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Is the Nikon 60 Ed iii still relevant? (1 Viewer)

yakyakgoose

Well-known member
I have a Nikon 60 Ed iii with the 20-60x eye piece and was wondering how this compares to the Nikon EDG's or New Vortex Razors. Has this older tech been surpassed significantly by the newer generation of scopes?
 
I have a Nikon 60 Ed iii with the 20-60x eye piece and was wondering how this compares to the Nikon EDG's or New Vortex Razors. Has this older tech been surpassed significantly by the newer generation of scopes?

I have an old Nikon Fieldscope III, non-ED version, coupled with a 30x wide MC eyepiece. It is excellent. I imagine the ED version is even better. (Problem with the 20-60ep is that it's very narrow.)
 
I have a Nikon 60 Ed iii with the 20-60x eye piece and was wondering how this compares to the Nikon EDG's or New Vortex Razors. Has this older tech been surpassed significantly by the newer generation of scopes?

No comment on the Vortex from me. The EDG is right out - far too heavy for a 65mm scope. And compared to virtually all other 65mm scopes (with a sensible weight) the EDIII still holds its own. Easily. I don't think I'll change for the foreseeable future.

The only thing you might want to do is get *one* of the WW eyepieces for all those occasions when you want a really wide field of view. One of the 24x eyepieces, either the "normal" one or the DS, would do nicely.

Hermann
 
I was out this evening (looking in vain for a Sabine's gull that had been seen earlier in the day nearby) with my friend who owns the 82mm Leica, he was looking through my old Nikon 82ED and he remarked how much brighter it was than his leica, and that it was a match in terms of sharpness.
The Leica only has the zoom lens so I suppose it isn't a fair comparison, but certainly interesting given the disparity in age & technology between the two scopes.
I owned the previous EDii and used that with the newer 24x DS series eyepiece, and that combo offers incredible value for money, and I dare say performance that isn't too far from the 65mm Swarovski scopes.
Hope this helps.
 
You have to compare for yourself.

I upgraded from the EDIII + 30x EP to Swaro ATS65 + 25-50x. Eye relief is better on the swaro zoom than the nikon zooms, optically it's not a huge difference, but to me the Swaro is a bit better on everything. The EDIII is still a very good scope though.
 
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I had the Nikon 60, Nikon 60ED, Nikon 50ED and now have just the Nikon 50ED and the Nikon 82ED with quite a few eyepieces and I am done looking for a spotter. I liked them all.
 
...I don't think I'll change for the foreseeable future.

The only thing you might want to do is get *one* of the WW eyepieces for all those occasions when you want a really wide field of view. One of the 24x eyepieces, either the "normal" one or the DS, would do nicely...

I second this advice. It's a great scope, but do get a 24x or 30x WF, MC, or DS eyepiece to enjoy wide views (and lots more eye relief).

--AP
 
So I use mine for some bird watching but use it mainly for spotting large mammals here in colorado to then try to get close enough for some quality wildlife photography. I just noticed that at close to full zoom it's not very sharp. But I'm not looking at things 500 yards away at zoom, I'm looking at things really far away at zoom. Maybe it's just haze?

I've heard of the wide angles but not sure If I'd be giving up too much on the zoom end? I haven't been able to compare spotting scopes so I don't have anything to compare with.
 
Hi,

I'd second the opinion to upgrade the ED III with a wide fixed EP in your favorite mag as long as there are still some available. The Nikon zooms are fairly narrow unfortunately across the zoom range and alternate options don't exist.

I think you need to get a full-size alpha scope to get an equal view to your Nikon with one of the wide MC EPs - the alpha will probably have a wide angle zoom though.

Regarding it being not very sharp at maximum magnification this could be bad seeing or optical problems with the instrument or the EP.

A star test would be a good idea - take your scope out at nigh and let it cool down for half an our hour or so, then aim it at a bright star at night and zoom to max magnification. Then defocus slightly and both ways and compare what you see to the images in the links below. Ideally you'd see a completely equal image of concentric rings inside and outside of focus.
Bad seeing shows as the rings moving around all the time - in that case try another night.
For other aberrations see the links below.

http://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/feature/how-guide/how-star-test-telescope
http://www.telescope-optics.net/star_testing_telescope.htm

Joachim
 
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I have an EDIII with a 30x MC wide eyepiece and I think that it is an excellent scope, especially at the prices which it commands these days secondhand. My only real criticism is that the tripod foot is a long way forward which makes it rather back-heavy and unbalanced. A good tripod head with a sliding plate helps a lot. Unfortunately, I don't use mine very often now as I suffer from bad joint pain, so I take out my much lighter ED50 instead.

Ron
 
I have an EDIII with a 30x MC wide eyepiece and I think that it is an excellent scope, especially at the prices which it commands these days secondhand. My only real criticism is that the tripod foot is a long way forward which makes it rather back-heavy and unbalanced. A good tripod head with a sliding plate helps a lot. Unfortunately, I don't use mine very often now as I suffer from bad joint pain, so I take out my much lighter ED50 instead.

Ron

You've put your finger on the major weakness of the EDIII, it really needs a good tripod and head to show what it can do. That automatically puts it into the heavyweight space, where the big 80+mm models shine. The small Swaro is less demanding and has done better in the market, partly perhaps because of that.
 
You've put your finger on the major weakness of the EDIII, it really needs a good tripod and head to show what it can do. That automatically puts it into the heavyweight space, where the big 80+mm models shine.

Well, there are several lightweight heads that can handle the EDIII/EDIIIA quite nicely, e.g. the Gitzo 2180. Any head lighter than that won't be able to handle any of the 60mm scopes at high magnification, no matter whether they are unbalanced or not.

IMO the only real problem with the Nikon Fieldscopes is that the 20-60x zoom is a bit too narrow. That's where some of the modern scopes really score against the Nikon.

Hermann
 
Hi,

yes, the 2180 looks brilliant with a long plate. But the price tag is kinda shocking... And the long plate is 120g, the unnecessary stock square plate is 35g, so we we get a total of 655g.

My old 500AH is 900g - so are 245g less worth 350€? Not for me... If I had to buy new head anyways and could do some shopping around for a deal or used offer - maybe...

Joachim
 
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