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Loving my FS III 60ED (1 Viewer)

J

jayman_1975

Well-known member
Hi all. I just recently acquired a minty FS III Ed 60mm along with the MCII and a 24DS. I absolutely love this scope! I am completely amazed at the picture from both the MCII and the 24DS. Both eyepieces are so good to me that I honestly have a hard time deciding which one to use. To further complicate this I have just also picked up a 40DS. Now I spend more time deciding on the eyepiece to use than actually using it lol. I'm wondering if anyone has tried a doubler on either of these 3 eyepieces and can tell me if is worth pursuing one?
 
You say both eyepieces are so good, you have the 24DS, but can you tell me what the MCII is? Is that the 20X-60X ?

I, too, just picked up a Fieldscope. I'm curious how you know yours is an ED. I ask because Nikon was unable to verify by serial #. It was just dumb luck that the seller included a copy of the warranty card. The card read Fieldscope TF3 - ED and had the same serial number stamped on it, as my scope did. Otherwise, it would be hard to confirm, other than the optical quality obviously.
 
Good to hear you like your Nikon scope. You have a great model, and
if you have the MCII 20-60mm zoom, as I'm thinking that is what you have, 60 mm is about the maximum power that you will need. That is also about the max. the
scope will handle, so you don't need a doubler.
A doubler will add extra distortion to the view. The eyepieces you have are
very well rounded, and great choices.

Good to hear about your new scope, and be sure to report back after you have
had more time to get to know it. Wintertime in the north, is a very good time to get a good view without the heating and wave distortion that comes in warmer temps.

Jerry
 
If you have the Nikon 60ED it will have a red ring on the lens shade, unless it is the dark tactical model of 60ED. It will be a green ring for the non ED model.
 

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Dougnik said:
You say both eyepieces are so good, you have the 24DS, but can you tell me what the MCII is? Is that the 20X-60X ?

I, too, just picked up a Fieldscope. I'm curious how you know yours is an ED. I ask because Nikon was unable to verify by serial #. It was just dumb luck that the seller included a copy of the warranty card. The card read Fieldscope TF3 - ED and had the same serial number stamped on it, as my scope did. Otherwise, it would be hard to confirm, other than the optical quality obviously.
Click to expand...



Yep. Red ring around the sunshade and on the side of the body, closer to the eyepiece end there is a badge that says Nikon Fieldscope ED.

The MC II is the 20-60 zoom. The earlier version I believe they were just the MC zoom but someone please correct me if I'm wrong. So between the MC II, the 24DS and the 40DS I figure I'll have carpal tunnel syndrome before long from spinning the 3 eyepieces in and out all day long lol.

I would have thought that a doubler in conjunction with say the 24DS would render a brighter image than the MCII set at the equivalent power. Again, someone please chime in and explain why I would be wrong assuming this.
 
That's an excellent scope.I have had both the ed and non ed both were exceptional. The only problem I had was the lack of eye relief on the zoom.

The 30x was fabulous.

I have since moved on to a Swaro 65mm HD. The Nikon ranks right up there. Bryce...
 
Jayman Lars on here has used a doubler with his 82ED, maybe he can tell you more.It should work ok with the 24x eyepiece. I have a doubler but never used it with the Fieldscopes . Elite doubler "Bushnell"
 
As Steve says, I have a doubler, namely the Bushnell Elite 2.5x.
I use it with the ED82A + 30x Wide DS now and then to reach 75x with a quick glance and be back to 30x within a fraction of a second.
Even with the 50x Wide DS it can be used, yielding 125x. This, however, is not very useful due to the very small exit pupil.

With the 60 mm and 24x the doubler might be usable, this would yield a quick 60x glance with a marginally smaller exit pupil than the 82 mm at 75x. A cherry EDIII should handle 60x but with a 1 mm exit pupil it's not really enjoyable.
So I wouldn't care to buy a doubler for it if I had those three eyepieces.

//L
 
Jayman,

The MC II zoom will give you decidedly better image quality at 60x than what you could get with either of the DS eyepieces with a doubler. This is because firstly the MC II, except for short eye-relief and narrow field of view, gives about all the detail, color rendition and contrast the scope is capable of providing, and secondly because the 60x top magnification of the zoom is very close to the useful daytime maximum for a high-quality 60 mm scope. Furthermore, adding any doubler behind the DS eyepiece will add so much extra glass to the light path that the resultant image will have lower brightness and contrast.

The booster would be useful for astronomical observation, where it is useful to be able to use magnifications higher than 60x, and for optics testing, but not for actual birdwatching except for the kind of use that Looksharp talks about, very quick peeks at high magnification where you don't have the time or inclination to swap in the zoom.

If I were in your situation (and I have been, as a former owner of an FS 82 ED), I would carry along my favorite DS and the zoom, and practice swapping between them quickly.

Kimmo
 
looksharp65 said:
I use it with the ED82A + 30x Wide DS now and then to reach 75x with a quick glance and be back to 30x within a fraction of a second. <snip>
With the 60 mm and 24x the doubler might be usable, this would yield a quick 60x glance with a marginally smaller exit pupil than the 82 mm at 75x. A cherry EDIII should handle 60x but with a 1 mm exit pupil it's not really enjoyable.
Click to expand...

That's how I use the Zeiss 3x12 Mono - for a quick glance. With the ED82 at 30x I get 90x, and with the EDIIIA at 24x it's 72x. A bit too much magnifcation for birding, even on days with exceptionally calm air, but well worth if there isn't the time to switch to the zoom.

Hermann
 
jayman_1975 said:
Ok great info thanks. I don't think I'll worry about finding a doubler.
Click to expand...

Glad you are getting on well with and "loving" the scope! With all the eyepieces you now have- you should have all you need for the scope. Enjoy!

And I know that the scope you have is a "cherry" sample. In fact I am having just a bit of second quessing/ sellers remorse thing going on. |:(| Not bad- but apparent. I know that 60 mm ED III and the two eyepieces ( zoom and 24x) are awesome.

Cheers,

Stephen
 
Hey Stephen. Yup you are right about it being "cherry". Every once in awhile I take it out of the case to see if I somehow missed a mark while inspecting it upon delivery, and every time I come up with nothing... Unreal. Did you even use this thing? To me it looks brand new! I have never bought such a minty used optic ever. I picked up a 27/40/50 DS recently and I'm messing around with it as of late. It doesn't quite have the "magic" that the 24ds has but it still trounces the zoom in every way.

I know what you mean by sellers remorse, I wish I could have back a few pairs of binos that I have sold over the years. One pair was to my neighbour and after 2 years he still won't part with them lol.
 
I use the doubler on my ED50, FS3ED and ZR82ED and find it works well enough with pretty much any eyepiece. On the two Nikon scopes, the MC1, 24DX, 30MC and 40DS are the ones I have. Yes you may lose some resolution and some brightness but it will make things bigger. I find it particularly useful on the 24DS which is my favorite eyepiece on the FS3ED. So I tend to have that one on, and then there are those instances when I need a quick look at some far off bird etc... In comes the doubler. As you can quick as that have 60X without unscrewing one eyepiece and screwing in another. And it slides right on the eyecup of the 30MC making using it very convenient with that eyepiece. Just 75X as quick as that LOL. Less light but you can see fine. I have no experience with the MC2 zoom which supposedly has more eye relief than MC1[ not much more ]. Was going to buy one [MC2]and then thought??? WHY? I don't like using the MC1 zoom compared to the 24DS/30MC/40DS because eye relief and FOV are too narrow on the zoom. And with the doubler I can have as much or more magnification quick and easy.

It would be interesting to see if the resolution of the MC2 at 60X is better than say the 24DS doubler'd or the MC1 at 25X doubler'd. Like with the 30MC eyepiece, the doubler slides right on the MC1 eyecup nice and secure making it easy to use. fwiw

I'm glad to hear you are pleased with your scope. :t: I told you it was gonna be great!
 
Last edited:
Curve:

What doubler do you use with your scopes? I find that interesting, so
tell us more, and how does it compromise the view.

Jerry
 
NDhunter said:
Curve:

What doubler do you use with your scopes? I find that interesting, so
tell us more, and how does it compromise the view.

Jerry
Click to expand...

If you do a search on "LookSharp" posts you can find more information. I read his posts about using a Bushnell 2.5X doubler on his fieldscope for a quick look at distant objects of interest when using fixed lenses on his FS82ED. He stated it works great on the FS's. I went on an immediate search for the same doubler and was lucky to find probably the last one available as they are now discontinued.

How does it compromise the view? Well, it increases magnification so the brightness is reduced and the FOV is reduced. I don't find the eye relief to be a problem. It can also be a trial to use if you have to physically hold the doubler to the back of the zoom. When I use it on the ZR82ED for instance, I can get 150X magnification. But the ZR eyepiece is large enough that you can't slip the doubler over it. You have to hold it there against the eyepiece interface which if you aren't careful can lead to some shake even on a stable tripod or windowmount. This makes using it a bit tricky in some situations. The same situation presents with the large size Nikon DS eyepieces. I think there is some loss of resolution too in terms of ultimate detail but the image is definitely bigger.

The doubler was originally intended for use with Binoculars I think. For those situations where you have an 8X binocular and you want to look way out. Hold the binocular vertical and hold the Bushnell doubler to the upper eyepiece. This should produce 20X. Not as good as a spotting scope such as Nikon ED50 but also very small and light. Its in your pocket for those situations!
 
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