Scope for Spotting Airplanes
Al,
This is a subject near and dear to my heart. Over 90% of my scope usage is for spotting planes. In particular, I enjoy trying to make ID’s at extreme distances – my record is positive ID of a Boeing 747 Large Cargo Freighter (DreamLifter) at ~120 miles (obviously aided by its rather unique outline).
A nice thing about plane spotting is that, for typical viewing angles, you are looking through much less air than an equivalent terrestrial distance plus heat haze is greatly reduced.
I started with a Nikon ED82A (angled body is all but mandatory). As much as I love the scope, the zoom’s relatively narrow FOV makes acquisition difficult at the best of times. The 30x DS fixed EP is great – much easier acquisition and just a delightful image but, obviously you give up the zoom.
As for magnification, when everything is just right, high magnification allows for some remarkable images. However, more often than not, vibration/movement caused by inability to pan perfectly smoothly means that I can extract as much or more detail at lower powers.
Speaking of which, I’m continually amazed at how much detail I can see with Canon 10x image-stabilized binoculars relative to a spotting scope at 30x. I like the stabilized view so much that I am tempted to try a Nikon VR scope to see if it affords the same sort of improvement. (My wife is helping me manage the temptation.) I would guess it could deliver significantly more “effective detail” at its 60x max than the ED82 at 75x or my Swarovski ATX at 70’ish. (Assuming its VR system can cope with panning.)
I’ve been rambling so, I would suggest:
- Good mid-range or better angled scope ( I’m not convinced this application benefits from the last bit of performance of the uber scopes even though they are a pleasure to use)
- Low dispersion glass (to help suppress color fringing which can occur in backlit situations common in plane spotting)
- Wide field of view (for me, much more important than aperture)
- 25-40x for most days (and 60-70x if you want to be ready for really good conditions)
- As Joachim indicated, a good aiming device
- Stable tripod
- Smooth pan/tilt head (I'm using Gitzo 2380 at the moment but still looking)
- Definitely give consideration to IS binoculars
Hope this helps,
Tony