Three Zeiss Scope Reviews by Roger Vine (1 Viewer)

[John A Roberts]

Many will be aware of the series of comprehensive reviews of binoculars by Roger, and for many of us they provide an always informative starting point.
See at: Binocular Reviews

In addition, Roger has recently added reviews of three Zeiss spotting scopes:
• the Harpia 85 and the Harpia 95, together with
• the Gavia 85
As the scopes are primarily for terrestrial use they have been included on the binocular page.

However, as Roger’s main interest is in astronomy, a set of comprehensive reviews of astronomical scopes can also be found on a seperate page at:
Telescope Reviews

And a lot of other interesting information can be found by starting at the home page: Scope Views Home


John

 

[pppppvvvv]

I enjoy my harpia 85mm.
Really sharp and bright, and the field of view, especially at 22x is incredible.. I can literally point in the general direction and be confident that the target will be in view!

Don't like the eyepiece/eyecup twist to extend. There is something strange about it, I have to twist a while for it to start extending out. Wouldn't be surprised if mine has a fault, but it's mostly cosmetic

Also the stay on case makes it very difficult to slide out the lens hood. It's both tight and difficult to grip. Again mostly a cosmetic issue.

 

[DRodrigues]

Thank you for pointing it, John!
It's well written and well illustrated. Just missed some flaws of the Harpia:

• doesn't mention the aperture limitation at lower mags. Isn't noticeable unless you compare with other models of the same aperture at the same mags but is a limitation for digiscopy and lowlight use;
• doesn't mention the loss of definition at higher mag position, at the limit of the field - see X95 vs. Harpia
• doesn't mention that the Harpia 95 only has 93mm true aperture - see Kimmo post 10 at My Harpia biased contact at BF

I will e-mail the author, in case he still has the Harpia 95.

 

[Troubador]

Thank you for pointing it, John!
It's well written and well illustrated. Just missed some flaws of the Harpia:

• doesn't mention the aperture limitation at lower mags. Isn't noticeable unless you compare with other models of the same aperture at the same mags but is a limitation for digiscopy and lowlight use;
• doesn't mention the loss of definition at higher mag position, at the limit of the field - see X95 vs. Harpia
• doesn't mention that the Harpia 95 only has 93mm true aperture - see Kimmo post 10 at My Harpia biased contact at BF

I will e-mail the author, in case he still has the Harpia 95.

Perhaps he regards these as trivial.

Lee

 

[pppppvvvv]

If those are the flaws, it truly must be an amazing scope. A birder, such as me, doesn't notice any of those when using it. As mentioned above, I do notice the extremely wide field of view etc