mean time & I can happily report it has exceeded my expectations and then some! I would go as far as to say its like a mini XW, as optically, at least to my amateurish eyes, I would say its right up there with the XW's/Delos albeit with a smaller 60 degree afov. Light transmission & contrast is excellent, and although some reports state there is minor field curvature in the XF, I didn't notice it in the 8.5mm. The 3 stage twist up eyecup works nicely and eye positioning is easy and comfortable and I found at no time did I experience any blackouts. Its also tiny in comparison to its bigger brother and really light. I am looking forward to trying it out on Jupiter in the Autumn as I reckon it will be a killer planetary eyepiece.

[John]

Nice piece of feedback Damo

Michael Wilkinson is very impressed with his 8.5mm XF too and I've read a number of other glowing reports on another forum.

I can not understand why Pentax don't make more of a fuss about their eyepieces - they are really superb tools

[Damo636]

It was Michaels feedback that encouraged me to try it out John. I don't know yet if its a long term keeper as I ideally like a slightly larger afov but optically I cannot fault it.

[alan potts]

Being a bit of a snake I placed an order for one and put the 13mm Ethos on hold for a few months, I picked up a S/H 9mm Nagler yesterday, which was at the right price. Didn't need of course but since when has that stopped people.

It's starting to look interesting in this focal range 6.7mm 8.5mm 8.8mm and 9mm then 10mm. Think I can see a gap that needs filling there.

Alan.

[Damo636]

I agree Alan, you almost certainly need something in the 9.5mm fl

[alan potts]

Damo,

I was thinking at 7.5mm.

It's getting silly, there is no second hand market for these type of eyepieces here in Bulgaria, not many can afford them new and second/hand they want them for peanuts.

I am in England soon, I must have a sort out and see what I want to keep and try to sell some of them. I will use this site.

Alan.

[andrew63]

I placed a wanted ad here for one last week - un-surprisingly had no response !

andrew

[Damo636]

I placed a wanted ad here for one last week - un-surprisingly had no response !

andrew

I seen that ad Andrew and was wondering had you any luck. I think anyone with one of these will be reluctant to part with it. The way I see it is the next step up would be an XW at significant extra cost, and all that would be gained would be a slightly larger afov. I'll keep the fingers crossed for you though

[andrew63]

Thanks Damo - the weather is so bad in south wales i'm in no hurry - i'll see if anything turns up in the coming weeks. Given it's reputation you would think they would be all sold out - as you say the premium alternatives could be XW 7 Delos 8 or even nagler 9 - you could pop into FLO bag a pair have a cream tea and still have change!

andrew

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Glad you like the little XF8.5, Damo. It's a cracker, isn't it?