What scope? Advice needed. (1 Viewer)

Hello everyone,
We're thinking about a new scope, and wondered what advice anyone could give. Today we've been and tried a couple but the range was limited. We've seen an Inpro, 20-60 x 80 angled, seemed reasonable, good price, but not fantastic. Seen some other one, it was crap, tried a bausch and lomb, was good, but he only had a fixed 30x eyepiece and we wanted a zoom. We were also keen to get a straight.

We wanted to spend about £300 - £400 really, but get a tripod with that. Could anyone recommend anything or tell us about the models we've seen? We've heard so many contrasting opinions today!

All help greatly appreciated. Thankyou.

Chris

Check this great scope out in the for sale section http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=30285 and it's a straight with tripod/head, with a 30x eyepiece but you can pick up a 20-60x at a later date.
You will not do better at the price.

regards,
Andy

Andy is spot on, with that budget, your best off buying second-hand. the kowas and nikons are the only ones that are good brand new in that price range, but then a scope isnt complete without a decent tripod. one of those will add another £150 onto your total price.

keep checking those for-sale ads, plenty of bargains to be had.

Thanks, that Kowa looks good, and a great price.

Yesterday, we were at a fair so a lot of the retailers were saying they would 'chuck in' a tripod as a special. They were rubbish tripods, but still, it cut down on price.My dad, who i'm buying it with, is keen to try more like that at bird fairs and such, because you can get a good price, and see what the equipments like.
That said, when buying S/H as suggested you can get a full kit, with a good name for a low price. I'll certainly keep my eye on the classified.

Anyone know any good bird fairs etc coming up in my area, to have a look at some scopes? We bought our last pair of bins from one of the rspb optic days at bempton, it was better than going to a shop.

With your budget and buying new from a shop-sponsored optics day at a reserve you will end up with a mediocre scope, buy the Kowa TSN4 and you'll have optics close to that of the premier league (Zeiss, Leica, Swarovski)... and in this case, a manfrotto legset + manfrotto fluid head + stay-on case head as well.

Andy Bright said:

With your budget and buying new from a shop-sponsored optics day at a reserve you will end up with a mediocre scope, buy the Kowa TSN4 and you'll have optics close to that of the premier league (Zeiss, Leica, Swarovski)... and in this case, a manfrotto legset + manfrotto fluid head + stay-on case head as well.

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Thanks for all your help Andy.
That is precisely what i am trying to steer my dad away from; a mediocre scope! I'll persuade him into the Kowa TSN4, it does sound good.

Also, are these as good as they seem? I am a bit doubtful as to the quality of pics it could produce.

chris3871 said:

Thanks for all your help Andy.
That is precisely what i am trying to steer my dad away from; a mediocre scope! I'll persuade him into the Kowa TSN4, it does sound good.

Also, are these as good as they seem? I am a bit doubtful as to the quality of pics it could produce.

Click to expand...

That bracket type of adapter is the only answer for some digital cameras, as not all digital cameras have a suitable thread to attach a traditional type adapter to, therefore using the tripod socket on the camera is the one way around.

The device used to hold a camera up to the eyepiece doesn't have a great bearing on the actual quality of the photos (as long as it get the camera lens as close as possible to the eyepiece). It's just that some can be a pain when it comes to using the scope for normal birding, or slow to get set-up in a hurry to get a quick shot.

Look at my last post on this thread http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=29091 to see some of the shots I took when I had a Kowa TSN4.
Besides, a Kowa TSN4 will do wonders for your perceived birding credibility, even more so if it has a few scratches on the bodywork

cheers,
Andy

If you are used to binoculars, the straight scope is easy to use. But if people of different height use it, the angled one works better. I can't say anything about the camera use.