PentaxUP 10 x 21 Porro Prism Binocular - Black

I mainly use these binoculars as a walk leader, where I don't want to be burdened with anything unnecessarily heavy. They fit in my jacket pocket or in a waist pouch and are immediately accessible to check naviagational detail - where is the next stile across the field, for example. They are also immediately to hand for a bit of bird identification which i enjoy. I like the way they accommodate wearing glasses or no glasses. I take them on every walk I do. I would want something with a larger field of view and magnification if I was a serious twitcher but ideal for everyday use.

Brilliant compact pair of binoculars.Best in it’s price range by far.Great for hiking , concerts, sports.Love em’ and the kids can carry and use them too!

Perfect for close-up viewing (I photograph tiny insects and this allows a clear view prior to taking the shot), and the lenses move inwards.This is my third purchase of the Papilio over the years. Version 1 and then upgraded to the version 2 a few years ago. Unfortunately, recently the right eyepiece wouldn’t match focus with the left. There was a 40 yr warranty, but Pentax was bought out by Ricoh, and the warranty didn’t go with it. So I bought a new one!

Back in 2008 I was in search of a lightweight pair of binoculars to use on hill-walking and backpacking trips when carrying my big beautiful Swarovski 10x50s felt like too much of a neck-aching burden. I tried out a number of models and having grumbled about their limitations, particularly their inability to focus on objects closer than about 3m, was eventually pointed in the direction of the Pentax Papilio (thank you Owain, blessed be thy name). As their moniker suggests, these are aimed primarily at butterfly-watchers rather than birders, and they can focus down to about 50cm. This makes them absolutely unique – effectively you have a combination of a conventional pair of binoculars and a low-powered binocular microscope that you can use to examine insects, flowers etc in detail without having to catch or pick them or crouch down in discomfort. Moreover this in-depth observation can be done without disturbing small creatures. It isn’t surprising really that the presence of a massive and potentially hostile object looming over it should have an inhibiting effect on the behaviour of your typical invertebrate. However what did come as a revelation was the remarkably short distance one has to move back to release these inhibitions. At 0.5 – 1.0m distance most invertebrates seem to have the self-confidence to ignore you as a potential threat. I guess time is pressing, life is short and it isn’t worth wasting valuable minutes by stopping what you are doing when the world is full of massive objects most of which are indifferent to your existence and pose you no direct threat particularly if they keep still and, even if they move closer, can probably be evaded. So, instead of freezing and trying to avoid drawing attention to themselves, these little creatures carry on with their normal activities – exploring, feeding, grooming, stalking, signalling, courting, egg-laying, fighting – and do so with energy, flexibility and character. An undisturbed insect or spider has an expressiveness in the way it waggles its antennae, cocks its head, drums its feet etc that is hard to reconcile with the robotic, knight-in-armour rigidity it has when trying not to be noticed. This is the magical world that the Pentax Papilio opens up.The secret of its magic is that as you focus in on objects close to you the objective lenses move away from the eyepieces and move closer together, thus maintaining the stereo view. The smoothness of this movement is ensured by housing the objective lenses within the body of the binoculars, protected from the outside world behind a single fixed oval sheet of plain glass. If ever you have a spare moment, it is very satisfying to turn the Papilios around, play with the focus wheel and watch the slickness of this operation!Apart from this, they also function as perfectly decent lightweight travel binoculars, and they are great for surveying aquatic mammals too as you can scrutinise pawprints and droppings without having to slither down risky riverbanks or contort yourself into undercut tree roots and bankside cavities.Papilios are available in two magnification – 6.5x and 8.5x. Normally I would think 6.5x was not powerful enough but given that the diameter of the objective lenses is only 21mm (small even by pocket binocular standards) I opted for these rather than the 8.5s because of concerns that the higher magnification would not give a bright enough image.Recently, one of my nearest and dearest expressed an interest in having a pair of Papilios for herself, so I went back to the Internet to check out current prices. At £66 my Papilios had been an absolute snip in 2008, but prices have doubled since then. However Pentax were also claiming advances in the construction sufficient to justify badging them as Papilio IIs. The main difference seemed to be that all the lenses were now multi-coated. I am no optics nerd, but I gather that the practical implication of this is that the image should be brighter and clearer. Given the slickness of Amazon’s return procedures these days, I ordered both the 6.5s and the 8.5s so I could try them against each other. The 8.5s were noticeably more powerful and gave a more detailed image at distance and, in very good light, at close range also. However I felt that at close range in anything other than very good light, the 6.5s had the edge as the greater brightness of their image more than offset the lower magnification. There was less difference in the width of the field of view than I would have expected, but it did seem as if the depth of field of the 8.5s was slightly less than that of the 6.5s so it was a little trickier to keep them in sharpest focus. Ultimately then, while I felt I would be happy with either model, I plumped for the 6.5s again because so much of my use is likely to be in less than ideal light - the gloom of cloudy Britain or of dawn, dusk and overhangs. If I was living in sunnier climes I would probably go for the 8.5s.The Papilio IIs were noticeably brighter and seemed sharper than the original Papilios, so I hope my nearest and dearest will be happy with my well-loved used pair while I relish the new ones!

The good:Very lightweight.Good ergonomics (for smaller hands).Smooth focusing and good dioptre correction (with clickstops).Twist-up eyecups with intermediate position.Directly tripod mountable (no adapter needed).Very reasonable optical performance for the size and price. The photo doesn't really do it justice.The close focus is astounding for flowers, insects, art exhibitions etc.Nicely implemented strap quick connection/disconnection.The bad:No indication that the binoculars are sealed or N2 purged.The custom fit case is a little bit too small to get the strap into easily.At 8.5x21 the view gets a bit dim in low light; but ye cannae break the laws of physics...The ugly:NonePS: the photo was taken using a Samsung Galaxy S9 handheld immediately behind the eyepiece with the binoculars on a small tripod. The view is through a double-glazed window. It's really quite difficult to get the camera in the right position, so the view isn't centred.

Belated birthday present for my daughter.She loves these binoculars

Bought these for a present friend is delighted with them.

Bought these for bird watching in my garden. The picture quality is good and the zoom make them ideal for close to medium distance viewing. Excellent short focus which I need as some of the birds come close to my window. Only downside/ compromise is that when you zoom in the view dims, this is to be expected as your reducing the light gathering capacity of the lenses but it's only slight reduction. They are lightweight and easy to handle. Comes with detachable strap and lens cap. The lens cap are loose which makes them easy to lose, shame they didn't attach them somehow to the binoculars. All in all they are good and are perfect for what I need.