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Light weight 45x? (1 Viewer)

marcsantacurz

Well-known member
I'm looking for something light for hiking that gets up to, say, 45x and does it well at the top end. I'd like to keep it under about 2lb (1kg). 60x would be super, but weight is more important.

I was thinking of the Kowa 553, but from the reviews in the Kowa forum it seems like the top end of the zoom falls short. Is that true?

Maybe the Opticron MM4 60?

Up at the 2.8lb range there's the Televid 65, TSN-663, TSN-773, and Nikon ED60. These are heavier than I'd prefer. Are spectacularly better than the MM4?

Right now, I use my Tamron 150-600mm Nikon lens plus Kenko Lens2Scope 10x attachment. THis gives me a 15-60x "scope". It was an interesting 6.5oz experiment, but I'd prefer to not lose camera access to my lens!
 
What about Kowa's 550 series? It does 15-45x and weighs in at only 800g and has fluorite crystal lens just like the 883. It is super compact too.

Lee
 
Kowa 553 + zoom eye piece was rather underwhelming when I tried it, AFOV is perhaps 40°, and it's bolted on the scope and the price for the scope is just ridiculous. Didn't even look like it had fluorite lenses. Not worth the money.

Even the KOWA TSN-501 with the 20-40x zoom is better value for money IMO. It's cheap but it works fine for occasional id's, but maybe not for staring prolonged periods of time.

Get a 50-60mm scope with a decent fixed eye piece, around 25-30x is my advice (exit pupil at least 2mm). At higher mag a small scope will be too dark anyway.
 
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I have been using the MM4 60's predecessor, the MM3 60 for a couple of years. In terms of suitability for hiking, I would say it is ideal. In terms of performance at x45, I have absolutely no complaints. I have only recently started thinking of a bigger scope, with extra reach, and not because the MM3 isn't doing its job, it's just because the laws of physics won't allow it to meet all my present requirements. THe MM£ will still remain my first choice for hiking though due to weight consideration.

I would also assume that the MM4 is an upgrade on the MM3 in performance. To me it sounds like the MM4 would be very suitable for your needs.
 
Hi Marc,
How does the Tamron 150-600 lens perform with the Lens2Scope adapter?
Say compared with a medium price 15 to 60 scope?

What is the clear aperture of the Tamron front lens?

I presume that you use the lens tripod foot, as the adapter foot would not be strong enough, and the lens would be front heavy.

There is a Nikon straight through own make 10mm adapter and Japanese independent versions also.

My Lens2Scope adapters all have dust in them from new.
 
Hi Marc,
How does the Tamron 150-600 lens perform with the Lens2Scope adapter?
Say compared with a medium price 15 to 60 scope?

What is the clear aperture of the Tamron front lens?

I presume that you use the lens tripod foot, as the adapter foot would not be strong enough, and the lens would be front heavy.

There is a Nikon straight through own make 10mm adapter and Japanese independent versions also.

My Lens2Scope adapters all have dust in them from new.

I have not used many scopes. A couple Nikon ED60s (I assume 48x, but I didn't look at eyepiece). I think the dedicated scopes are clearer and with more contrast, but i've not used them side-by-side and I might be imagining that. The Kenko does not have a wide apparent field of view.

I have not had a dust problem with my Lens2scope.

Yes, the lens is way off balance on my gimbal head. I think if I used a 6" arca swiss bar, I could balance it, but it might be a bit wobbly (or more wobbly, I should say). The lens weighs 4.4lb and expects to have a 2+ lb camera on the rear.

I've attached a few photos of the setup plus some through-the-lens shots with iPhone 8 and Swarovski digiscoping kit for the 8.5x42 binos. The adapter is too big for the Keno eyecup, so there may be some quality loss due to my winging it. I think that there is also some internal reflections between the Kenko ocular and the iPhone lens.

The first two are the lens + lens2scope on a travel tripod w/ small gimbal. The next is the target tree straight from iPhone photo and I drew a circle about where the lens is aimed, maybe 100' - 120'. It's in dark shadow. The next is the view through the lens. It is clear to my eye and I can pick out details in the wood. The final one is some well-lit branches in a different tree, maybe 60' away.

Marc
 

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Hi,

if these digiscoped images are at 60x they're quite ok... but of course a 42 deg afov nothing to phone home about...

The Tamron 150-600 has f5-6.3 and thus should have 95mm aperture at the long end if it's used wide open - btw can you stop down the lens while using it with the lens2scope - this might be interesting in bright light without changing magnification...

Joachim
 
Swaro Atx65..?...easy to carry in a backpack, for sure..compact in use,and extraordinary image quality , and yes,60X wide angle...is it 55Oz complete ?..not lightweight really-.,mhmmhmhm
 
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Hi,

if these digiscoped images are at 60x they're quite ok... but of course a 42 deg afov nothing to phone home about...

The Tamron 150-600 has f5-6.3 and thus should have 95mm aperture at the long end if it's used wide open - btw can you stop down the lens while using it with the lens2scope - this might be interesting in bright light without changing magnification...

Joachim

yes, these were at 60x wide open. Something else i forgot to mention is that the Tamron, like most modern lenses, does not have a great focuser. manual focus override is usually a low priority nowadays. So, it is a little fiddly to focus.

Marc
 
I think I'm leaning to the Nikon ED50 w/ 13-40 MCii, both imports at Amazon for $590 new. It's only 16oz, about 1/2 the weight of an MM3 or MM4 50mm with the SDLv2, though the MM4 60 is only a few oz more.

I'm still juggling if to go with the 13-40 or the fixed 27 wide, which others have reported good results.

So I think I'm looking at (sorted by price):
* Kowa TSN-501 w/ 20-40 (fixed), 14 oz, new $299
* Nikon ED50 w/ 13-40 MCii, 16oz, new import $590
* Kowa TSN-601 w/ 20-60, 36 oz, new $790 (weight is ballpark, could not find stats for eyepiece)
* Opticron MM4 60 w/ 15-45 SDLv2, 35 oz, new (domestic) $1000

Maybe one day I'll do a 65mm or larger and be willing to suck up the 50+oz weight. Something like the ATS-65 or Razor HD or TSN-883. Right now, though, I'm looking for something to compliment my super zoom camera lens, not replace it.

Marc
 
Hi,

in your situation I would really opt for a 50mm as you still have the photo lens to carry... or not? Will you change the tripod between the scope and the camera?

- Kowa 501 - I really liked the one example of it that I saw at an (astro) telescope meeting. Worked well up to 40x, especially considering the price.

- Nikon ED 50 - very nice and takes high magnification well - the zoom eyepieces are quite narrow at all magnifications (38 deg soda straw effect at the low mag end and just shy of 60 deg at the high mag). If you can live with that, they're good. The fixed mag wide EPs are all quite glorious - you can't go wrong there.

- Kowa 601 - will be good up to 40x or so and get softer past that due to lack of ED glass. If you can find a used 603 or 613 ED body you can go up to 60x and beyond - current EPs and the new extender fit.

- MM4 with SDLv2 - I can't really comment on the body as I haven't used it yet although reviews are good. The SDLv2 is a very nice zoom EP which I like a lot on my old Kowa.

Joachim
 
Thanks Marc for the photos and information.

Nikon's own 10mm monocular converter is really good if found as new. High quality and from memory 50 degree plus AFOV.
Maybe difficult to find one.
But straight through so needs a higher tripod.

I don't know any of the scopes but a 50mm one sounds best, or take your golf caddie with you to carry the gear.

The older large lenses were quite good with a manual aperture ring and probably manual focus ring as well.
I would think that stopping down the Tamron lens would give better images. One can easily see whether this helps.
The photos look pretty good.
 
Hi,

in your situation I would really opt for a 50mm as you still have the photo lens to carry... or not? Will you change the tripod between the scope and the camera?

- Kowa 501 - I really liked the one example of it that I saw at an (astro) telescope meeting. Worked well up to 40x, especially considering the price.

- Nikon ED 50 - very nice and takes high magnification well - the zoom eyepieces are quite narrow at all magnifications (38 deg soda straw effect at the low mag end and just shy of 60 deg at the high mag). If you can live with that, they're good. The fixed mag wide EPs are all quite glorious - you can't go wrong there.

- Kowa 601 - will be good up to 40x or so and get softer past that due to lack of ED glass. If you can find a used 603 or 613 ED body you can go up to 60x and beyond - current EPs and the new extender fit.

- MM4 with SDLv2 - I can't really comment on the body as I haven't used it yet although reviews are good. The SDLv2 is a very nice zoom EP which I like a lot on my old Kowa.

Joachim

It would be used in conjunction with the camera. Sometimes I setup the camera at uncomfortable positions (like very low to the ground to get straight-on shots of wildlife), so I'd like to have something at a more comfortable level to use and trigger the remote when needed. The issue with using plain binoculars, is often critters just hang out for 10, 15, 30 minutes and holding a pair to the eyes is not feasible for that long.

So the scope would be either on a monopod or 2nd tripod. For a very light scope, like the 501 or ed50, I might try putting it on an arca swiss flash mount that goes right over the top of the lens, if I could get them aligned right.

Another thing I might try is just using my 10x binoculars (zeiss ht) in a mount on monopod. Really, for spotting stuff I'm photographing, 10x - 20x is way more than enough.
 
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