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New Nikon Spotting Scope 2013 (1 Viewer)

According to nikon support,
MONARCH Fieldscopes will be available in sweden (europe?)
in november/december,

It seems that they are a bit delayed since they were launched in August?
(and BHPhoto say expected 15 september in the web-shop)
 
Can anyone give a comparison of the FOV of these new scopes vs the old Fieldscopes? The units given on the Nikon page are different from those I found for the old models elsewhere, and I don't have the optics knowledge to know how they translate.

I also noticed that in some cases at least, the weights on the Nikon site in grams aren't equal to those in ounces, so maybe their page needs some editing.
 
Jumping off from Kimmo’s and Henry’s talk earlier in the thread about the possibility of adapting this prism unit to an astro scope, I wonder if it would be possible to rig up an adapter to attach the prism unit to the Swarovski 95mm objective module? If so, and they worked well together optically, that might open up all sorts of possibilities… One of them being saving some money by not having to buy the Swaro ocular module, but also perhaps giving some helpful flexibility in terms of increasing FOV or magnification not available with the Swaro ocular.
 
Jumping off from Kimmo’s and Henry’s talk earlier in the thread about the possibility of adapting this prism unit to an astro scope, I wonder if it would be possible to rig up an adapter to attach the prism unit to the Swarovski 95mm objective module? If so, and they worked well together optically, that might open up all sorts of possibilities… One of them being saving some money by not having to buy the Swaro ocular module, but also perhaps giving some helpful flexibility in terms of increasing FOV or magnification not available with the Swaro ocular.

This is a thought I have had also. If possible, it would potentially enable higher magnifications than the "puny" (to quote Henry's famous phrase) 72x Swarovski saw fit to give the X 95.

Kimmo
 
Perhaps the Meopta higher magnification zoom that gives 20-70x on the new Meopta scope (focal length 439mm) could be adapted to the Nikon 1.25” prism unit…or some similar eyepiece could (the new Zeiss zoom?)…

APM Telescopes in Germany make an adapter for the other Meopta zoom (which gives 30-60x in the Meopta) for astro scopes that take 1.25” eyepieces:

http://www.apm-telescopes.de/en/Eye...mm-66-constant-Field-of-View-1.25-Thread.html

Without knowing the focal length of the Swaro X 95, we can’t tell what magnification an eyepiece would give even if that sort of adaptation would work on the Nikon prism unit, but if it were, say, 554mm as you speculated Kimmo, the “20-70x” Meopta ep should give about 88x. If it were 500mm, still about 80x.

All very intriguing. Makes me wish I were good at making things (like adapters).
 
I wonder if an adapter will be forthcoming to enable eyepieces to fit in the original fieldscope.

Yes, that's exactly the same question I have. When Nikon came out with the EDG scopes they were thinking on the users of old Fieldscopes by providing not only the eyepiece mount adapter EMA-1 but also put a special thread at the EDG scope where the adapter has to be screwed on. Providing such an adapter from Nikon's eyepiece thread and/or EDG bajonet mount to standard 1 1/4" would certainly help customers to upgrade or change to the new Monarch scopes.

Steve
 
If the eyepieces are indeed using the standard Astro barrel,there is no adapter that would make them fit in the original Fieldscopes since their socket is considerably narrower than 1 1/4 inch..the thread in the mount of the fieldscope is 32mm ,but there is not enough depth at that width , for any eyepiece that would fit, to reach infinity..UNLESS the astronomy barrel is removable and reveals some other secrets,..It wouldn't have been hard to make the eyepieces directly compatible with the old FS underneath a removable astro barrel,and they would have adressed the biggest critizism that the series suffers from...But I dont trust most designers,(due to market priorities ,not to lack of talent)to be on top of precious details like these to satisfy Us BF members and our creative views on their products

One thing that puzzles me is the pricing though,,the whole 60mm kit with body,prism and wide 2x zoom cost 2196 US$,..but the objective module is only 999$,and the prism cost 350 US$,the zoom is about 500,,so I donno ,,there are 350 extra $ in the combo that I cant figure...
 
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If the eyepieces are indeed using the standard Astro barrel,there is no adapter that would make them fit in the original Fieldscopes since their socket is considerably narrower than 1 1/4 inch..the thread in the mount of the fieldscope is 32mm ,but there is not enough depth at that width , for any eyepiece that would fit, to reach infinity

Oh, I see that I didn't read dipped's posting properly. What I was referring to was using old Nikon EPs at the new Monarch scopes.

Steve
 
according to Nikon sweden at the Swedish photo fair this weekend,
the new monarch fieldscopes are delayed until feb/march 2014
:-(
so I had no chance to test, as I had hoped for,

checked out the kowa lens scope instead,
similar concept, but twice the price, a thad faster f-stop, 5,6 vs 6,0 (at 500mm)
and selectable f-stops, adapters for most camera mounts, the prism unit felt a bit heavy, and no angular model what i saw, the price seems a bit high for a manual focused 500mm, since a sigma 500mm/4,5 lens is about the same money,

I also tried the new monarch 7 binos with ED-glass, the 8x42 was very nice, lightweight (ca 650g), compact, eye relief was ok, 17mm, and the view was pretty good, though a bit soft at the edges, 140 m/1000m, not as good as the EDG series of course, but the price is just a third so pretty good value for money I think,
 
Sorry for the bump mates.

Do you think the straight prism would fit on another scopes, astro or terrestrial?

master:NIKO379.jpg%3Fis%3D1200,1200,0xffffff
 
Cosme,

Thanks for the photo. I had assumed that the prism units attached to the objective units with a bayonet mount, but the image in the link is large enough to clearly show threads at the front of the prism housing, so they must screw on. That's good for adapting the prism units to astro scopes. It should be easy for a competent machinist to make an appropriate adapter for 2 or 1.25" focusers, even if Nikon doesn't. If the threads are one of the standard sizes a workable adapter might already exist.

The only spotting scope that might be adaptable is the Swarovski ATX since it uses a similar modular construction. It would be more difficult since the Swaro has a bayonet mount between the objective and prism/eyepiece units and differences in objective focal lengths might prevent focus from being reached.

Henry
 
Cosme,

Thanks for the photo. I had assumed that the prism units attached to the objective units with a bayonet mount, but the image in the link is large enough to clearly show threads at the front of the prism housing, so they must screw on. That's good for adapting the prism units to astro scopes. It should be easy for a competent machinist to make an appropriate adapter for 2 or 1.25" focusers, even if Nikon doesn't. If the threads are one of the standard sizes a workable adapter might already exist.

The only spotting scope that might be adaptable is the Swarovski ATX since it uses a similar modular construction. It would be more difficult since the Swaro has a bayonet mount between the objective and prism/eyepiece units and differences in objective focal lengths might prevent focus from being reached.

Henry


Im thinking about made a straight binoscope, the only straight prism units in the market, besides the spotting scopes ones, are one Bushnell and its 60$ ... do you think the quality between them -straight prism- is significant or the price cames by the "exclusivity of use"? i mean, i doubt you can fit the bushnell on a Nikon in plug&play way, so your only option is buy the Nikon, and pay "whatever" they ask for, like 350$ ...

Thanks
 
I guess the thread headline have to be changed, perhaps new scope 2014, but some dealers now states available "late 2014" so I guess it might even be 2015…

pretty frustrating,
but I feel that I must give the monarch a chance since the unique photo adapter solution is very tempting.
currently using my ED50 + a 20x MC Wide eyepiece currently since I sold my EDIIIA,
 
I wonder if they had legal issues over the ""modular""style design with swarovski...they already had issues with the open bridge design of the edg I ,i think
 
I wonder if they had legal issues over the ""modular""style design with swarovski...they already had issues with the open bridge design of the edg I ,i think

perhaps, but swaro has its own solution, pure modular scopes already exists, like the Kowa prominar,

zeiss also have a patent on a dual-speed focuser that could apply since nikon claim to have a dual-speed focuser in the monarch scopes,

but who knows, Nikon does not give any info about anything which is bad enough, wonder why the doesn't communicate the delay/problems, for cameras they sometimes have officially "excused" low stock for new items,
:smoke:
 
At an optics fair today in the Boston area I asked the rep when the Monarch scopes would be out. He said he had been told early next year, although he couldn't be more precise. He had no information on why they were delayed. He did mention there were some samples out there, although he had not been able to get one.

On hand he also had a new D750 body--wow!
 
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