A few weeks ago I bought an Opticron MM4 ED 60, and I have now had occasion to use it in a variety of situations, and even to compare it with other scopes, so I am posting here a mini-review.
The Opticron MM4 60 is compact, light, and seems very well built. With the SDLv3 eyepiece, it weighs 1.1 Kg. I especially like the tethered objective and eyepiece caps, which make it easy to transport with no real need for one of those dog-coats.
My Opticron seems very very sharp. My impressions are:
I have not star-tested the scope. When I look at contrasty targets, I have the impression that even at 45x I can focus it and get a perfectly sharp image -- if there is no turbulence. But I definitely need to keep the eye closer to the eyepiece, the eye relief is less. Also, likely due to the small exit pupil size, I get a slight impression of 45x being a bit finicky.
Optically, it seems sharp corner to corner, and II do not observe any chromatic aberration. The only weakness I notice is a slight drop in contrast when I observe against strong sky glare. The image is sharp, detailed, and very good, but my Leica 7x42 UV HD+ binoculars give me a noticeably more contrasty image. I observed this yesterday, when I was observing a Sora in the dark reeds, with a bright white sky on top. There is no detriment in the ability to identify birds, just a little bit less contrast.
Ergonomically, the Opticron is superb. The focus and zoom controls are superbly smooth, the scope is lightweight, and the protection from the objective and eyepiece caps is great. Everything just works perfectly.
I compared it with two high-end scopes, Kowa 883 and Swarovski 85.
Compared with a Kowa 883, the Opticron is great and equivalent to the Kowa till 40x, except it has a smaller field of view. The Kowa is super sharp up to 60x. I compared the two scopes in the early morning, in a cold country in Europe, so 60x was a usable magnification for the Kowa. So the Kowa is better, giving access to a bigger range of magnifications, and with a somewhat larger field of view at low magnification. However, the Kowa is larger and heavier (and more than twice the price).
Compared with a Swarowski 85, the Opticron holds its own and is equivalent up to 40x, except again that its field of view is a bit narrower; from 40x to 45x I think the Swarovski has an advantage (and goes up to 60x).
That’s the optical comparison. But the thing I noticed is, the Opticron MM4 60 is much faster to use than the Swarovski 85. As it is much lighter, a smaller tripod head with more fluid settings suffices, so it's faster to swivel the MM4 60 to get the bird, compared to the 85/88 scopes. The Opticron is also smoother to operate than the Swarovski. Both focus and zoom are extremely smooth and lightweight in the Opticron, so one can very quickly dial in the zoom level, and then focus, on a bird. The Swarovski 85 had quite a tough zoom control, and the focusing was also not nearly as smooth and easy to use; on the Opticron a finger suffices, on the Swaro, a whole hand clasp was needed. The result was seconds lost in aiming the scope, selecting the zoom, and focusing. I was on the bird much faster than the person with the Swarovski 85. This, together with the fact that the Opticron was super sharp at the magnifications that were useful in the field (20-40x), meant that in practice as a scope it worked better for me for ID. The Swaro was better for admiring birds for long intervals of time.
In summary, I could not be happier with my MM4 60. In the range of magnifications that I can use the most, from 15x to 40x, it is essentially as sharp as the Swarovski or Kowa, with a slightly smaller field of view (from 15x to 20x; then the field of view is roughly on par). The MM4 60 is smooth and fast to operate, and in the end, I would not trade it for one of those larger scopes!
The Opticron MM4 60 is compact, light, and seems very well built. With the SDLv3 eyepiece, it weighs 1.1 Kg. I especially like the tethered objective and eyepiece caps, which make it easy to transport with no real need for one of those dog-coats.
My Opticron seems very very sharp. My impressions are:
- From 15x to 20x, the field of view is slightly narrow, and the image is very bright. Super sharp.
- From 20x to 40x is the main range of magnifications I use. The field of view is good (to me), and the image is super sharp and sufficiently bright.
- From 40x to 45x, the eye relief diminishes slightly, so that it's necessary to keep the eye a bit closer; I generally do not move the eyecup setting but there is a difference. Also, the image is a bit dimmer, and the focus is crucial. It is easy to focus due to the dual-speed focuser; I have the impression the scope is a bit less sharp unless one really pays attention to the focus.
I have not star-tested the scope. When I look at contrasty targets, I have the impression that even at 45x I can focus it and get a perfectly sharp image -- if there is no turbulence. But I definitely need to keep the eye closer to the eyepiece, the eye relief is less. Also, likely due to the small exit pupil size, I get a slight impression of 45x being a bit finicky.
Optically, it seems sharp corner to corner, and II do not observe any chromatic aberration. The only weakness I notice is a slight drop in contrast when I observe against strong sky glare. The image is sharp, detailed, and very good, but my Leica 7x42 UV HD+ binoculars give me a noticeably more contrasty image. I observed this yesterday, when I was observing a Sora in the dark reeds, with a bright white sky on top. There is no detriment in the ability to identify birds, just a little bit less contrast.
Ergonomically, the Opticron is superb. The focus and zoom controls are superbly smooth, the scope is lightweight, and the protection from the objective and eyepiece caps is great. Everything just works perfectly.
I compared it with two high-end scopes, Kowa 883 and Swarovski 85.
Compared with a Kowa 883, the Opticron is great and equivalent to the Kowa till 40x, except it has a smaller field of view. The Kowa is super sharp up to 60x. I compared the two scopes in the early morning, in a cold country in Europe, so 60x was a usable magnification for the Kowa. So the Kowa is better, giving access to a bigger range of magnifications, and with a somewhat larger field of view at low magnification. However, the Kowa is larger and heavier (and more than twice the price).
Compared with a Swarowski 85, the Opticron holds its own and is equivalent up to 40x, except again that its field of view is a bit narrower; from 40x to 45x I think the Swarovski has an advantage (and goes up to 60x).
That’s the optical comparison. But the thing I noticed is, the Opticron MM4 60 is much faster to use than the Swarovski 85. As it is much lighter, a smaller tripod head with more fluid settings suffices, so it's faster to swivel the MM4 60 to get the bird, compared to the 85/88 scopes. The Opticron is also smoother to operate than the Swarovski. Both focus and zoom are extremely smooth and lightweight in the Opticron, so one can very quickly dial in the zoom level, and then focus, on a bird. The Swarovski 85 had quite a tough zoom control, and the focusing was also not nearly as smooth and easy to use; on the Opticron a finger suffices, on the Swaro, a whole hand clasp was needed. The result was seconds lost in aiming the scope, selecting the zoom, and focusing. I was on the bird much faster than the person with the Swarovski 85. This, together with the fact that the Opticron was super sharp at the magnifications that were useful in the field (20-40x), meant that in practice as a scope it worked better for me for ID. The Swaro was better for admiring birds for long intervals of time.
In summary, I could not be happier with my MM4 60. In the range of magnifications that I can use the most, from 15x to 40x, it is essentially as sharp as the Swarovski or Kowa, with a slightly smaller field of view (from 15x to 20x; then the field of view is roughly on par). The MM4 60 is smooth and fast to operate, and in the end, I would not trade it for one of those larger scopes!
