I have been thinking long time of upgrading my Nikon ED50, because in migration watch and in some birdtowers it's undergunned. So I almost bought 80mm Swarovski from ebay auction, thought about buying Monarch scope and also thought biting the bullet and paying 3000€ for the Kowa 883 + tripod and head. Finally I saw Meopta for sale under 1700 in ebay, so I jumped for it and got the Slik Pro 700dx tripod and Manfrotto mvh500ah head that were recommended here in the birdforum under 300€, so the whole lot was under 2000€. Here is my first impressions compared to ED50 (I don't have much experience with top end scopes).
First I wanted to know, if the Meopta was clearly better at 30x than ED50 in 27x. And yes it was. Meopta has really spectacular wide view in 30x that I am propably gonna use 70-80 % of the time.
Here is some things that has been raising questions with Meopta:
- ROLLING BALL WHILE PANNING AT 30x. Yes, I can see it in faster panning, but I am not sure if it's gonna be a problem.
- STIFF FOCUS AND ZOOM. Focus is not stiff at all, zoom is stiffer, but not too much.
- STAY ON CASE DON'T WORK. It's ok. It touches the focus wheel, but I am not bothered. Front and end parts are easy to remove, so they don't flap in the wind.
What I am not very fond of is zooming. It's not propably fault of the scope, but everything just go downhill, pic gets darker and narrover, air disturbances are more annoying, DOF get shorter and every tremble is magnified. And eye positioning gets more tricky, as blackouts are lurking around. Now I kind of understad why 30x wide eye pieces are here in great value. :t:
SLIK TRIPOD: It's sturdy and cheap, but heavy as well. Not a travel tripod by any means.
MANFROTTO HEAD: It feels great after some cheaper stuff that I have used! :t:
First I wanted to know, if the Meopta was clearly better at 30x than ED50 in 27x. And yes it was. Meopta has really spectacular wide view in 30x that I am propably gonna use 70-80 % of the time.
Here is some things that has been raising questions with Meopta:
- ROLLING BALL WHILE PANNING AT 30x. Yes, I can see it in faster panning, but I am not sure if it's gonna be a problem.
- STIFF FOCUS AND ZOOM. Focus is not stiff at all, zoom is stiffer, but not too much.
- STAY ON CASE DON'T WORK. It's ok. It touches the focus wheel, but I am not bothered. Front and end parts are easy to remove, so they don't flap in the wind.
What I am not very fond of is zooming. It's not propably fault of the scope, but everything just go downhill, pic gets darker and narrover, air disturbances are more annoying, DOF get shorter and every tremble is magnified. And eye positioning gets more tricky, as blackouts are lurking around. Now I kind of understad why 30x wide eye pieces are here in great value. :t:
SLIK TRIPOD: It's sturdy and cheap, but heavy as well. Not a travel tripod by any means.
MANFROTTO HEAD: It feels great after some cheaper stuff that I have used! :t: