I'm just a newbie digiscoper (still awaiting my shipment) of my Zeiss 85 with the assorted accessories. I, by no means am an expert and can only offer a first time buyer experience. We have been birding for several years and have a Canon Rebel with our "best" lens being a Sigma 300mm. We would go to a lake or somewhere, see ducks and at best......get pictures of dots or a little bigger blob of unidentifable birds. This turned us onto the idea of a fieldscope. My first attempts at research yielded a Celestron of about $185. Boy, little did I know that I would be adding a few zeros!!!
After lots of reading, I learned that to get good pictures, you will need good optics. Names like Swarovski, Leica, Zeiss and Kowa an even Nikon would always come up. I also figured this investment will be a LONG term investment. Cameras will always change and you might pony up for even better tripod but if the optics are above and beyond, why change the scope? At least thats the working theory.
So why did I choose Zeiss? Long and short of it; what I got for my money. the other factors I chose were weight and to some extent of what I can find out, the eyepieces. I also factored in warranty and other little factors that add up.
You also have to remember that you still need a good tripod, adapter and a camera to go along with it. With my pitiful Quantaray tripod that I had....I knew I had to get better which meant a little more money. Then an adapater and camera.
My personal elimination process:
With the Nikon 82 ED. You certainly get a lot of bang for the buck and was almost set at getting this particular scope. I decided to up the ante a bit because this one is about 10 oz heavier and the FOV was smaller with the variable eyepiece. Weight played an important roll here.
Leica. Expensive. Wasn't going there.
Swarovski. Not terribly more and from what I read, fantastic optics with the HD optics and the Zeiss 85 stood right up to it. Of course, IMHO, you put the Swarovski name to something, it immediately adds a premium. I trolled the Swarovski forums. I didn't see any unhappy campers.
Kowa. Probably the best out there. Again, several hundred more when you factor in eyepiece, tripod, adapter, etc. From what I found out, you can accesorize the hell out of it with eyepieces. Made it very tempting! Again, trolling the Kowa forum; no unhappy campers there either.
It was a tough choice between the Kowa and Zeiss. I got the package deal which included the 20-60x eyepiece, a the 055CX3 carbon fiber tripod and 128RC head, quick camera adapater and what I consider some fluff stuff like a hard case, cleaning kit, the neoprene SOC and a bogen window mount with 700 head. All in all, it probably still came in under several hundred over the Kowa. In other words, I got a bit more bang for my buck by going Zeiss.
For us, I think the variable eyepiece will serve us well without the need to explore the other eyepieces available. We are not professional photographers, so the need for multi eyepieces was not necessary. Of course your mileage may vary.
What the experienced digiscopers say; You cannot go wrong with any of the scopes aforementioned. You just have to choose what will be right for your applications and most importantly; your budget.
Anyway, this was the difficult process of elimination that I took. Right, wrong or indifferent, I chose what I think will best serve us in the many years to come.
Good luck! Once you choose which scope, you get to choose angled or straight, which tripod/head combo, camera adapter and ultimately, the camera. :t:
Thats my story and I'm sticking to it.
