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Nikon ED50 Mini Review (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Kevin Conville
- Start date
NoSpringChicken
Well-known member
I have the 13-40 zoom and 20x wide eyepieces for mine. They are screw fitting so are slightly fiddly to change out in the field. The zoom is useful but my partner cannot use it as the eye relief is a bit short (she wears glasses.) The 20x is a lovely bright lens with a good FOV and she can use that without problems. As Tero says it's at the lower end of the desirable magnification for a scope. In retrospect I might have gone for the 27x, which gives the best of both worlds. Your best plan would be to try to test the scope with various eyepieces and choose the one which suits you best. At around £200 a time they are a bit expensive to have sitting at home unused. That saving could also buy your fiancee some matching earrings.
Ron
Put it this way....I had the Swaro HD 65mm, and bought the ED50 as a "carry-round" scope. After some time I realised I hadn´t used the Swaro in months, the ED50 covered pretty much all the scope requirements I had. So I sold the Swaro and bought an ED82A (interchangeable eyepieces and all that), which I use for seawatching, or for occasions when I´m not walking a lot. I found the zoom not much use up on the ED50....the lower end wasn´t much improvement on bins, and the higher end was too dim and narrow. My preferred eyepiece with the ED50 is the 27xw...this gives the closest possible view to an ED82 with 30xw. (In fact, at this mag the FOV on the ED50 is a little wider, although for long-distance seawatching it´s not quite as bright and sharp). I hope that ramble helps.....and congratulations on your future plans, if she´s already in the market for a pair of bins you two will have a long and happy "shared-interests" thingy going on.......
joannec
Well-known member
I think an engagement ring would be far more appropriate....
Nah.....if it were me the good bins would be more appreciated.
:hippy:
Theovv
Member
I want to buy a Kowa TSN-601 with 20-60x eyepiece, but I also saw the ED 50 and its compact shape is nice, but is it optically and when you take the lighting conditions into account comparable with for example a Kowa TSN-601 or Nikon Spotting Scope RAIII 82? Or do the ED glasses compensate the smaller diameter of 50mm instead of 60, 70 or 80mm?
Tero
Retired
No, I do not think ED glass is an all around solution. 50mm is still on the small side.
Yeah, Nikon scopes are reliable. I only ended up with Pentax due to cost and the fact that I wanted 65mm to cover all my uses. The 65mm Pentax is quite compact. I prefer not to use a 80mm much.
I have not been excited about the Nikon binoculars for a while, but the scopes are pretty good.
Yeah, Nikon scopes are reliable. I only ended up with Pentax due to cost and the fact that I wanted 65mm to cover all my uses. The 65mm Pentax is quite compact. I prefer not to use a 80mm much.
I have not been excited about the Nikon binoculars for a while, but the scopes are pretty good.
Kevin Conville
yardbirder
Look at a TSN-603. Same scope, ED objective. The 600 series Kowas are nice IMO and lighter than the Nikon 60s. Of the "little" scopes, the ED50 and the Kowa 603 are my faves.
I have gone for it
You Go, Steve!!! Congratulations and Enjoy!!! (BTW....have you got a light tripod too? I find I can´t really use the 27x effectively without a tripod, although I´ve tried a monopod and a shoulder-pod). :t:
LOL! Not really. Outer ´burbs of Dublin. But when the economy finally collapses (in about ten minutes), it´ll feel like the moon.
A regular ´pod kind of defeats the advantages of the ED50....a cheap light one makes the whole package unbelievably portable, no heavier than a pair of bins (-ish). I use a Slik Videosprint, cost about 60 euro and does the job. But try it hand-held first, you might have much steadier hands than I.
stuart C smith
swansong
yes bird brain, your in the /our gang now. :t: sancho ! dont worry about the irish economy, my wifes going over to buying kerrygold butter, that should help. !!
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LOL! Very decent of her, but we´re all doing exactly the opposite...buying from Nothern Ireland!yes bird brain, your in the /our gang now. :t: sancho ! dont worry about the irish economy, my wifes going over to buying kerrygold butter, that should help. !!
Welcome to the ED50 Cabal, Birdbrain....I hope you really enjoy the new scope and it lives up to our obsessive recommendations!
stuart C smith
swansong
enjoy - and you will. :t:
