Astronomy enthusiasts are well acquainted with the Zeiss brand and its famous astronomical refractors, which still inspire enthusiasts around the world. However, for several years now, the German company has abandoned the design and construction of astronomical telescopes to devote itself entirely to the construction of terrestrial telescopes for nature observation.
| CHARACTERISTICS | |||
| Lens diameter | 85 mm | ||
| Seal length | 550mm approximately | ||
| Minimum focusing distance | 5 meters | ||
| Optical group | 5 lenses (FL type - Synthetic Fluorite) | ||
| Prismatic system | undeclared | ||
| Waterproofing | 400mbar | ||
| Optical hull | undeclared | ||
| Dimensions | 345x105x97mm | ||
| Weight | Approximately 1490g | ||
| Eyepiece tested | Vario D 20-75X- gr 490. | ||
| Digiscoping capability | Yes | ||
| Price | Visible in the table at the bottom of the article | ||
Currently, three types of instruments are available: the classic Spektive Dialyt series “18-45×65″, with a simple and essential design that is mainly used by selective hunters, and the sophisticated and expensive Photoscope 85T* FL. The subject of my review, however, will be a spotting scope from the ”Victory Diascope” series, produced in two diameters, 65mm and 85mm, and available in the straight and angled versions.
The specimen that was the subject of this long-term test (over three months) is the Victory Diascope FL 85 in the angular version. I was not able to use the digiscoping kit, however. Handbook, the Italian distributor of Zeiss products supplied me with the photographic adapter and an excellent Vario D 20-75X eyepiece.
I now move on to express my impressions.
Mechanics and construction
This spotting scope features a classic, essential design. The aluminum body weighs no more than 1500 grams. The attention to detail is noteworthy, including the retractable lens hood with a small viewfinder. The large, non-slip, sound-absorbing black rubber boot provides excellent protection from accidental impacts that can occur during nature exploration sessions and more challenging hikes.
Zeiss claims a waterproofing factor of 400 mbar, and features a neutral lens in the eyepiece mount area to prevent dust and water from entering the optical body when changing eyepieces and accessories. This possibility isn't so far-fetched when observing and photographing in the wild.
The eyepiece connects to the prism area via a release button that has a safety system (push and turn) capable of preventing accidental extractions.
The Zeiss Victory Diascope 85FL It has a mounting point for photographic heads that is perfectly balanced for purely visual use. Once the reduction is removed, there is a 3/8 thread for larger heads. This is ideal for digiscoping when using heavy camera bodies.
The locking ring can be rotated 360°, as shown in the photo.
Thanks to the rotatable locking ring, the spotting scope can be rotated 360° to adapt it to your photographic and observation needs.
The Zeiss Victory Diascope 85FL It's decidedly compact: it's no more than 35cm long and 11cm wide. This, combined with its lightweight, meant I could carry it on medium-long trips simply by slinging the carbon tripod it was mounted on over my shoulder. (The photo shows my usual setup for visual observations: carbon tripod and Benro head, all weighing no more than 3.5kg!)
Focusing system
This spotting scope uses a system called DSF (Dual Speed Focus), an innovation from Carl Zeiss. This allows for two focusing settings with a single ring. Fine adjustment allows for very precise focusing, while as soon as the ring is rotated further, the system automatically switches to fast focusing, capable of adapting to the varying distances of the observed subjects.
This system, after a short apprenticeship, is very intuitive and precise and adapts to that desire for quick reaction and simplicity that all nature enthusiasts demand.
Objective and treatments
The 85mm diameter lens is made up of 5 lenses. I am not able to know how many of them contain fluoride, since the manufacturer states that it is a “ultra-high definition lens system containing fluorite”. For this reason, this spotting scope is presented with the acronym FL, the acronym that accompanies all the TOP OF THE RANGE products from the German company.
A stunning close-up of Zeiss's anti-reflective coating.
The well-known Lotutec coating on both the objectives and the eyepieces prevents water and condensation drops from settling on the lenses and clumping together, thus making both observations and cleaning the instrument easier.
Eyepieces
Zeiss currently offers three types of eyepieces for nature observation in its extensive catalog. A fixed eyepiece that provides 40x magnification in the Diascope 85 version (30x in the 65mm diameter version). A compact Vario eyepiece that provides the classic 20-60x (15-45x on the Diascope 65 FL), and the large Vario D eyepiece, which generates magnifications between 20 and 75x (15-56x for the smaller scope).
The latter is perhaps the most specialized eyepiece of the German company, capable of providing the 50% with more than the classic 50x magnification. This feature, in certain conditions, is truly incomparable, as it allows you to show, very easily, the resolving power provided by the 85mm objective. (see note 1)
The performance of this eyepiece, being a zoom, varies according to the magnification. The apparent field provided at 75X is very wide (0.9°, 16m/1000m, 78° apparent field) and is also well corrected up to the edge.
The 25X field of view is obviously less wide (2.2°, 40/1000m, 55° apparent field of view), where a slight degradation of the images is also noticeable, starting from around the 85% of the field. The contrast of dark tones with respect to light tones is medium, never annoying, the color rendition, however, is the classic neutral, tending towards cold, characteristic of Zeiss FL optics.
The waterproof eyepiece has a pull-out hood, its focal length ranges from 25.1mm to 6.7mm, it weighs 490 grams and is 118mm x 59mm long. Personally, I would have preferred a smoother magnification variation mechanism, with less friction, given that the model in my possession required holding the optical body with the right hand because you had to use a bit of force with the left hand to zoom in on subjects.
I would like to remind readers that Zeiss offers its customers two specific eyepiece adapters: the first allows the use of astronomical eyepieces with a barrel diameter of 31.8mm and the other allows the use of the three eyepiece models from the Diascope series with astronomical telescopes.
Chromatic aberration
The performance of this terrestrial telescope can be defined as apochromatic, with the exception of a minimal, insignificant, almost invisible, spurious halo, present in very strong lighting conditions on mountain profiles or on strongly backlit birdlife, starting from about the 50% of the field. In practice, the average user, but even the most demanding, will rarely notice this aberration, mentioned by the undersigned out of mere pedantry that is obligatory in a technical review. The performance is surprising even at high magnifications and in photographic shooting, where, often, the presence of this aberration is more easily noticed.
Practical use
Naturalistic observation
Having used this spotting scope for several weeks, I've had plenty of opportunities to take advantage of its features. My observations range from simply watching birds of prey in flight to counting roe deer and even spotting insects. In short, observing through this telescope is a real pleasure. What fascinates me about nature observation is enhancing my vision to get closer to wild animals that are often invisible to those without binoculars or a spotting scope.
I fondly recall one day, when I saw with the naked eye a raptor about to perch in a tree dozens of meters away. I was amazed to see it at over 80x magnification with prey in its beak: an observation I would never have been able to make with binoculars, much less with the naked eye.
Leaving aside the minimal differences that always exist between the TOP OF THE RANGE products, I must admit that the spotting scope is not a substitute for binoculars but is complementary: binoculars are used to search for distant subjects, the telescope is used to study the subject.
Direct focus photography
Unfortunately, as I already mentioned, I didn't have the opportunity to use the various accessories for digiscoping, however I was able to use my Canon 5D Mark II reflex camera with the photographic adapter that transforms the spotting scope into a super telephoto lens (manual focus) with a focal length of 1000mm and an aperture of 1:12.
The accessory screws on in place of the eyepiece, and you then simply need to connect the SLR using the classic T-ring connection.
The shots obtained are very good, proportional in quality to those obtained with my Canon L-series telephoto lenses.
It is obvious that due to manual focus, it will be easier to photograph static subjects, or to use predictive focus, which occurs when you adjust the focus to a point where you expect the subject to pass (often easier done than said).
A grey heron: due to the impossibility of moving from my photographic position, at 1000mm focal length
the heron was only partially captured.
Like all the best spotting scopes, its compactness and size allow it to be carried for many hours, either in a backpack or directly on a tripod and carried over the shoulder. I tried using a monopod, although I don't recommend it for those who want to observe the details of the subjects in the frame without having a vague idea. Furthermore, the 80x magnification provided with the large Vario eyepiece requires a good, stable tripod and not a cheap gimmick. It may seem obvious, but I've seen many amateurs own high-quality optics and support them with undersized, ultra-cheap tripods.
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The Zeiss Diascope 85FL compared to the Swarovski 80 ATM HD.
Astronomical observation.
Although I wasn't fortunate enough to use an adapter for astronomical eyepieces, I managed to create a homemade adapter that allowed me to mount some of the latest-generation planetary eyepieces. The excellent quality of the lenses is comparable to that provided by a classic short-focal-length apochromatic refractor for astronomical use. With a 2.3mm eyepiece, I achieved approximately 240x magnification for lunar observations, without appreciable loss of sharpness. For this type of observation, I used a Vixen Porta II micrometric mount. However, if you want to appreciate excellent sharpness, I recommend a useful magnification of 120X-150X.
For deep-sky observation at medium-low magnification, I used the 20x75 Vario eyepiece directly. Similar to daytime performance, at low magnification, I noticed some field curvature at the extreme edges of the field of view, along with a very slight coma. At maximum magnification, however, the performance is well corrected, both for geometric and chromatic aberrations. Under excellent skies, dozens of objects are visible: galaxies, star clusters, double stars (within the limits of the resolving power), asterisms, etc.
For this type of observation, it seemed to me to be the classic high-performance short focal length apochromatic telescope, with the added lightness, robustness and compactness of the best spotting scopes.
It is also needless to point out that thanks to its excellent waterproofing there are no problems with observations below zero or in the presence of high humidity.
Advice to the builder
If the eyepiece I tested were the average of all 20-75X Varios, I would like the manufacturer to “soften” the variation system a little to make it more fluid.
Accessories
There are many, ranging from the newly assembled photographic adapter to the Quick Camera Adapter II, a pivoting photographic adapter that allows you to observe and bring the digicamera or video camera close to the eyepiece extremely quickly. There are also a series of protective cases, two photographic tripods with fluid heads, made of carbon and aluminum and the aforementioned adapters for naturalistic and astronomical eyepieces (with 31.8mm and 50.4mm pitch).
In summary
The Zeiss Diascope 85 The FL perfectly represents Zeiss's current technology, a telescope that's excellent for visual observations and can be used in a variety of fields, thanks to its many accessories. It can be transformed, like a skilled quick-change artist, into a telephoto lens, a powerful digital and video scoping system, and even a small, high-performance astronomical telescope.
Prices (June 2011 - Bignami)
ZEISS DIASCOPE 85 D*FL ANGLED BODY GA/BLACK €2415.00
DIASCOPE 85 D*FL STRAIGHT BODY GA/BLACK €2415.00
ZEISS DIASCOPE EYEPIECE D 20-60(85)15-45X(65) €595.00
ZEISS DIASCOPE EYEPIECE D 20-75X(85T)15-56(65) €730.00
ZEISS DIASCOPE EYEPIECE D 40X(85)-30X(65) €385.00
ZEISS-TRIPOD “NEW” €415.00
ZEISS CARBON FIBER TRIPOD €735.00
ZEISS-DIASCOPE-D 85D 45^ READY-TO-USE CASE €185.00
ZEISS-DIASCOPE-D 85D READY-TO-USE CASE €185.00
ZEISS-DIASCOPE ADAPTER ASTRO 1.1/4″-528385 €143.00
ZEISS-DIASCOPE ASTRO ADAPTER 2.0″ -528386 €149.00
ZEISS-DIASCOPE PHOTO ADAPTER €499.00
ZEISS-DIASCOPE ADAPTER RING ASTRO-528384 €39.00
ZEISS-DIASCOPE QUICK-CAMERA ADAPTER II €469.00
Disclaimer. This review was published on June 27, 2011. Please note that the user impressions are entirely personal and provided by Binomania testers in complete freedom, without any commercial obligation or relationship, and based on proven experience using these optical instruments. For any information, updates, and/or changes to prices, instrument features, authorized sales outlets, or other information in general, please contact Bignami SPA directly by clicking on the image below.
Piergiovanni Salimbeni - Journalist and independent tester, founder of Binomania.co.uk, with over 25 years of experience in evaluating optical and digital instruments. It offers practical reviews and personalised advice for informed purchasing choices.