Any "compact scopes" that you like? (1 Viewer)

[Gzoladz74]

My first scope was an Opticron MM3 60 (1st gen) and it became my travel scope. Performance is good enough for its size, very light and it fits easily in my carry on.

 

[4John]

The ones I use aren't available on the market anymore (Monostat, their big foot really makes a difference),

Hermann,

Aren't they available attached to monopods from monostat.de ?

 

[4John]

So you talked me into it(it's not really that hard!). I'm going to get an ED50. I'm pretty sure neither of you would have it if it wasn't a good scope. I KNOW Daniel has put it thru the paces!

Chil6x6,

I didn't realise you had your finger on the trigger, and I also missed the fact you wear glasses - which was pretty obvious from your photo . Fortunately Hermann picked that up. Perhaps I need new contact lenses (BTW have you tried them ?). I would therefore underline Hermann's advice to look after the Nikon ED50 if it's a keeper. I would also use a paracord safety line from the scope to your tripod.

If a 50mm scope works for you, but the ED50 eyepiece doesn't, then the 50mm Opticrons are more robust, and you might get on better with the eyepieces, but I get the feeling the image quality may not be as good.

Did you buy an angled or a straight ED50 ?

If you feel like trying a monopod then stopping the scope wobbling/twisting from side-to-side at more than 20X magnfication is the issue. A monopod with a simple single folddown foot which I have banged on about maybe ad nauseam on this forum is one solution. I use the maximum 40X magnfication of the ED50 zoom on a monopod with a folddown foot (light/atmospheric conditions permitting). The Monostat foot Hermann (and his mother !) use is another.

 

[chill6x6]

I think you made a good choice - the ED50 is still the scope to get when it comes to light weight, small size and good optical quality. The only two reasons why I would have hesitated recommending it wholeheartedly are the build quality (it's nowhere near as tough as the bigger Nikon Fieldscopes) and the eyepiece problem.

The eyepiece problem is IMO the elephant in the room. The two Nikon zooms aren't really suitable for eyeglass wearers and have got a small FOV, so you really want a fixed WA eyepiece. And unfortunately there aren't many eyepieces from the once extensive Nikon line-up left. All the old WA eyepieces can only be found on the used market - if at all. That leaves the DS eyepieces which are rather large and unwieldy on such a small scope. The 27x/40x/50x etudiant uses would be my eyepiece of choice. Works really well with glasses. For more magnification - and the ED50 works reasonably well with high magnification, despite the small exit pupil - you'd need the 40x/60x/75x. Or you use the zoom and take off your glasses.

BTW, I use an old 16x/24x/30x WA eyepiece + the 27x/40x/50x (or the big zoom) on my ED50s (I've actually got three of them). I use the ED50 with the Nikon stay on case, and with it the ED50+16x/24x/30x WA works reasonably well handheld if I really want to keep the weight down.

Not all monopods are equal. The ones I use aren't available on the market anymore (Monostat, their big foot really makes a difference), and I find I can keep magnifications up to 30x very steady. My mother uses a Monostat with her EDII (with a 30x WA), and it even works quite well with the ED82, my big scope. The combination of a monopod+ED50 is really nice on long hikes in woodland and so on. Much faster to set up, and of course lighter than any tripod. That said, I'll take both monopod AND a tripod to Norway this summer (if we can get away, that is).

Hermann

Thanks for your comments Hermann,

ER....so I considered that of course before I pulled the trigger. I have read a pile of comments on the ED50. Most of what is out there concerning the ED50 is rather old info. I'm pretty sure the standard variable power eyepiece has a fold-down eyecup to accommodate eyeglass wearers. Not CRAZY about that but it is what it is. In 2009 Michael and Diane Porter reviewed the ED50 and stated: "It comes with a 13-30x zoom eyepiece, a good match for a 50mm scope. The stated eye relief is only 12.9mm but we wondered about that since it seemed to work OK even with Michael's aviator-style glasses." So that is what I hung my hat on. Also...I looked at what eyepieces are available, mostly from Japan on eBay. Really, I don't want a fixed eyepiece. I have a fixed 30X on my 664 and at times I would like to go to 25X, 20X or below. I MIGHT try the 27X fixed eyepiece. I not going to spend a lot of money/time trying to make the ED50 WORK. If it doesn't work for me, I'll send it back and get a refund and move on to something else.

Fingers crossed!

 

[dwatsonbirder]

Hi again Chuck,
The 27x (or even the 20x) DS eyepieces are arguably the best eyepieces for us bespectacled folk ever produced. The zooms are tricky due to the narrow FoV and short eye-relief, but I found this slightly older iteration of the MC zoom to be the best of the three. Aside from FoV and eye-relief, they are really sharp and bright.
Hope you enjoy the ED50 (ideally with beer in hand!).

 

[Hermann]

Aren't they available attached to monopods from monostat.de ?

They're all sold out, I'm afraid.

Hermann

 

[Hermann]

ER....so I considered that of course before I pulled the trigger. I have read a pile of comments on the ED50. Most of what is out there concerning the ED50 is rather old info.

But then nothing much happened over the past decade or so. The only thing that changed was the availability of the WA eyepieces.

I'm pretty sure the standard variable power eyepiece has a fold-down eyecup to accommodate eyeglass wearers.

True.

In 2009 Michael and Diane Porter reviewed the ED50 and stated: "It comes with a 13-30x zoom eyepiece, a good match for a 50mm scope. The stated eye relief is only 12.9mm but we wondered about that since it seemed to work OK even with Michael's aviator-style glasses." So that is what I hung my hat on.

With my glasses (and my eyes) I can use the small zoom quite easily at low magnifications ( say 13x-~ 20x). At higher magnifications I lose too much field of view. IMO the Porters were a bit too optimistic in their "review". And that's putting it politely.

I'd be interested in hearing how you get on with the eyepiece.

I MIGHT try the 27X fixed eyepiece.

That eyepiece works very well indeed with glasses (and the ED50).

Hermann

 

[chill6x6]

But then nothing much happened over the past decade or so. The only thing that changed was the availability of the WA eyepieces.

True.

With my glasses (and my eyes) I can use the small zoom quite easily at low magnifications ( say 13x-~ 20x). At higher magnifications I lose too much field of view. IMO the Porters were a bit too optimistic in their "review". And that's putting it politely.

I'd be interested in hearing how you get on with the eyepiece.

That eyepiece works very well indeed with glasses (and the ED50).

Hermann

Thanks for the info....I'll keep you posted.

 

[gcole]

Yeah, I knew you liked it! My 88S Kowa....it's kinda like you say. The ER is OK...but I would be OK with a little more. I've actually been using an Opticron MM4 77 lately. It's not the equal of the S2 or the 88S BUT the ER is great. AND it's light enough to go on the GT1545 so the whole deal Is a good bit lighter than one of the others on a GT2532. Sometimes it's the little things.

I have all ready pulled the trigger for a ED50 at2 B&H, LOL! I'll see how I like it. If I don't I'll sell it and try the Kowa. I've got till the end of May before the price goes back up.

It's a shame all of us live so far away from each other! Otherwise we could try each others stuff!!

Chuck , You have so much stuff !!!! …. at my age now I do not think it would even be possible for me and many other old timers here to even have the time left to see/try all the stuff I have seen you post pictures of over these many years here. If I were in my fifties now instead of in my seventies and renting a room in your home starting right now, maybe just maybe viewing/trying all your stuff would be possible before I would have to take a Dirt Nap.

 

[chill6x6]

Chuck , You have so much stuff !!!! …. at my age now I do not think it would even be possible for me and many other old timers here to even have the time left to see/try all the stuff I have seen you post pictures of over these many years here. If I were in my fifties now instead of in my seventies and renting a room in your home starting right now, maybe just maybe viewing/trying all your stuff would be possible before I would have to take a Dirt Nap.

lol! I MAY have learned this from you!

Job 14:5- A persons day are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannon exceed.

We don't know when that day is. Of course I'm in the health profession. I've hear folks decree "it could be any day."....for TWENTY YEARS! LOL! At 62, that's a mindset I don't intend on having. As most of us age, we get wiser, our relationship with Christ gets better, and our bird count goes up! Win, win, WIN! Look behind you, see how far we've come!

Gwen, may the Lord give you many more life birds to come!

 

[AlphaFan]

Congrats on your choice Chuck. I don't have personal experience with the ED50 but it sounds like one of those unique gems in the world of optics that punches above it's weight. Went through a similar dilemma last year and ended up with the Kowa 554. So far I've been most impressed with it's overall sharpness for such a small diameter scope. To me, the big difference in field performance between the mid-grade and more premium brands is the crispness of the image at the upper end of the magnification range. That's where I find brands like Vortex falling short - at the lower end they keep pace but when cranking up to high power (is it a Western or Clark's Grebe???) the difference in image quality begins showing through.

Not a big fan of monopods but suppose some support is better than none. Or is this something you're planning on using at the Magee Marsh?

 

[ReinierB]

lol! I MAY have learned this from you!

Job 14:5- A persons day are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannon exceed.

We don't know when that day is. Of course I'm in the health profession. I've hear folks decree "it could be any day."....for TWENTY YEARS! LOL! At 62, that's a mindset I don't intend on having. As most of us age, we get wiser, our relationship with Christ gets better, and our bird count goes up! Win, win, WIN! Look behind you, see how far we've come!

Gwen, may the Lord give you many more life birds to come!

Nice to see more people believing in Christ being our Lord. God bless you Chuck.

I vote for the ATC 56, although the STC 56 would be nice too.
I have the ATC 56 and even like to use it without a tripod.

 

[chill6x6]

Congrats on your choice Chuck. I don't have personal experience with the ED50 but it sounds like one of those unique gems in the world of optics that punches above it's weight. Went through a similar dilemma last year and ended up with the Kowa 554. So far I've been most impressed with it's overall sharpness for such a small diameter scope. To me, the big difference in field performance between the mid-grade and more premium brands is the crispness of the image at the upper end of the magnification range. That's where I find brands like Vortex falling short - at the lower end they keep pace but when cranking up to high power (is it a Western or Clark's Grebe???) the difference in image quality begins showing through.

Not a big fan of monopods but suppose some support is better than none. Or is this something you're planning on using at the Magee Marsh?

Thanks!

So I have both the ED50 AND a Vortex Razor HD 13-39X56(life is short!) The ED50 came in Thurs and the Razor on Friday. I'm going to use both for a while. I'll also have a back-up larger scope with me JIC!

Of course I considered the 554, especially since the price has lowered. Actually the 554 or STC are the way I would have typically gone, the know commodity. I decided to go outside of my Swarovski/Meopta/Kowa box and see what others used and go a different direction. I'm kinda surprised no-one here said anything about the Vortex as most online reviews speak very highly of it. No doubt in my mind the 554 would be a nice scope! And YES...Grebe's, loons, peeps sometimes need all the scope one can conjure up!

Monopod/tripod...I have used a monopod before. My issue is I usually have too much going on such as panning a shoreline or beach, focusing. adjusting magnification, consulting a field guide, etc(the goal IS to see something you haven't seen before!). So I'm more than likely going to stick with a tripod.

Sadly, I won't be making it to Magee Marsh this year. I swapped that to get to see a Scarlet Ibis, red-legged honeycreeper, blue-backed manakin, et al in Trinidad and Tobago. I highly recommend going there! I may sneak down to Dauphin Island later in the year.

Nice to see more people believing in Christ being our Lord. God bless you Chuck.

I vote for the ATC 56, although the STC 56 would be nice too.
I have the ATC 56 and even like to use it without a tripod.

Absolutely!

I started to get the STC. On paper, it was a little heavier than some of the others. And I'm assuming one would still have to add the weight of a plate for tripod mounting. I'm sure it's an awesome scope. You know me....I like to try everything tho!

 

[chill6x6]

So I got the ED50 Wednesday night. My initial thoughts were....this is a TOY!. Small and truly feather weight. I put a ARCA plate on her and got her ready to go birding on Thursday, my off day. I mounted in on a LeoFoto 254CT with an XB-32 balll head. I didn't use it much as it's warbler season....but I did use it. AMAZING optics for its size/weight. NOT a toy. With the rubber folded down on the eyepiece I believe I'm going to be able to see the full FOV even at max magnification(30X). Function of focus and magnification adjustment was perfect. I'm not crazy about the fold down eyecup but it may have been done this way due to simplicity and weight savings. Weight of ED 50 and 254CT- 4lbs 5 ounces.... FOUR POUNDS, FIVE OUNCES....complete! The TSN-88s weights 4lbs 3oz ALONE.

And YES as I mentioned, the Vortex Razor HD 13-39X56 arrived. It felt like a scaled down typical full sized spotting scope. I mounted it on a tripod and looked thru It a little off my patio. I think this is going to be a great scope as well.

This picture shows both scopes side by side. The picture is a little misleading as it makes the Razor HD look MUCH larger than the ED50, but it's not. Dimensions are"

Nikon ED50- weight-21oz(with ARCA plate) length- 9 7/8 inches(eyecup folded down)
Vortex Razor HD- Weight- 30oz(no plate needed) length- 11 inches.

Lets compare this to the NEXT smallest scope I have which USED to be my travel scope:
TSN-664m- weight 44.4oz and length 14.75 inches! WOW! I used to think this was a small scope!
and the NEXT scope down...
Opticron MM4 77ED 18-54...weight 53.4oz!

BTY...all controls on the Razor HD performed excellent. Axial focus- smooth with about the right friction. Magnification adjustment- the same. Eye cup functioned just as it should.

Will keep you posted!