Which way to go – ED and less magnification or no ED and more magnification? (1 Viewer)

[follerma]

Dear fellow birders,

I am having a hard time deciding which way to go with my first (and possibly only) spotting scope. There have been some situations in which I wished I had more magnification than the 10x my binos give me (e.g. shorebirds in a distance of between about 200 and 800 metres). I am definitely aiming at a smaller and more lightweight scope (max. 65 mm) because I am sure I will carry it around quite a lot. Also, when travelling it must not take up too much space. Basically, for my budget of up to 300 € I can either get a scope with ED glass, but with less magnification (e.g. DDoptics HDs compact 9-27x56) or a scope without ED glass, but with more magnification (e.g. Vanguard Endeavor XF 60A 15-45x60), but I can't have both. (I do know that the SVBONY SV406P ED 16-48x65 is available for ~ 350 €, but let's actually cap the budget at 300 €.) Which way should I go? Do the advantages of ED glass outweigh the lack of magnification? Any thoughts are much appreciated.

Best

Frank

 

[Vespobuteo]

Dear fellow birders,

I am having a hard time deciding which way to go with my first (and possibly only) spotting scope. There have been some situations in which I wished I had more magnification than the 10x my binos give me (e.g. shorebirds in a distance of between about 200 and 800 metres). I am definitely aiming at a smaller and more lightweight scope (max. 65 mm) because I am sure I will carry it around quite a lot. Also, when travelling it must not take up too much space. Basically, for my budget of up to 300 € I can either get a scope with ED glass, but with less magnification (e.g. DDoptics HDs compact 9-27x56) or a scope without ED glass, but with more magnification (e.g. Vanguard Endeavor XF 60A 15-45x60), but I can't have both. (I do know that the SVBONY SV406P ED 16-48x65 is available for ~ 350 €, but let's actually cap the budget at 300 €.) Which way should I go? Do the advantages of ED glass outweigh the lack of magnification? Any thoughts are much appreciated.

Best

Frank

ED is preferable in scopes because of the higher magnification.

High mag won't help if the image is not sharp.

 

[artur]

Delta Optical Titanium 65ED II 15-45x Luneta Delta Optical Titanium 65ED II - Delta Optical

 

[Ted Y.]

Higher the magnification, more need for ED.
An 8x very well made can be very good without ED, not so for a 15x

 

[Richard D]

For a scope I wouldn't really want to go above 20x without ED. I've used good non-ED scopes at 30x and they're 'okay' but not great - any higher I wouldn't recommend.

If you don't mind used with a bit of patience you can probably pick up a Nikon Fieldscope II ED (look for red ring near objective to ensure it's ED) with a 30x eyepiece for your budget - not far off the III optically, but not waterproof... Still an excellent scope and you can swap eyepieces as budget allows.

 

[dwatsonbirder]

If you don't mind used with a bit of patience you can probably pick up a Nikon Fieldscope II ED (look for red ring near objective to ensure it's ED) with a 30x eyepiece for your budget - not far off the III optically, but not waterproof... Still an excellent scope and you can swap eyepieces as budget allows.

Sound advice - here are a couple of mint (or near enough!) examples from German e*ay;

[NEAR MINT mit Case] Nikon Field Scope ED 30x WF Finder aus Japan #0157 | eBay

Entdecken Sie [NEAR MINT mit Case] Nikon Field Scope ED 30x WF Finder aus Japan #0157 in der großen Auswahl bei eBay. Kostenlose Lieferung für viele Artikel!

www.ebay.de

◉ NEAR MINT ◉ Nikon Field Scope ed2 LL 30 xWide 38 xWide eyepice aus Japan | eBay

Entdecken Sie ◉ NEAR MINT ◉ Nikon Field Scope ed2 LL 30 xWide 38 xWide eyepice aus Japan in der großen Auswahl bei eBay. Kostenlose Lieferung für viele Artikel!

www.ebay.de

 

[follerma]

Delta Optical Titanium 65ED II 15-45x Luneta Delta Optical Titanium 65ED II - Delta Optical

Thanks! This scope is available for 590 €, so far beyond my budget.

 

[follerma]

Thank you very much for all the helpful input! So I get it: ED beats non ED. Better sacrifice magnification than image quality. I will keep my eyes open for a good used scope, too.

 

[Pepitogrillo]

Maybe one tiny 50ED ... Also?

 

[Mother_of_birds]

I was recently looking for my 'first' scope also with a limited budget of £250. I say 'first' because I had previously bought a Hummingbird 50ED and it was hugely disappointing so I sold it after like one use.

Anyway, I wanted a straight, small and light scope. Ended up getting a used straight MM3 50ED 13-39x for only £200 with delivery! If you're alright with buying used then you might also be able to get the ED scope (which by the way, I think is essential) and also get the higher magnification that you want. Good luck and Merry Christmas 😊

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Hello Frank,

when I read your comment right ( "I am definitely aiming at a smaller and more lightweight scope..."), please dont forget the (weight and size of a) tripod (or monopod at least).

A super-steady image is often more important to resolve=bring out fine details than optical quality/resolution of the scope and handheld is only a option for rare cases ("besser als nichts").

I assume you know this= no offence you know, but this point is often forgotten.

 

[follerma]

Dear birding fellows,
it's been quite a while, but I still feel I owe you an update:
I tried one of those ultra compact scopes first, in my case the DDoptics HDs compact 9-27x56 mm with ED glass. I was very disappointed by the image quality. It almost felt like anything beyond 9x was accomplished by digital zoom and got blurrier and blurrier the more you zoomed in. So that was quite repellent.
Eventually, I got myself the 65 mm version of the Svbony SV406P. And I must say that I don't think I could have done better for (just a little more than) 300 €. ED glass, sharpness all the way, smooth dual focus knob, interchangeable parfocal zoom eyepieces. I guess the image could be a little brighter but that's about it. Also, I can't really say anything about longevity yet, of course.
Tripod-wise a went for the Sirui Traveler VA with aluminium legs and the VA-5 video head. I could have invested a little more to spoil myself with carbon, but that's ok. In the cold, dark days of the year I haven't really used this setup much yet except for some testing, but I will probably be able to put it to a field test soon.
Anyway, thanks again for all the help and happy birding!
Frank

 

[wllmspd]

Great to hear, it’s good to have nice sharp optics.
Peter