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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

New scope from Zeiss... (2 Viewers)

Vespobuteo said:
Light transmission and color rendition are better in modern scopes, including the Meopta S2.
Click to expand...

Undoubtedly, but this doesn't detract from the validity of the original statement. It just means that Meopta scopes are arguably likely to be even better altenatives to the 'alpha' marques!

RB
 
A birding friend of mine just informed me that whilst up in Norfolk this weekend he compared the Harpia against a Kowa 883.
His words, not mine, after an hours testing out.......
" The Zeiss ****** all over the Kowa, brighter but the main reason was the fact the field of view remained the same up to x 70. Now have to work out the finances."
He is a keen twitcher and digiscoper.
 
PYRTLE said:
A birding friend of mine just informed me that whilst up in Norfolk this weekend he compared the Harpia against a Kowa 883.
His words, not mine, after an hours testing out.......
" The Zeiss ****** all over the Kowa, brighter but the main reason was the fact the field of view remained the same up to x 70. Now have to work out the finances."
He is a keen twitcher and digiscoper.
Click to expand...

A friend of me has a kowa and I could compare with the atx 85 a few weeks ago
The kowa was very sharp at high resolution but less contrast than the atx at high magnification
The kowa also had a more yellow cast than the swaro
 
DRodrigues said:
He must wanted to say that the AFOV remained the same down to 23x... ;)
Click to expand...
No, he's a birder. Locate the subject or scan at lowest power, then turn up the magnification for detailed views. AFOV and other terms would be lost on him, but that's okay.
I though he would be put off by the barrel focusing as all his previous scopes have had the top knob system, and didn't test the Swarovski models.
Anyhow, his mind is made up.
 
Last edited:
Latest on 85mm Harpia?

Anyone have an update on this?
Given that the 95mm has hit the shops, would this concept still be a worthwhile option in the Zeiss stable?
Thank you
 
PYRTLE said:
No, he's a birder. Locate the subject or scan at lowest power, then turn up the magnification for detailed views. AFOV and other terms would be lost on him, but that's okay.
I though he would be put off by the barrel focusing as all his previous scopes have had the top knob system, and didn't test the Swarovski models.
Anyhow, his mind is made up.
Click to expand...

I thought I would miss the two top knobs of my old Diascope 65 but found the two big rings for focus and mag on the Harpia very nice to use.

Lee
 
PYRTLE said:
the field of view remained the same up to x 70.
Click to expand...

With a zoom eyepiece the field of view (i.e in m @ 1000 m) ALWAYS decreases with increasing magnification.
With most zoom eyepieces the apparent field of view (perceived angular) usually increases with increasing magnification.
The Zeiss Harpia maintains a constant AFOV across the magnification range, but at the cost of exit pupil size at the lower magnifications. Its twilight performance will likely be marginal.

John
 
PYRTLE said:
Anyone have an update on this?
Given that the 95mm has hit the shops, would this concept still be a worthwhile option in the Zeiss stable?
Thank you
Click to expand...

For sure from what Zeiss said at Bird Fair, there is no doubt Harpia 85 is going ahead. I didn't ask for specific dates.

Lee
 
PYRTLE said:
A birding friend of mine just informed me that whilst up in Norfolk this weekend he compared the Harpia against a Kowa 883.
His words, not mine, after an hours testing out.......
" The Zeiss ****** all over the Kowa, brighter but the main reason was the fact the field of view remained the same up to x 70. Now have to work out the finances."
He is a keen twitcher and digiscoper.
Click to expand...

So he was comparing an 88mm scope to a 95mm objective scope and the Zeiss 95mm was brighter. No surprise there.
 
dipped said:
So he was comparing an 88mm scope to a 95mm objective scope and the Zeiss 95mm was brighter. No surprise there.
Click to expand...

At what magnification is the question. At smaller mag the exit pupil is actually larger for the Kowa. But transmission is probably a bit lower in the Kowa.
If the Harpia 95 comes close to the Kowa 883 in CA performance at higher mags I will be surprised. Where the Kowa usually shines is at long distance viewing, with zero disturbing false color.
 
I had the ocassion to test the ATX 95 and Zeiss Harpia 95 both at 70 x magnification 1 hour before sunset
Complete cloudy weather
We tried to find cones in a spruce at about 80 m
While both scopes scored very well, the difference was very clear
The zeiss view was more crispy and higher contrast and by the higher microcontrast , much more details could be seen
The atx appeared also warmer in colour tone
At lower mag were were surprised af the pleasant large FOV of the zeiss

Pleasantly surprised with the harpia
 
arran said:
I had the ocassion to test the ATX 95 and Zeiss Harpia 95 both at 70 x magnification 1 hour before sunset
Complete cloudy weather
We tried to find cones in a spruce at about 80 m
While both scopes scored very well, the difference was very clear
The zeiss view was more crispy and higher contrast and by the higher microcontrast , much more details could be seen
The atx appeared also warmer in colour tone
At lower mag were were surprised af the pleasant large FOV of the zeiss

Pleasantly surprised with the harpia
Click to expand...


That's 2 comparisons on here I have seen today, one against the top of the range Kowa, which the Harpia thrashed, then yours against the other alpha scope.

Looks like the Zeiss Harpia is a cracking bit of kit, would love to have a bash with one.

Paul.
 
Last edited:
I had a look through the Harpia 95 in direct comparison with my ageing Kowa 883 and the old 20-60 zoom. The weather was dull and overcast. Subject matter was mainly distant trees approx 300 metres away.

It is undoubtedly a quality well built scope and I was especially impressed with the much wider true field of view at low powers, great for sea-watching or for use on passage raptors.

The eye relief (I don't wear specs when using a scope) and exit pupil was fine for me and a quick test with my phone suggested it would be great for phone scoping.

I couldn't really see the point in the two speed focussing but maybe this was because it worked so intuitively you didn't realise it was happening!

I appreciate that at this top end, improvements in image quality are only ever going to be marginal. Having said that, I was still a little bit underwhelmed by the quality of the image which to my eyes was only very fractionally better than my Kowa. At high power, I could discern a tiny amount of green colour fringing on leaves agains the grey sky which was not there on the Kowa.

Looking forward to hearing other reviews.
 
Haven't had the chance of seeing one IRL, but I noticed they added an AR feature to their new catalog; if you download the Zeiss AR app, you can get a nifty 3D image of the scope (and binoculars), with more information about the lens-systems, glass-types and such
 
Thanks Boris. In the end I downloaded the app, which made separating the lenses and groups a little easier.

Binastro, using the app I count 21 lenses in 15 groups plus the prism, 32 glass to air surfaces altogether.
 
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