SANParks.org Forums

Hi
Im looking for a good spotting scope for birding that is reasonably portable, Please could any of our birders using scopes give me some advice I have been looking at the Kowa and Nikon ranges. I would prefer makes available in SA. I need help with sizes and optic choices.

Many Thanks

Hi mods if you want to move this to another thread please do but I need the advice of active birders so put it here.

Finding a good scope is half the battle, you also need a VERY stable tripod and smooth panning head (2-3K). Generally you get what you pay for as far as price vs quality. The cheap scopes don't have the resolving power that you need, and I can guarantee that a good pair of 10x bino's like leica will serve you better than a cheap scope. The better scopes will generally have less chromatic abberation (colour fringing) and will be sharp across the field of view, the cheap scopes are usually only sharp in the centre. You can test the CA by viewing a dark line with a bright white background and see if there is any colour (purple) fringing.

Play around with them in the shop and pay attention to things like the focus knob (smooth, easy to find etc).

More than that I cannot help as I don't have a cupboard full of them to compare.

Many thanks Adrianp, I have been doing photography for a number of years so have good tripods panning heads etc and a number of pairs of good binoculars in the house and 1 pair permanently in my car so that side is all taken care of. As you say it is the lens quality etc that is where I need the help at this stage Im tending to the Kowa judging by the write ups but would like some help if anyone has used any of these scopes. The use will be for more distant birds and not so reachable spots also I live on the coast so getting into river mouths etc is not the easy and a lot of our birds are fairly distant.

Hi Wingman,
also quite a bit of info and advice on Spotting Scopes/Binocs etc Here