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New toy: MM4 77 with SDL v4 😁 (1 Viewer)

H

HallelujahAl

Member
United Kingdom
Got me a new toy and my very first spotting scope in the shape of the Opticron MM4 77 with SDL v4 zoom eyepiece.
I went to In-Focus at Rutland Water, where I was able to do comparisons with both the above, and the MM3 80 ED, and the Hawke 85mm.
All three scopes were great, and for all practical purposes would be great for my interest which is sketching and painting (watercolours) bird life.
However, I ended up choosing the MM4 as it had the edge over the other two by some margin in my opinion. The field of view from edge to edge seemed both brighter and wider.
My wife who was with me thought so too, so that was it! Cash well and truly splashed!
Anyway I’m now fully kitted out and can’t wait to get out to RSPB Frampton Marsh tomorrow 😁
 
Peerke said:
Is it good/great/fantastic? I am a newby, just bought a used MM3 GA 60 ED and I like it. It came with 2 fixed eyepieces and I bought the SDL v4. It is sharp, but in this weather I think I would benefit from the 77 mm???
Click to expand...

Any MM4 will be an improvement on an MM3. And a 77mm objective will let in more light than a 60mm, so yes, a 77mm scope will help in poor light.
.
 
Peregrine Took said:
Any MM4 will be an improvement on an MM3. And a 77mm objective will let in more light than a 60mm, so yes, a 77mm scope will help in poor light.
.
Click to expand...
Yes, I think so, but I just started with my first scope 6 weeks ago. It is the older version of the MM3, with ED glass. I like it, it is sharp with the eyepieces I have, but the weather these past 6 weeks was not that good. The wife is not convinced yet a bigger one would do us good. Maybe after this summer, I will see if I need the 77 (I think I really do need it). This weekend we will have some sunshine, so perhaps I will take it on a trip and see how that is.

My priority is first to find a good 2 way video head. My ball head is not ideal.
 
Peregrine Took said:
With ED glass, that is still a very nice scope. If you want a bit more light capture, try the 40831 eyepiece. Here's a comment from a couple of years ago that sums it up nicely:

View attachment 1627860
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Click to expand...
I have the 40831 and the 40810. These were the fixed eyepieces that came with the scope. They are both good and sharp, but not that much brighter than the SDL v4 I think. I will have a look tomorrow and see how they are against each other, if my poor old eyes can notice a difference.
 
Peerke said:
I have the 40831 and the 40810. These were the fixed eyepieces that came with the scope. They are both good and sharp, but not that much brighter than the SDL v4 I think. I will have a look tomorrow and see how they are against each other, if my poor old eyes can notice a difference.
Click to expand...

Yes, I forgot that you already have those EPs. Funny that the other member saw a marked difference in brightness.
.
 
I was out a few weeks back on a fairly grey day and started with the sdl3 on my 60mm4; after a bit I swapped to the 23x fixed eyepiece as a lower power gave a bright view that seemed best for the conditions and it had a much wider field of view compared to the zoom at the same power. Sure the image brightness at equal powers would be very similar, I didn’t check. I am not a fan of narrow field eyepieces. If it had been a brighter day I’d probably have set the zoom to 30x or so and left it there as it’s nice and wide at the higher powers.

I would think twice about going to a bigger scope, one of the advantages of the 60mm is that it is so compact and light and doesn’t need a heavy tripod, making lugging it about less of a issue and so you’re more likely to want to use it.

Peter
 
The brightness of the 17x and 23x HDF T WW eyepieces is not much brighter than that of the SDL v4 at the same magnification, at least to my old eyes.

Tried to determine the FOV in degrees. Placed a tape measure at 6,9 meters from the front lens and looked how much cm I still could see.
Not very accurate, but it will give an idea of the FOV of the eyepieces I have.

40810 HDF T WW 17x: 3,7 degrees (64,5 m at 1000 m)

40831 HDF T WW 23x: 3.1 degrees (54,6 m at 1000 m)

41280 SDL v4 15-45x (on my MM3 GA 60 ED):
  • at 15x: 2,8 degrees (48,55 m at 1000 m)
  • at approx. 17x: 2,8 (49,1 m at 1000 m, yes a tiny bit wider :unsure:, so indeed not very accurate :rolleyes:)
  • at 21x: 2,5 (43,5 m at 1000 m)
  • at approx. 23x: 2,4 (42 m at 1000 m)
  • at 30x: 2,15 (37,7 m at 1000 m)
  • at 45x: 1,8 (31,2 m at 1000 m)
All three eyepieces give very sharp images and good detail on my MM3 GA 60 ED.
 
Peerke said:
Tried to determine the FOV in degrees. Placed a tape measure at 6,9 meters from the front lens and looked how much cm I still could see.
Click to expand...

This is all that's wrong with Opticron... Why a company that has so many good things put its customers through this is beyond my comprehension.
 
Gzoladz74 said:
This is all that's wrong with Opticron... Why a company that has so many good things put its customers through this is beyond my comprehension.
Click to expand...
Well, Opticron did not force me to do this. But they could and perhaps should give the numbers on website and/or product leaflets. At least the numbers would be determined a bit more accurate if they do. Now it's just my old eyes that did a practical, but for sure not very accurate observation.
 
The SDL v4 with a simple Samsung A52 as camera. Just to give an idea of the sharpness.

The A52 does not have an optical zoom, so when digitally zooming in to get rid of the vignetting, the quality of the picture would be (much) worse (see bottom picture). No post editing on both photos (except for the JPG engine in the camera, of course).20250219_105301.jpg
20250219_105415.jpg
 
Thanks, Pete.

It is well hidden on your website. Even now I know it is there, I can not find it.
:oops:

I do find product guides and manuals, but this PDF is not visible to me.
 

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