The Almost Pocketable Scope

Nikon Fieldscope 13-30x50 ED Angled

Nikon 50mm ED Scope

We fell in love with this tiny spotting scope when we saw it at the Nikon booth at the Midwest Birding Symposium, in Moline, Illinois, in the fall of 2007. Here is Mike Freiberg, a Nikon representative, posing with the Nikon 50mm ED scope for us.

It's small enough that you could slip it into a cargo pocket!

Seriously, we didn't think such a tiny scope would be all that great. It's only about 8 inches long. But when we looked through it, we went "WOW!" Everything was bright and sharp. And it's waterproof and nitrogen purged, with optics worthy of the best of Nikon.

Then we picked up the scope. It's so light (a mere pound) could take it on a round-the-world trip, where you wanted to pack light. (You could even take it backpacking.) And wouldn't it be great to have such a tiny, good scope with you in wonderful places like that?

We wanted one, and before long we bought one. Diane took it on a birding trip to Guatemala in June of 2008, along with a lightweight carbon fiber tripod. She carried the outfit all day up and down the steep slopes of the Atitlan volcano. At the end of each day, it still felt light and easy to carry. And the views were spectacular.