I've had the scope for about 6 weeks now and am enjoying it very much. The power of the 30-70x zoom eyepiece ( only on the STX 95)comes into it's own out on the mudflats at Mai Po. This is not a scope for back yard or canopy birding, for those the 65/85 mm scopes would be better.
I have the TLS APO adapter for Nikon mount and Micro Four Mount Cameras ( there is a Canon mount also ). As it is a T2 mount I also purchased a Nex mount in Hong Kong for my Sony NEX 7. This adapter works like the old DCA-type adapters and has one locking screw to release it when removing it for viewing. This is much more user friendly than the older TLS adapter. The TLS APO has a built in 30 mm lens which reduces the power of the zoom eyepiece by 30/50 as well as protecting the camera sensor from dust when removed off the scope for viewing.
http://www.swarovskioptik.us/en_us/products/camera-adapters
For other digicams that don't have adapters the DCB 11 is very easy to use. For viewing it swings out of the way easily.
I have a Set on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7892550@N03/sets/72157632140430721/
Here is a video taken with the Nikon Coolpix P310 at different magnifications with the STX 95
https://vimeo.com/59963549 at a distance of about 8 meters
and another Mai Po
https://vimeo.com/59205121 at a distance of 60 meters.
I have tested the Nikon D7000,V1,8400,6000,P310,D800,Sony NEX 7,RX100,NEX 5,Panasonic GF1. The Full Frame D800 has too much vignetting to be useful and there is a slight shadowing with the NEX cameras but not enough to be a problem most of the time.
The build quality is the usual Swarovski hi standard and is much more solid on the tripod than the Kowa Lens/scope that I've been using for the last two years. It would be hard to tell the difference in optical quality between the two brands though and I haven't done a direct comparison yet, but I prefer the 30-70x eyepiece of the Swarovski over the 20-60 of the Kowa ( Kowa have a new 25-60 eyepiece but I haven't tried it yet as I don't have one )
Neil
ps the Scope and attachments were kindly provided to me by Swarovski
female eurasian wigeon by
neilfif11
grey heron by
neilfif11
great cormorant by
neilfif11
eurasian curlews by
neilfif11
red throated flycatcher by
neilfif11
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Last edited by fneil at 24/02/2013 13:33 ]
