CJW
Hit-and-run WUM
Well after 20-odd years of persisting with my Kowa TS-1, I finally took the plunge and bought a replacement which duly arrived yesterday afternoon. A shiny new Swarovski ATS 80HD. Wow! what a beast - the image is stunning and definitely better than anything I have used in the past (Kowa 823/Leica APO77 etc etc). I love the focusing ring, the rubber armouring and general ergonomics.
However, I do have a couple of gripes that people may be interested in - not with the scope, I fail to see how it could be bettered.
1) As part of the deal to buy the scope, I got a free Skua stay-on case. Now, I have seen these used on Leicas and Kowas and they seem to be very good - especially access to the focussing wheels - but the one for the ATS is a real pain. I actually have to remove 3 parts of the case to be able to use my scope (2 lense caps and and a Velro attached band that goes round the body of the scope at the point of the focussing ring. A very poor design.
The case is now residing at the bottom of my wardrobe and is unlikely to see the light of day.
2) I also bought (£60) an LCE digiscoping adaptor for my coolpix4500 which is supposed to be specifically for the ATS. There are 3 screws to fix the adaptor to the zoom eyepiece which can result in it being mounted off-centre and thus I might be unable to zoom properly as half of the image can disappear! But the worst thing of all, is the distance between the lense of the Coolpix and the eyepiece of the ATS - almost 3cm!! Can you imagine the vignetting? Even with the rubber eyepiece removed from the scope, the adaptor does not allow for the camera to be any closer to the scope. The reason for this is simple. Halfway down the barrell of the adaptor is a chamfer which reduces it's internal diameter by about 3mm preventing it from sliding all the way down the eyepiece.
It's so bad I've decided to bite the bullet and buy the Swarovski adaptor at £109.
Anyone want to buy a completely useless digiscoping adaptor for their Swarovski and a never used Kowa stay-on case?
However, I do have a couple of gripes that people may be interested in - not with the scope, I fail to see how it could be bettered.
1) As part of the deal to buy the scope, I got a free Skua stay-on case. Now, I have seen these used on Leicas and Kowas and they seem to be very good - especially access to the focussing wheels - but the one for the ATS is a real pain. I actually have to remove 3 parts of the case to be able to use my scope (2 lense caps and and a Velro attached band that goes round the body of the scope at the point of the focussing ring. A very poor design.
The case is now residing at the bottom of my wardrobe and is unlikely to see the light of day.
2) I also bought (£60) an LCE digiscoping adaptor for my coolpix4500 which is supposed to be specifically for the ATS. There are 3 screws to fix the adaptor to the zoom eyepiece which can result in it being mounted off-centre and thus I might be unable to zoom properly as half of the image can disappear! But the worst thing of all, is the distance between the lense of the Coolpix and the eyepiece of the ATS - almost 3cm!! Can you imagine the vignetting? Even with the rubber eyepiece removed from the scope, the adaptor does not allow for the camera to be any closer to the scope. The reason for this is simple. Halfway down the barrell of the adaptor is a chamfer which reduces it's internal diameter by about 3mm preventing it from sliding all the way down the eyepiece.
It's so bad I've decided to bite the bullet and buy the Swarovski adaptor at £109.
Anyone want to buy a completely useless digiscoping adaptor for their Swarovski and a never used Kowa stay-on case?
