• 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.

Opticron's new Travelscope (1 Viewer)

FrankD said:
...My only gripe with the Nikon is that the eyepieces are very hard to find.
Click to expand...

I already have the Nikon ED50, so I won't be needing the MM3 myself, but it looks like the scope to recommend to folks who see my ED50 and want one. If the optics are good, it seems a direct competitor--only a bit more expensive than the ED50 (which recently dropped back down to $650 at the major sellers, maybe a sign that it is soon to be discontinued), only several oz heavier, slightly more bulky, but with better focus knob. I can't recommend the ED50 in good conscience to anyone who doesn't want the zoom and doesn't already own the fixed eyepieces. But that raises the question of availability of Opticron eyepieces in the USA. Are they available? I suppose even if they had to be ordered from the UK it would still be easier than shipping Nikon eyepieces via Tenso from Amazon Japan. I'm having flashbacks to when Bushnell (a USA based brand!) offered fixed eyepieces for its Elite scope and showed them on the USA website but only distributed them in Europe. There have been similar issues with other brands in the past.

--AP
 
Incidentally, I ordered the Nikon 20x/30x/38x MC wide for my ED50 from Amazon Japan & used this service for forwarding- excellent communication, pretty cheap price, eyepiece arrived only a few days after it arrived at White Rabbit. Pretty easy, really- wasn't that complicated a process. Don't know what Tenso's like.

http://whiterabbitexpress.com/package-forwarding-service/
 
Last edited:
Alexis Powell said:
I already have the Nikon ED50, so I won't be needing the MM3 myself, but it looks like the scope to recommend to folks who see my ED50 and want one. If the optics are good, it seems a direct competitor--only a bit more expensive than the ED50 (which recently dropped back down to $650 at the major sellers, maybe a sign that it is soon to be discontinued), only several oz heavier, slightly more bulky, but with better focus knob. I can't recommend the ED50 in good conscience to anyone who doesn't want the zoom and doesn't already own the fixed eyepieces. But that raises the question of availability of Opticron eyepieces in the USA. Are they available? I suppose even if they had to be ordered from the UK it would still be easier than shipping Nikon eyepieces via Tenso from Amazon Japan. I'm having flashbacks to when Bushnell (a USA based brand!) offered fixed eyepieces for its Elite scope and showed them on the USA website but only distributed them in Europe. There have been similar issues with other brands in the past.

--AP
Click to expand...

Hi Alexis,

Although Opticron stock comes from Europe we now have a base and stock warehouse in the US and are growing our customer (dealer) base all the time.

Link to our US Website and dealer listing here:
http://www.opticronusa.com/Pages/dealers.html

Hope this helps.
 
Alexis Powell said:
But that raises the question of availability of Opticron eyepieces in the USA. Are they available?
Click to expand...

Just to follow up on Rob's comment, although our scopes are most commonly listed with zoom eyepieces by the online dealers, we hold stock of the fixed mag eyepieces in our warehouse in Huntersville, NC so they are available to order for customers in the US.

http://opticronusa.com/Pages/mm3_scope.html#eyepieces

With the fixed mag eyepiece that Ratal mentioned above, the scope has an MSRP of $729 compared to $749 with the zoom.

Cheers, Pete
 
Last edited:
Pete -
That location is very convenient for me here on western NC. Can Opticron equipment be serviced there as well?

Steve
 
Good question Steve. I have vague recollections of a conversation with the US rep discussing this but I can't remember one way or the other.

Considering the customer service reputation that Opticron has over the UK I hope they continue that trend here in the states. From what I have seen so far from Chip, the US rep, I think they are off to a great start.
 
Steve - we have the ability to do basic repairs (eyecup replacement, dioptre correction, replacement cosmetic parts etc) on site in NC but anything that requires a re-build (and therefore nitrogen re-filling in most cases), has to come back to the UK for now. Turnaround time for those repairs is guaranteed at under three weeks.

HTH

Cheers, Pete
 
Sounds good so far, Pete. If I can persue this further, hopefully in the interest of others monitoring these posts, I'd like to know more about the Panasonic FS45 digiscoping kit.
If I bought the scope with a HDF 12-36X zoom eyepiece, I would need the 50205 kit, correct? Can I assume the two inserts that are sold in that kit (50066, 50067) are some sort of adapters to thread the camera to the scope? Or does the camera rest in the system? Does one of the inserts include a ledge under the camera? Some better detailed pictures would help me understand how the kit works.
My final question (I think) would be - is it possible to use the scope as an observation tool with the adapters in place or does the adapter kit make this very difficult?

Steve
 
I'm on for one when they come out mid Feb. I would like to hear from forum members which eyepiece will best suit the MM3. The zoom it comes with or a fixed wide angle? I don't have a spotting scope so really I have little idea....
 
Steve - answers as follows:

Hamhed said:
If I bought the scope with a HDF 12-36X zoom eyepiece, I would need the 50205 kit, correct?
Click to expand...

Actually, in the US we supply a kit that does not include the camera. We can source the UK version of the camera (FS45) for the market here but we're not able to buy the FH8 camera from Panasonic in the US.

The part number for the kit for the HDF zoom is 50208, MSRP $206. This includes the custom camera mount, cable release and our 41112 push fit adaptor.

Hamhed said:
Can I assume the two inserts that are sold in that kit (50066, 50067) are some sort of adapters to thread the camera to the scope? Or does the camera rest in the system? Does one of the inserts include a ledge under the camera? Some better detailed pictures would help me understand how the kit works.
Click to expand...

There are some pictures of how the kit goes together on the website here:

http://www.opticronusa.com/Pages/digiscoping_kit_fh8.html

The lens mount screws into the tripod socket on the base of the camera and then into the back of the push fit adapter. That push fit adaptor slides over the eyepiece and can be locked in place by rotating a lock ring or can be left as is to allow it to be take on and off quickly to switch between observing and photography.

Hamhed said:
My final question (I think) would be - is it possible to use the scope as an observation tool with the adapters in place or does the adapter kit make this very difficult?
Click to expand...

As noted above, the whole kit can be lifted on and off the camera but no, you can't observe with it in place except to look at what is shown on the camera viewfinder screen.

HTH

Cheers, Pete
 
calpal11 said:
I'm on for one when they come out mid Feb. I would like to hear from forum members which eyepiece will best suit the MM3. The zoom it comes with or a fixed wide angle? I don't have a spotting scope so really I have little idea....
Click to expand...

The scope doesn't have to be ordered with the zoom eyepiece - you can order any combination of body and eyepiece to suit your needs.

I'll leave others to comment on fixed vs zoom.

Cheers, Pete
 
Very good! Thanks, Pete, for the clarifications. The link to assembly instructions is most helpful.
If you would help me solve another minor puzzle, how does the adapter adjust as the lens of the camera zooms in or out? The statement under "Tips for taking pictures" - Once this single rounded picture is obtained you can adjust the camera zoom to eliminate any vignetting and make any fine focus adjustments using the telescope. - makes me think there must be some facet of the mechanism for the camera to remain close to the scope eyepiece yet allow the lens to change length.
Am I correct in assuming there are other cameras the digiscoping kit will work with?

Thanks for your prompt attention to this thread -

Steve
 
Hamhed said:
Very good! Thanks, Pete, for the clarifications. The link to assembly instructions is most helpful.
If you would help me solve another minor puzzle, how does the adapter adjust as the lens of the camera zooms in or out? The statement under "Tips for taking pictures" - Once this single rounded picture is obtained you can adjust the camera zoom to eliminate any vignetting and make any fine focus adjustments using the telescope. - makes me think there must be some facet of the mechanism for the camera to remain close to the scope eyepiece yet allow the lens to change length.
Am I correct in assuming there are other cameras the digiscoping kit will work with?

Thanks for your prompt attention to this thread -

Steve
Click to expand...

Steve,

the lens mount that is fixed to the camera has been designed so that when used in conjunction the DCA (the tube that slides over the eyepiece) you can zoom in and out with the camera. The lens of the camera will not touch the eyepiece of the scope.

Hope this helps

Chris Galvin
Opticron
 
Nice teamwork, Pete and Chris. I can think of no more questions. Looks like I'll be ordering at least the scope from Eagle Optics soon.
Thanks for your patience.

Steve
 
Warning! This thread is more than 8 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.

Similar threads

P
Eyepieces for MM3 GA (non ED)
Replies
3
Views
244
Gzoladz74
G
A
Opticron MM3 and MM4
Replies
16
Views
2K
Auklife
A
P
New MM4 50 vs part-used Nikon ED50
2 3
Replies
58
Views
8K
Ries
R
P
Thinking about an Opticron MM4 Travelscope - but which one?
Replies
13
Views
4K
Peregrine Took
P
N
Opticron MM4 ED Travelscopes 50 & 60 v. Nikon ED Fieldscopes 50 & 60
2
Replies
27
Views
7K
RAH
RAH

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top