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25x eyepiece for Nikon ED82 (2 Viewers)

chris murphy

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Evening all

I'm looking for a new eyepiece for my ED82A, I currently use the 38x but it is a bit high mag for general use. I'm hoping that a lower mag eyepiece may help with the tight focus and shallow depth of field on the 'scope.

Anyways, I may look to purchase or do a swap for the 30x (DS or MC) at some point, but the 25x MC is about a third cheaper than this at around £100. I have seen very little mention of this eyepiece in use....does anyone have experience with this EP or is it cheap because it's cack and no-one uses it?

I have also considered the 25-75 zoom but I've read a lot of negative reviews, I might get one from somewhere that has a good returns policy and see what I think of it myself.

Thanks for any info.
 
Hi Chris,

is the 38x a Wide eyepiece? The 25x you're referring to is not known to me, it might be an older version where 25x means 25x with a Fieldscope 60 which has a shorter focal length, meaning it is more powerful with the 82 mm scope.

I'm using the three Wide DS eyepieces (30x, 50x and 75x) with my ED82A and while 30x is plenty wide, I'd probably not find the 38x Wide MC too narrow or too powerful to use as my standard EP.
My recommendation is to find a 30x Wide DS (16x/24x/30x) or a 30x Wide MC (24x/30x).
But if your current eyepiece is the 20x/30x/38x Wide version, I'd say it's no use swapping it for the 30x.

Re the zoom: the 25x setting has a similar FOV as does the 50x Wide fixed. The 30x's FOV is enormous in comparison.

//L
 
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...the 25x MC is about a third cheaper than this at around £100. I have seen very little mention of this eyepiece in use....does anyone have experience with this EP or is it cheap because it's cack and no-one uses it?

I have that one, along with many others. It is a "conventional" eyepiece, which is to say not officially wide field, long eye-relief, or optically complicated. It is one of the oldest Fieldscope eyepiece still (or recently) in production, introduced (along with the short 40x with no eye-relief) for use as a 20x with the original Fieldscope. Nevertheless, it is an excellent eyepiece. The angular FOV is identical to the 30x WF/MC/DS model so it is plenty wide, but obviously the magnification is a bit lower. The eye relief is the same as the 30x WF/MC models, so adequate for most glasses wearers (~15+ mm). And despite its simple design, it has excellent sharpness across the field, comparable to the 30x WF and MC models (but not as flat as the 30x DS). I don't know how easy it is to find or what it goes for these days, but it used to be quite inexpensive.

Here is a picture of the eyepiece (it is #1) along with the later wide field MC models (which are more bulky because of twist up eyecups, and have updated coatings, but optically design otherwise identical to their WF predecessors). I really like the 24/30x MC and the 24/30x WF that it replaced.
http://nikon.com/products/sportoptics/lineup/scopes/mc/index.htm

Here are the DS models. I really like the 16/24/30x DS
http://nikon.com/products/sportoptics/lineup/scopes/ds/index.htm


--AP
 
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Thanks both for your input.

I think I may take a punt on the 25x eyepiece, it is low cost enough to not be a major loss if it doesn't work out.

I will consider options on the zoom, I'm still interested despite a lot of negative online reviews. I've only ever had fixed EP's on any of my scopes and I want to try out a zoom, just to see what I'm missing.

Thanks
 
I will consider options on the zoom, I'm still interested despite a lot of negative online reviews. I've only ever had fixed EP's on any of my scopes and I want to try out a zoom, just to see what I'm missing.

Thanks

The only real problems with the 25-75x zoom (MC or MCII) are narrow fields at low magnifications and short eye relief. The optical quality is actually first rate, just as bright and sharp as the fixed eyepieces at the same magnification.

The zoom makes good sense as a high magnification option. It allows full or nearly full access to the true resolving power of the scope at 75x, while also providing the option of dialing back to the highest useful magnification when scoping conditions are too poor for 75x.
 
Evening all

I'm looking for a new eyepiece for my ED82A, I currently use the 38x but it is a bit high mag for general use. I'm hoping that a lower mag eyepiece may help with the tight focus and shallow depth of field on the 'scope.

Anyways, I may look to purchase or do a swap for the 30x (DS or MC) at some point, but the 25x MC is about a third cheaper than this at around £100. I have seen very little mention of this eyepiece in use....does anyone have experience with this EP or is it cheap because it's cack and no-one uses it?

I have also considered the 25-75 zoom but I've read a lot of negative reviews, I might get one from somewhere that has a good returns policy and see what I think of it myself.

Thanks for any info.
The 30X DS eyepiece on the ED82A is perhaps the simplest and finest view the scope has to offer. I have the 30/50/75 DS eyepieces and the 25-75X zoom. As Henry said, the 25-75 is an excellent lens BUT it is limited by very shallow eye relief, a narrow FOV and a painfully slow zoom. The 25-75 is not user-friendly.

After I purchased a Kowa 883 with the 25-60 zoom I realized how limiting the 25-75X on the Nikon really was/is. The Kowa zoom performs flawlessly and is easy to use on moving targets while focusing and zooming. The Nikon's operation pales in comparison.

We happily used the ED82A/30X DS combination exclusively for many years. After getting the Kowa I returned to this combination (30X DS) and use the ED82A as a backup or an extra scope for friends and random birders at watch sites. After all these years, I'm still impressed with the level of detail the 30XDS delivers to the eye! It's a shame Nikon never produced a modern wide angled zoom.

PS
I put a 25-75X on my wife's ED50A and she loves it. It's pinpoint sharp to 40X and the view is as good as most larger scopes...except for brightness of course.
 
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