• 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.

Theron Mag82, Zen Ray ED 2, Celestron F-ED 80 (1 Viewer)

Ruiz,

I did not take your comment as criticism in a negative sense but rather just the opposite. As I had mentioned though the point of the pics of that particular subject was focused more around color representation and vividness, CA control and edge performance. My focus, no pun intended wasn't so much on resolution. I do have some time later tomorrow morning. I will pick out a flat object, such a newspaper or resolution chart to take pictures of next. I am guessing that should address some of your concerns.
 
FrankD said:
I understand your wanting to not include the 30x WA results in for the Celestron. It does make sense. However, if we do that then you exclude the best eyepiece and most favorable, from my perspective, optical performance of the group...the Theron 30x wide angle eyepiece.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Frank. As always, you've done a great job. Try the Baader Hyperion 17mm with the Regal. It's 28x and a great combo. But geez the Regal is a big sucker in comparison with the other two!

Mark
 
Mark,

Thank you for the kind words. They are appreciated. Truth be told I have been kicking around the idea of picking up another fixed power, wide angle eyepiece to try out with all three scopes. I have that Celestron X-cel LX 25 mm coming back to me tomorrow after some modifications to the barrel to get it it reach focus at infinity with the Mag82. I will try it in the other scopes. I was looking for another higher magnification, wide angle eyepiece over the last few days. The Baader Hyperion, Celestron Ultima LX and one or two others were on the short list. I haven't decided yet. What I want is a higher power (say around 50x) and a lower power (18-20x) that have the same performance parameters as the 30x wide angle that comes with the Mag82. The only one I can think of that will certainly meet those requirements is the Pentax XW series. Cheapest price I could find was $289 but then we know how it performs with the Celestron and the prism cutoff. It should work with the Zen Ray and/or the Theron assuming some modifications are made.

Do you, or anyone else, know of a wide angle (70 degree or better) eyepiece that does not have an extra lens element in the 1.25 inch barrel?
 
Ask and you shall receive. ;)

I printed out a makeshift resolution chart from the net. Don't try to obtain resolution values from it because it is of poor print quality and much too large for actual resolution measurements. Still, it might offer the two dimensional image you were asking for.

Celestron 30x setting on zoom
 

Attachments

  • c30z.jpg
    c30z.jpg
    127.9 KB · Views: 301
Frank looks like your "target" is the limiting factor in these pictures.:) Thanks for doing all this, much appreciated. The Celestron is a honker for sure. Excellent value. I think all these scopes are excellent value.

Frank did you lug all those scopes up to the hawk watching site? I really love your photos of the scopes on the rock/boulders.
 
Steve,

Yeah, I know but it was the only object I could grab on short notice. I have been running a yard sale the last two days and have been shuffling back and forth between selling stuff and trying to take pics through the scopes. ;) I will find that one you sent me eventually. I have been organizing and getting rid of all the stuff from the old house over the last couple of weeks.

Yes, I did lug the Theron and the Zen Ray up to the hawkwatch but not the Celestron. I have taken the Celestron up there before and know what it is capable of...plus it is the heaviest and I ran out of room in the backpack. I also took the Zen Ray ED2 8x42 and the Pro Optic 8x42 to see how they compared.

I will see if I can dig up another hawkwatch pic for ya.

;-)
 

Attachments

  • frontview.jpg
    frontview.jpg
    269.9 KB · Views: 181
Last edited:
May I say something completely irrelevant to the thread?

[Again thanks a lot FrankD for the review]

But the pics in the hawkwatch... the camera mistaken the white balance.

Most of the cameras nowadays have a "chose what you like here" button. Usually I place the custom white balance there.

The pics you took are cold... very blue cold. Chilling blue cold. The same things happen with most of the pics from Theron Optics site for example.

Just re-set the custom white balance and it will look warm... sunny... and comfortable.
 
Last edited:
Ivan,

Thank you for the advice. One "problem" though. I forgot my digital camera at home the day I went up to the hawkwatch. Those pics were actually taken via my cell phone and then sent to my email address so I could illustrate the conditions/environment I was trying the scopes out in.

All of the other pics, through the scopes, were with my digital camera.

...and I am happy to do this guys. I have a great deal of fun tinkering with these scopes...and the bins of course. :)
 
Glad to accomodate. If there is anything else you folks want to see then let me know. I am tinkering with astro adapters at the moment and various eyepieces to see how they work in each scope. I have a Ultra Wide Angle (82 degree) 16 mm eyepiece due in early this week. It is an inexpensive unit but thought I would try it anyway.
 
Thanks for the review, Frank.

I think we must be the yin and yang of optics reviewers. You're the nice guy, happy to find something good to say. I'm the curmudgeon with a jaundiced eye. At any rate, I hope you don't mind if I report that my jaundiced eye didn't have quite as positive a response to the Zen specimen that we both tested. I don't know exactly what vocabulary should be applied to a scope of its quality, but I don't think any scope with significant aberrations deserves superlatives. For instance, I wasn't "astounded" by its image quality at 50x with the 25-50x zoom. Since I had a lower aberration scope set up right next to it I could easily see the gauzy softness of the Zen image in comparison. Perhaps this is just an inherent danger of ranking a few scopes of unknown quality, the best of the lot may wind up being over-praised.

I know none of these are alpha priced scopes, but if I were shopping in the $1200 range I would certainly first try to find a good specimen of the Nikon 82ED Fieldscope while they're still available, even if I had to pay a little more for it. That's a scope that can have genuinely superb optics, even to a curmudgeon.

Henry
 
Last edited:
Thanks Henry. I know we approach these reviews from different perspectives. I feel a good deal of that comes from our varying backgrounds and expectations. I know you have that wonderful Takahashi to use as a comparison piece. I don't have anything of that character.

I would agree that the Nikon 82 mm should be on anybody's short list of scopes to try considering the price range we are talking about here. However, at the moment I believe both the Zen Ray and the Theron can be had for under $1000 with the discounts that both companies are currently offering. With that thought in mind I have no experience with any other scopes that measure up to the optical quality of these.
 
Last edited:
Well, I wouldn't call the Takahashi SKY-90 wonderful (we curmudgeons don't use that word), but for comparison purposes it makes a good stand-in for a cherry sample of an alpha spotting scope. I've seen a Kowa 823 that star-tested better and I'm sure you could find other spotting scope specimens, including Nikon 82ED's, with equally good or better optics.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 13 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Similar threads

K
Nikon Monarch Fieldscope vs Celestron Regal M2 80ED vs Vortex Diamondback - tough choice
Replies
19
Views
1K
jring
J
N
Opticron MM4 ED Travelscopes 50 & 60 v. Nikon ED Fieldscopes 50 & 60
2
Replies
27
Views
7K
RAH
RAH
T
Do higher scope magnifications make any sense?
2
Replies
24
Views
4K
LucaPCP
L
L
Mini review of the Opticron MM4 60
Replies
7
Views
5K
MMcD
MMcD
G
Athlon Ares G2 UHD 65mm spotter a pleasing surprise
Replies
8
Views
3K
4th_point
4

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top