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Buying a scope? (1 Viewer)

davidblades

davidblades

Well-known member
United Kingdom
I posted My question here simply because I already own Swarovski binoculars and I did own a Swarovski scope in the past, although I never got to use it for digiscoping. That said I am open to other brands. Weight would be a consideration as would good quality. I have a Sony A9 and a RX100v so the ability to use these for digiscoping would also be of interest.

I’d be grateful for people’s thought and advice. Money wise, I will only buy this once so want to get it right first time.

Thank you in advance 👍
 
Yes, buy a scope!
Most important is to decide if you want a small (65 mm), big (80-85 mm) or very big (95 mm) scope.
Then you need to figure out which brand, color, focus mechanismn you prefer. Swarovski is good, but so is Kowa, Zeiss, Leica, Meopta etc.
The Sony RX100 should be a good camera for digiscoping.
 
David
Hope you can hear me over the noise from the building of the bypass (or is that finished now?), tell us how you would use your scope. Are you wanting to get more ticks on your life list, see local birds 'better', observe behaviour or just get an identification then move on or what?

Lee
 
Hi Lee

Can you speak up... I cannot hear you!

Sadly it’s not finished and it seems everywhere you go at the moment around Aberdeen is affected. I’m sure it will be a wonderful addition once complete but it’s felt like one hell of a slog! For anyone reading this who has no clue what we are on about... it’s a major construction project providing a bypass road that circles Aberdeen from the South to the North and bypasses our city centre!

With regards what I want to use the scope for... well all of what you mentioned. My life list continues, I’m out daily and always want to be able to see local birds better, some observing behaviour and yes I do tend to move on once I have identified. As I mentioned, because I already have a Sony A9 and a RX100v, it would be a bonus to be able to utilise these for digiscoping. I’m semi retired now and spend several hours out and about each day.

Thanks for the interest in my post.



Troubador said:
David
Hope you can hear me over the noise from the building of the bypass (or is that finished now?), tell us how you would use your scope. Are you wanting to get more ticks on your life list, see local birds 'better', observe behaviour or just get an identification then move on or what?

Lee
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
I recently went through a similar purchasing process to yourself. I rather suspect you cannot go "wrong" with Swarovski, top of the range Zeiss, Leica, Kowa or the Meopta S2. The optics in these scopes are all superb and probably better than our eyes. At this level, I suspect it is stuff like ergonomics ("feel") and accessories and warranty that are more influential in the purchase decision once the size of the scope you want has been decided. The focus mechanism/style differs between manufacturers and you may be more at ease with one style than another - I found the Zeiss Diascope mechanism particularly odd and couldn't get away with it. You may be different. I susapect the best advice any of us can offer is to go to a decent optics shop and have a play. Oh and see if the manufacturer offers adapters that allow your camera to be mounted on the scope.
 
OK David, from the way you have described your activities I would say a scope would be very useful for you. And for your purposes I would want a scope bigger than a 65mm but maybe not so heavy as an 85mm (or bigger) and my choice would be one that has been mentioned already and that is the Meopta S2 82mm with the 30-60 wide angle zoom.

The 82mm size is a brilliant balance between portability and performance. I have reviewed this on Bird Forum and the pic below is of the scope being given a workout in the west of Scotland.

Lee
 

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Thanks Lee, I will read up on this :t:

Troubador said:
OK David, from the way you have described your activities I would say a scope would be very useful for you. And for your purposes I would want a scope bigger than a 65mm but maybe not so heavy as an 85mm (or bigger) and my choice would be one that has been mentioned already and that is the Meopta S2 82mm with the 30-60 wide angle zoom.

The 82mm size is a brilliant balance between portability and performance. I have reviewed this on Bird Forum and the pic below is of the scope being given a workout in the west of Scotland.

Lee
Click to expand...
 
The Lens2Scope adapters work, but are not very good.

I have 4 versions. These have internal dust and small fields but long eye relief.
There are angled versions.
They do have a foot but this would not hold a long lens. Plastic mainly.
Korean?

Probably a Nikon own make 10mm lens adapter plus an adapter to Sony maybe from SRB would give better performance, or a clean Vivitar TLA-1 with an adapter.
I use a Minolta Alpha to MD converter which has a 1.2x lens element. So 10mm divided by 1.2 focal length equivalent.

There is a Leica R version, possibly 12.5mm focal length, plus numerous others.
 
I own the ATX95 scope and also the digiscoping adapter. I went "big". And it is big and everything together requires a dedicated case (tripod, head, scope and adapter). It doesn't get used as much as I anticipated. I do recommend a scope but think about your likely use case and get the size that works best for that, at least to start.
 
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