What telescope?

Seatrout

Seatrout

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Having just moved to a house with an elevated view across the Firth of Clyde toward Loch Long and Holy Loch it is lovely to see yachts, mobos and ships passing by.

The previous dwelling was in a concrete canyon, so I'm keen to take advantage of this new visual freedom with a telescope (may also cancel the TV licence!).

The question is what telescope (on tripod) should I get. My research thus far reveals that most are for looking at planets and stars and I wonder if they are good for daylight viewing across two miles of water? Power-wise, I'd like to read ship's names/IMO numbers at around 1 mile.

Any advice will be gratefully received. The budget for this is up to £300/400.
 
You need a decent quality spotting scope (http://www.telescopesandbinoculars.co.uk/acatalog/ChoosingYourSpottingFieldscope.html). £300 will not buy the best, but it is enough for a very decent scope. Don't go for the very cheap options - they are usually terrible - try to go somewhere where you will be able to look through it before you commit. Out of curiosity, I bought one from Lidl a while ago for about £30 and it is absolutely awful!

This one from john Lewis might be worth a look - http://www.johnlewis.com/celestron-ultima-80-45-spotting-scope/p231358450 - they are always a good company to buy from.
 
Look for a spotting telescope, not an astronomical one. It gives you a right-way-round image. Also, consider one with an angled eyepiece, not straight through; more comfortable to use,

This is what I use in a similar situation but a thousand miles or so further south.

http://www.acuteroptics.com/_english/04_spotting/02_detail.php?sid=27

Optically it's OK-ish, but at high magnification (30-40X) it needs a far more solid tripod than I have. In fact, I'd suggest you might want to look at devoting 25% or so of budget to a rigid tripod, with the balance on the scope.

I'd regard my 'scope as bottom of the range*, or a little above. I'm sure you could do better

(PS - well, better than a £30 Lidl special, anyway!)
 
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When looking through a telescope, don't close the "other" eye at all, let alone screw it up tight. Just concentrate on what you're seeing through the eye at the lens and the rest wil just disappear! If anything, I find it more difficult to use binoculars as some will not perfectly align, so you have two images, both in focus but slightly out of register - which eye should I ignore? Probably not a problem for any optics to be used in a domestic situation, so long as you have no problems when purchased.

Rob.
 
rob2 said:
When looking through a telescope, don't close the "other" eye at all, let alone screw it up tight. Just concentrate on what you're seeing through the eye at the lens and the rest wil just disappear! If anything, I find it more difficult to use binoculars as some will not perfectly align, so you have two images, both in focus but slightly out of register - which eye should I ignore? Probably not a problem for any optics to be used in a domestic situation, so long as you have no problems when purchased.

Rob.
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That is certainly the theory, but not everyone can manage it. I was a keen amateur astronomer in my youth, but still don't comfortably use a telescope with both eyes open.

Strangely, I did find that Lidl's budget zoom binoculars are not too bad - vastly better than their cheap scopes!
 
Gourock 002.jpg
I have an Opticron IS50 which I bought from Black and Lizars in Glasgow when I moved into my flat with views over Loch Long and the Holy Loch. Cost iirc about £120 ish (add on about £50 ish for the eyepiece though...) 5 years ago. I already had the tripod.

Regards

Donald
 
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For the same reason (view) I have a heavy ugly Russian-made 30x spotting scope that cost about £80, very good quality image, but I do really need a better tripod. You need a steady tripod, with a pan head with a really smooth movie-camera action, not the common and cheaper still-camera type that are OK when locked off but don't pan smoothly.
 
rob2 said:
When looking through a telescope, don't close the "other" eye at all, let alone screw it up tight. Just concentrate on what you're seeing through the eye at the lens and the rest wil just disappear! If anything, I find it more difficult to use binoculars as some will not perfectly align, so you have two images, both in focus but slightly out of register - which eye should I ignore? Probably not a problem for any optics to be used in a domestic situation, so long as you have no problems when purchased.

Rob.
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maby said:
That is certainly the theory, but not everyone can manage it. I was a keen amateur astronomer in my youth, but still don't comfortably use a telescope with both eyes open.

Strangely, I did find that Lidl's budget zoom binoculars are not too bad - vastly better than their cheap scopes!
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No experience with a telescope - I'd agree with those who suggest binoculars. But I did use monocular microscopes a great deal when studying petrology, and the universal practise was to keep both eyes open. If you're using a microscope for 2-3 hours at a time, anything else just doesn't work - you'll end up with a shocking headache if you try and keep one eye closed. It also makes it easier to sketch what you see through the microscope.

Incidentally, some people can't close one eye - very few of my Chinese relatives can.
 
Seatrout said:
Thanks for all the advice. "Spotting - scope" wasn't in my vocabulary till now and I also note the need for a decent tripod as I recon the one I have for camera is probably only good for the camera!
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You may be able to use the camera tripod if it is stable enough, but be prepared to replace the head if it's for a still camera. With a scope or binoculars, you need to be able to move it easily and smoothly. A pan-and-tilt head intended for a video camera may be accepotable
 
Oh, and good tripods take up a lot of balcony (and still blow over!). Think about bolting something to the railing perhaps?
 
I'm not a great believer in buying cheap but I impulse-bought a Hanoptik 15x50 Field Scope from Coopers of Stortford a few years ago for £20 and I'm amazed by the image quality. They only had them in stock for a week or so [I know because a friend tried to buy one after he tried mine] but maybe they're available elsewhere.
 
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