Scope Shopping for new Lumix G3 (1 Viewer)

I was trying to save up for a scope, but got such a deal on this G3 (200 under retail stateside), that I shook out the Piggy Bank for it.

I was leaning toward an Astro Scope, but now I'm having second thoughts. This is the wet Northwest U.S., and I don't want to spend a bundle on a scope, and then wreck it in a rain squall.

I acquired a lot of information in the last six months and I'm still a bit dizzy. I'm just VERY happy to have a reasonably cool camera to learn with today.

Eyepiece size seems to be a question now. The lens of the G3 is larger than the eyepiece opening of most Spotting Scopes. I know, it can all be "adapted," but it just seems logical (to my lay mind), that lens, shouldn't be larger than the eyepiece. After all, we're really just trying to duplicate the human eye, in a way, eh?

So, I'm trying to keep the costs down, not ruin my equipment, chasing Kingfishers in the local wetlands, but get the best hope of a good photograph that I can.

I was looking at the Celestron Regal 100 F-ED, just now, just as an example, and it has a huge Objective lens, asserts chroma free images, is close to my price range (really on the high end), but it has that unfortunate 1 1/4 inch eyepiece.

OK... any thoughts? Oh... my first pics today with my new toy. I was like a little boy on Christmas morning... so jumpy I blurred the images, and scared off a hungry bird.

Responding to my own thread... I found this cool pdf file, review of the top spotting scopes for birding - http://www.vixenoptics.com/PDF/Geoma Scope_Birder's World.pdf
The Regal 100 f ed, is ranked like 13th, but one should bear in mind I guess, it's 13 fom the top, of the highest rated scopes in the world, but some of those are probably fluorite crystal. I've seen some cool photos, and the only complaint I've found is weight, and ease of use. It ain't a Swarovski.

So whatever I end up with, it's probably going to have an inch and a quarter eyepiece and I'll have to do the old T ring etc. We'll cross that bridge when I get whatever I get, I guess.

Who is up at three AM? Oh yeah, unemployed people.

Dan, I have the Celestron Regal 100 F-ED. It's a pretty good scope for the price and I've had some good results digiscoping with it. One of the pluses for me is that the scope will used almost any 1.25" eyepiece. I say almost any, because with some eyepieces I understand it will not reach infinity focus. That's not generally a concern when I'm digiscoping, but something to be aware of with this scope. One con is that it's a big scope and is longer and a little heavier than most spotters. Not a big problem for me as I don't generally hike around much with a spotting scope. I'm attaching a photo I took this morning using this scope with a Baader Hyperion 17mm eyepiece and a Nikon Coolpix P6000 camera. I like this combo because the hyperion has integrated threads that screw right into the UR-E21 adapter and then right onto the threads surrounding the lens of the P6000. Easy, secure non-fiddly connection. I just got a GH1 and am about to start exploring options to use it. Good luck.

Rick

That's from this morning, with the very scope in question.... outstanding! thank you so much for posting. I'm very encouraged.