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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

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  1. J

    HR80 ED vs Kowa 823

    Hi, if you have a good example of the HR80ED, an equally good 823 or ED82 will be a sidegrade at a high price.. both are a tad lighter but nothing to fret about. So maybe do a star test and/or compare with fellow birders scopes to get an idea if you current scope is ok, good or better and then...
  2. J

    Want to buy my son a gift. I am clueless

    Thanks for the pointer to this cheapo package deal... seems to be mainly a Zeiss US thing, over here it's only available on Amazon and at 320€ more expensive than other new offers for the normal model... Joachim
  3. J

    What did you see in your binoculars today?

    Hi, I would opt for hare rather than rabbit with those ears... Joachim
  4. J

    Nikon ED50A breakage

    Hi, and if one has a problem with the cosmetics after taping, a stay on case or some foam tape will take care of that... Joachim
  5. J

    HR80 ED vs Kowa 823

    Hi, if you can get a good example of either used, they will be nice. The Opticron is huge and heavy due to the 5 element APO objective but there are lots of nice EPs... will be great with an SDLv3 or v4 up to 72x... The Kowa is a bit lighter and has the famous fluorite doublet view that some...
  6. J

    Want to buy my son a gift. I am clueless

    Hi, first of all, welcome to birdforum! Pocket bins come with many compromises like narrow field of view, tiny exit pupil (objective diameter divided by maginfication) makes the image dark in less than ideal light plus difficult eye placement and finicky handling due to the tiny size (unless...
  7. J

    Hi From Maine~Hello

    Hi, first of all, welcome to birdforum! As has been mentioned, images are necessary for identification. The six digit serial number and Made in Germany leaves two options: - Carl Zeiss Jena from 1918. Not too probable as CZJ back then did not usually mark their products Made in Germany...
  8. J

    Make bins out of scopes

    Hi, this is a very common pasttime in astro circles... although they usually tend to suffer from advanced aperture fever...
  9. J

    What did you see in your binoculars today?

    Hi, didn't have bins on me, but does the ring necked pheasant, which I narrowly managed to avoid on this mornings bike commute to work, count? No images either as it obviously was about as frightened as me and hastily retreated into some shrubbery at the side of the bike path ;-) Joachim
  10. J

    Request advice on Nikon Fieldscope

    Hi Alexis and von Maunder, thank you for your data on the ED78... it seems I owe you a set of TSN-3 data: Body only (my spare angled body - not a cherry but ok): 1270g and 38cm in length. My usual optics package with the cherry angled body including SDLv2 zoom, Skua SoC with custom XL EP...
  11. J

    Is curvature of field a good thing?

    Hi, field curvature probably has to do sth with how the brain computes 3d images apart from stereopsis. There was a very interesting video on youtube arguing this point quite well by showing footage of the same scenes shot with classic Cooke triplet cine lenses and corresponding modern Leica...
  12. J

    Best low- to mid-priced monocular

    Hi, I would really recommend to get either an ok pair of smaller and lighter bins than the 7x42 (a light pair of 8x30 like the monarch 7 would be great or if it must be smaller, pocket pair) or even better, take the wife to an optics store and let her choose. Using a hand-held mono for birding...
  13. J

    Request advice on Nikon Fieldscope

    Does the Nikon brochure contain length and weight of the ED78? Or do you have yours already and can measure? Joachim, who would like to know if it's really smaller and/or lighter than his TSN-3...
  14. J

    First Scope - Pentax PF-65EDAII? Recommendations?

    Hi, first of all, welcome to birdforum to both! Pentax scopes can be very nice, if you get a good example (as with all spotting scopes, there is sample variation unfortunately). The usual reasons for choosing one are either the need for decent eye relief wide angle eyepieces in the form of...
  15. J

    Request advice on Nikon Fieldscope

    Hi, if you didn't read much about the ED78 online, you haven't searched here... were we keep praising all sorts of Fieldscope ED ;-) I think that all Nikon fieldscopes use a standard pair of porro prisms for the straight models (like many others), and an oversized Schmidt prism for the angled...
  16. J

    10x low light binoculars for around €1000 ?

    Hi, wow, more power to you if you can hold that steady... I struggle with 10x for more than a few minutes... Anyways, enjoy the view! Joachim, who would have gone for a Canon 10x42... or just taken his SE 10x42...
  17. J

    Where do I go from here?

    Hi, the afov of the 40861 is listed at 56 deg, not quite wide angle (60 deg is the usual line) but certainly not terrible. I just put it on my TSN-3 with the adapter 40925 and brightness was ok in slightly overcast weather, even when looking under the foilage across the river. Sharpness was...
  18. J

    Wide flat field and edge sharpness an illusion?

    Hi, the Absam ring in the form of a less crisp ring at ca. 70% of the field of view is obviously only visible in some instruments originating from Absam, Tyrolia in Austria... Other field flatteners just tend to get to get a bit soft right at the edge of the fov... bragging rights are how...
  19. J

    Tripod, fluid head, and scope in the rain.

    Hi, I tend to continue to use my (non-waterproof) TSN-3 in light to medium rain inside the stay-on-case and just make sure that I keep the covers over eyepiece (which actually is waterproof unlike the body, but don't we all hate drops on the eyelens) and focus drive closed when not immediately...
  20. J

    Where do I go from here?

    Hi, if you have a good example of the the MM4 77mm, what about getting either a high magnification EP or a doubler for those far away wader cases? Opticron has the UTA and adapters for many different Opticron eyepieces which will double the magnification (and result into a very narrow field of...
  21. J

    Newby bird watcher

    Hi, first of all, welcome to birdforum! The budget is going to limit you pretty much to smaller used scopes or play the chinese optics lottery as even our usual low budget pick from a reputable brand in the form of the tiny Kowa TSN 501 is $400 where you are (over here you might be lucky at...
  22. J

    Solar filter for spotting scope???

    Hi, if you mean this series, those are made for visual. https://spectrumtelescope.com/product-category/glass-solar-filters/?orderby=price Baader film for visual will probably yield better results for less money though. Whatever you do, visual observation will look a lot worse than images...
  23. J

    Needed - easy way to check collimation

    Hi, infinity is not needed as has been mentioned but a point source or close to it would be good and it should be a few hundred meters or more in distance. As for you can't see stars in the city... I am quite astonished. I live in a large city too and have one of Europe's largest airports...
  24. J

    My first pair, help please.

    Hi, had a quick look for 10x in 32mm and below at the usual suspects for used bins. Cleyspy and Infocus didn't have any, but LCE has a pair Nikon HGL 10x25 for 300 quid, if you really want to go down the pocket route. https://www.lcegroup.co.uk/Used/Nikon-10x25-HG-L-DCF-Compacts-_407291.html...
  25. J

    Solar filter for spotting scope???

    Hi, anything from the Lee sortiment is for imaging and thus NOT to be used for visual observation under any circumstances - especially if you don't know a lot about visual solar observation! The filter material MUST be designed for visual observation through an instrument, like the Baader...
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