I've been tracking this Fedex package across the country for the past several days so I knew it could be "out for delivery" today. Not to get my hopes up, I assumed it would arrive late in the day or tomorrow. But about an hour ago I head a knock followed by the thump of a box dropped against the door. Of course this is Christmas season, so packages are arriving continuously as my wife orders and wraps gifts for kids and grandchildren. But the box at the door had my name on it and it was from North Carolina, home of Opticron!
My first impression was that the box was much too light to contain my new spotting scope. It felt more like a premium eyepiece that had been over packaged. Inside the box was a small box surrounded by plastic peanuts and inside the small box was the scope body in a bubble warp sleeve and the eyepiece in its own small box. The accessories consist of caps for both ends of scope and both ends of eyepiece and a modest instruction booklet with warranty card.
The scope is petite and I was surprised that the eyepiece seemed rather hefty, relative to the scope body. Perhaps a better way to put it is that the eyepiece is much more dense than the scope body. When assembled the MM3 60 still seems vey light and notwithstanding my first impression of the eyepiece, the assembly is well balanced. BTW the eyepiece is the HDF T Zoom.
I put it on a rather ancient Celestron Photographic Tripod. It is rather light weight and has a pan head that is spring loaded in altitude. I've used it to mount small telescopes and binoculars in the past, and it was handy. I already had my Televue Oracle set up so I was able to do a quick side by side comparison (The Oracle is a 3" triplet refractor with 560mm focal length and I'm using a Williams Optics erecting prism and 8-24 Televue Zoom eyepiece.)
The view through the MM3 was beautiful--very nice snap to focus, good focus across the entire field of view, nice color balance, good control of CA. At similar magnification, the Opticron zoom eyepiece has noticeably wider field of view than my Televue 8-24 zoom. Of course, since the MM3 goes down to 15x it has a much wider field of view than the 3" telescope with minimum magnification of 23x. The larger telescope seems brighter, but I think I prefer the color balance in the Opticron, perhaps there is a difference in how coatings are optimized for night vs. day viewing, or perhaps the new scope is pristine and clean, or ... The MM3 keeps up well on resolution as magnification is increased up to 45x, though perhaps the edges get very slightly soft at the very limit of 45x. Given my current viewing location, atmospheric effects, and quick look, this is not a truly critical test.
I like the ergonomics of the MM3, the dual speed focus is a nice feature though frankly at this magnification range it seem slightly like overkill. However, I am an inexperienced birder, so who knows. The zoom mechanism works well as does the twist up eyecup. The eyepiece is not parfocal throughout its zoom so you must refocus as you change magnification, but that is true of the Televue zoom as well. The performance differences between the two tripods was much more obvious that the optical differences between the telescopes. The Oracle in on a sturdy pair of legs (Bogen 3046) with an astronomical alt/az mount that has tensioned Teflon bearings on both axes. The motion is smooth and precise and whether you kick a tripod leg, or tap the telescope, the vibration damps out instantly. Not so the tripod under the MM3. OTH, the Oracle on its tripod and mount weighs over 20 lb, while I would guess the MM3 on the Celestron tripod is more like 8-10lb.
After my first viewing session, I think I prefer having the lower magnification range of the MM3 to have higher magnification in the Oracle. In other words, having 15-23x is worth giving up 46-70x at least for general purpose looking around. Obviously both low power wide field views, and high power detailed views have their application.
Breaking News: I just had a Goodyear Blimp fly by and I quickly moved the Oracle out of the way so I could easily reposition the Opticron to track the blimp at low power and then zoom in when it paused over the pier. Wow, moving the bigger scope and tripod was a wrestling match and the smaller lightweight setup was a pleasure.
Loving this little scope so far.
Alan
My first impression was that the box was much too light to contain my new spotting scope. It felt more like a premium eyepiece that had been over packaged. Inside the box was a small box surrounded by plastic peanuts and inside the small box was the scope body in a bubble warp sleeve and the eyepiece in its own small box. The accessories consist of caps for both ends of scope and both ends of eyepiece and a modest instruction booklet with warranty card.
The scope is petite and I was surprised that the eyepiece seemed rather hefty, relative to the scope body. Perhaps a better way to put it is that the eyepiece is much more dense than the scope body. When assembled the MM3 60 still seems vey light and notwithstanding my first impression of the eyepiece, the assembly is well balanced. BTW the eyepiece is the HDF T Zoom.
I put it on a rather ancient Celestron Photographic Tripod. It is rather light weight and has a pan head that is spring loaded in altitude. I've used it to mount small telescopes and binoculars in the past, and it was handy. I already had my Televue Oracle set up so I was able to do a quick side by side comparison (The Oracle is a 3" triplet refractor with 560mm focal length and I'm using a Williams Optics erecting prism and 8-24 Televue Zoom eyepiece.)
The view through the MM3 was beautiful--very nice snap to focus, good focus across the entire field of view, nice color balance, good control of CA. At similar magnification, the Opticron zoom eyepiece has noticeably wider field of view than my Televue 8-24 zoom. Of course, since the MM3 goes down to 15x it has a much wider field of view than the 3" telescope with minimum magnification of 23x. The larger telescope seems brighter, but I think I prefer the color balance in the Opticron, perhaps there is a difference in how coatings are optimized for night vs. day viewing, or perhaps the new scope is pristine and clean, or ... The MM3 keeps up well on resolution as magnification is increased up to 45x, though perhaps the edges get very slightly soft at the very limit of 45x. Given my current viewing location, atmospheric effects, and quick look, this is not a truly critical test.
I like the ergonomics of the MM3, the dual speed focus is a nice feature though frankly at this magnification range it seem slightly like overkill. However, I am an inexperienced birder, so who knows. The zoom mechanism works well as does the twist up eyecup. The eyepiece is not parfocal throughout its zoom so you must refocus as you change magnification, but that is true of the Televue zoom as well. The performance differences between the two tripods was much more obvious that the optical differences between the telescopes. The Oracle in on a sturdy pair of legs (Bogen 3046) with an astronomical alt/az mount that has tensioned Teflon bearings on both axes. The motion is smooth and precise and whether you kick a tripod leg, or tap the telescope, the vibration damps out instantly. Not so the tripod under the MM3. OTH, the Oracle on its tripod and mount weighs over 20 lb, while I would guess the MM3 on the Celestron tripod is more like 8-10lb.
After my first viewing session, I think I prefer having the lower magnification range of the MM3 to have higher magnification in the Oracle. In other words, having 15-23x is worth giving up 46-70x at least for general purpose looking around. Obviously both low power wide field views, and high power detailed views have their application.
Breaking News: I just had a Goodyear Blimp fly by and I quickly moved the Oracle out of the way so I could easily reposition the Opticron to track the blimp at low power and then zoom in when it paused over the pier. Wow, moving the bigger scope and tripod was a wrestling match and the smaller lightweight setup was a pleasure.
Loving this little scope so far.
Alan