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I don't completely love the ED50 (1 Viewer)

Alexis Powell said:
I think the 50ED units of b-lilja and DMW are certainly poor examples (lemons).
--AP
Click to expand...

Given that you haven't looked through my copy, that seems a rather bold comment - I could be equally presumptuous and suggest that your larger scopes must certainly be lemons if they can't outperform a scope with a 50mm objective lens!

I wonder if you would still say this if you knew that 3 of my friends (all of whom own Swaro or Leica full-sized scopes) asked me to order ED50s for them after looking through my "lemon"?

To use as travel scopes.
 
I tend agree with Alexis. Your (and b-lilja's) description of focus searching and shallow depth of field are just right for the general symptoms of a defective unit. If you want to know for sure whether something is wrong, how bad it is and what's causing it the best diagnostic tool is a high magnification star-test. 27x won't be enough, 40x would be OK for a 50mm scope. Try Googling something like "telescope star-test" to learn how to do it.
 
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DMW said:
Given that you haven't looked through my copy, that seems a rather bold comment - I could be equally presumptuous and suggest that your larger scopes must certainly be lemons if they can't outperform a scope with a 50mm objective lens!

I wonder if you would still say this if you knew that 3 of my friends (all of whom own Swaro or Leica full-sized scopes) asked me to order ED50s for them after looking through my "lemon"?

To use as travel scopes.
Click to expand...

I have excellent visual acuity and I have both star tested my scopes and compared them side by side to the best from Kowa, Swarovski, Leica and other makers on numerous occasions over many years. I know that my scopes are not lemons. I would never describe the relative performance of my scopes as you have described yours, nor would I describe focus acquisition as described by b-lilja. However, I've also had opportunity to view through some lemon scopes, in which case I would describe their performance as you have. I've looked through good and bad scopes with friends and colleagues and have found that we agree in our evaluative assessments in comparative assessments and the ways that we describe differences in performance. Hence my confidence in my assertion.

--AP
 
I'm starting to wish I hadn't bought a grey market ED50 from Japan via the bay...I wonder if I just sent it to Nikon, if they'd hassle me, or if they track serial numbers to markets. Maybe worth a try?
 
b-lilja said:
I'm starting to wish I hadn't bought a grey market ED50 from Japan via the bay...I wonder if I just sent it to Nikon, if they'd hassle me, or if they track serial numbers to markets. Maybe worth a try?
Click to expand...

They do track ser. #'s. So you should check first before sending it off.
You may have to send it to Japan, if you used a proper Japanese source.

Gray market is a very big deal, Nikon deals with this every day in cameras
and lenses. Same policy with sports optics.

Getting wty. on those is iffy, that market undercuts the US sellers, and so
the story goes. The majors all have the same policies, that is why the ser.
# is a needed part of the wty.

Let us know how things work out for you.

Jerry
 
b-lilja said:
I'm starting to wish I hadn't bought a grey market ED50 from Japan via the bay...I wonder if I just sent it to Nikon, if they'd hassle me, or if they track serial numbers to markets. Maybe worth a try?
Click to expand...
Interesting, I just checked ed50 prizes in ebay Japan and they a lot cheaper, even with taxes included. I would like to know what risks are involved in ebay shopping...:eek!:
 
b-lilja said:
I'm starting to wish I hadn't bought a grey market ED50 from Japan via the bay...I wonder if I just sent it to Nikon, if they'd hassle me, or if they track serial numbers to markets. Maybe worth a try?
Click to expand...
Have you tested with the 25-75X (13-40X) eyepiece? In clear weather it should be pin sharp at 40X.
 
Royfinn said:
Interesting, I just checked ed50 prizes in ebay Japan and they a lot cheaper, even with taxes included. I would like to know what risks are involved in ebay shopping...:eek!:
Click to expand...

Don't know about pricing relative to ebay, but have had good experience buying new Nikon gear from Japan via Tenso, a forwarding service with links to Amazon Japan and other sources.
https://www.tenso.com/en/inquiry/
Likewise had good luck buying eye pieces from Japanese ebay sources, so hopefully the risk is small.
 
Oh, I found my ebay seller in Japan to be great - the issue is that I now have a brand new scope that I probably should return/replace, or at least send in for warranty - and it is a lot more hassle going back to Japan.

I wish, as others have mentioned, that the ED50 was sold in the US with a body only option - the only option here is to buy with the zoom eyepiece, for more than twice the grey market body only price.
 
etudiant said:
Don't know about pricing relative to ebay, but have had good experience buying new Nikon gear from Japan via Tenso, a forwarding service with links to Amazon Japan and other sources.
https://www.tenso.com/en/inquiry/
Likewise had good luck buying eye pieces from Japanese ebay sources, so hopefully the risk is small.
Click to expand...
Thanks. :t: I have also searched Amazon Japan possibilities. For now it seems that it's possible to order products straight from Japan to Finland.

It seem's that ED50a = 223 € in Japan and fixed 27x eyepiece = 142 €, total = 365 € + postage + taxes, which makes close to 500 € in Finland.

In Amazon-uk ED50a = 468 €, fixed 27x eyepiece = 350 €, total = 818 € + postage.
 
etudiant said:
Don't know about pricing relative to ebay, but have had good experience buying new Nikon gear from Japan via Tenso, a forwarding service with links to Amazon Japan and other sources.
https://www.tenso.com/en/inquiry/
Likewise had good luck buying eye pieces from Japanese ebay sources, so hopefully the risk is small.
Click to expand...

It is easy to buy grey market from Japan in the USA through Amazon USA (no need for Amazon Japan or Tenso, or for ebay).
I got an angled ED50 a couple years ago for under $300 including shipping. Currently, they are ~$334.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000BAROFS/ref=dp_olp_new_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=new

--AP
 
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b-lilja said:
Oh, I found my ebay seller in Japan to be great - the issue is that I now have a brand new scope that I probably should return/replace, or at least send in for warranty - and it is a lot more hassle going back to Japan.

I wish, as others have mentioned, that the ED50 was sold in the US with a body only option - the only option here is to buy with the zoom eyepiece, for more than twice the grey market body only price.
Click to expand...

It really is unfortunate that Nikon has stopped selling the ED50 in the USA body only and at a competitive price. It used to be possible to get it with full USA warranty for ~$425.

Given the cost difference, it is hard not to go with grey market and hope that it works out. Two for the price of less than one! Apart from the discussion in this thread, I haven't encountered a lemon ED50, so I consider grey market worth the risk. The cost difference is just too great. Certainly, it is the way to go for eyepieces, which are exceedingly unlikely to be defective or to ever need service.

--AP
 
b-lilja,

I would do a star test of the ED50 with your zoom eyepiece set at 40X before you conclude that the ED50 is certainly defective. Another less definitive test would be to make a 50mm paper stop down mask for your 82mm or 60mm scope and compare its resolution at 40x with the ED50 at 40x.
 
Just a brief update...

Based on this thread I sent my ED50 to Nikon USA for service. They serviced it as under warranty. It was returned with a vague note about being cleaned (can't actually remember exact language). The scope was indeed sharper, but now the focus was juddery/sticky - not the wheel but seems like the prism was actually sticking a bit and jumping while focusing. Strange. So it's now back at Nikon. I'm sure they'll get it fixed though frustrating to have to do it twice.

The serviced scope resolution is indeed impressive and about what I was expecting in the first place. It is a great deal assuming you get one that is good. However, I would not put it on par with the ED82.
 
b-lilja said:
Just a brief update...

Based on this thread I sent my ED50 to Nikon USA for service. They serviced it as under warranty. It was returned with a vague note about being cleaned (can't actually remember exact language). The scope was indeed sharper, but now the focus was juddery/sticky - not the wheel but seems like the prism was actually sticking a bit and jumping while focusing. Strange. So it's now back at Nikon. I'm sure they'll get it fixed though frustrating to have to do it twice.

The serviced scope resolution is indeed impressive and about what I was expecting in the first place. It is a great deal assuming you get one that is good. However, I would not put it on par with the ED82.
Click to expand...

Hi,

good to hear they did sth about the optics (I would guess, the cleaning consisted of unscrewing the objective lens, having a quick look inside and screwing in another objective lens ;-).

Too bad they messed up the focus drive in the process - let's hope they get it right this time...

PS: Since resolution of an ideal instrument depends on the aperture, it is expected that an ED82 is better in this regard.

Joachim
 
I have the ED50 and ED82 and x27, x30, x38 and MCII zoom and absolutely love them, I'm not a huge fan of the zoom but the DS eyepieces are fantastic.

If you really want something that small to feel like the ED82 you could consider the Kowa 553.
I had the opportunity to compare one to the ED50 x27 side by side at the weekend, not a huge surprise the Kowa was a lot better, much brighter, sharper and while the zoom does "key hole" when you zoom in it still feels easy on the eye.

Of course it's expensive, has a fixed eyepiece, and zoom is tops at x45 but have to say I was mightily impressed, especially when considering it against the ED50.

Saying all that I still enjoyed using my little Nikon for the rest of the day at the wetlands.
 
Darkus_Markus said:
I have the ED50 and ED82 and x27, x30, x38 and MCII zoom and absolutely love them, I'm not a huge fan of the zoom but the DS eyepieces are fantastic.

If you really want something that small to feel like the ED82 you could consider the Kowa 553.
I had the opportunity to compare one to the ED50 x27 side by side at the weekend, not a huge surprise the Kowa was a lot better, much brighter, sharper and while the zoom does "key hole" when you zoom in it still feels easy on the eye.

Of course it's expensive, has a fixed eyepiece, and zoom is tops at x45 but have to say I was mightily impressed, especially when considering it against the ED50.

Saying all that I still enjoyed using my little Nikon for the rest of the day at the wetlands.
Click to expand...

The Kowa is twice the price of the ED50 with the comparable zoom, so it really should be noticeably better.
That said, I did not notice the difference in sharpness in side by side comparisons at Cape May. This was looking at mostly scoters in good light, so the differences may have escaped me.
 
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