Opticron ES80 GA ED Angled (1 Viewer)

gareth2005

Well-known member

• Jun 10, 2005

• #1

I'm thinking of buying a scope, I have got some opinions from people in the Digiscoping section of what equipment is needed etc.

What I need now is someone who owns a Opticron ES80 GA ED to give me their opinions of this scope.
Is it any good for Digiscoping ?
What eyepiece will i get with it ? ( It comes with a NEW HDF twist eye cup 20-60x zoom ) will this suffice for Digidscoping as well as general birding ?

Thanks for your time,

Gareth

 

Ruby

Well-known member

• Jun 10, 2005

• #2

Hi Gareth,

I think quite a few BF members use this scope - some for digiscoping, and most seem to be pretty pleased with it.... I'm very happy with mine.

I use the HDF 20-60 eyepiece with an adapter etc from Eagle Eye optics.

Digi-scoping is a bit hit-and-miss generally, so don't expect to get fantastic results every time, but I have managed to get some OK shots.

Have a look on my BF gallery if you want to see some of the results.


Rgds... Ruby

 

gareth2005

Well-known member

• Jun 10, 2005

• #3

What kind of Camera are you using with it ? Nice shots by the way !

 

I

imagedude

Well-known member

• Jun 10, 2005

• #4

I use the Opticron with their 12x digiscoping eyepiece.

 

Ruby

Well-known member

• Jun 10, 2005

• #5

gareth2005 said:

What kind of Camera are you using with it ? Nice shots by the way !

Click to expand...

A Nikon Coolpix 4500...

 

Geoff Brown

Well-known member

• Jun 11, 2005

• #6

I am quite pleased with my ES80 GA ED. The only very slight comment is that the focusing knob seems to have more "twizzling" on it to get objects in focus than on other scopes. Otherwise it is very good value for money. I would like to try the new Opticron high grade zoom eyepiece on it when I can afford to buy one.

 

alan_rymer

Well-known member

• Jun 11, 2005

• #7

The ES80GA ED is a fine scope. The HDF 20-60 zoom is an excellent eyepiece and will work well for digiscoping, especially at the lowest X.

 

H

Henry B

Well-known member

• Jun 11, 2005

• #8

Canon 350d + 23x hdf e/p and 20-60 hdf zoom,great set-up..hb

 

S

Seaside

Member

• Jun 14, 2005

• #9

Hi Gareth
We have used this scope with 20-60 HDF zoom for the past 9 months. It's a great scope and excellent value. As to digiscoping just bought Kyocera system from INFOCUS. First results are promising. INFOCUS and OPTICRON have info on their sites.

 

Ruby

Well-known member

• Jun 14, 2005

• #10

...As a matter of interest, this scope seems to be finding quite a bit of favour these days.

Just my own unscientific perceptions, but I would say that the two scopes most often seen out and about these days are the Opticron and the smaller Leica.....

 

gareth2005

Well-known member

• Jun 14, 2005

• #11

Thanks everyone for all you comments and patience with my questions.
This morning I bought a ES80 GA ED Angled with NEW HDF twist eye cup 20-60x zoom, stay-on case and a Slik 504 tripod http://www.swoptics.co.uk/view.asp?KEY=1951
from SWoptics.
I might even have it for the weekend.
My next task is to try and find out what camera pair up well with this scope and then to try and buy one second hand is possible.

Does anyone have any opinions as to which camera to go for, money is tight on this one, I have been looking at a Kyocera SL400r they seem to be good but I dont have any reviews as to what they are like for digiscoping apart from the retailers reviews which I dont trust
I'm also keeping an eye on eBay to see whay I can pick up.

 

S

siberian

Well-known member

• Jun 14, 2005

• #12

gareth2005 said:

Does anyone have any opinions as to which camera to go for, money is tight on this one, I have been looking at a Kyocera SL400r they seem to be good but I dont have any reviews as to what they are like for digiscoping apart from the retailers reviews which I dont trust
I'm also keeping an eye on eBay to see whay I can pick up.

Click to expand...

Hello Gareth,
I bought the Kyocera SL400r a few months ago after reading the rave reviews on this forum.
It is a good camera and the continuous mode of 3fps enables you to capture some good poses, some of which will hopefully be in focus.
The only thing I'm not happy about is the 28mm plastic mount (which is not supplied, £5 if you can still get one) required to attach to an adaptor for your eyepeice. The camera really needs to be coupled using something more robust like the Pennine adaptor(£100!) or the Eagle Eye setup which can cost you £150-190 depending on what you need. Neither are cheap and you are spending extra money on a camera which is now discontinued. Plus the battery life is poor so you will need one of Mark's battery adaptors(£6 ?).
To be honest, if I was buying again I would go for a Canon, maybe the a95(£185) or one of the earlier models which could be picked up ebay. Funny enough I already owned a Canon a40, but dismissed it because it was believed an external zoom would be unsuitable.
Happy Digiscoping,
Brian.

 

S

siberian

Well-known member

• Jun 14, 2005

• #13

gareth2005 said:

Does anyone have any opinions as to which camera to go for, money is tight on this one, I have been looking at a Kyocera SL400r they seem to be good but I dont have any reviews as to what they are like for digiscoping apart from the retailers reviews which I dont trust
I'm also keeping an eye on eBay to see whay I can pick up.

Click to expand...

Gareth,
Just noticed a Kyocera SL300r outfit for sale

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=35688

Brian