cindyri@microsoft.UUCP (Cynthia RISKIN) (04/25/91)
I know it's a little overoptimistic of me to expect ANYTHING of a spotting scope <$200, but dat's all I got. So unless you have a USED SPOTTING SCOPE, in which case CALL ME AT MICROSOFT, (206) 882-8080, Cindy Riskin [I will soon be traveling around the west, so I could pick up one within a 1000-mi radius, perhaps, or we could do it by mail from further], I gotta get what I can. So what I need to know is 1. What brand? 2. What features? 3. What power? I am going to use this for watching birds in marshes, lakes, ponds, bays, estuaries, and fields. Thankyoo for your most generous information.
edm@verdix.com (Ed Matthews) (05/03/91)
In article<72035@microsoft.UUCP> cindyri@microsoft.UUCP (Cynthia RISKIN) writes: >So what I need to know is >1. What brand? >2. What features? >3. What power? I have been considering buying a scope for several years, but for lack of money have been putting it off. I'm just about to take the plunge, so this discussion interests me as well. I'm not really looking for brand recommendations so much as a discussion of what makes a scope a good scope. Some questions that I have: I understand binocular optics: do scopes operate the same way? What power range is most useful for birding? What are the upper limits on power before heat waves and shimmer obliterate the image? What are pros and cons of fixed power versus interchangeable power? What makes a tripod worth having? What makes a tripod cumbersome? Can reasonable quality optics be had affordably? I'd love to have Kowa, but it's not in my budget. I will be more than happy to summarize. -- Ed Matthews edm@verdix.com Verdix Corporation Headquarters (703) 378-7600 Chantilly, Virginia
misan@ra.abo.fi (Annika Forsten DC) (05/06/91)
In article <1991May3.130407.9279@verdix.com> edm@verdix.com (Ed Matthews) writes: >So what I need to know is >1. What brand? Optolyth, Kowa, Zeiss, Nikon. Perhaps cheaper: Mirador. > I understand binocular optics: do scopes operate the same way? Mostly, except for those that turn the picture around, i.e. you need to turn your scope to the right in order to see to the left. What power range is most useful for birding? 20 wide and 27-30 (wide). 30 is cheaper than 20, but more difficult to use in finding birds. It does bring the birds a lot nearer though. With practice it's not too difficult to find flying birds. Kowa's 30x is very good indeed, Optolyth's less so, but I believe they are soon launching a new better one. On the other hand Optolyth's 40x and 20x are better than Kowa's. 40x is not for ordinary watching, it can usually be used only for looking at stationary birds in good light, no heat waves and no wind. I haven't used mine for years. I'm satisfied with my 27x wide. What are pros and cons of fixed power versus interchangeable power? Interchangeable power oculars need more light. Often they are rather good at the lower ranger, but less so at 60x. Here in Finland allmost everybody use a fixed power lens, whenever I've seen somebody with an interchangeable piece they are allmost always beginners. What makes a tripod worth having? It is quite neccessary. Anything over 12x is unusable without one. You can choose between shoulder, carwindow or ordinary tripods though. I believe shoulder tripods are pretty popular in Canada, how is it in the US? What makes a tripod cumbersome? The heavier they are, the steadier they are. But get one you can carry. As a weak woman I've found out that a SLIK Master is about the heaviest I can manage to carry around. Slik, Manfrotto, Gitzo are known brands. > Can reasonable quality optics be had affordably? I'd love to have Kowa, > but it's not in my budget. Here in Finland the cheapest Kowa is about $500 including eyepiece. Cheapest tripod about $200. In the US they should be considerably cheaper. What reasonable optics are probably depends on how much you go out birding. Getting your eyes destroyed by bad optics is not such a good idea either. I don't think you can get cheap telescopes, but there are lots of cheap binoculars around. Annika Forsten
mad@descartes.math.purdue.edu (Michael A. Dritschel) (05/08/91)
I would like to recommend yet another spotting scope, and that is the one made by Celestron. It has a 90mm (3 and 1/2 inch) aperature and an effective focal length of, I believe, 600mm, yet is only about 350mm (14in)long with the sun shade. This short length is achieved with mirrors, rather than the usual lenses. Various eyepieces are available, and they are a standard size, so if you can easily find different oculars for purposes other than birdwatching that you may want to use the scope for, such as star gazing. I generally use ones that gives a magnifications of 30x and 40x. There is a smaller scope with cross hairs piggyback and aligned with the larger one for finding and centering things. Celestron also makes a nice sturdy tripod. I think the scope can be had for about $400 and the tripod for an additional $80 (It's been several years since I bought mine, so I don't recall the exact figures---look in some of the amatuer astronomy magazines like Sky and Telescope or Astronomy to find the best mail order deal). They also have adaptors so that the scope can be used as a telephoto lens. I think the optics are quite good. I have mainly used it for shore birds, prefering binoculars elsewhere. Annika Forsten mentions in her posting on this subject that most people find it impossible to use magnifications greater than 12x without a tripod. I have found there to be an exception with binoculars and a steady hand. I had borrowed an old pair of Zeiss 20x50 binoculars from a friend for a while and found them to be quite nice to use, though it took a little getting used to. On top of that they were quite heavy. I haven't quite been able to justify the enormous cost of these things new, otherwise I would buy a pair myself (my friend got his at a house sale for $80). Michael Dritschel mad@math.purdue.edu