I want to get a Spotting Scope (1 Viewer)

Good Day,

I have been a birder for only a few years last year I got a new pair of binoculars. This year I want to get a spoting scope. I was looking at the Pentax PF-65EDA II 2.6"/65mm (Angled Viewing) with 20-60x Wide Angle Zoom Eyepiece and also the Nikon Fieldscope III 2.4"/60mm (Straight Viewing), with 20-60x Zoom Eyepiece.

I am not too sure what to get. I have a pair of Nikon binoculars and I realy like them. I might want to try digiscoping in the future also so I want to get a scope that will work with a camera.

Can anyone offer any input on what kind of scope to by? I have never owned a scope before. Also should I get straight or angled scope for birding and digiscopeing?

Thanks for all your input,:t:

Eric

I have the Pentax, and for ED glass, it has the advantage of being 65mm over a similar Nikon 50mm. The Fieldscope III is fine, though.

Hi Eric,

Here is a link to a page on the birdwatching.com site that has links to several good articles on optics. I especially recommend for you the articles "scope basics" and the article on angled versus straight scopes. The scope review articles are good also, but somewhat dated.

http://www.birdwatching.com/optics.html

I believe one issue with both the scopes you mention is limited eye relief. They might not be the best choices if you wear glasses.

Hope this helps,
Jim

Thanks for all the info.

I read all that info it was great. I think I will get an angled scope. I do ware eyeglasses so I guess I want eye relief. I checked on the Nikon site and the feildscope III has 15.2MM of eye relief, Is that enogh how much eye relief is needed for some one that ware eye glasses? What would be a good scope to get? I want to keep it under $1000 CAD but if I need to spend a little more for a better setup I am ok with that.

Thanks for all the help,

Eric

BlueBird23 said:

I do ware eyeglasses so I guess I want eye relief. I checked on the Nikon site and the feildscope III has 15.2MM of eye relief, Is that enogh how much eye relief is needed for some one that ware eye glasses? What would be a good scope to get? I want to keep it under $1000 CAD but if I need to spend a little more for a better setup I am ok with that.

Click to expand...

Glad you found the information useful Eric. But answering your new questions is where things get complicated.

The amount of eye relief necessary varies from person to person. People have different faces, glasses, and eyes. And the figures given by manufacturers are not reliable, because different manufacturers measure eye relief differently, and some scope manufacturers do not even adjust for the fact that eye relief varies over the zoom range of a zoom eyepiece. (Typically, eye relief is best at the lowest power, second-best at the highest power, and worst in the middle magnification ranges). However, the Nikon scopes especially have a reputation for inadequate eye relief for eyeglass wearers. But the only real way for you to tell is to try the scope yourself. Perhaps there is a dealer near you who will let you try scopes, or try doing so at a birding club trip.

Your price range for scopes is also a difficult one, because I think there is currently a lack of midpriced scopes with good eye relief on the market. I think the Vortex Skyline is a very good low-priced scope, which is great as a first scope. If you plan to digiscope, you may want to consider the ED version, though it is somewhat heavier. I only tried the non-ED version, and it has decent eye relief except at the higher powers. (But just taking off your glasses when you have to zoom in, is not that big of an inconvenience). Here is a link to a review of the skyline from the same website:

http://www.birdwatching.com/optics/scopenews2006.html

If you want to pay more (but not a lot more) and get even better optics (lower-priced scopes typically do OK at lower magnifications, but struggle at higher magnifications), you could see what is available used. There is a classified section on this site, as well as eBay of course. Swarovski scopes have a reputation for good eye relief, but used ones sell fairly quickly. I believe Zeiss should be adequate in this department also.

The new Kowa 880/770 series scopes (I just bought an 883 to replace a Swift Telemaster I had been using for 35 years) also have very good eye relief, but are quite expensive and unlikely to be available used.

Others may have additional suggestions. In any event, like many things in life, there are no perfect solutions here. Have fun researching!

Cheers,
Jim

RE: Eye relief...

Eye relief is a function of the eyepiece we plug into the scope not the scope it's self.

So when we say Nikon scopes tend to have less eye relief than other scopes we really mean the proprietary eps that are available for Nikon scopes have less ER than other scopes.

So having said that I would recommend the Pentax scope if ER is really a big issue with you. The Pentax accepts hundreds of generic eps which would give you any ER you could want from 6mm out to 24mm or more and not only the two or three eps when buying other scopes which only allow use of their limited number of proprietary eps.

Hi Eric

I can't comment on the eye relief but I have recently got an EDIII. I love it, not too heavy and nice bright clear image. See this recent thread:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=101498&highlight=Nikon+EDIII

Joanne