• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

ED50 fixed power eyepieces in the US? (1 Viewer)

Jaywalk

Well-known member
United States
If I am able to achieve a Nikon ED50 spotting scope body without the variable eyepiece normally attached in the US, would I be able to find good fixed-power eyepieces? Many people seem to like the 27x - are they available here?

If not, is the 13-30x usable?
 
The ED50 with the 13-30x is still on Amazon, so readily available.
Imho, the 13x30 is just fine, wonderfully compact as befits the ED50, sharp and clear, albeit with limited FoV and eye relief.
The 27x MC or DS offer the same FoV as the 13x30x at 13x, so obviously preferable, at the price of a much larger size.
You pay up for the Nikon eyepieces, even on Ebay, where they are still widely available. As a compact scope, the ED50 with the 13x30 eye piece remains the standard.
 
The ED50 with the 13-30x is still on Amazon, so readily available.
Imho, the 13x30 is just fine, wonderfully compact as befits the ED50, sharp and clear, albeit with limited FoV and eye relief.
The 27x MC or DS offer the same FoV as the 13x30x at 13x, so obviously preferable, at the price of a much larger size.
You pay up for the Nikon eyepieces, even on Ebay, where they are still widely available. As a compact scope, the ED50 with the 13x30 eye piece remains the standard.

Thank you.
 
...The 27x MC or DS offer the same FoV as the 13x30x at 13x, so obviously preferable, at the price of a much larger size... ...As a compact scope, the ED50 with the 13x30 eye piece remains the standard.

I would argue that the 27x WF on the ED50 remains the standard for peak (and most convenient) performance. The 27x WF (an older design) has the same glass as the 27x MC and 27x DS but is much smaller than either of those eyepieces. The bulk of those later designs comes from their housings not the optics. My 27x WF has multicoatings which may not be technically as good as later coatings but they are very very close.

You will have to watch eBay a while to find the older eyepieces. The trick is to search for all Fieldscope items that might include the eyepiece that you want; don't just search for eyepieces (they rarely come up that way excepting the DS designs). I have found that you can buy a scope body with desired eyepiece(s) for almost the same price as the eyepiece alone, usually ~$300.

--AP
 
I would argue that the 27x WF on the ED50 remains the standard for peak (and most convenient) performance. The 27x WF (an older design) has the same glass as the 27x MC and 27x DS but is much smaller than either of those eyepieces. The bulk of those later designs comes from their housings not the optics. My 27x WF has multicoatings which may not be technically as good as later coatings but they are very very close.

You will have to watch eBay a while to find the older eyepieces. The trick is to search for all Fieldscope items that might include the eyepiece that you want; don't just search for eyepieces (they rarely come up that way excepting the DS designs). I have found that you can buy a scope body with desired eyepiece(s) for almost the same price as the eyepiece alone, usually ~$300.

--AP

Thanks. Anything wrong with sourcing a new design, new-made one from Japan? I wear glasses and I suspect if the eye relief is too small I'll want to fix the problem quickly, or return the scope within its 30 day return period. I plan to buy a new ED50 tomorrow.
 
Last edited:
Imho, the 13x30 is just fine, wonderfully compact as befits the ED50, sharp and clear, albeit with limited FoV and eye relief.
The 27x MC or DS offer the same FoV as the 13x30x at 13x, so obviously preferable, at the price of a much larger size.

I would argue that the 27x WF on the ED50 remains the standard for peak (and most convenient) performance. The 27x WF (an older design) has the same glass as the 27x MC and 27x DS but is much smaller than either of those eyepieces. The bulk of those later designs comes from their housings not the optics. My 27x WF has multicoatings which may not be technically as good as later coatings but they are very very close.

I agree with both of you ... ;) I also find the 13-30x works just fine on the ED50, but the (old) 27x WF is a great eyepiece on that scope. Unfortunately I lost mine and didn't find a replacement. The DS is just too big and unwieldy on that tiny scope, even though it's optically excellent.

BTW, my favourite is a combination of the old 24x/30x WF + the 13-30x on the ED50. I know Nikon says the 24x/30x shouldn't be used on the ED50, however, I find it works just fine. And 16x (on the ED50) is often enough in woodlands and so on.

Hermann
(who's still wondering if he should get a Monarch 60mm ...)
 
Thanks. Anything wrong with sourcing a new design, new-made one from Japan? I wear glasses and I suspect if the eye relief is too small I'll want to fix the problem quickly, or return the scope within its 30 day return period. I plan to buy a new ED50 tomorrow.

The new style DS (and earlier MC) eyepieces are superb with excellent eye relief, but they are bulky. Many use them happily. We are quibbling over small details.

--AP
 
I ordered the 27x MC from Japan and it's been on my ED50 for years. I have the 13-30x that came with the scope of course. It works OK, but I never use it. Narrow fov and touchy eye relief.

It's true the 27x MC is a bit of a honker compared to the little zoom, but I think it's worth it. Considering exit pupil and brightness, I don't think it would be worth trying to get more magnification out of the 50mm. Still, it remains my most used scope. :t:
 
Thank you all. As I mentioned, I expect to order tomorrow, and we'll see whether the issue is moot and the supplied eyepiece will work or not. My wife and I both wear glasses, so that "should" cause an eye relief problem, but I've read here of users who wear glasses and still use the zoom EP happily, so we'll see. I will update this.
 
İt can be used with eyeglasses (the zoom), but not happily.. I got my eyes so stressed and tired at max. Magnification with both the nikon Zooms, that I don't think I will buy them even again.. But buying a new scope with the small zoom kit still makes sense, that's for sure, and it would be a good piece to have as a spare or back up. I personally would go with e
the 20xWide for an allrounder.. Its a great eyepiece, that or the 16x DS, also a great view.. 27x I used to love but, at the end it was letting me down in dimm settings, and ended being too much magnification, at the expense of FOV, for a scope able to focus at 10 feet.. Ed50+low power +Red dot finder.... Sweeeeeet
 
...I've read here of users who wear glasses and still use the zoom EP happily...

That is a very rare phenomenon. I'm a great lover of Nikon Fieldscopes but I despise the zooms for their narrow FOV and poor eye relief with glasses. With a 20x or 27x fixed eyepiece, your ED50 will be a _completely_ different experience. I buy everything from Japan through Amazon USA or eBay.

--AP
 
That is a very rare phenomenon. I'm a great lover of Nikon Fieldscopes but I despise the zooms for their narrow FOV and poor eye relief with glasses. With a 20x or 27x fixed eyepiece, your ED50 will be a _completely_ different experience. I buy everything from Japan through Amazon USA or eBay.

--AP

It may be a function of what the required prescription is.
I'm near sighted and have no problems with the 13x30 eye relief. People who are far sighted (most of us as we get older) however appear to be out of luck.
That said, the DS27 is a great match for the ED50, really the best offered if you have the extra funds.
Separately, I've been buying from Amazon.jp directly via Tenso (https://www.tenso.com/en) , cheaper and at least equally reliable in my experience.
 
Eye relief on the zoom is tiny indeed, fov and viewing ease I found better on ed50 than ed82. Each fixed eyepiece is great to use and a very noticeable improvement over the zoom; wide, bright and real comfy viewing. I can recommend them all, to your personal needs. With glasses the ds's are all you need and easily obtainable in Japan, as said. I had/have to pay crazy tax and clearance to get something from there, meh.
 
I ordered the 27x eyepiece on eBay for delivery before the end of the scope's 30-day evaluation period. For either this or the 13-30x, can a star test be run? All advice I'd read on it say it should be at max power, and 60x was normally mentioned.
 
That's good. I'm glad you'll have a chance to use the scope with both eyepieces. You could do a star test using a booster but I am not sure it is warranted. You shouldn't be using this scope at magnifications above ~30-40x. It is a bad scope indeed that doesn't look good at low powers.

--AP
 
My 27x eyepiece (Nikon #6950) was delivered today from Japan through eBay, a couple of days prior to the scheduled delivery. Nice.

I have not seen the actual weight numbers posted, so here are my readings from my postal scale:
1. ED50 with standard 13-30x, including lens and eyepiece covers: 20.3 oz., 574 grams
2. ED50 with Nikon #6950, including lens and eyepiece covers: 24.4 oz., 684 grams

Nikon says the 13-30x standard eyepiece has 13mm eye relief, while the #6950 has 18.7mm of eye relief. Now I can see whether I like the view through it.
 
Last edited:
Well, after resisting buying yet another eyepiece for a long time I finally succumbed to Alexis' persistent arguments and got myself a 27/40/60 DS eyepiece.

And all I can say is "Wow". This will be my preferred eyepiece on the ED50 in the future despite its size and weight. At 27x the exit pupil is still large enough, the field of view makes the use in the field a lot easier, and the optical performance is excellent.

I can even foresee that eyepiece to get some serious use on my other two Nikon Fieldscopes. Scanning flocks of shorebirds at large distances at 50x on the ED82 sounds good.

Great stuff. Thank you, Alexis.

Hermann
 
Last edited:
Well, after resisting buying yet another eyepiece for a long time I finally succumbed to Alexis' persistent arguments and got myself a 27/40/60 DS eyepiece.

And all I can say is "Wow". This will be my preferred eyepiece on the ED50 in the future despite its size and weight. At 27x the exit pupil is still large enough, the field of view makes the use in the field a lot easier, and the optical performance is excellent.

I can even foresee that eyepiece to get some serious use on my other two Nikon Fieldscopes. Scanning flocks of shorebirds at large distances at 50x on the ED82 sounds good.

Great stuff. Thank you, Alexis.

Hermann

You are quite welcome, I'm glad you are enjoying the 27x on the ED50!

I do understand the appeal of the 20x on the ED50 as well, and in the past year I put in some effort to acquire two of them (though mainly for use as 30x on the 60ED). But I always come back to the 27x on the ED50 because when I reach for a scope, any scope, I want it to deliver that ~30x view as a ~4x increase over my ~8x binoculars.

The 27x is indeed a nice 50x on the 78ED and 82ED, especially for extended periods of long-distance scoping of large numbers of waterfowl or shorebirds, but I have to admit that I don't ever use it like that anymore. Why not is a combination of the inconvenience of being stuck at high power and because I have the Kowa 884 with its wide zoom, which works better for those applications. When, on rare instance, I need high power on the 78ED or 82ED, I use the 25-75x despite all its limitations.

--AP
 
If you mainly use those bigguns for the higher powers, why not try get a 75x ep? Way better for eye relief and viewing ease, also somewhat better brightness.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top