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Nikon ED50 or Bino Nikon Monarch 10x42? (1 Viewer)

TobiasK

Well-known member
Hi,
i used to have the Zeiss Diascope 85 FL with 20-60x EP
As the Zeiss was very heavy and i always had to carry my heavy berlebach-wood-tripod, i sold everything
now i am tempted to buy a Nikon Monarch 10x42 Bino

But then i found the Fieldscope ED50

Can i use it without a tripod?
If not, is a monopod good enough to use?

My main interest is fotographing birds: but before you can get close you have to find them ;-)
so: what should i buy?

thank you

bye
Tobias
 
I don't have the ED50 but I thought I'd comment on the monopod. Handheld may seem feasible at first but after a time that fatigue, however subtle, will degrade the image. I tried a monopod with my 15x scope and found that there was still enough shake to reduce overall image. There are low weight tripods that can do the job for a light scope and are very easy to carry over the shoulder.

Also, I would always have bins at my disposal. This is the primary tool, followed by scope and cameras, etc. So if the choice is only bins or scope, I'd choose bins.
 
The 50 ed with the manfrotto carbon fiber 190mfv tripod & 700 rc2 head is really lightweight way to go.
Thats what i use.
Brian.
 
But then i found the Fieldscope ED50

Can i use it without a tripod?
If not, is a monopod good enough to use?

The ED 50 works well on a monopod up to magnifcations of ~30x. Get a Monostat (http://www.monostat.de), the funny rubber foot makes quite a difference compared to "normal" monopods.

BTW, many professional sports photographers use the Monostat for their long lenses, so if your main interest is photographing birds, a Monostat may be quite useful.

Hermann
 
For me monopod works for binos. It would have to be 20x and light weight to use a scope on a monopod. There are some monopods with pretty nice heads.

The most use I have of my monopod is for home videos.
 
actually with the right skill , monopod can provide a stable image at 30x, the key (for me) is to hold the middle of monopod only and hold it gently, don't touch the scope, and not a tight grip, or even some fingers around the monopod will do.

I use 30x zeiss diascope 65FL, straight version, the image can be stabled enough to read car plate.
 
Hopefully Tobias has long since resolved this but I stand by my original response :) Nikonrep.com looks legit based on whois. I look forward to more participation by Nikon.
 
@ Matt_RTH,

Nikon will be on here. LOL, yeah I spent 6 months doing research in Brazil and because of the bag weight issue I brought the ED50 down with me while using a Gitzo monopod to stabilize the scope.

Cheers,
Mike Freiberg
 

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