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Harpia 95: A Review on a Scottish Island
Yes, with magnification backed off to 23x Harpia's fov was enormous -
Harpia 95: A Review on a Scottish Island
I reviewed the S2 with 30-60 eyepiece in 2016 and with the 20-70 eyepiece in 2018, and by the way I own an S2 with the 20-70. I don't use scopes out in the field but use them from our holiday cottage in the west of Scotland. This scope and an old Diascope 65 are the only scopes I own and I am... -
Harpia 95: A Review on a Scottish Island
Thanks John-W, I will pass your comment about the photo to Melissa. Lee -
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Harpia 95: A Review on a Scottish Island
Tommy Many thanks for your kind words. Lee -
Harpia 95: A Review on a Scottish Island
This is the spirit of Birdforum, thank you Mark. Despite the occasional flair-up of passion, temper and irritation, all of which are human failings shared by most of us, Birdforum is a place where most members, most of the time, display the most amazing generosity to other members, some of... -
Harpia 95: A Review on a Scottish Island
Thanks for your support Chris and your thoughtful comments. Lee -
Harpia 95: A Review on a Scottish Island
Fugl Thank you for your apology. Lee -
Harpia 95: A Review on a Scottish Island
Henry Thank you for your apology. We have different approaches and Birdforum benefits from both. Let's both strive to keep the peace. Lee -
Harpia 95: A Review on a Scottish Island
Peter Thank you for this. Here is what Birdforum house rules have to say on this subject: "Please do not post messages containing personal attacks. We do encourage healthy debate but not slanging matches. There is a difference between disagreeing with an opinion and a personal attack, so... -
Harpia 95: A Review on a Scottish Island
Scridifer, Canip, Arran, Rich, Steve, Alan, Alexis, Vespobuteo, Binastro, Ohweh, Gilmore Girl, Tommybj, Sagittarius, John-W, and Pyrtle, thank you for your kind words of support. Lee -
Harpia 95: A Review on a Scottish Island
Hermann I make no apology for using this criterion and I have used it long before Zeiss even thought of a scope named Harpia and I do apply different standards in accordance with different price levels. This why you might have read an interminable number of complaints from me about the eyecups... -
Harpia 95: A Review on a Scottish Island
Fugl Thanks for your input. There was a time when I was a Zeiss fanboy but since performing and reviewing over 21 optics from Swarovski, Meopta, Bushnell, GPO, Kowa and Opticron as well as Zeiss I have come to appreciate to greatly enjoy using optics from all of these brands and have reviewed... -
Harpia 95: A Review on a Scottish Island
Yes we diverge again. Your hours of backyard testing may discover all manner of things but I fear that it is not clear to most of Birdforum members how this relates to the performance they can expect from the instrument in the field, being used for the purpose for which they were intended. For... -
Harpia 95: A Review on a Scottish Island
It has been great fun batting the Harpia ball backwards and forwards over the net of different approaches and philosophies. But after using the Harpia for the purpose for which it was designed, birding and nature observation, over a period of 3 weeks on a wild Scottish island, I am comfortable... -
Harpia 95: A Review on a Scottish Island
An interesting idea VB. Gavia is priced by Zeiss at around €2,000 but can be bought for €1,700. To produce a scope priced in between Gavia and Harpia might just spread the sales over 3 models instead of 2 but your idea for something in the 65-75mm could work at the right price. Lee -
Harpia 95: A Review on a Scottish Island
Peter Here is what a sharp shower looked like. The hills in the distance behind the double rainbows are the Paps of Jura on the neighbouring island of Jura. Beautiful isn't it? Lee -
Harpia 95: A Review on a Scottish Island
Hi VB Thanks for your kind words. I was wondering where you were! I have no information about a smaller version of Harpia and actually considering the number of lenses in Harpia and the zoom/focusing mechanisms, I am wondering if the retail price would be too high for a smaller objective size. Lee -
Harpia 95: A Review on a Scottish Island
Tommy I think Peter got it right when he said you meant 'slack' and another term would be 'free play' or 'back-lash'. This sounds like a faulty unit and although I have tried several Harpias now, both at two Bird Fairs and at other venues, I haven't come across this at all. Free-play in the... -
Harpia 95: A Review on a Scottish Island
RB You are so right. All optics are imperfect and simply offer a different set of capabilities and compromises. For me Harpia presents a more usable set of capabilities than the similarly priced Swaro ATX, which is a fine scope itself. For those who cringe at the thought of £3,000 for a... -
Harpia 95: A Review on a Scottish Island
Peter One day we were sitting in our car watching the coast for Otters in pouring rain, when the rain turned to hail about 3 times the size of frozen peas. The noise from the roof of the car was like heavy machine-gun fire and we fully expected dents in the bodywork. Fortunately there was none... -
Harpia 95: A Review on a Scottish Island
Tommy I do not understand the use of the word 'slope' in this context but clearly your friends did not like the slow/fast combined focuser. I was unsure about this too before I used the Harpia. I have an old second-hand Diascope 65 with seperate small knobs for slow and fast focusing and almost... -
Harpia 95: A Review on a Scottish Island
Wow Henry you should have seen the weather we had on Islay! Skies like the coming of doom and downpours that would have scared Noah. On one day we had a pile of hail about 6 inches thick in a corner outside our cottage. Still managed to see right across the bay through the Harpia at 23x though... -
Harpia 95: A Review on a Scottish Island
A pragmatic assessment Alexis and I would only add that in normal daylight one's pupil closes down to approximate to Harpias EP at 23x anyway so in normal viewing I don't think this is a disadvantage. BTW my go-to lens for much of the time is a Canon EF 24-70mm f/4L IS USM which can macro up... -
Harpia 95: A Review on a Scottish Island
Hi Henry No, I don't object to that at all, I think you summed up our different priorities neatly and I think both approaches are of value. What I found, and I mentioned this in the same post as my remarks about the Meopta's sharpness and contrast, is that IMHO, Harpia is nevertheless a...