• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Choice of 2nd eyepiece for Nikon ED 50 (1 Viewer)

Bandmaster

Active member
Help! Just ordered a Nikon ED 50 angled scope with a 27mm eyepiece on ebay. This is my first scope and I need advice about:

1. What would be a good choice for a 2nd eyepiece as I'm concerned that the 27mm that comes with the scope is going to be a bit much for a beginner. Would a 20mm be better or should I go for a zoom like the 13/40? --or better yet, wait and see while using the sight marker to aim with.

2. I also ordered an Alpen Spotting Scope Digital Camera Adapter
from http://www.buytelescopes.com/product.asp?t=&pid=12134&m and a Cable Release Bracket for Compact Cameras from http://www.srb-griturn.com/. Are these two adapters, one from the USA and the other from England going to work together to enable me to digiscope with the Nikon ED50 and the HP 927 compact camera? Should have found out about this first but didn't. Am I in trouble on this?
 
I can´t say anything about the couplings, as I have never bought one, I make my own. But the 27mm eyepiece should work fine, providing it has ample eye relief, around 20mm. Ernie
 
Eye Relief?

I can´t say anything about the couplings, as I have never bought one, I make my own. But the 27mm eyepiece should work fine, providing it has ample eye relief, around 20mm. Ernie

Forgive my novice ignorance, what does ample eye relief mean? By the way, the scope being sent is a Nikon 82 straight with a 27mm eyepiece. So what is "eye relief" and how do you control it or measure it?
 
Forgive my novice ignorance, what does ample eye relief mean? By the way, the scope being sent is a Nikon 82 straight with a 27mm eyepiece. So what is "eye relief" and how do you control it or measure it?

Eye Relief is the distance from the eyepiece that your eye must be in order to be able to see the whole 'field of view'. In other words if the eye relief is too short, unless you have your eye really close, you will lose the edges of the image and it can be like looking through a tube. Short eye relief is more of a problem if you wear glasses as the lenses can physically prevent you getting your eye close enough.

The eye relief measurement for each eyepiece is quoted by the manufacturer. You say you are getting the 27mm (27x?) eyepiece but you are now getting the 82mm scope. The 27x eyepiece on the ED50 becomes a 50x on the 82mm scope. Complicated isn't it! In both cases the eye relief for that eyepiece is quoted as 17.8mm, which is quite long.

What happened to the ED50?

Ron
 
I got into a dispute with my seller on Ebay. After winning the bid and paying him, he notified me that he had listed the wrong eyepiece, a 27x when it should have been a 20x. I told him that was OK but then he claimed he would only sell me the body without the eyepiece, but would reduce the price by $30. I was an unhappy camper. I finally got my money back. I think it w peas a ruse because there was only one other bid and he didn't like the low price I won it for. I probably could have pushed it but I don't like conflict. Plus he could see I was new at this.

Thank you for your explanation on eye relief. Now I know what to call it. In fact that was the first thing I noticed as I tried out my 82 ED today. I wear glasses but I can see well enough without glasses due to the fact I have implants and mono vision. Purposely had one eye adjusted to near sightedness and one eye to far sighted so I can get along without glasses if I have too. Somehow the brain sorts this all out and uses one eye or the other. I wear glasses for for depth perseption. Since I can only use one eye at a time, there is no need for using glasses while scoping. I'll just remove my glasses or put them on the top of my head and use the eyecups. At least it worked out well on my trial run. Any advice? --- and you think you ramble!
 
Last edited:
Warning! This thread is more than 17 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top