Which eyepiece with Kowa 663????????? (2 Viewers)

[Paulyoly]

I'm going to purchase a kowa 663 for digiscoping with a nikon 990, which eyepiece would be better suited for digiscoping? Kowa has a 25x ler, 25x and a 20x wide. The 20x wide has the largest exit pupil of 3.3mm, is this the best choice? I want to keep vignetting to a minimum so i don't have to be at full zoom all the time. here's a link to stats on the eyepieces.

http://www.buytelescopes.com/container.asp?dest=/manufacturers/kowa/kowa_eyepiece_specs.htm

also is anyone using this scope? How much brighter would a 80mm scope be compared to this one in terms of f-stop/shutter speeds?

 

[Steve]

Paulyoly Welcome!!

we are having a bit of a re shuffle on this subject but you will get an answer, or at least an opinion very soon

steve

 

[Andy Bright]

Hi Pauly,
I have a feeling that the 25x L.E.R will give the least vignetting and may be the best eyepiece for the scope (25x probably the optimum mag for a 66mm objective, possibly resolving more detail than a 20x e.p.)
Remember that zooming out a long way means your camera will be viewing a larger section of the eyepiece... eyepieces are curved so you're likely to get a central in-focus spot (where the eyepiece is flattest) surrounded by slightly out of focus area... this effect at it's worst can look similar to a fish-eye lens shot.

You're losing nearly 1 f stop in comparison to an 80mm scope, so 1/60 on the 66mm will equal 1/120 on an 80mm ... that's not 100% accurate but not far off. In good light you won't really notice, when it gets darker or you're in a forest you will suffer in comparison to an 80mm... but your back won't hurt as much at the end of the day 3
Andy

 

[Paulyoly]

Thanks Andy, I'm sure i will end up with most of the eyepieces available for this scope, but for right now i want the best for digiscoping. Thanks for explaining the brightness of the two objective sizes, i'd much like an 77 or 80mm scope, but i want one with ED/flourite glass and can afford the bigger scopes so for now the Kowa will have to do. I don't hear much about fuji scopes, they have a new 80mm ED fieldscope which i can get for $1000 with a zoom eyepiece, so many scopes so little time.

 

[Paulyoly]

well andy after looking on eagleoptics.com website for 80mm scopes i am more confused than ever on which scope to buy. They have a Bausch and Lomb 80mm elite with ED glass for $659usd which includes a 20-60 zoom eyepiece. All this ED, HD, flourite glass talk is confusing me, is this just different manufacturers names for the same kind of glass? Anyway that is way cheap compared to an 80mm AT HD Swarovski scope, which makes me think it is cheap for a reason, maybe one day if digiscope gets more recognition these scope manufacturers will provide digital images taken through their scopes, that would be nice.

Should my original post have been in a different forum?

 

[Andy Bright]

Hi Pauly,
This looks the right forum to discuss scopes and eyepieces :t: We only made these new forums last night.... so you didn't have any choice in where to post this at the time.
Yeah, Fluorite, HD, APO, ED are all variations on the same theme.

When it comes to digiscoping these high definition glasses make more of a difference... the improved image that they present on your camera's monitor make it easier for you to judge when you have got the subject in perfect focus.

You do tend to get what you pay for in the world of optics, and a top scope should last you a lifetime... the manufacturers warranty/guarantee on the tops scopes is often 30 years+, companies like Swarovski will bend over backwards to help you if the scope gets damaged.
Regards,
Andy

 

[Dennis Hoffman]

If you haven't decided yet!

I know how you feel searching so hard trying to find the best equipment, and sometimes getting more and more confused. I see you finally decided on a Nikon CP, nice choice. If you haven't made your scope decision yet (at the risk of confusing you more!) you may want to check out the Pentax PF-80ED. It's a 80mm ED glass, f/6.25, 500mm focal length, nitrogen filled scope, your choice of straight or angled. You can use the regular 1.25" eyepieces from other telescopes with it, including the ones with 28mm threads built onto them (William Optics DCL-28, Scopetronics STWA-14/18PX) to eliminate adapters. Back on the dpreview Nikon forum, a coulpe of us have tried this scope and seem to be getting good results. The best is the price, I found them for $599 without the eyepiece from a great supplier that we're all happy with. There are several birding sites floating around that all place this scope in the Swaro/Leica category too. I think it retails for $899 without an eyepiece and $1200 with the 20-60x zoom, but there isn't an adapter for digiscoping with their (physically) huge zoom, so I sold it.
See some scope reviews here:
http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/backyard_birds/scopes03.pdf

Hope I didn't confuse you even more! If you're interested let me know, I'll give you the web address of the supplier (actually a Pentax distributor), I just don't want this to sound like a sales pitch for them!

Good Luck,
Dennis

 

[Paulyoly]

Re: If you haven't decided yet!

I know how you feel searching so hard trying to find the best equipment, and sometimes getting more and more confused. I see you finally decided on a Nikon CP, nice choice. If you haven't made your scope decision yet (at the risk of confusing you more!) you may want to check out the Pentax PF-80ED. It's a 80mm ED glass, f/6.25, 500mm focal length, nitrogen filled scope, your choice of straight or angled. You can use the regular 1.25" eyepieces from other telescopes with it, including the ones with 28mm threads built onto them (William Optics DCL-28, Scopetronics STWA-14/18PX) to eliminate adapters. Back on the dpreview Nikon forum, a coulpe of us have tried this scope and seem to be getting good results. The best is the price, I found them for $599 without the eyepiece from a great supplier that we're all happy with. There are several birding sites floating around that all place this scope in the Swaro/Leica category too. I think it retails for $899 without an eyepiece and $1200 with the 20-60x zoom, but there isn't an adapter for digiscoping with their (physically) huge zoom, so I sold it.
See some scope reviews here:
http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/backyard_birds/scopes03.pdf

Hope I didn't confuse you even more! If you're interested let me know, I'll give you the web address of the supplier (actually a Pentax distributor), I just don't want this to sound like a sales pitch for them!

Good Luck,
Dennis

Hey Dennis, i found the website by searching the nikon forum, are you sure about this place, i hate buying from anywhere in new york because of all the ripoff companies out there, i've bought from bhphotovideo.com and 17photo.com with good success. Do you know anyone that bought from here for $599? How much did you get for the zoom eyepiece on ebay?

thanks man, also do you have any other digiscoped pics? if so could you email me a couple?

[email protected]

 

[Dennis Hoffman]

Be sure to check your PM, I sent that before I read this. It should answer all your questions, but I'll answer this if others are interested. I worried about the NY stores too. This one was great. Scope was brand new in sealed box with USA warranty. They are quick and to the point when ordering, I think because they do quite a bit of volume daily. None of that trying to sell you other stuff you don't need scam. The last guy that got in on this in the dpreview forum has some moon photos taken with this scope and his 4500, currently in the Nikon section. I got $230 when I sold the zoom, dropping the scope price down to $505 for me. I think I would have done better selling it in the Astromart classifieds, but I'm not complaining. Check my sig for my current photos, but remember that I'm new to digiscoping. I hope to get some more photos up soon. Keep in mind that all those photos are about 1/10 of their original file size.

Good luck with your decisions!

Dennis
[email protected]