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Ed50 Or Kowa (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter lsj
- Start date
Jason Bugay Reyes
Well-known member
have you tried those 3 scopes ?
stuart C smith
swansong
the nikon ed 50 if it has the latest zoom, i have had a kowa 611 but with a tsn 20w eyepiece.[one of the best eyepieces on the 611] still not keen on zooms though, on my ed50 i use fixed eyepieces.
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vkalia
Robin stroker
I used the ED50 paired with a 27x EP on my recent trip to Africa and frankly, never felt the need for anything more. I have a 65mm Pentax but I dont really see myself using it much anymore - perhaps it is time to sell it and get a 80mm scope instead for those rare big-scope days. So from a competency viewpoint, I think the ED50 is enough scope for pretty much 95% of most birding situations. I'd probably exclude high-mag stuff like shorebirds and really low-light.. say, well past sunset... type of situations - for everything else, it is more than enough. Which is quite surprising given what a wee little thing it is.
Vandit
Vandit
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Winterdune
Well-known member
The Kowa is a great scope and very light but not as small as the Nikon. If you aren't worried about size get the Kowa deal if you are get the Nikon.
Just to confuse the issue, I back up Vandit. I have an ED50 and use it 99% of the time. I have an ED82A and use it only for seawatching. I had a 65mm HD Swarovski scope, and sold it after I got the ED50, because I had no real use for it anymore. The ED50 is a great all-rounder. The zoom eyepiece is fine, use it for a year and save up to buy the 27xw ep too. Then, if you ever feel a need for a "big" scope, pick up a secondhand ED82A and you can interchange the eyepieces. Today I was out on a local patch, involving marshland and seawatching....I brought my ED50 in a side-bag, with a Slik Videosprint tripod slung into the strap. The weight was negligible, the scope managed all demands, there´s nothing you couldn´t I.D. with it! Best of Luck whatever you decide.
Id usually go for a 60mm scope over any 50mm scope for obvious reasons, but the ED50 seems as good as most 60mm scopes, however the difference would only be noticed around 40x.
I will be using @20-30x EP fixed so i dont think i would notice any difference between the two, and as it stands the Kowa set up is considerably more affordable than the ED50 and with the larger objective it would be more usable in all situations.
Still the little ED50 seems a belter of a scope. The kowa comes with the EP i like, with the Nikon id have to fork out for a 27x EP another (150-180 clams). So im swaying towards the Kowa if i can get it, otherwise i will have another look at the ED50.
I will be using @20-30x EP fixed so i dont think i would notice any difference between the two, and as it stands the Kowa set up is considerably more affordable than the ED50 and with the larger objective it would be more usable in all situations.
Still the little ED50 seems a belter of a scope. The kowa comes with the EP i like, with the Nikon id have to fork out for a 27x EP another (150-180 clams). So im swaying towards the Kowa if i can get it, otherwise i will have another look at the ED50.
Alexis Powell
Natural history enthusiast
