question: digiscoping with Kowa 880 series and Panasonic DMC-FZ18 or 28

[BCNightjar]

Hello,

I recently acquired a Panasonic DMC-FZ28 camera, and also a Kowa TSN-884. I know that the superzoom cameras are not ideal for digiscoping, but wondered if anybody has had any success digiscoping with either the Panny DMC-FZ28 (or the older model DMC-FZ18), and if so, what adaptors are needed for the 88 mm Kowa scope.

Thanks!
Nathan

[Neil]

Hello,

I recently acquired a Panasonic DMC-FZ28 camera, and also a Kowa TSN-884. I know that the superzoom cameras are not ideal for digiscoping, but wondered if anybody has had any success digiscoping with either the Panny DMC-FZ28 (or the older model DMC-FZ18), and if so, what adaptors are needed for the 88 mm Kowa scope.

Thanks!
Nathan

Nathan,
Because you already have a high magnification lens you need an eyepiece with long Eye-relief and low magnification . I have the Scopetronix Maxview 40 S which could work, but have a look at this Kowa video eyepiece
http://www.kowa-usa.com/digiscope/video/index.htm#02
This is 8x power with long eye-relief.
Neil.

[J. Moore]

Hello,

I recently acquired a Panasonic DMC-FZ28 camera, and also a Kowa TSN-884. I know that the superzoom cameras are not ideal for digiscoping, but wondered if anybody has had any success digiscoping with either the Panny DMC-FZ28 (or the older model DMC-FZ18), and if so, what adaptors are needed for the 88 mm Kowa scope.

Thanks!
Nathan

Hi Nathan,

I experimented with my FZ18 and Kowa 883 with the standard 20x-60x zoom eyepiece and no adapter (some people actually get quite good results without using an adapter). If you experiment with the zoom level of the camera, you can minimize, but not eliminate, the vignetting that occurs. (Try it yourself and you will see what I mean). Just spending a little time, I get decent but not exceptional results. I do not know if it is possible to get better results, but if you could, you might theoretically be able to make it work with this setup if you did not mind cropping out the vignetting afterwards.

But if you really want a straightforward setup, you would want to get a low-zoom camera (or perhaps the low magnification long eye relief eyepiece that Neil recommends -- I actually had never seen that recommendation before, but he is one of the digiscoping experts here).

Best,
Jim