Small scope help? (1 Viewer)

Good morning,

I'm after some assistance with choosing between these three scopes:

Viking 50mm ED Pro + 12-36x eyepiece
Hawke Endurance ED 12-36×50
Kowa TSN 501

I'm after a small scope for long walks in Scottish Highlands and as I'm relatively new to bird watching i like to grab a quick digiscoped photo to help me with my IDs.

They are all about the same price with deals on at the moment. Does the ED glass of the Hawke/ Viking make a significant difference? The digiscoping accessories for the Kowa are better though, so i'm having a difficult time deciding. I have a Kowa 773 and know the quality will be significantly lower, but unfortunately I don't live near somewhere i can try them out.

Any first hand reviews/advice from people who have used these, would be really useful.

Cheers

Pete

My only comment would be that digiscoping with such a small objective lens and a zoom eyepiece could be very tricky and provide disappointing results ( dark and not very sharp).
P

The eyepieces on all your options are fixed too, which means you're stuck with the zoom. You'll need to spend a bit more on say an Opticron MM3/4 which will give you the option of using a wide-angle, low(-ish) power eyepiece for digiscoping. As Pyrtle says, zoom eyepieces are pretty poor for digiscoping as, even at low power, the field of view is relatively small. Try checking the ads on this forum for a secondhand scope; you may pick up a bargain.

RB

Rotherbirder is quite correct. For a bit more you could get a 50mm ED MM4 and choose a lower fixed magnification wide angle eyepiece ( x20 up to x 27 ). Much brighter image all round and more suitable for digiscoping with a camera or phone. Opticron also do a dedicated digiscoping adapter. Haven't confirmed prices but you may get a deal under £600.
P

Hi Pete

Between the scopes you list I have experience of the Viking and Kowa models and I would go for the Viking.
However if I wanted a little scope it would be the Nikon 50ed as it can't be beaten on optics IMHO. I volunteer at Minsmere so have played around with all these scopes.


Personally though if you want to get a quick image on long walks I would take a Bridge camera with a high magnification and not bother with a scope and tripod and camera.

Thanks for all the advice. Definitely some things to think about.

Cheers

Pete