Tell Me About Telescopes

Recently moved into a house overlooking the sea (Med) The coast is 4km away and we get a steady stream of large ships on the horizon as well as sailing boats nearer the shore. There’s also a large variety of bird life on the Ebro Delta and a bit of light star gazing could be interesting.  Is there decently powerful jack of all trades telescope on the market, what spec should I be aiming for? I don’t want to spend a fortune in case I lose interest, I’m assuming you quickly get into diminishing returns with better lens quality, image sharpness. I’ve got a camera tripod, would that be of any use or do I need the right one for the job?

Thanks in advance

They’re definitely something worth looking into.

@Beagleboy @beagleboy @beagleboy – that should get a sensible and helpful answer when he reads your question as he knows his stuff on this.

you want a bird watching one not an astronomical one.    Bird watching ones have the image the right way up and a wider field of view but less magnification.  Should be good enough to see the moon well and the planets as discs ( tiny ones but not pinpoint)

Astronomical telescopes invert the image and usually have ( better ones at least) an equatorial mount IIRC which makes it easy to track stars and planets but hard to sweep for birds – the mount moves in line with the ecliptic ( the line the moon and sun follow) rather than the horizon

Absolutely what TJ says. A nice wee spotting scope with a tripod to steady it on the table will be perfect. You’ll be able to make out some of the bigger craters on the Moon and the discs of Saturn and Jupiter. Maybe even a tiny glimpse of the Orion Nebula if you’re lucky, but ships and fluffy bird thingys should be no problem for it.

Better off setting a budget first, then working back from there. Tripod and tripod head eats into the budget significantly, but your current tripod might be OK depending on how good it is (mainly stability/strength)

I’d have a look around on birdforum, the optics section there is absolutely first rate and where I do a lot of research before buying things. Also a great place to check out secondhand optics, it’s a much cheaper way in. You do get diminishing returns after a point, but on the way up spending another £50 or £100 gets you a lot more.

Sounds like you don’t want anything portable which means you could get a bigger scope and heavier tripod, and even go for an older model and get some great value. My scope is the total opposite, I want to be able to put it in a bag or carry it easily so I only have a 50mm objective. You could easily go for 70mm plus if you’re not moving it. Objective size drives magnification

Sounds like you don’t want anything portable which means you could get a bigger scope

I naively thought bigger must = better when I bought a spotting scope for home use. It is too large, not as stable and the higher magnification is actually too much. Wish I had bought a smaller one.

If there is a nature reserve with a shop within visiting distance, it would be worth going to try some spotting scopes to get an idea of the size & magnification you are looking for and to see the optical improvements you get in different price ranges. Also, seriously consider the second hand items that they have, as the birder demographic are either upgrading kit or dying so they often have a healthy supply of used kit available. Bear in mind though, that you will often get a poor heavily magnified image across the open water no matter how good the optics, due to atmospheric conditions.

Thanks for the replies, I really am coming at this with no knowledge. I guess a reasonably portable one would allow me to ride out onto the Ebro Delta with it in a backpack and do some birding but it’s main use would be on the balcony surveying the sea. What are the important numbers to look for? Is it like cameras IE magnification, focal length and image brightness. Is a budget of about €200 going to get me something half decent?

. I guess a reasonably portable one would allow me to ride out onto the Ebro Delta with it in a backpack and do some birding

Yes – tripods are the main issue I think

Dunno about the numbers thing – sorry.

I have a hawke 20-60 x 80. Seems pretty decent for the price: https://www.sherwoods-photo.com/hawke_sport_optics/hawke_spotting_scopes_fs.htm (scroll down)