Newbie help (1 Viewer)

Hi all,

I'm new to birding and I'm loving it, I recently bought some budget binoculars (barr and Stroud 8x42) I understand that the more expensive ones are a lot better but these seem crystal clear, anyway now I have my bins im looking at getting a telescope as I'm off to wales soon so they would be nice to see some sea birds, does anyone have any suggestions on a decent budget telescope?

Cheers Lee

Hi Lee

I've moved your post to the Telescope forum as you've more likely to get the help you need there. I also subscribed you to this thread so you can keep track of it and be notified of any replies.

Ok thanks for you're help

Hi Lee and welcome. Firstly, decide on your budget. Then get yourself along to a reputable optics retailer and have a look at/compare a selection of models in your price bracket and take it from there. Even more so than with binoculars, it is essential to test in less than optimum light conditions as most optics can give a decent image in good light! Bear in mind that part of your budget should go towards getting a decent tripod too. Size and weight of the combined scope and tripod will require consideration if you are a mobile birder; if you travel from place to place by vehicle its not such a big issue. Select an eyepiece that suits you and your needs best. Cheaper zooms tend to be pretty awful above 30x in anything but bright sunshine so consider a good quality fixed mag wide angle of between 20x & 30x as it will provide a significantly better image and you will get most use from it in everyday birding. It will also give you a nice wide field of view helpful in locating birds in flight.

Alternatively, ask the opinion of other birders and get them to let you have a look through their scopes in the field, they are (usually!?) a pretty friendly bunch!! Plenty to think about ...

Hope this is helpful?

Yes thankyou, I'm hoping that someone has a scope that's around £200 mark that's half decent
Then I can look at online reviews etc, it will need to be light as need to
Carry it on my back as I ride a motorbike.

Is buying a second hand one off ebay to much of a gamble?

lee73uk said:

Is buying a second hand one off ebay to much of a gamble?

Click to expand...

Why not try the classified 'for sale' pages here? You're arguably more likely to get something useful for birding from a birder - but, as with all things bought 'blind', there will obviously be some degree of risk involved.

Well I have now decided the Nikon ed50 looks like the one that I want but I have a new problem, on Amazon I can buy it with Nikon 27x/40x/50x Wide DS Fieldscope Eyepiece which i
Understand is x27 for Nikon ed50, but im completely new to all this so does this mean that it is fixed at x27 or can you zoom in and out?, because if it's fixed surely that's not ideal for birdwatching?

A great little lightweight 'travel' scope with unsurpassed optics for its size that will suit your motorcycle birding. The eyepiece you mention will give you a fixed 27x magnification with the ED50, 40x with the Nikon 60mm Fieldscope and 50x with the 82mm Fieldscope. I think that's correct, if not someone will correct me. With a 50mm scope, 27x will be about the limit for decent performance; above that the image will be getting a little too dark. If you could manage with an even lower powered eyepiece it would be better, but you would of course lose the 'closer views' that you may be craving. Someone else may be able to advise on the use of a zoom eyepiece with the ED50; personally I would stick with a fixed magnification. If your bins are 8x, then an eyepiece of around twice that will give you a nice, appreciable boost. I believe that certain Fieldscope eyepieces are becoming hard to find. Don't forget a tripod - hand-holding a scope at 27x, even a small one, will not give you satisfactory views.

Thanks for the reply.

Lee,

Rotherbirder gave you good suggestions/comments.

The ED50 with 27x eyepiece is often recommended. Nikon makes/made another fixed power/wide angle eyepiece in that series which would give you 40x if needed but the image is notably darker. They also make a 16x which I owned for a time and thoroughly enjoyed using.

To answer your question about 27x being suitable for birding, I guess it depends on what you expect out of a spotting scope. The little ED50 is one of only a handful of 50 mm class scopes. It was also the reference standard for many years for that objective diameter (and still is depending on who you talk to). The ED50 is often sold with the 13-30x zoom eyepiece though it can also be had with a 13-40x zoom if my memory is correct. Pushing magnification of a 50 mm spotting scope past 30x really doesn't yield much in terms of overall improvement though. You end up losing brightness, contrast, etc.... which is also why the 27x fixed magnification eyepiece is so highly regarded with the ED50.

I currently own the biggest competitor to the ED50, the Opticron MM3 50 mm. I actually use an 18x eyepiece on it for most of my birding.