Kowa 823M and other eyepieces (1 Viewer)

Hi:

Has anyone tried the fixed magnification eyepieces that Kowa offers for their 820 series scopes? If so,are they good for digiscoping?

I like the zoom but was wondering how the others fared in comparison.

Chris. Spratt

I have a 32WA eyepiece with my 823 and I find it excellent for my digiscoping efforts (mind you, I am not the world's best digiscoper by a long way). I would be interested what other people think of these fixed mag eyepieces.

I know my good friend Richard Fray uses a 823M with a 20X and his photos are by far some of the best digiscoped photos on the web.

Hope this doesn't make your head swell too much Richard.

Mark

Hi Chris

I used to have Kowa 822 with a 32x eyepiece & I used them for digiscoping I found them to be very good.The only thing I didn`t like was the constant colour fringing.

Regards Stevo.

Thanks guys.

The color fringing with the Kowa 822 may be due to it not being a flourite scope.

Chris. Spratt

Hi Chris,

I have both 32x and zoom EP's and practically never use the zoom. Both EP's (and the fluorite scope) are very good in terms of resolution and color, BUT the relatively low (short?) eye-relief makes the vignetting the most annoying feature. If I remember correctly 20x EP is a long eye-relief model, which would make it a very good option.

I have seen my friends developing in the field of digiscoping and a general trend is towards lower magnifications. So, if you plan to use the scope mainly for birdwatching and less for digiscoping, I would warmly recommend 32x or the zoom. But if your main use will be nature/bird photography, 20x gives you more room to play with camera's zoom.

Regards,
Ilkka

I have the 823 and began with the 32x, which I found gives very clear images. I recently bought the 20-60x zoom and to be honest I have not returned to the 32x since. The zoom is of very high qulaity and gives the flexibility of framing shots nicely. For photos though I find 40x is about the maximum to go to for consistent decent results. Anything above that and the images are too soft, though in the right conditions even at 60x I can get a decent shot on occasion.

I haven't heard about the 20x eyepiece though I've heard and seen some great results from using the 27x Long Eye Relief eyepiece which I think needs an adapter for use with the 820 series. I wouldn't mind one myslef but it would be a little extravagant for me at the moment. Check out the Gallery digiscoping section. It's a good source for comparing different scope/eyepiece combinations from 'real' users - we have at least one member who uses the LER eyepiece.

As regards vignetting, I have had much less of a problem with it since getting the zoom as there is that much more versatility for framing and using the camera zoom to avoid it.

Thanks for correcting Ian, there are no fixed 20x eyepieces for series 820. However, there is a native 27x LER (http://www.kowa-europe.com/Scopes/tsn820m_2.htm), which is said to be good for digiscoping, but has a quite narrow field of view (you actually see the same field with 50x EP!) - No personal experience on either!

What I meant with "annoying" vignetting was that with Kowa 32x or zoom eyepiece you don't get rid of zooming with camera. With Leica 20x (that was it!) and modified Coolpix 990 you can even use the wide angle of the camera, which also gives you an extra f-stop.

Chris
Clearly, there are people who prefer zooms and those who like fixed lenses. Fortunately all Kowa eyepieces are VERY good - a much bigger difference in digiscoping (as you are aware) is "fluorite vs. non-fluorite". If you like the flexibility of the zoom, I don't think you are disappointed with its optics.

Regards,
Ilkka

I use the 27X and the zoom on an 824. As you noted, the 27X has very long eye relief and a very narrow field of view. The result is that the widest field you can get without vignetting is about the same as you get with the zoom set at 20X. But the 27X requires less camera zoom to eliminate vignetting, about half way on a CP995 compared to about 2/3 of the way in using the zoom eyepiece. Since the Coolpixes are sharper at the middle of their zoom range than at the top, and since fixed eyepieces are thought to be sharper than zooms, the 27X should be able to produce sharper images. But I haven't noticed much difference, at least on a computer monitor. Maybe the differences would be more apparent if you are printing images, but I don't do that.

I used to use the zoom for birding and the 27X for digiscoping but now I use the zoom for both most of the time, generally because I don't think the advantages of the 27X are worth the trouble of changing eyepieces. Also, the zoom is more flexible, giving you the option of going above 27X for those longer shots.

The 27X does not require a special adapter, at least on my 824. Perhaps it does with the new "M" series of Kowa 82mm scopes.

Glen

I should add that I would not recommend the 27X for birding. The field is too narrow and the extreme eye relief makes it awkward to look through. Glen

hi
i use the kowa 823 scope with the 32x also the 50x the 32 is great for digiscope
the rule with digiscope is to get a close as u can i have some photos look up digiscope
nick name redshank like all photo format u need to take lots of photos and u might be lucky to get one good shot out of it
I use a tsn 823 scope with a 32x sometimes 50x nikon coolpix 995
look up peregrine and u should find my photosregards
Shay.