Pentax SMC-XL 7mm

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Pentax SMC-XL 7mm
higher transmission, narrower field, better eye relief than Nagler 7

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42884

Pentax SMC-XL 7mm
The Pentax is very nice, but not quite as good as the Takahashi 7.5mm LE eyepiece, so I can't give it a higher rating than 8. At higher magnifications, there is just a bit of scatter, so the images are not quite as sharp as they should be.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42886

Pentax SMC-XL 7mm
The Pentax XLs are my favorites for short focal lengths. Sharp to the edge, good brightness. Contrast is excellent (but perhaps not THE best.) Perfect eye relief with the best eye guard design. Easy to take in the whole fov. Nice bug eye lens. Blackout/kidney bean effect can be achieved if you get way too close to the eye lens, but this is not necessary since the field stop can be seen with the eye guard in the proper position. Excellent!

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42888

Pentax SMC-XL 7mm
I use this eyepiece for all my planetary viewing. I put it head to head with a 7mm Nagler and it was slightly sharper with much better eye relief.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42889

Pentax SMC-XL 7mm
Nice wide flat field. Comfortable eye relief makes this a great high power eyepiece when used with an non-motor driven telescope such as a dobsonian. One of the best on the market today. Very large and heavy 1.25 inch eyepiece, which may require extra care when using with a 1.25 inch diagonal.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42890

Pentax SMC-XL 7mm
THE high power eyepiece to have for a big Dob.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42891

Pentax SMC-XL 7mm
I was looking for something to take me to the edge of mag. for my 8" 2000mm FL scope, and this was the one. At 290X it's strong and crystal clear all the way out.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42892

Pentax SMC-XL 7mm
Bought and sold several eyepieces until I found the right one. At nearly 300X, it focuses cleanly, and is clear, bright and comfortable to use. Great Quality eyepiece.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42893

Pentax SMC-XL 7mm
Wonderfully easy to use. Gives up nothing in image quality to my excellent quality 7mm ortho - but alot more comfortable, with an impressive field of view. Easy to hold the right eye position - to get kidneybeaning, you have to "force" it. I like the eyecup design better than the Radians - but that is a personal preference, you might not agree. Otherwise, a tiny bit more scatter than the Radian but better throughput. It is hard to "call it" between this and a 6 or 8 Radian...you'd better try them all first! (Obviously I liked the Pentax better...)

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42894

Pentax SMC-XL 7mm
This and the Takahashi LE 7.5mm are virtually identical in terms of optical performance, but the Pentax has it all over the Tak for eye relief if you wear glasses. I have both, and I use the Tak as a positive projection lens with great results. I love this Pentax as an observational eyepiece with both an LX-200/10" & a Takahashi 4" refractor. Beautiful lunar and planetary images, with very slight coloring in the Meade, and none at all in the Tak. Highly recommended.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42895

Pentax SMC-XL 7mm
What could I say ? Wide flat field, very good eye comfort. Maybe the best eyepiece of that category because of all this.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42896

Pentax SMC-XL 7mm
This is my first Pentax XL eyepiece. At first I was unsure but the more I use it, the more I like it. It is certainly THE most comfortable eyepiece I have ever used. That, plus it is sharp as a tack and exhibits good contrast earn it a solid '10'. Darn it! Now I'll probably have to get a couple of more of these and they aren't cheap!

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42897

Pentax SMC-XL 7mm
A very comfortable to use eyepiece with very good brightness, color purity, sharpness across it's wide FOV, and 20mm of eye relief. No ghosting. However, I have a Vixen (Orion) 7.5mm LV that is (surprisingly to me) better in terms of both sharpness and contrast in the center of the FOV.

I've compared quite a few eyepieces in f/5.4 and f/5.3 refractors, and am basing my ratings on image quality, not FOV.

Overall Rating: 7
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42898

Pentax SMC-XL 7mm
This is definitely my new favorite planetary eyepiece. All I can say is comfort, comfort, comfort. I've teased out details which I thought just weren't possible with my scope, a 6" F/7.5 Newt. Dark barges and white ovals on Jupiter are easy.

For comparison sake: Much more comfortable than any Nagler I've looked through. True, the field is "only" 65 degrees, but to me that's more than enough FOV. Eye relief is fantastic for this focal length, whether I choose to use glasses or not.

As far as image quality: after a close comparison with my 6mm UO ortho, sharpness of details is just as good, though just a touch less contrasty. Not suprising, though, with 4 more lenses. Still, it's light-years ahead of the ortho for comfort.

The eyecup is really innovative. I'm a big fan of wide field lenses - something you don't normally see in this focal range. The cup, when extended, not only guides your eye to avoid any kidney-beaning, but also prevents your eyelashes from touching the field lens. That, combined with the comfort and ease of use, makes it great for public observing, as there's no eye goop nor mascara to clean up afterwards. :) With this eyepiece, my wife (an unexperienced observer) managed to see the Great Red Spot for the first time, and exclaimed, "Wow, it really does make a difference!"

Overall, if fractional ratings were allowed, I'd give it a 9.75 (I guess I have to round up). It loses that quarter of a point for having just a tad less contrast than my ortho, though I don't think a "perfect 10" exists. Still, a joy to observe through. Make sure your scope is well-cooled down, as this eyepiece won't really shine until you're very close to ambient temperature.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42899

Pentax SMC-XL 7mm
I like Radians and I like Pentax SMC orthos and I like Meade UWA's but I LOVE this eyepiece! It is the most comfortable one I have ever used, its sharp as a tack, has great contrast, and delivers the best images of Jupiter of anything I have ever tried in my MN-61. Its expensive but it is great eye candy!

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42900

Pentax SMC-XL 7mm
An excellent series of eyepieces, all parfocal, all with wide field of view, and very high optical throughput. Eye guards are easily adjustable to give a deep well for viewing through, or flat against the glass for specatcle wearers.

Highly recommended.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Value:9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=68668

Pentax SMC-XL 7mm
Crisp and contrasty to the edge. It has the ability to pull out very subtle details in my TMB 105 APO that my other high-end eyepices can't quite muster. The 105 and this eyepiece have produced wonderful views of various nebulae that are brimming with detail.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=160253

Pentax SMC-XL 7mm
This is an amazing eyepiece. Its loaded with glass and lenses yet it is the brightest, sharpest, highest contrast eyepiece I have ever looked thru near this focal length. To boot, it also has a 65 degree field of view. One time I counted 13 craterlets in Plato with this eyepiece in a 6" f/8 Celestron Achromatic refractor. I had a number of other eyepieces on hand that nite that could not see what the 7mm Pentax XL saw including: 8mm Edmund RKE, 8mm Brandon (close but no cigar), an old 6.8mm UO ortho and a host of other eyepieces above and below these in focal length. All of the Pentax XL's are amazing eyepieces IMO; this may well be the best one in the series however. Unfortunately, I do most of my observing with slow SCT's and this eyepiece frequently produces an exit pupil that is smaller than the atmosphere will support (i.e. too much power). Clear skies!

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Value:10
Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=204313

Pentax SMC-XL 7mm
As far as I am concerned, pay the extra money and buy the Pentax line of eyepieces. Expecially for use in a high quality fast refractor. When the older version XL's were selling for $230, I don't know how Televue sold any eyepieces at all. Now that the new XW's are $350, the $250 Radians may be a relative value to most. But I would still put out the extra $100 and get the XW. You will not be disapointed. The field of view is just unbelievable, even at 7mm.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:10 Value:6
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=338306

Pentax SMC-XL 7mm
I have owned all sorts of eyepieces. From the very cheap Meade Plossls to the Apogee Easy View, to the Takahashi LE and the TeleVue Naglers. I must say that "this" is it. I sold all the rest and now I use only Pentax XL. I have the set from 7mm to 40mm. They are a joy to use in my custom made 14.5 Dob. To my eyes they are flat out the best view, most comfortable to use and just right on field and eye relief. In addition they are less expensive than almost all the TeleVues. What more could you want? As things stand today, I would not have another ep but one of these. The new XW set looks too expensive and too heavy for me. I have just what I want right here. I wish you could look through my scope to see what I am talking about.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=357640

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