• 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.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

16x or 20x eypiece for ED50 (1 Viewer)

dalat

dalat

...
Switzerland
16x or 20x eyepiece for ED50?

Hi,
I just bought a ED50 with a 27x MC wide angle eyepiece and I am very happy so far. I am considering to buy an other low-mag eyepiece for forest birding though.

I did not intend to do this soon, but looking at some Nikon websites (eg. http://www.europe-nikon.com/family/en_GB/categories/broad/339.html) there are a whole lot of new eyepieces for edg-fieldscopes but the old ones usable for the ED50 seem to have disappeared. Does this mean that Nikon discontinued the old eyepieces? Then I probably should rather hurry up buying the second ep for my scope...

Ok, back to my question. The choice seems to be either the 16x DC or the 20x MC. I tend towards the 16x because the difference to the 27x is bigger and I feel that would be right for the forest. However I do not digiscopy, so I probably would prefer to have the eyecup of the MC.

What is your experience, is the DC fine as well for observation only? and optically would you prefer the 16x or the 20x eyepiece?

Thanks! Florian
 
I think you should get the 13x-40x zoom. It will VERY troublesome to switch back to 27x should you spot something high up in the canopy. Yes it will seem like looking through a straw at 13x, but after some time with it you will not even notice and will appreciate the extra brightness while giving you about the same TFoV you have now.

cheers,
Rick
 
Hi, a zoom would be another option of course, right. My idea was basically using a single eyepiece at a time, so low mag. for forest (rain forest that is) and the 27x for open country or the coast. I really like the wide FOV that is what led me to the choice of the fixed mag EP at the first time. But I'm eager to listen to some more opinions about that... still got to make up my mind.
 
Just checked again the FOV: the 27x has a FOV of 47 m, while the 13-40x has a FOV of 52 m at 13x. So regarding FOV, the advantage of the zoom is rather minimal, and I think for forest birding, it's FOV that I need...

The 20x MC has 63 m and the 16x DC has 79m FOV. I feel one of those would suit me better than a zoom (in addition to the 27x I already have that is.)
 
Hmm, I would thought a larger exit pupil thus brighter image would be more usefull in forest shade or darkness. Horukuru would probably be the expert on this

I used to have the full set of DS eyepieces and a 20x Wide MC before getting the zoom. Beautiful, immersive vews but I much prefer the ease/convenience of the zoom. One thing that also annoyed me with DS was that the rubber eyeguard that covers the bare metal kept falling off and occasionally lost.

cheers,
Rick
 
Last edited:
Dalat,

I used both DS16x and 13-40x zoom eyepiece while birding in the rainforest. But my default eyepiece on the ED50 is the DS16x with digiscoping adapter.

One thing I discovered while digiscoping with either the zoom and DS eyepiece on the ED50 with my Fujifilm F31D, the noise is too much even on ISO 400 but only inside the forest. On open area, the quality is the same with my ED82.

This is the picture http://www.birdforum.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/252453/ppuser/10666

But frankly speaking, I'm looking for another adapter for my zoom eyepiece on the ED50 because what I have seen myself and others that have tested my ED50 on 13-40x eyepiece, it is so sharp up to 40x ! So rather than keep on changing eyepiece while on the move, my solution is to buy another universal adapter hehehe.

Other bird guides that tested my ED50 with zoom eyepiece was also impressed with the quality and sharpness this little scope produced. Now I used it mostly in the forest and my ED82 for paddy field and waders :king:

By the way, before I got this ED50, I used my ED82 with DS30x eyepiece and really like the combo for birding in the forest :)

And thanks to Alexis Powell and RJM for pointing the sale on zoom eyepiece from Adorama hahaha
 
Last edited:
Hard to say. They definitely have not been discontinued but all the old eyepieces are certainly in short supply. I suspect production was temporarily suspended last year due to the economic crisis and inventories were allowed to be cleared out.

Rick
 
dalat said:
Just to bump up for the question below. Does anyone know?
Click to expand...

If the 82ED and 60ED fieldscopes have been discontinued (have they?), then the answer is yes--the (older standard) fieldscope eyepieces have probably been discontinued. They could keep one of the zooms around to sell with the 50ED for as long as it remains a current model, but I doubt sales of the other eyepieces to new ED50 owners would amount to enough to make it worthwhile to keep producing them.

--AP
 
Hi Florian,
I have the 13-40 Zoom, which is great, but today I got the 20x in the post minutes before we went out to a NR.
Using the 20x, I was delighted with the brightness,& FOV etc
It is certainly more immersive than the Zoom and complements it perfectly, and could be my default e.p.
We had a 77mm Kowa with 30x and a 65mm Opticron with 25x, and my 20x on the Nikon was the brightest of all.

I suspect you will not come to any harm buying either the Zoom or the 16x9or the 20x) if you want a fixed wide angle e.p.
That said, the 13x of the Zoom is a very nice mag to scan around with.
 
Hi, thanks again for all the answers! I almost decided to go for the 16x DS. the only thing that makes me still hesitating a little, is that it does not have the eye-cups of the 20x or 27x MC. But it seems most people are not bothered by this, so I will probably get it.
Florian
 
Glad you have made your choice Florian, I assume it means you will be digi-scoping eventually.
I took my 20x out again today, and am very pleased indeed with it. Even standing on a local hill and looking at the airport 12 miles away was super. It's a great general purpose e.p. (I will not be digi-scoping though)
As an aside, a while ago I bought the very light Manfrotto tripod with the "squeeze-grip ball head, which I thought was great, but overtime, it seems like astronomy, the steadier the tripod, the better, so I got a Velbon Sherpa Pro CF645, which might well be overkill for this particular scope, but am reaping the benefit. Is is of course light.
 
I am really fussy about eye cups on binoculars. On the scope it is not as big a deal. My current eye piece has a rubber eye cup. As it is useless at full zoom, I have it folded back at all times. Most people can figure out a way to position the eye correctly. On a fixed eye piece, the nice eye cup is a nice added comfort.
 
Hi,
I am not planning to digiscope (however, one never knows...), so if the 16x would be available as MC, I would certainly choose that.
With the 27x MC I find myself frequently changing the eye cup. When panning, I pull it out, and when observing some bird for a while I push it down... So somewhat undecided about the need of the eye cup, I thought that I may not miss it too much when getting the 16x DS.
I decided for 16x over 20x because I thought the wider FOV and larger exit pupil (of course your're right, rjm) might be better for rainforest birding, and also the lower mag easier to be used handheld (not sure if t will really work though...).

After searching all the shops in Hanoi for a tripod, I eventually managed to find a decent one, Velbon Sherpa CF-535, and I am quite happy with it so far..
 
Hi,

I've used my new eyepiece a while now, so I thought to share my experiences. So what I use is the 27x wide MC and the 16x wide DS. Basically I use the first one for open country and coast, and the second one in forest.

I am very happy with my choice so far. Especially in forest, the wide field of the 16x is a huge advantage to me. When I use the 27x I have much more difficulty finding the birds... so for forest birding, the zoom with the narrower FOV would have certainly been the wrong choice for me. As for the lack of eyecup, no problem at all, I find the DS as easy to use as the MC. At the coast, I guess the zoom would be also fine, as FOV does not make that a big difference to me there. Still I enjoy the wide image, so also happy here...

I tried several things to use the scope with 16x and without tripod in forest, such as Grippa case, improvised shoulder pods or monopods... While trying at home I always found the shake acceptable, but once out in the field it just didn't work to me, too fiddly and not enjoyable at all. So basically I stick to the tripod, and where tripod is a hassle, it's binoculars only. My impression is that 16x + tripod gives much more than just double size of the 8x binocular. The shake free image adds incredibly to seeing details and it's just a joy observing birds like this... I find myself much more simply watching a bird over prolonged time, even if it's nothing rare or tricky to ID, just because it's so nice and relaxing to watch the bird through that scope...
 
Last edited:
Warning! This thread is more than 14 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Similar threads

W
ED50 help please.
Replies
9
Views
2K
wileskm49
W
D
ED50 and 27x MC - Use with a phone?
Replies
4
Views
2K
Ruff-Leg
R
J
ED50 fixed power eyepieces in the US?
2
Replies
33
Views
4K
Jaywalk
J
F
Kite APC 16x42 … gimmick, replacement or addition? (my report)
2
Replies
26
Views
4K
fazalmajid
fazalmajid
dwatsonbirder
Kowa TSN-501 - a brief review
Replies
10
Views
3K
Hermann
Hermann

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top