Opticron Mighty Midget 3 MM3 60, yes I mean MM3 60 not 50 (1 Viewer)

Hello,

I went to WWT Arundel this morning to look at the new MM3 50 on demonstration by In Focus.

The company had two MM3 50s on display, one of which bore a manufacturer's stick-on label identifying it as a MM3 60.

I conclude that the MM3 60 is in the pipeline. I am not prepared to buy the 50 until I can see how much better the 60 will be, and at what additional cost.

Pete Gamby. would you enlighten me please?

Ill second that! MM3 60? Sounds VERY interesting.

Well if they have an MM3 60 it's something they built themselves

We have no plans for any additions to the MM3 range.

Cheers, Pete

Pete - Well said, I am more than happy with the MM3 now that I have been using it since it was first available to the "plebs" amongst us.:t:

Pete Gamby,

The label certainly seemed authentic to me and I can see no benefit in someone counterfeiting it. Can you?

You can check the veracity of what I saw by speaking to Keith, who was the In Focus representative at the WWT wetlands yesterday.

Maybe In Focus can examine the two demo models and explain how it came to be there.

Wanderer

Will do - I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this mystery.

Cheers, Pete

pete_gamby said:

Will do - I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this mystery.

Cheers, Pete

Click to expand...

That would be great as i'd also want to see how a 60mm performs (if its a mistake then i'll stick with the plan to buy one with a 24X eyepiece as its an absolute freaking beast at that combo)

<<Will do - I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this mystery.

Cheers, Pete
__________________
Pete Gamby
Sales & Marketing Manager - Opticron >>

Hello,



It is a month now since Pete Gamby's last post and there a has been no confirmation either way.

I am in no doubt that the label indicating a 60mm Mighty Midget3 objective lens was made for, or by, Opticron. That it was fixed to an MM3 50 ED was, I suspect, a mistake. There has been no explanation.

I cannot afford to buy a 50mm version now, and then to wish that I had waited for a 60mm version.

I can afford to buy a 50mm body now or, possibly, a 60 mm version in a few months time: as against that, given my age and health I might not live that long. I may take a gamble and wait until Bird Fair 2014 in August when I suspect that the 60mm may be available to order or buy.

The-Wanderer

Looks like you were not mistaken when you posted back in February Mr Wanderer! Thank you Sir.

itchytwitcher said:

Looks like you were not mistaken when you posted back in February Mr Wanderer! Thank you Sir.

Click to expand...

Thanks, indeed.

Since the new MM3 60mm has now been shown it is puzzling that the Opticron web page has no information about it.

£399 online, still weighs in less than a kilo even with V2 of the top range zoom eyepiece. Thats some feat!

Still love the 50mm for a true 'in the pack with a monopod' portability.

Ratal said:

£399 online, still weighs in less than a kilo even with V2 of the top range zoom eyepiece.

Click to expand...

A link would be helpful.

http://www.tringastro.co.uk/opticron-mm3-60-ed45-travelscope-6798-p.asp

Here you go - Now I'm at the laptop I can find it again.

Found this one on the Opticron Facebook page.

The new MM3 60mm ED, looks interesting, (the "old" 50mm in the background I guess)

https://scontent-a-ams.xx.fbcdn.net...632_645968145498338_4410454840703683688_n.jpg

source:

https://www.facebook.com/opticron/p...0180186743806/645968145498338/?type=1&theater


is it the SDL ZOOM V2 that is the top of the line eye piece for the MM3?

what is the best fixed eye piece for the MM3?

Yes and....

I have the 18x wide angle on the 50 mm version and feel it is a good choice considering the 50 mm aperture. Not sure what magnification it would yield on the 60 mm...24x?

This must be in the running for the world's biggest midget

pete_gamby said:

Well if they have an MM3 60 it's something they built themselves

We have no plans for any additions to the MM3 range.

Cheers, Pete

Click to expand...

Very rapid development then , from no plans a few months ago to selling them now.

Steve

They must have got the idea from Wanderer's post. I trust he gets a percentage on all sales.

Over on the Binoculars forum FrankD asked that someone give the MM3 60mm the once over at BirdFair last weekend. I posted a few comments there but I'm amazed that there hasn't been a whole stream of comments here. A lot had the heads up and were asking to try it so I guess some at least were BF readers.

I must first own up, I'm not a scope user, I'm a binocular man and I'm not entirely sure I can do justice to the model. I need to thank Chris Galvin for pulling together the eyepieces and bodies so I could at least do a decent side by side with the 50mm. Wasn't easy on the day.

The MM3 has quickly become a top seller for Opticron. The combination of size, performance and more versatile eyepieces seems to have somewhat rocked the Nikon ED50's pedestal. I have done a side by side in the past and it was very difficult to split them on optical performance but the Opticron eyepieces tipped the balance for me.

I can't deny the MM£ 60mm does look bigger at something over an inch longer but I'm told it's only 60g heavier so will make minimal difference to the portability in practice. I only tried it with the HDF and SDL zooms. I felt the latter gave the crisper image and stayed with that for the comparison. Obviously apart from the objective focal length the 50mm and 60mm are identical so there is nothing to report on ergonomics. I'm unaccustomed to the two stage focus and didn't find it intuitive but no doubt it's something you would get used to very quickly.

The SDL on the 50mm has a top magnification of 36x and 45x on the 60mm. It's not easy to really do a comparison of detail vs. magnification as there is no scale presently to help you. I was trying to determine the point where the views just start to soften as a crude guide to objective resolution. I wasn't getting to the top magnifications, the laws of physics won't allow it, but the 60mm definitely had the advantage. Playing around with matching the settings on the zoom, I was getting something close to 25% advantage in usable magnification. Better than I might have expected from a 20% wider objective. I think that means it's a tad sharper and coupled with a 44% increase in objective area I think many are going to find it a persuasive combination.

David