Opticron new MM3 60 GA or used MM3 60 GA ED or Kowa TSN-501? (1 Viewer)

[dwatsonbirder]

That looks nice and sharp to me, glad to hear that you are enjoying your purchase so far.
If you are interested in digiscoping can I recommend the Viking adaptor (I think Hawke make one too). At around 20 euros it is an essential bit of kit, and very easy to use.

 

[Peerke]

Thanks Daniel,

There is a Tridaptor on its way for my phone. I also ordered an Opticron 41111 adapter and a T2 mount for my camera.

It is fun, now only the weather needs to improve. It has been dark and gloomy for months now, just like last year. I hope to see the sun a bit sooner than May.

 

[Peerke]

I think the MM3 ED is by far the best option - Opticron have good after sales support should you need it. There are plenty of threads on here about the performance of this scope, the one consideration is that the MM3 isn't waterproof, so you should check in advance for condensation or signs of moisture ingress if possible.

You are absolutely right concerning the after sales support. I did not get the dust caps of both lenses when I bought the MM3. I did email Opticron, and they will send for both lenses both caps to my local dealer. Picked up the SDL v4 yesterday. For now, I am settled, I guess. Waiting for nicer weather. In the meantime, I will practice digiscoping over here in the garden

 

[dwatsonbirder]

You are absolutely right concerning the after sales support. I did not get the dust caps of both lenses when I bought the MM3. I did email Opticron, and they will send for both lenses both caps to my local dealer. Picked up the SDL v4 yesterday. For now, I am settled, I guess. Waiting for nicer weather. In the meantime, I will practice digiscoping over here in the garden

Very nice, how are you enjoying it so far? I've just acquired a new toy too - after using a friends Kowa 883 with 25-60x last weekend and being thoroughly impressed, I went out and bought one!

 

[Peerke]

Very nice, how are you enjoying it so far? I've just acquired a new toy too - after using a friends Kowa 883 with 25-60x last weekend and being thoroughly impressed, I went out and bought one!

Until now, I am enjoying looking the birds that visit our small garden. Not much time to go out and the weather is bad too. My first scoping experience and I think I am going to like it more and more. I did try some digiscoping with my phone, but it does not have a very good camera. I ordered a photoadapter for my Canon camera. It arrived, but unfortunately one ring was missing, so I could not put the T2 mount on the adapter. Have to wait for a couple of days to digiscope with a good camera.

I do believe the Kowa 883 is fantastic. I already like my BDII 8x42 I bought last month. So that scope must be something excellent. Perhaps, one day, in the future, if I like it very much . Enjoy your new toy.

 

[Peerke]

Today I received the missing step ring of the photo adapter. I did try to do some digiscoping in the garden with the Canon 6d mkII. The Blue Tits are a willing model when you feed them a little.

Used the 17 x WW and the 23 x WW.

Saved the RAW files to JPG and resized to 1920x1079.

Shutter speed was 1/100 and 1/40, ISO set to 3200.

I am satisfied with this first attempt.

 

[Peregrine Took]

Eyepieces that were included are the 40810 HDF T 17x on this scope and the 40831 HDF T 23 x on this scope.

The 40831 is a lovely eyepiece - nice wide view and bright for those duller days.
.

 

[Peerke]

The 40831 is a lovely eyepiece - nice wide view and bright for those duller days.
.

Yes, it is. We had plenty of those dull days over here. I can't wait for spring to arrive.

 

[Peerke]

The 40831 is a lovely eyepiece - nice wide view and bright for those duller days.
.

I guess I hijacked the other topic, so our comments were deleted.

Anyway, today (again) a very dull day (no sun, only grey skies), but that gave me a good condition to do some comparing between the HDF-T 17x WW (40810), the HDF-T 23x WW (40831) and the SLD v4 15-45x zoom (41280).

To my eyes, the brightness is not very different between all three of them. I tried to set the zoom at approximately the same magnification as the fixed eyepiece. Yes, you have a (much) wider view with the fixed eyepieces than with the SDL v4, but that comes to no surprise. This weekend, I will try to figure out a way to determine the FOV in a practical way. Not sure if that can be done easily. I will see.

The three eyepieces give sharp and detailed images. The SDL v4 even when zoom is set to max (45). The image is getting darker, but the details on the Blue Tits in my garden are clearly visible. Of course, I have never been looking through other scopes, so I don't know what I am missing here.

 

[Peerke]

Tried to determine the FOV in degrees. Placed a tape measure at 6,9 meters from the front lens and looked how much cm I still could see.

Not very accurate, but it will give an idea of the FOV of the eyepieces I have.

40810 HDF T WW 17x: 3,7 degrees (64,5 m at 1000 m)

40831 HDF T WW 23x: 3.1 degrees (54,6 m at 1000 m)

41280 SDL v4 15-45x (on my MM3 GA 60 ED):

• at 15x: 2,8 degrees (48,55 m at 1000 m)
• at approx. 17x: 2,8 (49,1 m at 1000 m)
• at 21x: 2,5 (43,5 m at 1000 m)
• at approx. 23x: 2,4 (42 m at 1000 m)
• at 30x: 2,15 (37,7 m at 1000 m)
• at 45x: 1,8 (31,2 m at 1000 m)