Choosing a spotting scope. (1 Viewer)

[Kiwimac]

I’ve never owned a scope.

My shortlist is the usual suspects from Swarovski, Leica and Zeiss.

In particular I like the theory of the BTX concept although I’ve never looked through it.

How does one decide between objective size, magnification and so on? I can’t find that much information that’s not related to rifle hunting.

 

[wllmspd]

How much do you mind carrying, do you have a decent photo tripod? The bigger the scope the more you’ll be carrying, which can get tiring. The people I go out with mostly have swaro 65 I think, some Opticron mm60 too.
Peter

 

[Kiwimac]

I’ve a large Gitzo carbon tripod I use for photography. It’s capable of supporting any scope we are likely to be discussing here as I think it’s rated to 30kg. I also have a smaller and lighter one that would be fine except in windy conditions I’d think.

The Leica 82 is currently available with eyepiece and tripod for about NZ$7k.

The Swaro is about $4k for each half plus - depending on the exact combination you’re buying. BTX plus the 115 is about $10k.

Zeiss Harpia 85 is about $6.5k including eyepiece.

 

[has530]

I would encourage you to look at the offerings from Kowa. As good or better than the "big 3" and often a little cheaper as well

 

[William Lewis]

I'd start by deciding how far your likely to be carrying it. If you can get something that fits in a rucksack with it's tripod then it shouldn't affect mobility too much assuming normal levels of fitness. You'd usually be looking at around 50-65mm scopes to achieve this with a tripod that can take the 50x mag you would be able to use whilst maintaining a respectable sized exit pupil for daytime viewing. A monopod is possible up to around 30x with some of these scopes.

If your not too fussed about mobility you can look at 80mm+ scopes, you can expect to get a useful image at 60x + with these along with better low light performance. They do need a bigger tripod.

The rest is down to budget but also I'd be remiss not to add that scopes are fickle beasts, do not expect the biggest most expensive scope to be the best. If you can get to a shop with a few of them, even if they aren't top of the line and have a look through them you'll probably make a better choice than reading reviews and clicking buy.

Will

 

[Tringa45]

Tripod load ratings are very arbitrary, but if your Gitzo is rated at 30 kg it's probably a Series 3 or 4 and that would be ideal for scope use.
It's paradoxical that some photographers place higher demands on tripods than many scope users but scope use with extended viewing at much higher magnifications is actually the more demanding application.
If you have been using a ball head for photography a video head would be preferable for scope use. A possible though rather expensive solution suitable for both applications would be a Berlebach 653, which is effectively a 3-way video head.

Leissovski are acknowledged top binocular performers but neither Leica nor Zeiss enjoy similar popularity amongst scope users. By all accounts Leica Televids don't compare favourably with the top offerings from Swarovski and Kowa and the Zeiss Harpia is something of a maverick.. It uses a zooming objective to achieve very wide apparent fields of view at the lower magnifications, but at the expense of exit pupil size and twilight brightness. Personally, I think that with a little practice or the use of a cable tie sight, getting on the bird with a true field of view over 2° with conventional scopes is not a great problem.
Other excellent performers at a somewhat lower price are the Meopta S2 and Nikon Monarch ED.

John

 

[jring]

Hi,

good advice has been given already... my addition would be the fact that sample variation with scopes does exist and we have seen lemons from all alpha brands on here.
Consequently you want to either test your scope before you buy (and then buy exactly that example you tested - bonus points for getting a discount for buying a demo unit) or buy it from a reputable online dealer with a no questions asked return policy.
Before, you should read up on how to test scope quality - at least by trying a few examples at resolving sufficientlly fine detail (maybe a stamp or dollar bill in a store or far away adverts, car number plates or even birds, if available - outside - avoid testing through store windows unless you want to evaluate the optical quality of the windows.
A better option would be a star test as this allows to eveluate the optical quality of a single instrumen w/o comparing to others. Can be done either with a diy artificial star or a real one - the latter at night only...
See Star testing telescope optical quality for a short primer on the topic (only the images for tldr - you want two or three concentric circles on either side of focus...) or H.R. Suiter, Star Testing Astronomical Telescopes, Willmann-Bell for the long version.

Ideal conditions for both would be a cool overcast morning or cool and clear night - but avoid seemingly cool summer nights after hot day - lots of heated up stuff (buildings, tarmac, whatever) to spoil the view. Or inside in a unheated / non-aircon room with little or no heat sources - like sunny spots, draped windows with the sun blasting outside or even human bodies.

Regards,

Joachim