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Eyepiece diameter? (1 Viewer)

Gaga

Well-known member
In my "quest" for an adapter for my 25-75X eyepiece (Nikon Fieldscope 82ED), I contacted the company Scopetronix (www.scopetronix.com) who developped several digital camera adapters. They told me this :

"We don't have an adapter specifically for your spotting scope. I suggest taking a look at our 1.5" and 2.5" Uni-T Adapters (item STUNIT and STUNIT25). To figure out which one you will need, measure the outside diameter of the scope's eyepiece. If it is smaller than 1.5", then you will need the STUNIT. If it is at or above 1.5", then you will need the STUNIT25. Aside from getting one of those Uni-T Adapters, you will also need to get the 28mm to "T" step ring (item STR28T)."​

I don't have my eyepiece with me... can somebody tell me what is the extern diameter of that eyepiece?

Thanks!
 
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If it's 1.8", then my suggestion is to get a 2" PVC end cap from your local plumbing supply store. Make sure it's the cap with the flat hex end, and not the curved type. Then get a 28-37mm step ring, cut a centered hole in the end cap (I find that 1.5" is about the right size) and glue the step ring into the PVC cap as close to the eyepiece as possible to reduce vignetting. You may not even need to use thumbscrews to hold it, but if you do, there are several places that sell nylon screws to avoid scratching your eyepiece.


GR
 
GR Triever said:
If it's 1.8", then my suggestion is to get a 2" PVC end cap from your local plumbing supply store. Make sure it's the cap with the flat hex end, and not the curved type. Then get a 28-37mm step ring, cut a centered hole in the end cap (I find that 1.5" is about the right size) and glue the step ring into the PVC cap as close to the eyepiece as possible to reduce vignetting. You may not even need to use thumbscrews to hold it, but if you do, there are several places that sell nylon screws to avoid scratching your eyepiece.

Thank you for the suggestion, it's way more economic then the 70.00 USD asked for the adapter...
 
Thanks GR - I have a bucket full of leftover plumbing bits and pieces - you might have just helped me into beginning 'digiscoping'!
 
Another method I used to make an adapter for the very same eyepiece is another diy technique. I took a 28-37 step-up ring and then a 37-49 and then bought three cheapo 49mm filters from a pawn shop. Next I broke the glass out of the filters and screwed them on to my step up rings and now had a machined sleeve that fits tightly on the eyepiece. I am not 100% certain I used 49mm, if you are interested I can verify for you what size I used. Also I added an additional but not needed 49-55 mm step up with one 55mm filter (w/glass broke out) to the end to give me a little handle to tug off the adapter which was kind of handy. Also it would be ideal to glue the three 49mm filters together and drill a hole the right size for a plastic tightening screw (won't scratch or damage the eyepiece then). The fit was so tight with this that I had to remove the eye cup to get it on the eyepiece, worked great for my needs and cheap!

Since this time I have switched to the much brighter and larger eye-relief 24x and 30x wide angle eye pieces (on my FS III ED 60mm). I get much less vignetting with these eyepieces and in general the quality of my pics has much improved. For an example see my W. Meadowlark pic. I think Nikon's 24x and 30x are some of the best ever made, while I think the zoom is good quality but is marginal for digiscoping and eye-glass wearers such as myself. And being a sucker for incredibly well-machined stuff I broke down and bought the digital camera adapter Nikon offers for the fixed-focus eyepieces. Here is what I am refering to: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=278368&is=REG
 
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Thanks for that - I shall be looking into producing something along the same lines. Where are your photos, by the way?

I think you would really enjoy the extra brightness given by the new Nikon ED82 and redesigned zoom eyepiece. It's a lovely scope - but, as you say, the fixed wide angles are lenses Nikon can feel very proud of.

Any chance of a photo of your setup to see it in real life?
 
Yes I crave to even just see their new scope, I imagine the brightness is wonderful.

I do have the new zoom, and it is bright, but the eye relief is quite small for someone with specs like myself, but I still use it regularly due to its brightness and convenience. I find I get better results with the WA eyepieces for digiscoping too.

I only have two photos posted on BirdForums and only one taken with my FS III ED 60mm. The other is with this really nifty Nikon TelescoMicro ED6 monocular I got this winter. Here is the link to my gallery (hope to have more up soon): http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/4662

Here is a thread on BirdForum where our super-mod Ian showed off pics of exactly what I am talking about for the adapter and other ideas are discussed: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=3583 and another idea here :http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=9523

Here is a link for some more homemade adapters (make sure you check the links on this page for more): http://www.md.ucl.ac.be/peca/test/adaptor.html

And here is a low-tech solution: http://www.ofo.ca/photos/digicap.htm

And some classy ones (scroll down): http://www.digiscoping-uk.co.uk/digiscoping/digiscoping.htm
 
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I also adapted a plumbing joint for my digiscoping. One end was sawn off and a step ring glued to it. This screwed onto the Lensmate adapter that the G3 needed to make a thread.
 

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Thanks for those great links - and your photo of the meadow lark is pretty amazing! Well done indeed on that.

The new MCII zoom has 14mm eye relief - a couple of mm shorter than the Swaro - but my son has that latter scope with 20-60x eyepiece and I can no more use that with my specs on than I can the Nikon. With the Nikon I get a full FOV at 25x (as with the Swaro is at 20x) but beyond that I start to lose the edges of the image with both scopes.

I always remove my specs when I birdwatch - I just can't get used to seeing less than the whole field of view (even the Swaro EL8.5s are no good for me with specs on). I can only imagine that those many birders who do leave their specs on with bins and scopes either have very different eyes from mine or don't mind the narrow FOV!
 
Gaga and Steve,

I may have given you the wrong size on the PVC end caps that you'll need for that eyepiece. Depending on the OD with eyecup attached, you may want to try 1.5" or 1.75" end caps. Solution: do as I did, and take the eyepiece with you to the local supplier.

For my Zeiss zoom eyepiece/CP4500 setup, I had to use a 2" PVC coupler (2.375" ID), and then do some modifying to fit a piece of plexiglass into one end of it, with the step ring glued to the 'glass. I also have another adapter with a 43-58mm step ring (no 'glass required) that I can use with my Toshiba camera. With both of them, I cut a strip of Velcro and ran it around the inside of the adapter. That made a snug fit for the Zeiss eyepiece, and I don't have to use thumbscrews to hold it in place.

GR
 
scampo said:
I can only imagine that those many birders who do leave their specs on with bins and scopes either have very different eyes from mine or don't mind the narrow FOV!

Steve, anybody with astigmatism gets a blurred picture if the specs are removed. Thus, I - for one - prefer a reduced FOV but sharp picture over the alternative that would be open to me. Your optics can compensate for near- or far-sightedness, but they can't compensate for astigmatism.
Come to think of it, it might be possible (I think) if the actual lens of an eyepiece were custom made. But I have never even seen a hint that such a thing was actually done for someone.
 
Good point, Robert - I was forgetting this "third" reason for using glasses. I am long-sighted and I can only think that glasses for correcting hypermetropia need a far longer eye relief than for short-sightedenss.
 
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