NIKON FIELDSCOPE ED82A
This new Nikon Fieldscope replaces the very well-respected but now discontinued Fieldscope 78. The first thing you notice with this scope is its obvious high build quality - it is a perfectionist�s delight made with jeweller's precision akin to the Nikon photographic lenses.
I eventually decided on buying this scope because, despite its unusually large 82mm objective lens, it is very compact indeed - no longer, amazingly, than my son�s Swarovski 65ED. It�s weight is about average compared to the obvious alternatives such as Leica and Zeiss but the Swarovski 80ED is lighter (but has a smaller objective lens).
I imagine the Nikon would be excellent for digiscoping because of its exceptional light gathering power. Nikon sell adapters to suit their digital and SLR cameras. The 82mm objective will allow usefully higher shutter speeds than smaller scopes and so cut down on blur caused by camera shake.
The scope is waterproof and nitrogen filled; it is made from a tough green coated light aluminium alloy with some rubber armouring to prevent damage. The scope body can be turned to several pre-set angles but this cannot be achieved with the stay-on waterproof case in-situ.
The Nikon MCII 25-75x zoom eyepiece was launched along with this scope and complements it well. It has a solid and very smooth action and a modern style click-stopped twist up eye-cup. Unusually for zooms, in my experience, the Nikon allows me to wear my glasses and still easily see the full field of view at 25x magnification. The eyepiece is well made and has a very smooth action.
It provides a super-bright, clear image that is very easy on the eye and satisfyingly wide with no feeling of "tunnel vision". The image is pin sharp and retains this sharpness to the extreme edges. The colour balance is probably the most natural I have seen on any top scope, making the Swarovski, to my eyes, seem rather cold. The Nikon also gives a delightfully contrasty image with no flare or colour fringing whatever the light conditions.
Even in poor late-afternoon December light, the 82mm ED objective lens gives a quite amazingly bright image. Nikon make great claim to their use of ultra-low dispersion eco-glass, multicoating and silver throughout and all this seems to work very well indeed - I feel sure that a brighter image does not exist in any other scope (although the Zeiss 85T* might be a worthy contender for comparison).
Nikon�s optical glass is unusual, too. It�s their own formulation rather than the more usual fluorite. Fluorite is felt by some to produce an image that exaggerates the u/v and blue end of the spectrum - the Nikon scores here with a totally faithfully coloured image.
Focusing is quick and easy to achieve by turning a wide and ridged rubber ring that encircles the scope�s body about a third of the way down its length, similar to the Swarovski scopes. Focusing moves between the very close focusing point of about 12 feet and infinity in a very useful and easy three-quarters of a turn. The gearing is quite high which makes it quick to focus but does mean care is needed at the 75x end when even a tiny movement has a noticeable effect.
The zoom offers a class beating and very useable 75x maximum magnification. At this power, the image darkens as would be expected but is still very useable and still sharp across the very flat field of view. No doubt the large 82mm. objective lens helps out here.
The grey/green stay-on case is rather swish looking and is particularly well made, fitting the scope body well to provide solid protection against rain and knocks. It has a very useful pullover style waterproof hood to cover the eyepiece in the rain. This works well and allows easy and quick viewing with it in place. In the rain, too, the lens hood is long enough to be useful and extends very smoothly.
The 30x wide angle fixed eyepiece is truly a delight to look through - it offers a very bright, sharp, clear and wide view. Nikon can surely be proud of this lovely lens. As good as Nikon�s new zoom is - and it�s up there with the best I�ve looked through - this wide- angle lens must be said to show this scope at its very best.
Altogether this scope does its job very well indeed. It is certainly a very fine piece of well-engineered kit - as it should be for the price, I suppose (~�1050 with zoom and case).
Here is a snippet from the October 2003 Birdwatch magazine review by Simon Papps:
"As with other Nikon products I�ve tested, the optical performance of the ED82 A was faultless and it performed outstandingly in the gloomy conditions around dusk. Nikon says that "all lenses, prisms and dustproof glass are multi-layer coated" and the fluorite ED glass certainly lived up to its claim to help reduce chromatic aberration and give superb colour rendition... Ultimately, for both birders and digiscopers who are searching at the highest-quality end of the market, the Nikon ED82 models should prove to be a hit"
And this from the Web�s "Bird Digest" who reviewed the previous but similar scope, the ED78 (http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/optics/scopes03.html):
"When we tested the Fieldscope�s optical resolution... the Fieldscope won the same outstanding score of 19 [/20] at 60x as the Swarovski ATS80 HD and Leica APO Televid 77.
This scope deserves to be on anyone�s shortlist along with the likes of Zeiss, Leica and Swarovski if you are aiming for the best available. But... if you don�t want to or can�t spend that much, you can save a lot and lose much less than you would imagine by taking a close look at the Opticron ES80 scope - see the review in this section.
Steve Campsall - Revised Jan 2004
Content and images originally posted by scampo
Reviews
scampo's review
Pros
- Compact sharp and bright; easy to use and carry; waterproof; incredibly well crafted feel and appearance. Useful extra zoom ability to a very useable 75x. Wide angle eyepiece an utter delight to use.
Cons
- Not as light as a 60x scope but - amazingly - equally almost as compact.
Gaga's review
I'm not an expert in spotting scope, but this one is excellent! I made some very good observations, and nice picture with it. Surprisingly, this scope is not yet on Nikon Canada website...
Pros
- Very bright; incredible sharpness; nice design...
Cons
- Not yet...
Richard Warom's review
The fieldscope is very compact and its resolution is excellant. I have only just received it so have yet to give it a full testing but my intial thoughts are that I am very glad to own it. By the way if you own a Nikon coolpix ( i have a 4500) there is much confusion over the digiscope attatchments they really only are clear about the product used with the field scope. If you own a nikon spotting scope make sure that you are sold the right attatchment SSA and not FSA the one does not fit the other.
Pros
- I first brought the nikon 80a spotting scope and wished i had bought the ED82 A. I now have and the difference is worth the price.
Cons
- none
ropaled's review
Price includes Nikon stay on case and wide angle eyepiece, inclusive of P&P. Shop around I think price can now be a bit lower.
Excellent piece of kit. Certainly competes (even betters) with anything else currently in the market.
Pros
- A* view. Easy to use.
- Great for Spec wearers.
Cons
- None so far.
potvis's review
Used it for a year and was able to compare it in the field with the Swaro, Leitz and the Leica and it stood up to those. Optical quality excellent, ease of use somewhat less, however you get used to it. Very good price-quality relation.
Pros
- quality of the optics and the build
Cons
- small diameter of eyepiece
PCC's review
I called Nikon today and checked their website, they told me they do not use Eco-Glass in their spotting scopes. They do use it in some of their binoculars.
Cons
- No Eco Glass in scopes
John Traynor's review
I have the Nikon Fieldscope 82mm ED angled version (Nikon 7555) with two fixed DS eyepieces: 30X (Nikon 6954) FOV 126 and 50X (Nikon 6950) FOV 79. Both eyepieces have a 72-degree Apparent Field of View.
The scope body is rugged and dependable and the included case is elegantly functional. In a matter of seconds, I remove the scope from my shoulder, mount it on the tripod, and start viewing. I generally leave the plastic objective cover in the car and just use the case to protect the objective when moving locations.
The DS eyepieces offer exceptional fields of view and crisp images. Lifelike color transmission is a characteristic of both lenses and the 82mm objective keeps delivering strong coloration as darkness falls. The DS lenses were designed for digiscoping and, therefore, utilize a non-folding rubber eyecup when used as a traditional eyepiece. The MC versions have retractable eyecups.
The magnificent image in the 30X DS eyepiece is a dead ringer for the incomparable image I enjoy in my Nikon SE 8X32. Need I say more?
The 50X DS eyepiece is not far behind the 30X. Image quality is virtually identical, limited only by a narrower, but still generous, FOV. Truthfully, after looking at several scopes, I didn�t expect to see such exquisite definition at 50X. The ability to easily track distant birds in flight at this magnification was an unexpected pleasure.
The helical focus is, in a word, sensitive. Actually, it�s ultra-sensitive but I find it easy to manipulate and much prefer it to the alternative one or two knob focus mechanisms. After a few hours practice, I can now track and focus on birds in flight with relative ease.
Visually, I�m often stunned by the quality of the image and anyone familiar with Nikon high-end optics will instantly recognize the �Nikon� view when they look through this scope. I think of it as an SE on steroids and the best I can say is that I forget I�m using a scope and just enjoy the lifelike images captured by the eyepiece. If you�re a fixed magnification fan, I doubt you will find a better scope than this beauty from Nikon.
Pros
- Ultra sharp images with the fixed eyepieces.
Cons
- Nikon should design an eyeglass friendly zoom for this scope.
Tvc15_2000's review
I am joining the ranks of satisfied users. I purchased my scope in 2004. I have compared this scope with Leica, Zeiss and Swarovski and many others.
As with all optics, in my comparisons I found one may outperform another on a particular situation. Overall, I was pleased to see this Fieldscope 82 image quality is still outperforming the others. The high power zoom is sharp even at the full power (trade offs that have to be made for high power).
I recently purchased a fixed 30X eyepiece and it provides a tack sharp bright image. An improvement in image quality over the versatile zoom I may purchase the 38X. If you want to see what the scope is truly capable of I recommend trying the fixed eyepiece.
I seek out the best image I can get. None of the comparisons I have done has proven to me that any of the Euro scopes is a better performer even though they cost twice the price.
The case is tailor made for this scope and well thought out. The front and back attach via Velcro and can be fully removed. Or just flipped open. The focus cover can be rolled back and Velcro it out of the way. Or you can slip your hand under it in foul weather. There are magnetic (snaps) to hold the focus cover in place. I have not seen any scope with a better designed case at any price.
The scope has a generous sun shade that slides out
The only nits I have are minor . There is a sighting groove on the sun shade that is only useable if the case is removed (I never remove the case). The focus is a tad resistant or tight. I would prefer a less resistant focus. If I could move it with one finger rather than my hand I would be happier.
I believe this scope provides no compromise performance at a price performance point that would cost you double with any other scope. At double the price - you would only be equaling the performance, not exceeding it.
Pros
- Image Quality
- No compromise performance at a reasonable cost.
Cons
- Ocular is not as big as euro scopes.


