Magnification adapters & general scope advice (1 Viewer)

[YYguy]

I’m yet another mook trying to make a decision on a spotting scope and so I’ve spent quite some time parsing the very helpful reviews and opinions on this forum. I live on Gotland, a Swedish island in the middle of the Baltic and so my nature observations are a mix of coastal shorebirds, woodlands and meadows. It’s also a good place for raptors. I would also like to take advantage of the relatively low level of light pollution and do some celestial viewing.

Due to the latitude, I’d like to get a larger lens (70mm or more) to optimize hours of viewing during the dark part of the year. I’ve ruled out (new) Swaros and the Kowa 883 due to budget and over the last few months I have yet to see used models for sale here in Sweden.

I’d sort of settled on the Meopta S2 82 or the Nikon 82 ED (thanks, Henry Link) but as I understand it neither of them have a magnification adapter and this seems like a useful capability. Am I right in this regard? Are there perhaps magnifying adapters made by other optics manufacturers that can be used on the Nikon or Meopta?

Anyway, I welcome any and all suggestions and advice. /Mark

 

[jring]

Hi Mark,

most of the time you are going to be just fine with the 60 or 70x of your usual spotting scope. It's quite rare, that the situation, the seeing conditions and the instrument would support a higher magnification - for those cases the extender is nice to have... but 99% of the time you will enjoy a great image (hopefully, if you get a good example) with the stock EP.

Meopta seems to offer an astro adapter, which together with an astro EP around 5mm will also give you an option of 100x or thereabouts.

Meopta Astro Adapter for MeoStar S2 Spotting Scope

Buy Meopta Astro Adapter for MeoStar S2 Spotting Scope featuring Use Spotter for Astronomical Viewing, Use Standard 1.25" Telescope Eyepieces, Installs into Eyepiece Bayonet Mount, Adapter Only—Eyepieces Required. Review Meopta null

www.bhphotovideo.com

Joachim

 

[YYguy]

Hi Mark,

most of the time you are going to be just fine with the 60 or 70x of your usual spotting scope. It's quite rare, that the situation, the seeing conditions and the instrument would support a higher magnification - for those cases the extender is nice to have... but 99% of the time you will enjoy a great image (hopefully, if you get a good example) with the stock EP.

Meopta seems to offer an astro adapter, which together with an astro EP around 5mm will also give you an option of 100x or thereabouts.

Meopta Astro Adapter for MeoStar S2 Spotting Scope

Buy Meopta Astro Adapter for MeoStar S2 Spotting Scope featuring Use Spotter for Astronomical Viewing, Use Standard 1.25" Telescope Eyepieces, Installs into Eyepiece Bayonet Mount, Adapter Only—Eyepieces Required. Review Meopta null

www.bhphotovideo.com

Joachim

Thanks for the advice and the link, Joachim. I'm spent time on the Meopta website but assumed that adapter was accommodating pre-S2 Meopta lenses. Cheers, Mark

 

[YYguy]

Ah, because the one on Meopta's website is only advertised as for use with pre-S2 eyepieces. Great to know there's an astro adapter.

Meopta Sports Optics - European premium optics

www.meoptasportsoptics.eu

 

[GeorgeL]

How about a spotting scope that accepts standard 1.25” astro eyepieces without the use of adapters of any kind? My Pentax scopes does just that. I have both their 65mm and 80mm scopes. I bought them without their standard issue zoom eyepieces as I already had a collection of wide field astro eyepieces for my telescopes. All my eyepieces have apparent field of views of 70 to 82 degrees. And when seeing allows I can easily push 100x and even slightly beyond.

 

[YYguy]

How about a spotting scope that accepts standard 1.25” astro eyepieces without the use of adapters of any kind? My Pentax scopes does just that. I have both their 65mm and 80mm scopes. I bought them without their standard issue zoom eyepieces as I already had a collection of wide field astro eyepieces for my telescopes. All my eyepieces have apparent field of views of 70 to 82 degrees. And when seeing allows I can easily push 100x and even slightly beyond.

Thanks, this is definitely food for thought! /mark

 

[jring]

Hi,

yes, the Pentax can be quite nice and will take astro EPs - albeit at the cost of not having a wide angle zoom available... just make sure you test it properly (as with every brand) - not so great examples have been observed.

One could use the Baader Mk4 zoom for a little wider view, but it's still has a 3x zoom range (from 20-60) while the others wit a 2x or 2.5x range can be wider at the low magnification end.

Joachim

 

[YYguy]

Hi,

yes, the Pentax can be quite nice and will take astro EPs - albeit at the cost of not having a wide angle zoom available... just make sure you test it properly (as with every brand) - not so great examples have been observed.

One could use the Baader Mk4 zoom for a little wider view, but it's still has a 3x zoom range (from 20-60) while the others wit a 2x or 2.5x range can be wider at the low magnification end.

Joachim

Thanks again and yes, one of the most important things I've learned in this forum is the existence of sample variation across the spectrum. It has really changed my approach to how to purchase a scope. /mark