Paul Jarvis
Registered Member
Warehouse express are offering this scope with 30 WA eyepiece for 669.
Bargain! :clap:
Bargain! :clap:
-
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.
Nikon ED 82 (BARGAIN) (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Paul Jarvis
- Start date
Edward woodwood
Member
wow
what a bargain
anyone looking for a top scope would be nuts to ignore it
Tim
what a bargain
anyone looking for a top scope would be nuts to ignore it
Tim
The Nikon 30X DS eyepiece (Nikon 6954) has a rubber eyecup, but it does not fold down. It's a simple and effective rubber covering designed to protect eyeglasses. I like it because it maximizes eye relief and can be removed whenever necessary for digiscoping. There is also a full rubber cap included to protect the lens from dirt, etc. Simplicity at its finest!Mark43 said:
I'd check with WE on the eyepiece to verify the exact model. If it's the 30X DS eyepiece, it cannot be surpassed at any price. The view is totally satisfying.
I’d be interested in knowing the exact eyepiece they are including in the offer.
John
romancitizen
Well-known member
I suspect it is because the work in the same way as Richer Sounds - it appears to be mostly 'end of line' stock.Leif said:
If you look at most current kit, places like LCE and Ace Optics will match Internet-only outlets on price.
Digiscoping with Nikon!
John,
All of Nikon's digicoping outfits come standard with a 30 x WA eyepiece. We do offer a 50x and 75x eyepeice as well, but I recommend the 30x because at those other magnifications, it is hard to maintain professional resolution while digiscoping unless you have superb light conditions.
Mike Freiberg
Nikon Birding Market Specialist
John Traynor said:
John,
All of Nikon's digicoping outfits come standard with a 30 x WA eyepiece. We do offer a 50x and 75x eyepeice as well, but I recommend the 30x because at those other magnifications, it is hard to maintain professional resolution while digiscoping unless you have superb light conditions.
Mike Freiberg
Nikon Birding Market Specialist
Mike,mfreiberg said:
I have the 82ED angled scope and the 30X and 50X DS eyepieces. I bought the DS eyepieces to maximize eye relief (eyeglasses!) and I heartily recommend both to anyone looking for a simple, effective fixed magnification solution.
The 50X has been on steadily for two weeks scanning waterfowl at considerable distances and I'm continually amazed at its superb performance. The 30X is as good as it gets and is, as you say, the only eyepiece for digiscoping!
Now, when will Nikon build a first rate, truly eyeglass-friendly, wide-angled zoom lens for their Fieldscopes? At current pricing for the 82ED, Nikon could charge a small fortune for such a zoom and still be the best value in town.
John
lachlustre
Should be recording bird song
FYI I e-mailed warehouse express to ask about the eyepiece because it is a bit ambiguous on the web-site whether it is 30x or 38x. Turns out it is the latter. Although I expect that is a good eyepiece too, it makes the package less attractive for me (digiscoping with 38x eyepiece, hmmm).
However, I have found in my hours of googling that Nikon scopes seem to be cheaper in Germany than elsewhere in Europe (perhaps Nikon reduces the prices because locals are swayed by the strength of the home-grown competition?). Right now the best offer I've found is from www.dnet24.de, which appears to be a large internet-based camera shop. You can get a very similar overall price to the WarehouseExpress special (the body alone costs 837 Euro = 573GBP, including sales tax), but you choose Angled or Straight and various eyepieces. Annoyingly they don't have the MCII 20-60/25-75x zoom lens for some reason. I e-mailed them to ask if they could get it (see no reason why not), but since I translated the German using google, and then fixed it (4 years of living with the Dutch has polluted my already fragile German!), I'm not sure what reply I'll get. They appear to ship within Europe for quite reasonable prices. I'm going to get my German colleague onto the case tomorrow to find out the dirt on this company (do any German or German-web-shop-frequenting forum readers have anything to add?), but so far it looks promising!
Update: dnet24.de is reputable according to my German coworker, and they allow returns within 14 days.
However, I have found in my hours of googling that Nikon scopes seem to be cheaper in Germany than elsewhere in Europe (perhaps Nikon reduces the prices because locals are swayed by the strength of the home-grown competition?). Right now the best offer I've found is from www.dnet24.de, which appears to be a large internet-based camera shop. You can get a very similar overall price to the WarehouseExpress special (the body alone costs 837 Euro = 573GBP, including sales tax), but you choose Angled or Straight and various eyepieces. Annoyingly they don't have the MCII 20-60/25-75x zoom lens for some reason. I e-mailed them to ask if they could get it (see no reason why not), but since I translated the German using google, and then fixed it (4 years of living with the Dutch has polluted my already fragile German!), I'm not sure what reply I'll get. They appear to ship within Europe for quite reasonable prices. I'm going to get my German colleague onto the case tomorrow to find out the dirt on this company (do any German or German-web-shop-frequenting forum readers have anything to add?), but so far it looks promising!
Update: dnet24.de is reputable according to my German coworker, and they allow returns within 14 days.
Last edited:
lachlustre said:
I did some searching on the net and found that dnet24.de is pretty well known in Germany although they do not always answer e-mail. I did not find any serious complaints about them so I decided to give it a try some 4 weeks ago. I ordered the ED82A with fixed and zoom EP togethers with the FSA1,2,3 adapters for digiscoping.
I can confirm that they can not deliver the zoom eyepiece. That was the reason I had to wait for about 1 month while receiving weekly e-mails saying they were doing their best to get the missing e.p. Gave them a call last friday and asked them to ship the scope, EP and adapers since they conformed Nikon Germany was not able to deliver the EP. (I will try get the zoom ep from the USA)
If all goes well I will have my scope (with 30x DS EP) within a few days. I will let you know if anything goes wrong.
BTW. If you want shipping outside Germany you will have to pay in advance. Another reason to hope everything goes well ;-)
lachlustre
Should be recording bird song
Peewee said:
Dank-je wel Peewee - en groetjes uit zonnige Leiden! I've just gone ahead and ordered the same package as you - plus the Nikon case... waiting for them to tell me how to transfer the money.
It is a shame that you can't buy Fieldscopes in the Netherlands anymore: Kamera Express told me that the Nikon distributor isn't supplying them in the country, so that's basically it. I'm planning to buy the zoom eyepiece in England from Warehouse Express and go and pick it up from my parents. Maybe I could pick one up for you too if you're interested?
Rob
I also planned to order my stuff from cameraexpress but unfortunately Nikon NL represented by www.incabv.nl does no longer deliver Scopes and Binoculars to their NL resellers. What a shame.lachlustre said:
lachlustre said:
Rob thanks for your offer but I think I'll pass. I not only want a zoomeyepiece but I also need to order the FSA3 adapter since dnet24 said Nikon does not know when they will be able to deliver. On top of that I am also looking for a stay-on case and a pair of binoculares (probably the Nikon Action EX 8x40). Dnet24 does sell a stay-on case but there is no way I can make sure I get the one for the angled scope. (the only have one Stay-one case on their site and I am just afraid I may end up with the straight one because it does not say A for Angled). I hope you get what you ordered.
As far as the zoom ep is concerned I was told / I read to go for the MCII version. Most On-line shops do not indicate if the EP for sale is a MCII one or not. I will have to do some more deskresearch before I order. Do you have any idea how to tell the MCII version from the old one?
I might buy my stuf from www.adorama.com or www.digitalfotoclub.com . It seems to be a lot cheaper than WE and I will save on P&P if I order all things at once. I know I officially still have to pay tax but then again I might not. (last order from the USA was OK :'D )
Rob I will let you know if things have arrived. Veel plezier met je nieuwe Scope.
Groetjes Peter
lachlustre
Should be recording bird song
Peewee said:
Hmmm... have to admit that's something I didn't think about with the case.
For me, I was mostly worried about buying from the USA because of the difficulty of returning stuff if it wasn't that great: all the advice I've read here says that you should be careful about variation between samples of telescopes. Not sure if that applies to eyepieces too, but why not?
About the MCII eyepieces: based on a bit of inference rather than hard evidence, I thought that a) the MCII zoom did NOT have "fold-down eyepieces" whereas the MC one did; b) the MCII zoom had a range of 25-75x, while the MC zoom had a range of 25-56x on the ED82 scope. See, eg bristolcameras.co.uk for pictures. But I have to admit it is really frustrating to find out what you are getting. The Bristol cameras website is one example: both zooms are called just "MC". Similarly, I found the description of the fixed lens eyepiece that came with the Warehouse Express special offer a bit ambiguous, and wrote an e-mail that asked specifically what model this was: the answer "the one with the fold-down eyepiece".
This website from Nikon backs up what I was saying, I think: http://www.ave.nikon.co.jp/bi_e/products/nature_a.htm#3
Could someone correct me if I have got that wrong ;-)
Rob
Last edited:
lachlustre said:
I have not checked the Nikon webpages for a while. But it certainly used to be the way you say it. The older type with fold-down rubber eyecups has a smaller range and is MC only. The MC II seems to have been used exclusively on the newer zoom, as the fixed eyepieces also used to be listed MC. But then, webpages are not always updated. It would be interesting to hear from Nikon what the present situation really is.
These two sites will show the differences. You have to look carefully to see the different style eyecups.Swissboy said:
http://nikon.topica.ne.jp/bi_e/products/nature_a.htm#3
http://nikon.topica.ne.jp/bi_e/products/nature_c.htm
Note:
The wide DS eyepieces are shown without the rubber eyecup that one would use for normal viewing. The DS eyecup, which maximizes eye relief, is a simple rubber covering that does not fold up or down. There is an additional push-on rubber cap to protect the lens. The DS 30X eyepiece is so elegantly designed I can stand back from the lens and watch the centerfield action in pure comfort!
John
The history of the Nikon zooms is a bit more complex than stated in the posts above.
Firstly, there are two different basic types. The first is the older, 20-45x/25-56x zoom with a fold-down rubber eyecup. (The power ranges indicated are for 60mm/78+82mm scopes, I won't include the figures for the new 50mm scopes here). This older zoom has come in two versions, original and MC. They are identical except for the coatings, and the MC version is still in production and is the "7" in the first link provided by John above.
The second type is the 20-60x/25-75x zoom. The first version of this was called "MC" also, and was introduced around the time the Fieldscope III series came. I don't have a picture of this zoom, but it has a twist-up eyecup. The barrel is of even diameter except for the part that goes inside the scope body, and unlike all the other Nikon fieldscope eyepieces, it has a twistable locking ring for fastening it on the scope body. The knurled rubber zoom ring is about 10mm wide. This first version of the second type is no longer in production. The digiscoping adapters shown in the second link provided by John are not compatible with this eyepiece.
The second (current) version of the second type is the 20-60x/25-75x MC II. In the Nikon link's picture this is the "8". This eyepiece has a section of narrower smooth barrel between the knurled metal grip ring (for twisting it onto the scope body) and the scope body, designed to accommodate Nikon's digiscoping adapters. The zoom adjustment ring has a very narrow grip, only some 4mm wide. The primary reason for the changes in the second version stem from digiscoping, from the sensible idea of standardising the range of eyepieces so that the same adapters could be used with the zoom and the wide-angles. However, the MC II also has slightly improved coatings and markedly better edge-of-field sharpness at low powers than the MC version of type two.
As regards Rob's reasonable concern over sample variations in eyepieces, my experience has been that it plays very much smaller role in eyepieces than in scopes. I have twice been in the position of being able to test a number of identical eyepieces, once with six Leica zooms and once with a dozen Nikon MC II zooms. In both cases I was very hard pressed to reliably detect any differences between them. Any differences in resolving power that I could think I detected were so small that I doubt I could reliably come up with a consistent ranking in repeated "blind" A/B tests. I felt there was a little bit more difference between the "best" and "worst" samples when it comes to how quickly and naturally I could accommodate myself to the image, but even here the perceived differences were slight indeed.
In conclusion I would say that if you have a chance to sample a number of eyepieces, it might be worthwhile to do it quickly and decide upon the "feel", but if not, there is no reason to fret over it. Having a good specimen of the scope is perhaps 98% of the picture, and having the best eyepiece specimen might or might not do something within the last few percents of performance.
Kimmo
Firstly, there are two different basic types. The first is the older, 20-45x/25-56x zoom with a fold-down rubber eyecup. (The power ranges indicated are for 60mm/78+82mm scopes, I won't include the figures for the new 50mm scopes here). This older zoom has come in two versions, original and MC. They are identical except for the coatings, and the MC version is still in production and is the "7" in the first link provided by John above.
The second type is the 20-60x/25-75x zoom. The first version of this was called "MC" also, and was introduced around the time the Fieldscope III series came. I don't have a picture of this zoom, but it has a twist-up eyecup. The barrel is of even diameter except for the part that goes inside the scope body, and unlike all the other Nikon fieldscope eyepieces, it has a twistable locking ring for fastening it on the scope body. The knurled rubber zoom ring is about 10mm wide. This first version of the second type is no longer in production. The digiscoping adapters shown in the second link provided by John are not compatible with this eyepiece.
The second (current) version of the second type is the 20-60x/25-75x MC II. In the Nikon link's picture this is the "8". This eyepiece has a section of narrower smooth barrel between the knurled metal grip ring (for twisting it onto the scope body) and the scope body, designed to accommodate Nikon's digiscoping adapters. The zoom adjustment ring has a very narrow grip, only some 4mm wide. The primary reason for the changes in the second version stem from digiscoping, from the sensible idea of standardising the range of eyepieces so that the same adapters could be used with the zoom and the wide-angles. However, the MC II also has slightly improved coatings and markedly better edge-of-field sharpness at low powers than the MC version of type two.
As regards Rob's reasonable concern over sample variations in eyepieces, my experience has been that it plays very much smaller role in eyepieces than in scopes. I have twice been in the position of being able to test a number of identical eyepieces, once with six Leica zooms and once with a dozen Nikon MC II zooms. In both cases I was very hard pressed to reliably detect any differences between them. Any differences in resolving power that I could think I detected were so small that I doubt I could reliably come up with a consistent ranking in repeated "blind" A/B tests. I felt there was a little bit more difference between the "best" and "worst" samples when it comes to how quickly and naturally I could accommodate myself to the image, but even here the perceived differences were slight indeed.
In conclusion I would say that if you have a chance to sample a number of eyepieces, it might be worthwhile to do it quickly and decide upon the "feel", but if not, there is no reason to fret over it. Having a good specimen of the scope is perhaps 98% of the picture, and having the best eyepiece specimen might or might not do something within the last few percents of performance.
Kimmo
lachlustre
Should be recording bird song
Thanks Kimmo, John & Robert for a lot of very helpful information! Those posts probably saved me a lot of time and anguish!
Now I'm beginning to feel a bit annoyed that the online stores/Nikon make it so difficult to find out what you are buying - or maybe I'm just stupid (often the case).
Now I'm beginning to feel a bit annoyed that the online stores/Nikon make it so difficult to find out what you are buying - or maybe I'm just stupid (often the case).
lachlustre said:
The problem is that these bargain combinations are most likely offered precisely to clean the shelf of older models. Or else, in order to make the offer look REALLY attractive, one gets the cheaper version where it is not immediately obvious. And particularly in this case, the seller is not interested to give you sufficient detail. He can safely assume that most people don't realize there is more than one version.
medinabrit
Well-known member
I just purchased last week a nikon fieldscope 82 ED A with the 25-75 zoom mc 2 for
$1079 about 620 pounds from adorama in NY .It has a really nice twist up style eye cup .
Brian.
$1079 about 620 pounds from adorama in NY .It has a really nice twist up style eye cup .
Brian.
