Equipment (revisited)

[niallo]

Morning'

Steve started a good thread a year ago on equipment:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=1471&highlight=equipment

and it turned out to be quite interesting indeed !

It would be useful to revisit this, and more interestingly, to see what has changed. What equipment changes have people being making (bins/scopes/cameras). Trend towards particular models/brands/specifications shifting at all ?

As for me, I had a Bushnell Legend 8x42 + Kowa 821 (not the new M one) for ages, and my current setup is 8x32BN Leicas and 62 (non apo) Leica scope. Not quite Bill Oddie but getting there... ;) Still have not got into the digiscoping thing yet (£££).

Anyone else ? Current setup, and if changed in last year, from what ?

cheers,

[Ragna]

I've changed both my binoculars and my scope in the last 9 months.Got a very good deal on the Swarovski ATS80HD which i could'nt resist and 2 months ago changed my bins from Zeiss 7x42( i'd had these for the last 15 years) to the Leica Ultravids 8x42 Which i am very pleased with.The lens caps are crap but that aside these are superb binoculars.

[Art Thorn]

I choose the most unusual (I was going to say unorthodox, until I looked up the real meaning of the word) scopes, so had a Celestron C5 with Nagler eyepieces a year ago. I now have a Televue 85 with Radian and Nagler eyepieces. It is easier to take with me, though more difficult than the Swaro ST80 that I tried for a few months, but the view, even at 120, is amazing. I had 8x32 SEs and 8x42 HGs a year ago and still have the SEs but have switched to 10x32 HGs and added 10x42 SEs. Not much difference except lighter and gives me the choices I need until different circumstances.

[Leif]

I choose the most unusual (I was going to say unorthodox, until I looked up the real meaning of the word) scopes, so had a Celestron C5 with Nagler eyepieces a year ago. I now have a Televue 85 with Radian and Nagler eyepieces. It is easier to take with me, though more difficult than the Swaro ST80 that I tried for a few months, but the view, even at 120, is amazing. I had 8x32 SEs and 8x42 HGs a year ago and still have the SEs but have switched to 10x32 HGs and added 10x42 SEs. Not much difference except lighter and gives me the choices I need until different circumstances.

A little off topic, but how do the C5 and T85 compare on the night sky? I would guess that the T85 knocks the socks off the C5.

[Art Thorn]

Haven't had a chance to try the 85 on the sky yet. It has been very cold (-20 C), snowing, clouded over, etc., since I bought the 85. I've only had it out once, on the ice, looking at returning waterfowl. That has me itching for more! Meanwhile, the windows distort badly when trying to look at planets, stars. But the C5 was good, I'd have to say. The planets I occasionally looked at were amazingly crisp and clear (saw Mar's polar ice cap nicely, even though it was low on the horizon).

[IanF]

I still have my Leica 8x32 BA bins which I love for here size, design and optical quality.

I have changed scopes and tripod. I now have the Manfrotto 443 carbon fibre tripod which is more comfortable to carry around, though I was just as happy design wise with the 055 NAT.

For my scope I have swapped from the Kowa 823 20-60x to the Swaro ATS 80 HD 20-60x - but after several weeks of use I'd say this was a sideways step rather than a move forwards. Each has advantages over the other and it's hard to say which is the best one overall for my usage, but I do wish I hadn't sold the Kowa.

[postcardcv]

This time last year I was using RSPB 8x42HG bins and an ES80 scope with zoom. Due to some good fortune with deals and secondhand stuff I have been able to change to Leica Duovids (8-12x42) and a 77apo scope with zoom.

The duovids are amazing very bright and sharp image at both mags, and having the 12x has been a real help on the odd occassions when I've been caught without my scope. As for the scope I would say that I only notice the difference in poor conditions and would not have changed from the ES80 (which is an amazingly good value scope) if I had not got such a good deal on a secondhand Leica. That said now I have the Leica I woudl not consider changing back...

Other kit is a Manfrotto 055 tripod with a 200 head and I have just started to try digiscoping and have gone for a Coolpix 4500 (only arrived this week but so far it seems excellent).

[henry link]

Like Art Thorrn I use an astronomical refractor for birding, an Astro-Physics 92mm Stowaway (Imagine a Televue TV-85 on steroids).

Very few birders would want such a thing. It’s heavy, not waterproof, and not made to be knocked around, but the optics are spectacular. In a gathering of scoping birders a line will usually form behind it, even if unoccupied birding scopes are nearby. Art has probably had the same experience with his TV-85. For birding I use it mainly with Zeiss and Swarovski zoom eyepieces, and the Swarovski 30x(40x in my scope). It’s mounted on a Gitzo G2380 fluid head and one of three tripods , a Mamiya carbon fiber, an oid German wood tripod, or an old Bolex movie camera tripod (the Bolex is by far the heaviest and most stable).

If I know I will be hiking a long way I use a small Takahashi FC-50 astro refractor with a Nikon zoom, about the size of a 60mm birdiing scope, mounted on a Manfrotto tripod and head.

For binoculars I mainly use Swarovski 8.5x42 EL, Nikon 8x32SE, and sometimes for long range birdiing a Nikon 8-16x40 zoom. I have a number of military/marine type IF porros, not very useful for birding, and a collection of vintage bins of all types from the 30’s to the 90’s. Occasionally I take one of those out, just to see what it was like for birders of the time (by the 50’s it was actually pretty good).

Right now I’m chomping at the bit for a Zeiss 8x42Victory FL.

[william j clive]

Right now I’m chomping at the bit for a Zeiss 8x42Victory FL.

Hi Henry

I too have Nikon 8x32 SE & Swaro 8.5x42 EL. That particular pair seem to be popular and other members of this forum have that duo. They are very different in use, because of the size illusion phenomenon. They seem to be more like 8x and 10x.

My mouth waters in expectancy of trying the new Zeiss 7x42 FL. Lets hope Zeiss are about to make a huge comeback. Will we see the influence of Steve Ingraham in these new instruments?

Clive

[mak]

Hi Henry
My mouth waters in expectancy of trying the new Zeiss 7x42 FL. Lets hope Zeiss are about to make a huge comeback. Will we see the influence of Steve Ingraham in these new instruments?
Clive

I gather that some "British" birdwatchers have also had an influence.

[niallo]

My equipment update:

Bins - after much agonising and sizing up Nikon/Zeiss/Swaro/Leica, I am now the proud owner of....

8,5x42 EL.... ta-da !!! :clap:

Got excellent trade in price on my 8x32BN (as I bought it much cheaper in UK and traded it in here in Ireland with the retailer using the Irish higher price as guide....). Much learned in the process of bins shopping, which I will talk about on some other thread sometime.

Scope - I had a Leica 62 non apo, a mate of mine just bought it from me, nearly new and nearly new price. Great scope, but a bit dark for digiscoping etc. and the grey Irish weather. Going into counting house to consider new scope purchase...

[william j clive]

I gather that some "British" birdwatchers have also had an influence.


Would you care to expand on that, mak. Oh go on, please.