• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Eyepiece opinions? (1 Viewer)

johnhub

Relatively newbie birder
Hi all

I've just acquired a nice ED82A to complement my EDIIIA. I'm planning to use my existing 30x/38x WF MC and 40x/60x/75X WF MC eyepieces. The view looks lovely and bright at 38x, and it'll be great to have 75x available when needed.

The ED82 has come with two W DS eyepieces - the 16x/24x/30x and 40x/50x. The view through both looks decent enough - I wear spectacles and there are no blackouts. However, I'm not planning on doing any digiscoping, so are these lenses superfluous for my requirements?

They both seem to go for decent prices on eBay, so would it be wise to sell them? Or is there some advantage to keeping them?

All wisdom gratefully received!

Cheers
John
 
Last edited:
John,

You might want to keep at least the 16x/24x/30x W DS so as to have the widest possible field of view and low(-ish) magnification with your ED 82. Otherwise you would have 38x as your starting magnification, which is a bit high.

Of the ones you now have, the 30/38x is perhaps the one I'd sell. 30x - 50x - 75x neatly covers most bases whereas 38x - 75x is much less versatile.

But if you prefer the view of 38x for general viewing, then the option you suggest is fine also.

Kimmo
 
Hi John

It's partly a matter of personal preference and what kind of birding you do with the scope. I have the 30x, 38x and the 75x, I've never tried the 50x (but I'd certainly like to). I did some basic resolution tests with the 30x v the 38x on my 82A, and concluded that the 38x seriously beat the pants (a technical term) off the 30x at pretty much all distances and in most conditions. The downside is the smaller FOV, but since I adopted Kimmo's (and others) cable tie sight I rarely struggle to find stuff anymore and the views are worth the extra effort.
As far as I'm concerned the jury is still out on the 75x which I've only recently acquired, it's certainly much darker, DOF is tricky and I'm not sure yet whether I'm able to resolve greater detail at distance. I would really like the opportunity to compare the 50x with the 75x - I have a suspicion that I might prefer the 50x as it's likely to give a decent image much more of the time. My 30x is languishing in a drawer these days.

Cheers

Phil
 
Many thanks Kimmo and Phil!

After reading your comments and as I've now two Nikon scopes, in the interests of variety and versatility I think I'm going to hang on to all the eyepieces!

I'd previously thought that as I'm an eyeglass wearer the MC lenses were the only ones to consider. However, the view through the 30x DS does look good.

Happy days!

Cheers
John
 
I'll second Kimmo's advice, and I like your idea to keep all these eyepieces. A scope can be with you for a lifetime and so it's nice to have these options in the future. I like the 50x for most high power scoping over the 75x. I find the 75x difficult to use for birds. Also, if you get a 50ED Fieldscope, you may want the 50x as a 27x on that body. The DS eyepieces are excellent for glasses wearers. I think the 30x DS is the largest and latest of the 30x eyepieces made for the Fieldscopes, with the flattest field and longest eye-relief. It is a different optical formula than any previous 30x or other Fieldscope eyepiece.

--AP
 
You might want to keep at least the 16x/24x/30x W DS so as to have the widest possible field of view and low(-ish) magnification with your ED 82. Otherwise you would have 38x as your starting magnification, which is a bit high.

The 16x/24x/30x is my most used fixed eyepiece on any of my fieldscopes (ED50, EDIIIA, ED82). I've got both the "normal" version and the DS, and they're both excellent by any standards, even though the DS may *just* have the edge.

Hermann
 
Thanks Alexis and Hermann for your contributions as well.

I knew I'd get some good information!

Cheers
John
 
I think keeping all the eyepieces for now is a great idea,and with time you will decide which ones are most or less used and if you need to sell or trade one,you are always on time ...heck ,you have the whole series,Why dont you get also an ED50 to close the deal and take advantage of all the range of magnifications ?..the ED50 with that 16X eyepiece is a great piece of kit ,and very very useful to many different birding situations...
 
Warning! This thread is more than 7 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top