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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

No interest in the "new" Diascope and the new zoom? (1 Viewer)

Hermann

Hermann

Well-known member
Germany
It's been quite a while since the new version of the Diascopes and the new wide-range zoom eyepiece were introduced, and I reckon some folks have got a new Diascope and/or the new zoom by now. However, there are hardly any reports here, and I wonder why. Is there really nothing much to say about the Diascope and/or the new zoom?

I only had a chance to fool around with the new 85 with the zoom for an hour or so, not nearly enough time to come to any conclusion about their optical quality. My first impression was that the zoom is slightly better than the old 20-60x between 50x and 60x, with better contrast and slightly better resolution. This difference seemed me to be there even with the new zoom on an old silver Diascope. At magnifications above 60x the image wasn't quite as good; however, it was still quite useable. I also liked the new Diascope body, especially the armouring. Not sure about the focussing, however, that probably takes some getting used to.

Hermann
 
I am interested, but have not seen the new zoom/scope- thanks for your impressions. Did you by any chance notice any difference in edge sharpness or color bias with the new zoom and/or scope compared to the old?
 
SEOW said:
Did you by any chance notice any difference in edge sharpness or color bias with the new zoom and/or scope compared to the old?
Click to expand...

Difficult to say. I didn't really have enough time for a detailed comparison - and I was looking at a couple of nice birds as well ... :) I thought the new zoom had better edge sharpness, and the colour also seemed more neutral. The field at view was narrower though at the lower end.

But like I said, I'd like to hear comments from people with more experience of the new scope and eyepiece.

Hermann
 
jgraider said:
Why would anyone be interested in a $3000 Zeiss when you can have a Kowa Prominar 883/884 for $2400?
Click to expand...

Depends on how good the Zeiss and especially the new zoom are. The Zeiss seems to have the potential to be as good as or perhaps better than the Kowa. The specifications of the zoom are very good - a decent field of view and higher magnifications than the Kowa.

Hermann
 
fugl said:
Because they think the new Zeiss might be better than the Kowa? (just a thought).
Click to expand...

Can't get much better than the Prominar's. The new Zeiss would need to be significantly better than the old 85 T FL Diascope to compete favorably IMO. I've looked at it side by side with the 884 numerous times and it's no contest in contrast, resolution, or edge sharpness, especially at 60x. I looked through the new Diascope at SCI Reno. The dual speed single focuser doesn't do it for me. The only spotter really close in optical performance to the 883/884 is the Swaro HD, for over $3000. It's still not quite there.
 
http://birdingblogs.com/2011/richhoyer/a-lesson-on-digiscoping-techniques-–-the-zeiss-diascope

The writer has both a new 85mm black Diascope and a green 65mm Disacope with the same (?) 20x to 60x Vario EP so the results are not at all apples to apples (and I think he draws some false conclusions say on the EP diameter because of that) but they're interesting nevertheless.

Not totally sure if he used the same EP (i.e. moved it from one scope to another). Or if it is the new EP or the old EP. Or if the older scope is LT or not (it's not "aged"). Or if the entrance pupil of the camera is smaller than the exit pupil of the 65mm scope (at 20x that would be 3.25mm or less) if it is then the objective diameter increase to 85mm means nothing and the difference is elsewhere in the scope).

The new 85mm scope appears to have a more neutral color and better contrast in the images he provides.

So make of it what you will ...
 
One way of encouraging interest in the scope is to buy a demo/sample from Cameraland ;)

http://birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=2125690#post2125690

#528062 65 T* FL LT DIASCOPE STRAIGHT only $1439.99, reduced from $1899.99

#528064 85 T* FL LT DIASCOPE STRAIGHT only $1829.99, reduced from $2399.99

#528065 85 T* FL LT DIASCOPE ANGLED only $1829.99, reduced from $2399.99

#528067 15-45x /20-60x LT VARIO EYEPIECE only $449.99, reduced from $600.00

#528068 15-56x/20-75x LT VARIO EYEPIECE only $549.99, reduced from $750.00

These are all the new part numbers, I think. So the new versions of the product. e.g. see this flyer

http://www.zeiss.com/C12574E40034C954/0/B504B5B8AD2A3EB6C12576CC00558357/$file/nya_diascope_fl.pdf

There is also a 2" astro EP adaptor (part # 52 83 86) I'd not noticed before
 
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