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Kowa TSN-821 Scope (1 Viewer)

FairyTern

Member
Hello,
I've been offered a Kowa TSN-821 Scope for some €500 including the 20x-60x eye-piece. As I'm keen on digiscoping (CP 4500) I'm wondering whether this is a good deal or whether I should wait (and save money) for an ED-Scope ... can someone share his experience with me?
Thanks,
Karsten
 
Hi FairyTern,

On behalf of Admin and the Moderators, welcome to Bird Forum :t:

I like having a go at digiscoping too.

I had the 823 which was an excellent scope for both viewing and digiscoping - but that model has the fluorite glass.

I don't know what prices are like in Germany but that sounds a little high to me for a non-ED scope - at least at UK prices though the 20-60x is a bonus. It will no doubt be great for viewing, but personally I have my reservations about it for disigscoping. If it's anything like the Kowa 601 I used to own too, the CA will be terrible and images on the soft side.

I'd go either for a new ED type glass scope or pick one up second hand. Several manufacturers have some pretty good deals on at the moment. Try having a look at the Warehouse Express link at the top of the page to comapre. They do special offers as well as mail order returns.
 
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I's agree with Ian F. I used an 821 for quite a few years (in fact you will see it for sale on here soon) but couldn't get very good results when coupled with my CP4500. Now no doubt much of this was down to lack of patience and dare I say it ability on my part. However with my new Swaro I am getting reasonable results alost straight away.

It's fine as a budgetish birding scope but I wouldn't want to recommend it for digiscoping (and yes I will say that when I put mine up for sale!!).

Ivan
 
Hi Fairytern,
I have an 822 which is the straight version and I use it for digiscoping along with a CP990. The results are fine for me as I only want reference shots for my paintings but photographically they aren't great. The pics are mostly on the soft side although in sunlight the focus seems sharper, probably because of the shorter exposure times. The main problem though would be the colour abberation (sp?). If the subject is high contast or sitting against the sky or water for example the photograph will suffer from purple fringing.
Having said that I can't yet afford the top end stuff so the 822 with it's big objective lens is allowing me shots I could never have hoped to get with my little 300mm lens on my 35mm SLR even with a doubler so I'm enjoying it every time I go out!
Here's one I made earlier...

Woody

:t:
 

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Woody - thats a lot better than I was getting - perhaps it was more lack of skill of the user than the optics in my case!

Ivan
 
Hello, everybody,
thanks a lot for the answers ... I think I will wait a little longer, save some money and try to get a HD-Flourite model one day ...
 
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