[jalethbridge]

Hi, I have seen this for what seems like an excellent price (£100). What I want to know is if it is any good? It is the narrower one with a rubber eyecup, I think the full name is "13-30x/20-45x/25-56x MC zoom eyepiece"

I've got an ED50. I'm currently using it with a tiny tiny eyepiece called the "27x/40x/50x MC eyepiece". In decent light, and if you can steady the scope, it is great. Eye-placement is very difficult however. And if lower light and any degree of wobble (such as on a monpod), it becomes challenging. How do people think the 13-30x would perform. I am thinking about it because a) it is cheap, and this scope will only be used occasionally and b) at 13x the image should be exceedingly bright, be less sensitive to wobble, and the rubber eye-cup should make eye-placement a doddle.

Whilst the 13-40x MCII eyepiece and the 27x W MC eyepiece (often used with this scope) seem the ones people use most, they cost around £300.

Thanks
Jonathan

[motts]

I do not have the ED50, but am planning on purchasing one soon. From what I've seen, here in the USA, the ED50 is almost always sold as a kit bundled with the 13-30x, so I assume that would be what most people here are using, unless they already have other eye pieces.

The 13-40 is nice, if nothing else, for the improvement in eye relief and the twist-up style eye cups. However, it is much pricier. I have read numerous reviews of ED50 users with the 13-30x and it seems to work fine for most who prefer to use a zoom eye piece.

In short, I think the performance of the 13-30x would be fine optically, if you can live with the short eye relief.

[dipped]

I think you'd be better off going for a 27 W MC eyepiece if you want easier eye placement. You could try putting an ad in the Wanted thread. That's how I got my Mk 2 zoom for £120.

Have you tried this eyepiece or either of the zooms? I have the big Nikon fieldscope and use a fixed wide eyepiece most of the time and occassionally the zoom (Mk 2 with twist eyecup), for extra reach. I can't say which of the two zooms has easier eye placement not having tried them side by side.

[Alexis Powell]

Given your comparison to a fixed eyepiece with poor eye-relief and narrow FOV, I think you'd find the little zoom to be an improvement overall, but getting the 20 or 27x wide fixed would be a whole new/better experience, and in my mind is what owning the ED50 is all about. It is a terrible shame that Nikon isn't supplying fixed eyepieces for the original fieldscopes anymore (in most of the world; probably not manufacturing these any more) or that where/when they do, they are sold at list price. Odd too that when Nikon decided to stop supplying them to the US there were some crazy-good deals on the remaining stock.

--AP

[normjackson]

Sorry to hear about the problems. But isn't 27x quite a lot to hold steady without a tripod anyways? I thought you said that you'd be using it with your Gitzo travel tripod. (Yep I'm the guilty one who sold it to Jonathan but at least I did undercut Wex as they're now called : http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-...piece/p1002438). The 27x wide angle isn't going to give you a bigger exit pupil and not sure the longer eye relief would necessarily allow more leeway in eye placement forwards and backwards.

Do you have a full-size scope with a wide angle eyepiece so you know what you are missing re. FOV with the 27x MC? The FOV on the zoom feels comparable to the 27x MC. Maybe if you do want a wide angle eyepiece for monopod use (or maybe shoulder pod) you really should consider hunting down a 20x W.
I wouldn't say £100 for the 13-30x zoom is particularly cheap unless, of course, it is new with guarantee etc. At low magnification it should address most of the issues you've found regarding ease of use of the 27x MC. Also FWIW a used 27x W went for £127 on fleabay just a couple of days ago.

Would also mention that coming from a 60mm Kowa scope with 20x W, 30x W and 60x eyepieces, I found the three Nikon eyepieces in the 50mm scope more difficult to use. But that could just be a case of practice.