nikon 75x w eyepiece (1 Viewer)

is someone using the 75x MC eyepiece for birdwatching , i am using now the 30xw eyepiece but i look to buy the 75x for close identification for difficult birds or for reading ringed birds ,is this 75x still usefull on clouded days ????
(nikon fieldscope ed82a)

black lark said:

is someone using the 75x MC eyepiece for birdwatching , i am using now the 30xw eyepiece but i look to buy the 75x for close identification for difficult birds or for reading ringed birds ,is this 75x still usefull on clouded days ????
(nikon fieldscope ed82a)

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Why not using the zoom which goes up to 75x? The Nikon zoom has very good light transmission and it is even relatively wide-angled at 75x. Of course with the exit pupil of 1.1mm it may not be very bright, but magnification may actually help more than brightness in your use.

Ilkka

black lark said:

is someone using the 75x MC eyepiece for birdwatching , i am using now the 30xw eyepiece but i look to buy the 75x for close identification for difficult birds or for reading ringed birds ,is this 75x still usefull on clouded days ????
(nikon fieldscope ed82a)

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I had a look at this eyepiece a few months back when I was shopping around for a new scope. As you would expect, the field of view was not going to be great on an eyepiece of this magnification. However, the image was suprisingly brighter than I expected it would be. It would certainly have it's benefits for idenfication purposes but you have to be spot on with your focusing at that magnification.

I second Ilkka's opinion that the zoom would be a better complement to your 30x Wide. However, if you wear glasses while viewing, the 75x Wide offers much better eye-relief than the zoom. Otherwise the big advantage of the zoom is that you are not limited to 75x but can opt for anything else as well. Although the 75x magnification can be quite usefull (at least if your particular scope is sharp), there are many situations where optimum magnification for the best detail/brightness/colour compromise is lower, and you cannot know what it is until you have tried under the particular circumstances where you happen to be. I have owned and sold the 75x wide and currently own the zoom, so I have some experience to back this up with. The zoom at 75x is also ever so slightly brighter, has slightly better contrast and is just as sharp, so image-quality-wise the wideangle only wins in the width of field.

In addition, the zoom at 25x gives a very nice image also, although the view is much, much narrower than what your 30x gives.

The bottom line is that if you get the WA, you are likely to use it less than you thought but if you get the zoom you are likely to use it more than you thought.

Kimmo

I also have the ED82A and agree with Ilkka and Kimmo.

I mostly use the 30 Wide but when considering higher magnification opted for the zoom as a more versatile solution when compared to a fixed high power eyepiece.
It is also easier to aquire your bird as you can do this at a lower magnification, then zoom in.

Nikon quote FOV at 1000m as
75Wide - 17m
Zoom at 25x - 28m
30Wide - 33m

Don

I decided to buy a 50x eyepiece instead of a 75x now for close identification

black lark said:

I decided to buy a 50x eyepiece instead of a 75x now for close identification

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Interesting final choice...

Of course the zoom would then have covered 25x 30x 50x & 75x with the added advantage of not having to change eyepieces.

I won't list the disadvantages as that would make my opinion more balanced and I don't wanna :bounce:

I hate changing eyepieces out in the field, the risk of smudging them, or worse dropping them. Obviously a zoom fan me;-)

Quacker said:

Interesting final choice...

Of course the zoom would then have covered 25x 30x 50x & 75x with the added advantage of not having to change eyepieces.

I won't list the disadvantages as that would make my opinion more balanced and I don't wanna :bounce:

I hate changing eyepieces out in the field, the risk of smudging them, or worse dropping them. Obviously a zoom fan me;-)

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I hate zooms , not very bright , not very wide field ..... :C

black lark said:

I hate zooms , not very bright , not very wide field ..... :C

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It's all down to user, opinion and compromise. Certainly can't fault my 25-75x c/w Nikon ED78 -then again as already stated, I dislike having to change lenses.

Out of interest, what do you think of the 50x?

black lark said:

I hate zooms , not very bright , not very wide field ..... :C

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I think part three of this statement needs to be qualified and I'll go out on a limb and say that part two is mistaken.

Most zoom eyepieces have narrow apparent fields of 35-42 degrees at their lowest magnifications (except the Zeiss at 50 degrees), but the apparent field increases with magnification until many have very wide apparent fields at the highest magnification. The Zeiss and Swarovski are almost 70 degrees at 60X. The Nikon is below average but still 60 degrees.

Zoom eyepiecees have light transmission that is quite similar to the complex wide field eyepieces offered by the same company. For some reason, perhaps sample variation, my Zeiss zoom has higher light transmission than my Zeiss 30X. The Nikon zoom has particularly high light transmission, comparing favorably even to simple eyepieces with state of the art transmission. Images look dim at high magnifications because the exit pupil is small, not because the eyepiece has low transmission.

It appears to me that the Nikon widefield eyepieces are variations on the same basic design. The 24/30X has no built in barlow. The higher powers are the same eyepiece with Barlows of differing magnification factors attached to the front. This ought to make the edge sharpness a little better in the high power eyepieces at the expense of a little light transmission.

black lark said:

I hate zooms , not very bright , not very wide field ..... :C

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I can't agree. The Nikon zoom makes up for its somewhat lack of field of view by being stunningly bright and neutral. It's optical quality is unsurpassed. If you want wide view then nothing comes close to the Zeiss zoom.

black lark,

If you appreciate a wide field of view (as I do to the point of considering it essential, maybe because I like to use my scope, rather than binos, when scanning for ducks, gulls, shorebirds), I think you've made an excellent choice with the 50x. I have the Nikon 78 ED with 30, 50, 75, and 25-75x eyepieces.

I agree with others that apart from the issue of eye-relief, the 25-75x is a better choice than the 75x. It is just as sharp as and is slightly brighter than my 75x, and has a comparable field-of-view, but has the advantage of having all the lower magnifications for times when 75x is unusable (due to atmospherics) and to assist in getting on the bird (since the lower powers have a wider FOV). I find that the fixed 75x has very limited utility for birding, primarily due to atmospherics (I rarely find magnifications above 40-50x to be useful), and secondarily, because the focusing ratio of my scope makes achieving critical focus difficult at magnifications above 60x.

But given the choice of 25-75x zoom versus 50x for those rare instances when 30x isn't enough (I use my 30x over 95% of the time), I nearly always choose the 50x. Why? Because I appreciate its greater eye-relief (I wear glasses), because there is rarely an advantage to higher magnifications anyway (again, due to atmospheric limitations), and mostly, because of its much wider FOV. Although Henry Link is correct that the FOV of the zoom and fixed eyepieces are comparable at 75x, when you consider their performance at 50x, there is no contest. The FOV of the 25-75x zoom is much narrower, to the extent that it must be backed down to ~25x to achieve the FOV of the 50x. The upshot of this is that the zoom provides no advantage over the 50x for scanning or for getting on target. Sure, there is the disadvantage of having to switch eyepieces, but given how infrequently I find powers over 30x useful (but how very useful 30x is over 15-20x), I'd hate to have to live with the limited FOV of the zoom during those many hours of 25-30x use. The fixed 30x provides something over twice the viewing area of the zoom at its 25x setting. That is a huge difference, which I find to be of great practical importance.

--AP

Alexis Powell said:

black lark,

If you appreciate a wide field of view (as I do to the point of considering it essential, maybe because I like to use my scope, rather than binos, when scanning for ducks, gulls, shorebirds), I think you've made an excellent choice with the 50x. I have the Nikon 78 ED with 30, 50, 75, and 25-75x eyepieces.

...--AP

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My son has the ED82 and I have often wondered about the 50xW having never looked through it. I have used the 38xW and I thought that little could come close to this objective / scope combination with its wide, entirley natural seeming view.

In the event, however, we chose the 30x instead of the 38x along with the ever-practical 25-75x zoom and I know my son is more than happy. For myself, I use the Zeiss 85 / zoom combination as I like the wide fov its zoom gives.

so any conclusions for all the eyepieces discussed ?

Yep - conclusions are:

The Nikon zoom is well liked with the 25-75 bright view - but with poorish eye relief for specs wearers.

The Nikon 30x is one sexy eyepiece.

The 38x is also a fine optical thing.

and

The 50x eyepiece is as wide as the zoom at 25x but with greater eye relief and twice the "power".

I concluded people all have differing opinions, but Nikon make exceedingly good eyepieces;-) - but the 75x might be the exception to the rule, or at least an acquired taste.

Quack

The 75x is also an exceptionally fine eyepiece, but since it pushes the scope to its limit (and beyond, if you have a less-than-very-good-specimen), it is not an eyepiece you could put on the scope and leave on. For zoom-haters or those who really need the added eye-relief it offers over the zoom, it is a perfectly feasible choice for carrying along as a complement for a 30x or a 38x WA.

Kimmo