Ricoh Imaging announces new affordable Pentax Jupiter binoculars, ideal for spotting distant wildlife
posted Thursday, March 17, 2022 at 11:15 AM EDT
While we generally focus on camera and lens announcements, binoculars announcements sometimes come across our desks. Optical manufacturers, like Canon, Nikon and Pentax, also make spotting scopes and binoculars in addition to high-quality photographic lenses. The lattermost manufacturer just announced a new series of binoculars, the Pentax Jupiter series.
The new Jupiter series comprises four models featuring large-aperture objective lenses. Magnifications range from 8x to 16x, ensuring that users can find the right binoculars for their needs. The series is designed for comfortable viewing, even for first-time users. The series includes new models with 8x40, 10x50, 12x50 and 16x50 magnifications. Each model includes a large objective lens with an aperture of more than 40 millimeters, ensuring superb light-gathering capabilities and a sharp, high-contrast image free from unwanted reflections, flare and ghosting.
The Pentax Jupiter 8x40 offers 8x magnification and has a rear field of view of 8.2 degrees. Its minimum focusing distance is 6m (19.7 feet). The Jupiter 10x50 ups the magnification while maintaining the same 25.0 relative brightness of the 8x40 binoculars. The 10x50's minimum focusing distance is 9m (29.5'). Moving on up to 12x magnification, the Jupiter 12x50 has a 50mm objective diameter, and its minimum focusing distance is 9m (29.5'). The Jupiter 16x50 offers the greatest magnification (16x) and includes a 50mm objective lens diameter. The minimum focusing distance is 10.3m (33.8'). The Jupiter 16x50 binoculars have the lowest relative brightness at 9.6.
In terms of size and weight, there's not much to differentiate the four Jupiter binoculars. The lightest set is the 8x40 at 735g (25.9 oz.). The other three range from 860g (30.3 oz.) to 885g (31.2 oz.). Widths range from 188mm (7.4") to 199mm (7.8") and depths range from 58mm (2.3") to 66mm (2.6").
The Pentax Jupiter series starts at $89 for the 8x40 binoculars and increases to $119 for the Jupiter 16x50. It's an affordable series, and perhaps a pair of high-magnification binoculars is a worthwhile addition to a wildlife photography kit. It's always good to be able to spot distant wildlife. To learn more about the Pentax Jupiter binoculars, head to Ricoh Imaging.