-
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.
£500 to spend - what should I get? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter JRE
- Start date
Jyothi Ray said:
looks a bit dodgy to me - private listings always seem a bit sus. If it's genuine expect it to rocket in price, but I reckon it could be a con...
I still think a secondhand ES80ED with HDF zoom will be hard to beat for your budget.
Penny Clarke
Well-known member
scampo said:
DITTO - would not swop my Nikon ED50 (with 13-40 Zoom) for anything, both for performance and weight!!!!!!!!! I have a manfrotto travel tripod, incredibly light, but not brilliant for seawatching on a windy Norfolk Day!!!! But I am more than happy with this tripod, can't be doing with carrying heavy stuff around, there's enough to carry as it is with camera/lenses, sandwiches, flask etc etc!!!!! Got a very good deal from Cley Spy.
Best Wishes Penny :girl:
JohnnyH
Aldershot till I die!
Jyothi Ray said:
Yep, In-Focus stock ED50s as well, I'm sure that they will be doing a Field day somewhere down your way. I'd go for an ED50 if I was you, I bought mine from Cley Spy too with the 27x eyepiece & it's superb. As Pete has said if you fancy a bigger scope later you can get an ED82 body & use the same eyepiece, in fact thats what I did & then you have a fantastic pair of birding scopes to cover any situation. Get out there & test one & see what you think as it's your opinion that really counts!
John.
Penny Clarke
Well-known member
Hi JyothiJyothi Ray said:
It only came out new last year (I think I am right in saying), so I don't know if you would find any secondhand ones. But you can buy them new in all good stockists of binculars, scopes etc etc. In Focus, Warehouse Express, Cley Spy, RSPB sell them too. Always go and look and try out a telescope before buying though. Go and view one at your nearest stockist or nature reserve and then buy it from cheapest place you can find!!!!! Now sending you a PM.
Best Wishes Penny
Penny Clarke
Well-known member
Hi Jyothi
Was going to send you a PM, but your mailbox is full, you need to empty it, no one can PM you!!!!!! So I have put info here (without price of strap and lens cleaning kit!)
I found that Warehouse Express at the time was the cheapest, but wanted to buy locally, so I drove over to Cley Spy (near Cley in Norfolk) and asked them if they would match the price, they did and not only that, they threw in an strap for my tripod as well!!!!! AND lens cleaning kit!!!!! So I got a better deal from them even than buying on the net!!!!
Cley Spy have a website Cleyspy.co.uk and I think do mail order, so you could view the scope locally and order it from them if you wanted - just a thought
Best Wishes Penny
Was going to send you a PM, but your mailbox is full, you need to empty it, no one can PM you!!!!!! So I have put info here (without price of strap and lens cleaning kit!)
I found that Warehouse Express at the time was the cheapest, but wanted to buy locally, so I drove over to Cley Spy (near Cley in Norfolk) and asked them if they would match the price, they did and not only that, they threw in an strap for my tripod as well!!!!! AND lens cleaning kit!!!!! So I got a better deal from them even than buying on the net!!!!
Cley Spy have a website Cleyspy.co.uk and I think do mail order, so you could view the scope locally and order it from them if you wanted - just a thought
Best Wishes Penny
I have to back up Penny Clarke, JohnnyH, pduxon and scampo; I recently bought an ED50 and it has become my scope of choice on all outings except those involving very long-distance viewing or no walking. I was so impressed I went and splashed out on an ED82A as well, but of course you can wait before doing that! I use the zoom and the 30xw eyepieces (they give 13-40 and 16x on the ED50). I´m left with a surplus Swaro ATS65HD to sell, with 30xsw and 20-60 zoom eyepieces, but although they´re in perfect nick I lost the objective lens cap and am waiting for a replacement from Swaro UK before offering it for sale. But I couldn´t in all honesty try to flog it to you by telling you it´s better than my Nikon combo, because I don´t think it is. Check out the ED50, get whichever eyepiece you like, then later on, if you feel you need something bigger for seawatching and the like, think about an ED82A. And there´s no rush, the ED50 will suffice for years! Best of Luck with your choice and happy birding,
normjackson
Well-known member
S/H ED50s do crop up eg. this auction of ED50, eyepiece and digiscoping bracket finished about a week ago :
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290082331805
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290082331805
That doesn't seem to be the ED version Jyothi so I don't reckon that's a great deal for the money. About five years ago I bought a mint second hand ED version for £350, and that came with a photo adapter. You'd be better spending a bit more on an ED50 + lens.
Jyothi Ray said:
indeed it's not an ED scope so I'm sure an ED50 would out perform it in many ways. Personally I cannot imagine having an ED50 as my only scope (though I'd love it as a travel scope) - yes it's a great bit of gear, but the 50mm OG is limiting, I'd hate to seawatch with one. Unless weight is a big issue for you then go for a larger OG scope.
I reckon with the zoom at 13x the ED50 would be very good for seawatching - a reasonable field of view and then you can zoom up when you need to. I've got an ED82 as well as an ED50 but these days the ED82 stays at home more often than not. If you walk a lot, the ED50 is great and the advantages of the much heavier ED82 aren't really noticeable for most situations.
matt green
Norfolkman gone walkabout
jyothi..
Have you seen the non apo leica televid 62 (angled with 26ww+leica case) for £599 on the cleyspy website, a bit more than your budget but would be well worth the effort.All of the leica scopes are excellent in my opinion, they also hold there value more than most if ever you wanted to trade up.
Matt
Have you seen the non apo leica televid 62 (angled with 26ww+leica case) for £599 on the cleyspy website, a bit more than your budget but would be well worth the effort.All of the leica scopes are excellent in my opinion, they also hold there value more than most if ever you wanted to trade up.
Matt
Last edited:
scampo
Steve Campsall
Interesting you say that - and I would have agreed. I was seawatching recently at Titchwell with a friend. Because I thought, as you did, that the ED50 wouldn't be up to it, I took along my Zeiss 85 (my friend, a top local birder, used his Nikon EDII. He didn't miss a thing with his 60mm scope and the views he had were uniformly good). But back to the story...postcardcv said:
Near to us, another birder was using her Nikon ED50 (with zoom). She was keen to look through my scope, feeling her own was maybe lacking in comparison with a full-sized scope. So I looked through hers. Do you think the ED50 performed badly or let itself down in any way? Absolutely not. I was more than surprised by the brightness and overall quality of the view.
I can imagine as the light faded there would surely come a point where the diminutive Nikon would lose its brightness. But I rather suspect that the little ED50 would be a very useful scope for far more occasions than we think.
scampo said:
I am sure that in favourable conditions the ED50 could be fine for seawatching, and I'm not knocking the scope I think it's an amazing little beast. However on an early morning seawatch I think the light gathering would become and issue. I also feel the limited zoom range could make ID'ing distant birds tricky, I like the fact that my scope delivers a useably sharp image even at 60x. Useable high mag can make the difference between ID'ing a bird or having to put it down as skua sp. for me that's an important issue.
