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Opticron's new Travelscope (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Moocher
- Start date
The-Wanderer
Well-known member
MM3 vs Pentax 65ED
Gwen,
Given that you are now selling your Opticron MM3 with its SDLv1, will you be completing and publishing your comparative review with the Pentax 65ED?
Colin
Gwen,
Given that you are now selling your Opticron MM3 with its SDLv1, will you be completing and publishing your comparative review with the Pentax 65ED?
Colin
Colin , for what it is worth & I hope I do not piss anyone off this time ....... The MM3 is everything that is said here. Compact, sharp & is a quality made instrument but it still only has a 50mm objective. To be honest I was more impressed with the SDL zoom eyepiece. My mistake was to think it would give me the same views as my Pentax with the XW20/14mm eyepieces. I must have had a senior moment, to think a 50mm scope would want me to replace a good compact 65mm scope. Now this is only my opinion, with my eyes. For what the trade off would be ... a scope, just a little more compact/with less weight .... is not for me & this is only my opinion. I would rather keep using the larger/heavier Pentax with its many 1.25" eyepieces available. ..... gwen
The-Wanderer
Well-known member
Gwen,
I am not surprised at your conclusion. I am still hoping for a lightweight 60mm scope with comparable glass.
When you stated that you were impressed with the SDLv2, with what did you compare it?
Colin
I am not surprised at your conclusion. I am still hoping for a lightweight 60mm scope with comparable glass.
When you stated that you were impressed with the SDLv2, with what did you compare it?
Colin
FrankD
Well-known member
Thank you Bob. I had a great deal of fun taking it. Hopefully I will get something closer today. I am quite impressed with the Iphone/MM3 combination for Iscoping.
Gwen,
I think these statements are very balanced. I love the MM3, but I also have a full size (80 mm) scope for when size and weight is not an issue.
Niels
FrankD
Well-known member
No argument from me here either Gwen. I owned the Pentax 65 and used it almost exclusively with the XW20 eyepiece. Fabulous combination and one that I yet to find an equal to ...at that price point or below.
Wish you would have tried one of the fixed power Opticron eyepieces in comparison though. Just as sharp as the zooms but with a wider field of view.
rollingthunder
Well-known member
Looks like this feature is an app for the iphone 4s and not part of the bundle. I have just downloaded https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/slopro-1000fps-slow-motion/id507232505?mt=8 to use with the 4s and my new ipad air.
Nice Hummer footage btw, very impressed.
Laurie:t:
Nice Hummer footage btw, very impressed.
Laurie:t:
FrankD
Well-known member
Sweet. I just downloaded the app. Will tinker with it this evening.
If you like the original hummer footage then I took two more last night.
https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/73029961@N07/14701806624/
https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/73029961@N07/14701040721/
I also tried taking regular pics with the 5s
MM3 combo. This is the best of the bunch. Low light levels at the time.
If you like the original hummer footage then I took two more last night.
https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/73029961@N07/14701806624/
https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/73029961@N07/14701040721/
I also tried taking regular pics with the 5s
MM3 combo. This is the best of the bunch. Low light levels at the time.
Attachments
rollingthunder
Well-known member
Nice - i still find it hard to believe that Hummers occur in your neck of the woods but these go right up to the Canadian plains:eek!:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby-throated_hummingbird
Laurie:t:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby-throated_hummingbird
Laurie:t:
Frank ... I just finished putting the fixed 13x eyepiece thru its paces/hand held on the MM3. I like the combo a lot, so I am going to give the MM3 a reprieve for now. Yes, its as sharp or sharper with a nice FOV. Works for me (eye relief) with my glasses. I'd like to see some opinions of the 18x eyepiece, if I were to get another eyepiece the 18x is the highest power I would consider using with a 50mm objective with my eyes. ..gwen
FrankD
Well-known member
Gwen,
Glad you gave the scope a chance with the fixed power eyepiece. A different experience in my opinion. You seem to be following the same path I did. I used the 13x back in April and May. Those Black Vulture pics I posted in this thread a few pages ago were taken with the 13x eyepiece. The last few pics and the video I posted of the hummer were all taken with the 18x. I agree with your suggestion that the 18x should be somewhat of the "sweet spot" considering the 50 mm objective. I have been nothing but totally enthused with its performance on this scope. I believe the listed eye relief is 17 mm and the field of view is 198 feet. If I did the math correctly....198/52.5=3.77 degrees x 18x = 67.88 degree apparent field of view. Not quite the 72 degrees of the Pentax XW but pretty close.
Glad you gave the scope a chance with the fixed power eyepiece. A different experience in my opinion. You seem to be following the same path I did. I used the 13x back in April and May. Those Black Vulture pics I posted in this thread a few pages ago were taken with the 13x eyepiece. The last few pics and the video I posted of the hummer were all taken with the 18x. I agree with your suggestion that the 18x should be somewhat of the "sweet spot" considering the 50 mm objective. I have been nothing but totally enthused with its performance on this scope. I believe the listed eye relief is 17 mm and the field of view is 198 feet. If I did the math correctly....198/52.5=3.77 degrees x 18x = 67.88 degree apparent field of view. Not quite the 72 degrees of the Pentax XW but pretty close.
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FrankD
Well-known member
I happened upon something interesting today. I thought I would determine whether or not one of my 1.25 inch astro eyepieces would work on the MM3. I screwed off the 1.25 inch collar to find that the threads are an identical match to the MM3 threads. The eyepiece is a Knight Owl Optics Super Plossl which yields a 52 degree field of view. They can be found here for the measly sum of $20 US.
http://www.owlastronomy.com/superplossl.htm
I only have the 25 mm which yields approximately 11.5x on the scope. Not much use for anything but feeder watching but there are shorter focal lengths in the series. Keep in mind that since they are Plossls the eye relief is only about 2/3rds the focal length of the eyepiece. So as 15 mm would yield about 10 mm of eye relief. Definitely not ideal for eye glass wearers but suitable for others. The 15 mm would yield a magnification of 19x.
I took a few digiscoped pics through the eyepiece just to give you some idea of the image quality and will include them below. I will leave impressions up to you folks. The sweet spot size is definitely smaller than that of the Opricron fixed power eyepieces but still large enough for regular use in my opinion. Very good sharpness in the sweet spot though.
I do wonder though that since the Opticron eyepieces are interchangeable between many of their scopes then these Plossls should work with the likes of the GS, ES and HR scopes as well.....at least in theory. The 25 mm reaches focus well beyond infinity focus in the MM3.
http://www.owlastronomy.com/superplossl.htm
I only have the 25 mm which yields approximately 11.5x on the scope. Not much use for anything but feeder watching but there are shorter focal lengths in the series. Keep in mind that since they are Plossls the eye relief is only about 2/3rds the focal length of the eyepiece. So as 15 mm would yield about 10 mm of eye relief. Definitely not ideal for eye glass wearers but suitable for others. The 15 mm would yield a magnification of 19x.
I took a few digiscoped pics through the eyepiece just to give you some idea of the image quality and will include them below. I will leave impressions up to you folks. The sweet spot size is definitely smaller than that of the Opricron fixed power eyepieces but still large enough for regular use in my opinion. Very good sharpness in the sweet spot though.
I do wonder though that since the Opticron eyepieces are interchangeable between many of their scopes then these Plossls should work with the likes of the GS, ES and HR scopes as well.....at least in theory. The 25 mm reaches focus well beyond infinity focus in the MM3.
Attachments
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rollingthunder
Well-known member
A while ago i said that i would, hopefully, be having a piece of Black ABS nylon machined down to fit over the MM3 eyepiece and have a flange left on the outside to glue to an iphone4s case. Unfortunately my mate is busy down at his engineering firm and he has a steady queue of mutual friends turning up to have little bits and bobs done and his business partner has put the block on 'freebies' so i was faced with 2 hours labour (it's not that really, once the machine is set up) @ £30 per hour reduced to a 'mate-rate' of 50% reduction which is still 30 big ones:eek!:
Having bought the 'scope and been given an out-of-contract phone i only wanted to adapt for digi-scoping for holidays and bird records as i do not routinely carry gear about for photographing as tbh i don't see anything worth snapping! I went back to my original plan of finding or adapting a suitable piece of tube/cap and glueing it to a secondary iphone case and taking it from there.
This i did. I used the cap from a urine sample container (that's what i call taking the p1ss) marking an aperture for the lens and cutting it out with a craft knife. I had to remove the inside thread of the cap to ensure it fitted snugly and further down the lens. I have to remove the rubber shroud around the eyepiece to allow the cap to fit against the metal but this just comes off with the lens cap easily anyway.
Considering the new Red cap cost 20p (and i still have the container), the superglue 10p and the case nothing i am more than pleased with the cost of the conversion:eek!: I used a complete tube of glue to bond the new cap to the old case, i would estimate about 1 1/2 square inch of bonding area and a generous several applications around the edge bond. This seems pretty strong, as expected, and is both light and slim in profile.
A firm push fits it over the MM3 lens and then a slight adjustment to make it sit square so there is an even vignetting. A slight tap and expansion to about 2x on the phone removes the vignetting and then whatever zoom is required. Focussing is obviously carried out by the scope and there is the very useful fine-focus facility. My only problem was the fact that i wear glasses, one for close and one for distant. I wear my distant for birding and look straight thru my Zeiss 7x42 BGAT as these are designed for spectacle wearers but raise them on to my forehead for the MM3. My problem was that altho i am using the scope focus i need to be able to see the camera back which was not sharp enough so i will need to take my reading glasses out with me - more gear! A small glitch.
Bear in mind that these were the first attempts. I only used a monopod which was leant against some metal railings. The iphone is extremely touch-sensitive which, coupled with a tripod, should yield some good results with a bit of practice. This should open up a great range of possibilities for recording local stuff, any twitched rarities and tons of stuff from abroad instead of the endless veiws, bars, more views, more bars and...........Moroccan camels
Attached is a picture of the original ABS plus the new Red cap and a montage of some local Black Headed Gulls.
P.S. I went to see a relatively local Pacific Golden Plover ystda but it was'nt close enuff in the heavy heat haze:C
Laurie:t:
Having bought the 'scope and been given an out-of-contract phone i only wanted to adapt for digi-scoping for holidays and bird records as i do not routinely carry gear about for photographing as tbh i don't see anything worth snapping! I went back to my original plan of finding or adapting a suitable piece of tube/cap and glueing it to a secondary iphone case and taking it from there.
This i did. I used the cap from a urine sample container (that's what i call taking the p1ss) marking an aperture for the lens and cutting it out with a craft knife. I had to remove the inside thread of the cap to ensure it fitted snugly and further down the lens. I have to remove the rubber shroud around the eyepiece to allow the cap to fit against the metal but this just comes off with the lens cap easily anyway.
Considering the new Red cap cost 20p (and i still have the container), the superglue 10p and the case nothing i am more than pleased with the cost of the conversion:eek!: I used a complete tube of glue to bond the new cap to the old case, i would estimate about 1 1/2 square inch of bonding area and a generous several applications around the edge bond. This seems pretty strong, as expected, and is both light and slim in profile.
A firm push fits it over the MM3 lens and then a slight adjustment to make it sit square so there is an even vignetting. A slight tap and expansion to about 2x on the phone removes the vignetting and then whatever zoom is required. Focussing is obviously carried out by the scope and there is the very useful fine-focus facility. My only problem was the fact that i wear glasses, one for close and one for distant. I wear my distant for birding and look straight thru my Zeiss 7x42 BGAT as these are designed for spectacle wearers but raise them on to my forehead for the MM3. My problem was that altho i am using the scope focus i need to be able to see the camera back which was not sharp enough so i will need to take my reading glasses out with me - more gear! A small glitch.
Bear in mind that these were the first attempts. I only used a monopod which was leant against some metal railings. The iphone is extremely touch-sensitive which, coupled with a tripod, should yield some good results with a bit of practice. This should open up a great range of possibilities for recording local stuff, any twitched rarities and tons of stuff from abroad instead of the endless veiws, bars, more views, more bars and...........Moroccan camels
Attached is a picture of the original ABS plus the new Red cap and a montage of some local Black Headed Gulls.
P.S. I went to see a relatively local Pacific Golden Plover ystda but it was'nt close enuff in the heavy heat haze:C
Laurie:t:
Attachments
FrankD
Well-known member
Nicely done RT. A little ingenuity at home can add a lot of enjoyment to the birding excursions. The pictures aren't bad at all. One thing I did notice is that it does highlight the edge distortion quite nicely. I will try to duplicate this with my scope. Which eyepiece do you have on the MM3?
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rollingthunder
Well-known member
Frank - i use the 13-36x zoom. I'm not going to invest in any more as i only use a scope from time to time. I will certainly use the MM3 considerably more due to its weight and compactness. Now that i can take pics that has really added the required incentive. I bird a lot using my pushbike so carrying a small amount of gear is not a problem. I really only envisage using the scope for record shots and holidays but i think, with a bit of practise i should improve technique and results.
Niels - i don't know why i did'nt think of that as i posess 2 pairs of bifocals!
Will post more stuff as and when.
Laurie:t:
Niels - i don't know why i did'nt think of that as i posess 2 pairs of bifocals!
Will post more stuff as and when.
Laurie:t:
