birdsofvirginia
Monday 28th January 2008, 05:56
Last month while on vacation I decided to purchase a small, portable point-and-shoot camera to tote around inside Universal Studios Florida that hopefully would produce decent images. (I didn't want to haul around my considerably more expensive Canon 5D setup.) Luckily I was able to try out several models and quickly decided on the Canon Powershot S5 IS. The first day of use, it was bright overcast with rain squalls throughtout the day and this little camera produced some impressive outdoor images throughout the day and into the night.
From time-to-time I still have a go at digiscoping with my old Nikon Coolpix 990, especially for documenting distant rarities. However it has begun to fail and the fact remains, it is extremely slow writing to card. The Canon Powershot S5 IS is certainly a much faster camera and although the lens opening is considerably larger than that of the CP 990/4500 which typically does not make it a good match for digiscoping. I figured it wouldn't hurt to give it a try.
I have a Kowa Prominar 823M spotting scope with the Kowa DA1 ditigal camera adapter primarily used with 32mm wide angle eyepiece. For the Powershot I purchased the Lensmate adapter and Kowa's step-up ring and today I headed out to try it out.
First, I was somewhat surprised at how relatively easy the powershot was to work with! About the only difficult thing for me was using the scope to focus on the moving subjects. The Powershot S5 allows you to quickly and easily switch to movie mode and snap a picture during the recording, a great feature for capturing moving/flying subjects.
Change in lighting conditions as you shoot? No problem. Shutter speed and aperature value can be quickly changed by simply pressing a button!
Attached is sample result from my first digiscoping attempt with the Canon Powershot S5 IS. I shot in either Manual or Av mode, macro setting (NOT supermacro). There was some vignetting but can easily be cropped.
The two attached samples are same image - (original,resized to 600x440 and cropped/sharpened) - no adjustments made to color, contrast, etc.
Image #1: Gadwall-600x440 - subject approximately 77-83 yards away (measured with laserfinder)
Shooting Date/Time 1/27/2008
Shooting Mode Manual
My Colors Mode Off
Tv (Shutter Speed) 1/640
Av (Aperture Value) 3.2
Light Metering Center Weighted Avg.
ISO Speed 100
Lens 6.0 - 72.0 mm
Focal Length 6.0 mm
Digital Zoom x 2.0
IS Mode On
Image Size 3264x2448
Image Quality Superfine
Flash Off
White Balance Day Light
AF Mode Continuous AF
Parameters Contrast Normal
Sharpness Normal
Saturation Normal
Color Space sRGB
File Size 1982 KB
Drive Mode Single-frame shooting
Image 2: Gadwall-sharpened
Zoomed to 100%, cropped and resized
From time-to-time I still have a go at digiscoping with my old Nikon Coolpix 990, especially for documenting distant rarities. However it has begun to fail and the fact remains, it is extremely slow writing to card. The Canon Powershot S5 IS is certainly a much faster camera and although the lens opening is considerably larger than that of the CP 990/4500 which typically does not make it a good match for digiscoping. I figured it wouldn't hurt to give it a try.
I have a Kowa Prominar 823M spotting scope with the Kowa DA1 ditigal camera adapter primarily used with 32mm wide angle eyepiece. For the Powershot I purchased the Lensmate adapter and Kowa's step-up ring and today I headed out to try it out.
First, I was somewhat surprised at how relatively easy the powershot was to work with! About the only difficult thing for me was using the scope to focus on the moving subjects. The Powershot S5 allows you to quickly and easily switch to movie mode and snap a picture during the recording, a great feature for capturing moving/flying subjects.
Change in lighting conditions as you shoot? No problem. Shutter speed and aperature value can be quickly changed by simply pressing a button!
Attached is sample result from my first digiscoping attempt with the Canon Powershot S5 IS. I shot in either Manual or Av mode, macro setting (NOT supermacro). There was some vignetting but can easily be cropped.
The two attached samples are same image - (original,resized to 600x440 and cropped/sharpened) - no adjustments made to color, contrast, etc.
Image #1: Gadwall-600x440 - subject approximately 77-83 yards away (measured with laserfinder)
Shooting Date/Time 1/27/2008
Shooting Mode Manual
My Colors Mode Off
Tv (Shutter Speed) 1/640
Av (Aperture Value) 3.2
Light Metering Center Weighted Avg.
ISO Speed 100
Lens 6.0 - 72.0 mm
Focal Length 6.0 mm
Digital Zoom x 2.0
IS Mode On
Image Size 3264x2448
Image Quality Superfine
Flash Off
White Balance Day Light
AF Mode Continuous AF
Parameters Contrast Normal
Sharpness Normal
Saturation Normal
Color Space sRGB
File Size 1982 KB
Drive Mode Single-frame shooting
Image 2: Gadwall-sharpened
Zoomed to 100%, cropped and resized