Ok. I have had it out a few times. I think there are many positives about this scope, but digiscoping seems to be less intuitive with this scope than others I have used. I am sure I can adapt. But, with the minimal use I have experienced, that is its weakness.
This is the refurbished unit from the Nikon website. I am on the fence, and hope they will accept a return, if I decide to got that route. The twist out eye-cup seems to be a problem. It does not have a position in which it does not continue to rotate. I would expect that it would twist out to max, and click into place there. At the very least, not continue to spin. The same thing when rotated in. Basically, it just feels sloppy and as if it is defective. Otherwise, especially for the money, this is a nice scope.
Color correction seems to be fair. Whites seem to be a bit too bright to my eye, and seems worse in my phone/camera. Against a bright background, birds and branches seem to be sharp and very little to zero fringing. So, I am not sure what those two opposing situations mean.
I will try to do a star test and take those photos, but it seems to star test quite well. I used my Hubble Artificial star. Tight rings inside and outside. I was using an old tripod that I borrowed from my BIL until my new stuff arrived. So, too wobbly to be reliable. However, it seemed that the pattern was slightly oval, but oriented differently inside vs outside. Astigmatism? In other words, top left to right one way and top right to left the other. Description make sense?
Other than that, the rings seemed very similar to identical inside and outside. There might have been a slight flaring, very slight, of the outer ring inside and less outside of focus, or vice versa, but, again, very slight. Is that roughness, turned edge, or? I need to read Suiter's book again (barely comprehended even the photos, so I am not sure it will help).
Overall, the star test looked pretty good to my eye. Considering all of the glass in a spotter, I am not sure I can complain about too much optically, except maybe a bit of a struggle with color control, and the astigmatism. (would my slight astigmatism in my eye show up that way?)
For the digiscoping, though, I find it difficult to get my phone's focus and the scope's focus to coordinate. I have found that my photos do NOT look as good as the phone's screen when I snap them. Part of that might be user error, and inexperience with the scope. However, other scopes have been virtually "plug and play" in that regard. I am going to continue playing with it to see if I can work those issues out. The color issue, though, I am not sure will wane.
The light throughput, for my set-up, is disappointing too. Granted, I am trying to continue using an inferior camera, my Samsung S21 Ultra, vs a real camera, but my shutter speeds, even in excellent light, are so slow that I struggle. This might be the phone, because my Kowa 883 was not vastly superior here, but it seems that the Nikon is worse.
So, here is the big question for me. Does the 20-60W eyepiece take this scope to the next level? Does it truly open up the FOV? I have been disappointed in the FOV more than anything, EVEN though I was well aware of its reputation in that regard. I just was not prepared for how truly restrictive it is. I would be willing to buy that ep if it transforms this scope into something significantly better. But, if it does not, I am not sure I can keep it.
The way I look at it, for the money, it is a shockingly nice scope. Other than the slightly inferior color control, FOV, and possibly defective eyepiece/eye-cup, I can ignore the double and triple cost scopes, because this really is just a hobby. And, while maybe I am nitpicking, I really would like to keep it,
unless those things cannot be overcome.
I will try to get some star test photos for the experts here. In the meantime, I will attach some general use photos. I was at our marsh twice or three times this week. The last time was last night. I did not spend much time there, but caught a Redhead Wood pecker, and a Whitetail doe. Also, caught this nice buck, but it was deep into the dusk. Had to really edit the photo to get a sharp enough image. All are processed RAW images with the S21 Ultra and PS Express, except the Jupiter photo. It was a 19 or 20 second video with the S21 shot with UHD60 and 1200 frames reduced to the best 500 with PIPP and then 10% of those were processed/stacked with Registax, etc. So, not sure it really makes sense. The scope was at 60x (I think) and the phone set at the 2X optical zoom. I really do NOT know what I am doing, but the end result was pretty close to what I get with my astro scope (Intes Micro Deluxe MN65 or Meade LX200 10" classic) and my phone.
Sorry for the long post. Hopefully someone can speak to the Nikon wide angle zoom value, and hopefully my long post helps someone else. I am sure the star test will be more helpful. But, until then...
