Using a bird spotting scope

[E621Keith]

I have a Celestron Regal 80ED which is a flourite (FPL53 I think) doublet that has coulour correction the equal of any doublet out there and almost matches my LOMO-lensed triplet!!

Sharpness and contrast are excellent and I see no CA on, well, anything.

You are making me really worried whether my Pentax PF80EDA is a lemon. My Pentax's performance is no where close to my Lomo 80/480 Sv80s. I used the Pentax SMC 8-24 zoom for both and the difference between the two scope is immediately apparent when view at 60x.

In any case you must have a very good sample of the Regal 80ED if its performance is close to your Lomo. From reviews I read, most rate the TV85 better than any spotting scope including premium Leica, Zeiss. Most reviews also rate the LOMO 80 above the TV85.

[Flying Eye]

Well, I'm gutted, during today the Mini Mak C70 I was eyeing went from £89 to £157 - so that is off the list again due to pretty obvious gouging! It may not end up being a Celestron if that sort of thing is possible, I'd really hate to encourage more of that.

Oh well, onward in the search!

[onesmallstep]

First Light Optics - Acuter Spotting Scopes

HTH!

[Flying Eye]

Well, it sort of helped onesmallstep, as choice is always a good thing, and thanks for the link. However the close in looks a little to far out for the close in birding side of things.

This is going to get tricky methinks!

I can't keep stuffing the MS Cinema webcam into the eye cup of the binoculars, it's embarrassing for a start! (even if it does happen to be rather effective! ) Besides the lolly stick platform was very innovative at first, but now it's just old and prone to the odd missed heartbeat when it starts to slip!

[AndyH]

Small Maks are great for birding.

I used to use my (sadly now sold on) Russian Ylena 85mm Mak. Stonkingly superb optics.

As long as you dont mind the smaller field of view compared to a refractor, they deliver crisp, purple fringing free views, in a small compact package. I've never had a problem with close-ish focusing. Lets face it, if something is closer than 20ft, what the hell are you using a scope for??? Use your eyes or a small pair of bins.

I would recommend making up a cardboard light shield or getting something more professional, as the Maks don't usually come with one. Cuts down on potential flaring in bright sunlit conditions.

Andy.

[Flying Eye]

Hi Andy and thanks for the thoughts.

It's looking like Mini Maks have suddenly been placed outside my budget by those selling them. Almost doubling the price during the course one day would always have that sort of effect, sadly.

I presently have an MS Cinema 5000HD webcam, and have experimented to great effect with shoving that into an eye piece of my cheap but close in bins. They go down to about 12 feet or so, and are fine.

I also have a Fuji9600 and use that with a Raynox Teleconv. 2020 pro optical 2.2 increase. That's fine too, but can't get in as close as the webcam and bins. Of course it will go there if I remove the Teleconv.

What I really would love is to end up with one cam set up that can get close in enough and far out enough, thus avoiding the need to swap out, as birds generally won't hang about for any such antics.

I know, it's a big ask, but I'm tinkering in the hope of finding a fairly good way through at a tiny budget.

Actually I may yet go back to plan A and grab a 20x50 spyglass type, which has a tripod mount apparently. They have already almost doubled in price over the last 12 months, so I may get away with that shortly. It's not like they are trendy enough to sustain another price doubling in the next year or two without becoming unmarketable. I'll just have to live with the fringing.

I'll keep looking in hope.

[Leebert]

A step down in aperture but how about this:

Celestron C50 Mini Mak Spotting Scope

Focus down to 10 feet at 25x so okay there but you may struggle keeping it vibration free at higher mags. It'll most likely be quite dark too possibly at f11.6?

EDIT: Just noticed they do the Mini Mak 70 (and 90) too.

http://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/Celestron_C70_Mak_Spotting_Scope.html

And a couple more from RVO...

http://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/celestron-c65-mini-mak-spotting-scope_d5096.html

http://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/celestron-c70-mini-mak-telescope_d3890.html

[Flying Eye]

Thanks so much Lee, you've come to my rescue. I think I know what's gone on with the original supplier I was looking at (Amazon went out of stock, and so passed it to another much more expensive one), and if I am right about that, I just need some time and patience, and I may get that which I seek after all!

Either Amazon will get new stock, or I have those links you just posted. It's handy in some ways as I have just successfully concluded a big consolidation move around of my finances, and needed some time to save up again anyway, so I may find I have just the right money at the right time soon enough it seems.

I'm thinking the 70 is about spot on for my intended use, any smaller and I may as well stay with the Fuji, any larger and it would quite probably soon become just a tad unwieldy.

I can easily wait and get it spot on. I may also tinker with a smaller scout type in the meantime as I'm always going to be really curious to see how that would have worked out.

Thanks again!