Which spotting scope (for nature)?

[Oat]

Hi Folks

I want a spotting scope for bird watching and to try some digiscoping. Which spotting scope should i try? Money for this is not endless, my max is circa £150.

In addition to those in the FLO website i have also considered Praktica. Frankly i'm lost.....

Thanks in advance for the recommendations.

Tim

[Mr niall]

This is mainly an astronomy forum pal you may struggle to get the quality of advic you are looking for. Have you tried google? There’s some fairly good guides. As a rule of thumb the higher the magnification the lower the field of view of your image so bear that in mind. Also look at exit pupil. I’d say that the steadiest platform possible (eg good tripod /mount) would make digiscoping easier. Sorry that’s probably not very insightful! Have you emailed FLO? They’re pretty great at support.

[Oat]

@Mr niall thanks. Yes i know it's an astonomy forum, but i figured there may be one or two people who may know about spotting scopes also.  Thank you for the response, i haven't emailed FLO as yet, but i may give them a call tomorrow. It'd be great to take a look at some, but like telescopes there isn't so many retailers about. ?

[celestron8g8]

20 minutes ago, Oat said:

Hi Folks

I want a spotting scope for bird watching and to try some digiscoping. Which spotting scope should i try? Money for this is not endless, my max is circa £150.

In addition to those in the FLO website i have also considered Praktica. Frankly i'm lost.....

Thanks in advance for the recommendations.

Tim

I would suggest you go to a forum  that's dedicated for all types of photography including wildlife and birding . I'm a member of  :  https://photography-on-the.net/forum/index.php   . Members are from all over the world but look up the birding section and in that section is a sub forum called bird talk and you can probably get the info you are looking for right there . Lots' of ppl with lot's of info . Not trying to get you to leave here , stay and enjoy astronomy info and images ! They're great here ! But there are no topics here on birding  , sorry . You can also check out hunting forums also , they use a lot of spotting scopes while hunting ! Got to tell you tho , good ones are not cheap and cheapones aren't worth having so becareful when you buy one ! 

[celestron8g8]

30 minutes ago, Oat said:

Hi Folks

I want a spotting scope for bird watching and to try some digiscoping. Which spotting scope should i try? Money for this is not endless, my max is circa £150.

In addition to those in the FLO website i have also considered Praktica. Frankly i'm lost.....

Thanks in advance for the recommendations.

Tim

Also to , read this article from BHPhoto . They have this down right with good info !! 

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/tips-and-solutions/guide-birding-spotting-scopes

[Ricochet]

29 minutes ago, Oat said:

Hi Folks

I want a spotting scope for bird watching and to try some digiscoping. Which spotting scope should i try? Money for this is not endless, my max is circa £150.

In addition to those in the FLO website i have also considered Praktica. Frankly i'm lost.....

Thanks in advance for the recommendations.

Tim

None. The harsh truth is that for a spotting scope it has to be ED glass and you won't get a new one for that price. I think you would also be very lucky to get a used one at that price. I think the best thing that you can do is to start saving so that in the future you can get one. There's no point buying a cheaper achromatic scope that blurs the colours so that you can't distinguish the markings on a bird properly. 

Sign up to birdforum.net and you'll get access to their classifieds. With a bit of luck someone might have something. Your best bet is probably going to be something like a 65mm Celestron Regal, Pentax ED or 60mm Opticron MM3. This is strictly for observation mind, I've no idea about digiscoping. 

[JonC]

46 minutes ago, Oat said:

Hi Folks

I want a spotting scope for bird watching and to try some digiscoping. Which spotting scope should i try? Money for this is not endless, my max is circa £150.

In addition to those in the FLO website i have also considered Praktica. Frankly i'm lost.....

Thanks in advance for the recommendations.

Tim

Add Opticron to your list! If your after bang for buck then 2nd hand is worth a look. Some wildfowl and wetland trust reserves have an optics dealer on site, they quiet often do 2nd hand stuff and you can at least give them a try. Did find this shop that has some reasonable bits 2nd hand. There is a Opticron ED for £200

https://www.aceoptics.co.uk/

The same as astro gear ED glass is desirable, but don't discount stuff that lacks it (try before you buy if possible). My preference is for an angled, and a zoom eyepiece. 

[Louis D]

Unless you really need ruggedness and weatherproofing, I'd save up my pennies (farthings?) for a 72ED scope that can easily triple up as a spotting scope, astro scope, or a telephoto lens.  I've never found a non-ED, non-Mak spotting scope that provided color free, high contrast, sharp images day or night.

[PeterW]

Nice spotters seem to have jumped in price in recent years, I was tempted to “upgrade” from my William Optics 66mm refractor, but I’d pay a lot for not much aperture (though it would be lighter weight and maybe a bit more weather’proof. Check birdforum and others for more options.

PEter

[celestron8g8]

This article has very good info on spotting  scopes and warns against anyghing under $100.00 . 

http://www.birdwatching-bliss.com/bird-watching-spotting-scopes.html

[celestron8g8]

6 hours ago, Louis D said:

Unless you really need ruggedness and weatherproofing, I'd save up my pennies (farthings?) for a 72ED scope that can easily triple up as a spotting scope, astro scope, or a telephoto lens.  I've never found a non-ED, non-Mak spotting scope that provided color free, high contrast, sharp images day or night.

You need this one   , 

https://www.amazon.com/Kowa-Performance-Spotting-PROMINAR-Fluorite/dp/B000J46H9U/ref=as_li_ss_tl?sigts=1491011017843&sig=199ae9e6bc470b8b2b4465ca171faf521bdf5379&adId=B000J46H9U&ref-refURL=https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/home/ads/adcode/custom&slotNum=10&imprToken=auhGegNruC8aZn-jx7P2Wg&linkCode=ll1&tag=birdwatchin06-20&linkId=f5ec0f13e2a7fc65807f468b13b7525a

[Oat]

1 hour ago, celestron8g8 said:

You need this one   , 

https://www.amazon.com/Kowa-Performance-Spotting-PROMINAR-Fluorite/dp/B000J46H9U/ref=as_li_ss_tl?sigts=1491011017843&sig=199ae9e6bc470b8b2b4465ca171faf521bdf5379&adId=B000J46H9U&ref-refURL=https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/home/ads/adcode/custom&slotNum=10&imprToken=auhGegNruC8aZn-jx7P2Wg&linkCode=ll1&tag=birdwatchin06-20&linkId=f5ec0f13e2a7fc65807f468b13b7525a

I need the lottery win more! ?

 

One that i had overlooked is the Celestron C70 MiniMak the reviews seem favourable, the price seems favourable and i can't help but think it would do me well. (for what it is)

[celestron8g8]

22 minutes ago, Oat said:

I need the lottery win more! ?

 

One that i had overlooked is the Celestron C70 MiniMak the reviews seem favourable, the price seems favourable and i can't help but think it would do me well. (for what it is)

I’m not aware of that one but the article i posted above says stay away from anything under $100.00 . But here’s one that will do you good ! 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002CTZ70/ref=as_at/?imprToken=VStzr2TV7j3D0DaAQ25Ejg&slotNum=0&ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0002CTZ70&linkCode=w61&tag=birdwatchin06-20&linkId=XSJE5PFSSJVYD3NW

[Ricochet]

21 minutes ago, Oat said:

I need the lottery win more! ?

 

One that i had overlooked is the Celestron C70 MiniMak the reviews seem favourable, the price seems favourable and i can't help but think it would do me well. (for what it is)

That might be a reasonable option. Contrast won't be as good as an ED spotter but you shouldn't have any chromatic aberration to deal with unlike an achro spotter. You'll want an eyepiece giving around 30x, so a 25mm Starguider or X-Cel LX should do nicely at a significantly wider field (~2°) than the included eyepiece (1.3°-0.7°). What I don't know is how the 1.25" eyepiece adaptor changes the close and infinity focus points.

[celestron8g8]

I don’t know but the EP that comes with it doesn’t it do focusing ? 

[Alan64]

That Celestron 70mm Maksutov has an integrated zoom-ocular.  They will be no adding a diagonal to that one, let alone another eyepiece.  With this one, you can add all manner of eyepieces and accessories; even a star-prism diagonal when that bug bites, hopefully...

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/celestron-spotting-scopes/celestron-c90-mak.html

[Alan64]

Oh, I almost forgot.  There is a C90 here in my household.  It belongs to my elder brother, but he got it for noting where arms hit their targets, and during the day.  I've had it out at night, rather, but only once or twice...

He got a package deal at the time, and for next to nothing this wonky tripod was bundled along with it...

It got the C90 up off the ground, but not much else.  It's really only fit for supporting a camera, which is precisely what I use it for, now.

[Ricochet]

7 hours ago, celestron8g8 said:

I don’t know but the EP that comes with it doesn’t it do focusing ? 

The focuser wheel is built into the side of the scope body as with conventional spotting scopes. 

3 hours ago, Alan64 said:

That Celestron 70mm Maksutov has an integrated zoom-ocular.  They will be no adding a diagonal to that one, let alone another eyepiece.  With this one, you can add all manner of eyepieces and accessories; even a star-prism diagonal when that bug bites, hopefully...

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/celestron-spotting-scopes/celestron-c90-mak.html

You cannot add a star diagonal but you can change eyepieces. The supplied zoom unscrews and a 1.25" adaptor can be screwed on in its place.

Your link to the C90 on FLO does remind me that the Amazon C70 price is a bit steep. For instance RVO are £30 cheaper. As an astronomical scope the C90 will certainly be superior, but as a spotting scope the long focal length will mean narrow views that are best suited to stationary targets. 

[happy-kat]

I have a Celestron C70. The good points are it is a mak, has a photo tripod threaded mount, can take 1.25 eyepieces. Less favourable is the supplied zoom eyepiece it's ok at low mag but poor at higher magnification. On really demanding objects like the bright Moon there is some chromatic aberration. Being a mak there shouldn't be any CA. So I took mine apart and discovered it was the small prism on the visual back causing this. I designed and had 3D printed a new back so mine now takes astro diagonal and I've got an erect image diagonal. 

The C90 takes a diagonal straight out of the box so could look for one second hand they do come up or look for a skymax 90 which is by Skywatcher and these do come up second hand in that price range. 

You won't I don't think get ED glass in your price range, but if you can accept the narrower field of view of a mak compared to a refractor, then you will get no chromatic aberration and strong magnification potential.

[happy-kat]

If you buy a mak second hand you'll want to put some budget aside as you may need to get an erect image diagonal of it didn't come with one, and look for ones with the photo tripod threaded mount.

[Alan64]

6 minutes ago, Ricochet said:

The focuser wheel is built into the side of the scope body as with conventional spotting scopes. 

You cannot add a star diagonal but you can change eyepieces. The supplied zoom unscrews and a 1.25" adaptor can be screwed on in its place.

Your link to the C90 on FLO does remind me that the Amazon C70 price is a bit steep. For instance RVO are £30 cheaper. As an astronomical scope the C90 will certainly be superior, but as a spotting scope the long focal length will mean narrow views that are best suited to stationary targets. 

Will oculars, from say, 9mm to 32mm, and all in between, come to focus?  A 32mm would allow for a low-power of 24x; 39x with the C90.

[Alan64]

17 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

I have a Celestron C70. The good points are it is a mak, has a photo tripod threaded mount, can take 1.25 eyepieces. Less favourable is the supplied zoom eyepiece it's ok at low mag but poor at higher magnification. On really demanding objects like the bright Moon there is some chromatic aberration. Being a mak there shouldn't be any CA. So I took mine apart and discovered it was the small prism on the visual back causing this. I designed and had 3D printed a new back so mine now takes astro diagonal and I've got an erect image diagonal. 

The C90 takes a diagonal straight out of the box so could look for one second hand they do come up or look for a skymax 90 which is by Skywatcher and these do come up second hand in that price range. 

You won't I don't think get ED glass in your price range, but if you can accept the narrower field of view of a mak compared to a refractor, then you will get no chromatic aberration and strong magnification potential.

Remarkable; I don't like being limited by a manufacturer's configuration myself.

[Ricochet]

 

18 minutes ago, Alan64 said:

Will oculars, from say, 9mm to 32mm, and all in between, come to focus?  A 32mm would allow for a low-power of 24x; 39x with the C90.

I think @happy-kat will be much more knowledgeable about this, I've only seen the spec sheet rather than looked though one.

[Cosmic Geoff]

45 minutes ago, Alan64 said:

Will oculars, from say, 9mm to 32mm, and all in between, come to focus?  A 32mm would allow for a low-power of 24x; 39x with the C90.

Don't forget that a small Maksutov has a small hole through the back and main mirror - a lot smaller than 32mm. Vignetting will occur.

[happy-kat]

Skymax 90 I've seen user reports of using all eyepiece focal lengths, obviously the higher the magnification the smaller the exit pupil. There's a limit to how wide the field of view would be so no point getting a wide angle eyepiece but that can be calculated FOV eyepiece combo with telescope.