New to Scopes (1 Viewer)

Hello, I am a newbie, and am considering purchasing a Nikon ED50. This model comes with around 9 different eyepieces. Would someone please explain what the difference is between these, as I am confused.

In constrast, does anybody know of any scopes which have image stablisation, as I like the Canon IS bins, or the Nikon VR versions, but the magnification seems to max out around 18x.

Thank-you in anticipation.

Jane.

GSXR Jane said:

Hello, I am a newbie, and am considering purchasing a Nikon ED50. This model comes with around 9 different eyepieces. Would someone please explain what the difference is between these, as I am confused.

In constrast, does anybody know of any scopes which have image stablisation, as I like the Canon IS bins, or the Nikon VR versions, but the magnification seems to max out around 18x.

Thank-you in anticipation.

Jane.

Click to expand...

Hi Jane, I´m a huge fan of the ED50, but you´re right, the eyepieces take some explaining. Firstly, there are two types, MC and DS. DS is really for digiscoping, but I don´t do photography so I went for MC. DS has a kind of flexible roll-up rubbery gizmo rather than the standard (and easier to use, IMHO) eyecup of the MC. Next, magnification. The zoom eyepiece is great, but a little narrow in Field of View. It gives, I think, 13 to 40x or thereabouts on the ED50. I got this as part of the package when I bought the ED50, and bought two more eyepieces as a caprice. The first is 16xw (this one is 30xw on the larger ED82 scope). It is really stunning, really wide for a "miniscope" (as the "w" denotes), crisp and bright and a joy to use. The magnification isn´t huge, though, so I got myself a 27xw also (giving 50xw on the ED82). Because I have the ED82 as well, I do get a lot of mileage out of having 3 different eyepieces. I hope that explains a bit about the eyepieces. I´ve found that I use the ED50 nearly all the time now, and take the larger ED82 only on outings where mobility isn´t an issue or where distances are great (seawatching, mostly). The ED50 covers most eventualities. BTW, it is possible to digiscope using the MC eyepieces, but I´m not exactly sure how as I´ve never done it, search the many ED50 threads, I´m sure there´s lots of advice there. I hope this is all of help to you, best of luck with your new scope!