Zeiss 65 (1 Viewer)

Hi - I'm thinking of buying a Zeiss 65 with a 15-45x eypiece can anyone give me advice on what this scope is like for digiscping as I am a complete novice on the requirements for digiscoping. Thanks Mick

i dont like the colour bias in the zeiss, it actually makes it harder to id birds where colour is important.

kristoffer said:

i dont like the colour bias in the zeiss, it actually makes it harder to id birds where colour is important.

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colour bias? :eek!:
what colour bias?
it is as neutral as Switzerland!

Not sure about digidscoping because I'd vitually stopped by the time I got mine about 5 yrs ago, but it is by far the best zoom on the market much brighter at a given mag than the swaro and much larger field of view. Ignore the fact it's not sharp at the edges ll scopes are like this it's just the other manufacturers blank this bit off so they can claim edge to edge sharpness, Zeiss see the benefit in having it, you pick birds up in the edge of he view and use the centre for looking at them, it really helps when scanning flocks or seawatching.

As for digiscoping as long as the camera is compatible I'd expect it to be very good, the 15x low end of the zoom shoud give an instant advantage over zooms that start at 20x.

G

garry1366 said:

Not sure about digidscoping because I'd vitually stopped by the time I got mine about 5 yrs ago, but it is by far the best zoom on the market much brighter at a given mag than the swaro and much larger field of view. Ignore the fact it's not sharp at the edges ll scopes are like this it's just the other manufacturers blank this bit off so they can claim edge to edge sharpness, Zeiss see the benefit in having it, you pick birds up in the edge of he view and use the centre for looking at them, it really helps when scanning flocks or seawatching.

As for digiscoping as long as the camera is compatible I'd expect it to be very good, the 15x low end of the zoom shoud give an instant advantage over zooms that start at 20x.

G

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I do not agree with you on several points. If we compare the 80 mm Zeiss Diascope 85T *FL and Swarovski 80hd the Swarovski actually got a wider fov at 60x then the zeiss. 20.4 meters on the Swaro compared to 20 meter on the Zeiss. (Kowa tsn883 got 18.8 meters). So at 60x you got a blurry image with less fov. Not really an advantage.

At 20x the Zeiss got a slightly bigger fov but then again of the 43 meter fov over 13 meter is useless due to the lack of sharpness. (Data from Swedish club 300 magasin Roadrunners scope test).

If we only look at the 65 mm tubes the Swaro got a clearly more sharp image from sweet spot all the way out and I think for a scope so expensive as the Zeiss you must expect a sharper image outside the sweet spot. A test performed by 30 birders showed that when the 65 mm swaro and zeiss (with 20-60zoom) was compared the image was rated in the following way.

The swarovski (max is 5) got a score of 4.7 at 20x and 4.3 at 60x and the Zeiss Diascope 65mm got 3.4 at 20x and 4.0 at 60x. Obviously the Zeiss is not the best zoom-scope.

Source: http://www.livingbird.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=1039#top

And the biggest issue with the Diascope is in my opinion the yellow image. A friend tried to pick out Pink-footed Goose in a pack of Bean Gooses but could not because of the yellow image in the Zeiss. The kowa and swarovski on the other hand got a neutral color, huge advantage imo.

Finally on the more subjective level the Swaro is dressed in rubber, more suitable for field conditions imo and I prefer the heliocentric focus since I find the focus knob on kowa and zeiss a bit fiddly. Totally subjective of course and I expect this alone is fuel for a small war

ThoLa said:

colour bias? :eek!:
what colour bias?
it is as neutral as Switzerland!

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As neutral as Sweden I would say
(We got nato here training atm)

kristoffer said:

A friend tried to pick out Pink-footed Goose in a pack of Bean Gooses but could not because of the yellow image in the Zeiss.

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You should urge your friend to seek medical help. It sounds as he might be suffering from cataracts.
It is not uncommon that people see "defects" in instruments and not realize that the defect is actually in their eyes!
Chronic eye diseases might get worse and become unmanagable if unattended.

ThoLa said:

You should urge your friend to seek medical help. It sounds as he might be suffering from cataracts.
It is not uncommon that people see "defects" in instruments and not realize that the defect is actually in their eyes!
Chronic eye diseases might get worse and become unmanagable if unattended.

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Don´t worry! Doctor Swarovski cured him from his disease instantly and gave him a neutral crisp image allowing him to pick out the pink-footed.

Ziess 65 + zoom

Hi Mick

I've probably come to this a bit late, but I love my Zeiss 65 + zoom and rarely go out without it. Neutral colour, fab image, the soft edges are really only apparent at low mag when I'm usually trying to locate the bird (I didn't really notice it until some wag pointed it out) and the wide fov is a real help. I'm a 'shove the camera over the end of the scope and hope for the best' man as I prefer making field sketches, but I've had some half decent results even using this primitive method - see attached shot of Greyhen shot through the kitchen window…