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

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  1. B

    Svbony 406P/46P 80mm spotters anyone?

    Svbony has a screw-on 2x barlow, that could be worth a try. Personally I would not bother, either buy a cheap eyepiece to try, or buy a good one that you can return. I bought the Svbony 2x and 3x barlows, they don't work in normal drop-in configuration. The removable cells work as 1.5x when...
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    Svbony 406P/46P 80mm spotters anyone?

    From my limited (one scope, one phone) digiscoping experience: 1. Magnification At long distance (100+ m), low power gives better quality than high power. At short distance (6-30m) I cannot see any difference. My best pictures have been at 30-40x at moderate distances (birds at 20-50m) and at...
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    Svbony 406P/46P 80mm spotters anyone?

    You got a good deal. Binoculars lose a lot of resolution due to handheld shake, so the better performance of a $2k Swarovski against a $300 Vortex/Nikon may not be obvious unless you put them on a tripod. Scopes are used mounted, so differences will be easier to see. I have not looked through...
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    Svbony 406P/46P 80mm spotters anyone?

    I have a 4mm eyepiece (108x), with a screw-on barlow it is 2.5mm (162x). 108x usable but shaky, my tripod is not heavy enough. 162x too dim during the day, at night celestial objects drift too fast. I also have a 9mm (48x), with the screw-on barlow it is 6mm (72x), image quality is still very...
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    Svbony 406P/46P 80mm spotters anyone?

    The scope focal length is 432mm, to get magnification, divide scope focal length by the eyepiece focal length. The standard eyepiece is 7.2-21.6, so we get 20-60x. With a 6mm eyepiece you get 72x, with a 4mm, 108x etc. For observation, I use: 23mm aspheric (19x) - cheap, small and good 18mm...
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    Svbony 406P/46P 80mm spotters anyone?

    The standard eyepiece has a twist-up eyecup with a broad flat surface so it is easy to position the phone camera correctly. For better phonescoping performance, look for a fixed focal length eyepiece with a twist-up eyecup, for example: Vixen NPL (20, 25, 30mm) Vixen SLV (all) Celestron Xcel...
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    Svbony 406P/46P 80mm spotters anyone?

    I use a Sirui EN-2004 tripod with a Sirui VA-5 video head. Up to about 60x, there is no problem. At 100x vibration is an issue, whenever I focus it takes a couple of seconds to settle down. A heavier tripod would be more stable, but less convenient - I carry scope+tripod in a backpack and cycle...
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    Svbony 406P/46P 80mm spotters anyone?

    I use the 4mm (107x) without a red dot finder. I use lower power eyepieces (9/18/23) to find the object before I swap to the 4mm. Like other spotting scopes there is no easy way to attach a red dot finder (exception: Vortex's older-model Viper has a built-in picatinny rail). Some people use...
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    Svbony 406P/46P 80mm spotters anyone?

    Yes, a friend who owns the same scope alerted me that the standard zoom eyepiece is not a clone of the SV171 8-24, but rather a clone of the SV191 7.2-21.6, same as the Orion 7.2-21.6. Therefore the scope is indeed 430mm FL. Sorry for the confusion!
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    Svbony 406P/46P 80mm spotters anyone?

    I was able to test my 4mm TMB clone eyepiece again today. In bright sunlight (noon), on a dragonfly (common flangetail) at minimum focus distance (6m), the image was very good. Definitely more detail than the zoom at 8mm. I could see not only the hairs on the dragonfly's legs but also the joints...
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    Svbony 406P/46P 80mm spotters anyone?

    I also want to get an 82 degree eyepiece, but I wear eyeglasses and the limited eye relief of most such designs (typically 12mm) is off-putting. The 16mm WO UWAN (also available from TS, FLO, Opticstar etc) has been reported to actually have 15mm eye relief, but its barrel is too long (33mm) to...
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    Svbony 406P/46P 80mm spotters anyone?

    The official Svbony page claims a focal length of 430mm, but I don't think that is correct, as the standard 20-60x zoom eyepiece is clearly the same as the SV171 8-24mm eyepiece (minus the filter threads). Therefore the scope is probably 480mm, which would match almost all the 80mm scopes out...
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    Svbony 406P/46P 80mm spotters anyone?

    I recently bought a 4mm TMB clone, but weather has been poor so I have not used it much. I did try it at a nature reserve for a close up of a stork, see attached. At long distance, due to the atmospheric distortion it was not useful. At night it seemed sharp on the Moon but Jupiter and Saturn...
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    Svbony 406P/46P 80mm spotters anyone?

    Without spectacles, if I go VERY near I can induce a blackout. If I raise the eyeguard 1 or 2 stops, no blackouts.
  15. B

    Svbony 406P/46P 80mm spotters anyone?

    First off, the SV46P has a fixed eyepiece so it's not what you want. I bought the SV406P 4 months ago. TL;DR: for anyone unwilling to pay for alpha glass, the SV406P is outstanding value for money. Eyepiece: The provided eyepiece is identical to the SV171 (8-24mm) except that it lacks filter...
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