MM3/4 50ED stay on case (1 Viewer)

Having read various comments about how difficult it is to fit the opticron stay on case to the 50ED scopes but wanting a stay on case I decided to brave fitting the case and ordered one for my MM3 50ED from Uttings.

The case arrived yesterday (I bought the green case) and I don't know if they have recently changed the design of the case but it went straight on to the scope with no bother, issues or struggle whatsoever. Phew...….

At the same time I bought an 40831 HDF Eyepiece. I wanted a fixed focal length eyepiece to get a wider field of view but do not need a very high magnification so the 18x of the 40831 is good for me. I have briefly tried the eyepiece and think is an optical improvement over the eyepiece that came bundled with the scope. It also has a twist up eyecup which is a huge improvement over the fold down rubber eyecup of the bundled eyepiece.


Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year to you all.


Cheers
Nutsotoby

I've had the ED50 and green cover for several years now. The cover fits the scope tightly, is well constructed and made of very stiff material. One flaw is that the thick flap that covers the focus wheel will not stay gripped in place, a constant annoyance.
Re the eyepiece, ours is the 40862 zoom. Rotating the twist out eyepiece also moves the zoom control a small bit, a minor fault that you will likely avoid with the fixed length.

Steve

Does anyone with a MM3/4 and stay-on-case have the following issue?
The case does not fit tightly enough around the upper side of the thinner barrel/body part below the focussing knobs: it 'floats' against the focusing knobs. As a result, the focussing knobs rub against the upper/exterior side of the case when turned. This blocks the fine focusing knob from turning along with the coarse focussing knob, when using the coarse focussing knob with the stay-on-case on. This does not reassure me: I'm not sure if that could put stress on the focus mechanism.
Would there be a mistake with my stay-on-case, or a general design mistake of the stay-on-case, or is this no problem for the focusing system?

mbb said:

Does anyone with a MM3/4 and stay-on-case have the following issue?
The case does not fit tightly enough around the upper side of the thinner barrel/body part below the focussing knobs: it 'floats' against the focusing knobs. As a result, the focussing knobs rub against the upper/exterior side of the case when turned. This blocks the fine focusing knob from turning along with the coarse focussing knob, when using the coarse focussing knob with the stay-on-case on. This does not reassure me: I'm not sure if that could put stress on the focus mechanism.
Would there be a mistake with my stay-on-case, or a general design mistake of the stay-on-case, or is this no problem for the focusing system?

Click to expand...

This is an old posting, but figured I'd answer anyway -
I recently bought the Opticron case for the MM4 60 GA ED/45 scope with HDF T 15-45x Eyepiece. I agree with you that the case interfers with the turning of the focus knob; it pushes against the end of the fine-tune (front) knob. I think you definitely do NOT want to focus when it is doing that, since I would worry that you will damage the scope.

My only solution is to partially unzip the zipper that holds the case together in front of the focusing know (where it rubs against it). You can then kind of position the flap up in the air so it stays away from the knob. Kind of awful design, IMHO. I am going to try a "universal" case from Vortex (made for 65-80mm scopes). It looks generic enough that it might just work, and several places have it for $29.

RAH said:

This is an old posting, but figured I'd answer anyway -
I recently bought the Opticron case for the MM4 60 GA ED/45 scope with HDF T 15-45x Eyepiece. I agree with you that the case interfers with the turning of the focus knob; it pushes against the end of the fine-tune (front) knob. I think you definitely do NOT want to focus when it is doing that, since I would worry that you will damage the scope.

My only solution is to partially unzip the zipper that holds the case together in front of the focusing know (where it rubs against it). You can then kind of position the flap up in the air so it stays away from the knob. Kind of awful design, IMHO. I am going to try a "universal" case from Vortex (made for 65-80mm scopes). It looks generic enough that it might just work, and several places have it for $29.

Click to expand...

Have you tried the universal case yet? I'm looking for either a stay on case or a snug fitting padded transport case for my mm4 60 with the SDL3 zoom.

tzed said:

Have you tried the universal case yet? I'm looking for either a stay on case or a snug fitting padded transport case for my mm4 60 with the SDL3 zoom.

Click to expand...

Yes, I did buy the universal case and did not like it. It fit the scope very poorly - the bag is much too large, but the opening for the focus knob wasn't well positioned. I wound up modifying the Opticron case by folding and sewing back part of that flap that can block the focusing knob. It turned out pretty good and I am now using the case. Sorry I didn't notice your question sooner.

RAH said:

Yes, I did buy the universal case and did not like it. It fit the scope very poorly - the bag is much too large, but the opening for the focus knob wasn't well positioned. I wound up modifying the Opticron case by folding and sewing back part of that flap that can block the focusing knob. It turned out pretty good and I am now using the case. Sorry I didn't notice your question sooner.

Click to expand...

Interesting! Could you share some pictures and more detailed info on how/what you did?

mbb said:

Does anyone with a MM3/4 and stay-on-case have the following issue?
The case does not fit tightly enough around the upper side of the thinner barrel/body part below the focussing knobs: it 'floats' against the focusing knobs. As a result, the focussing knobs rub against the upper/exterior side of the case when turned. This blocks the fine focusing knob from turning along with the coarse focussing knob, when using the coarse focussing knob with the stay-on-case on. This does not reassure me: I'm not sure if that could put stress on the focus mechanism.
Would there be a mistake with my stay-on-case, or a general design mistake of the stay-on-case, or is this no problem for the focusing system?

Click to expand...

Yes I had that issue and solved it putting a strong elastic band around the case, so that the case no longer touches the focus knob.