New Camera

[Robert L Jarvis]

Hi All
Just when the Canon A95 or Sony DSC-W5 is being promoted as a possible successor to the Nikon. Sony have now introduced the W7 which has over 7mp and other various improvements as a replacement for the W5, however the lens is the same. Just when I was checking over the A95 and W5, the goalposts get changed so it's back to square 1. Price for the W7 per pixmania is abt £240, the a95 is £180, and W5 £208. Oh by the way the lcd screen on the W7 is 2.5 inches.

It really is a sod trying to sort out a camera for digiscoping when this happens and Kyocera have packed in as well giving doubts as to the wisdom of buying their machine. I suppose this is really just a grumble but it is so frustrating. There remains the problem of sorting out an adapter to accomodate cameras which have an extending lens. What is everyone else doing out there?

It's at times like this I feel like saying just stick to seeing the bird never mind trying to get a piccy, but then you get a Tawny Owl showing very well in daylight, never mind the few twigs, you now you just have to have a piccy and so back to square 1. Piccy taken with a hand held Sony DSC-75 to a TSN4. Not the best piccy of a Tawny but then how often do you get any chance.

Anyone out there tried a W5 or a W7? and has similarly have bad hair days!!

Robert

[Yelvertoft]

Hi All
Just when the Canon A95 or Sony DSC-W5 is being promoted as a possible successor to the Nikon. Sony have now introduced the W7 which has over 7mp and other various improvements as a replacement for the W5, however the lens is the same. Just when I was checking over the A95 and W5, the goalposts get changed so it's back to square 1. Price for the W7 per pixmania is abt £240, the a95 is £180, and W5 £208. Oh by the way the lcd screen on the W7 is 2.5 inches.
Robert

Hi Robert,

Have a look at http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=30689
I fully agree with Ilkka's comment about 7MP cameras, they are complete overkill. There's an awful lot more to digiscoping, and digital photography in general, than the number of MP.

The W5/A95 will be perfectly high enough resolution and they are cheaper than the 7MP models. Also, with fewer MP, you won't need to spend so much money on Memory Sticks. By the way, as a Sony user myself, the cheapest I've found for Sticks is www.ebuyer.com. They have Sandisk 512MB for £41.71 inc. postage at the moment.

Oh, and it's not just the W7 that has the 2.5" screen, almost all the W models do.

Regards,

Duncan.

[Robert L Jarvis]

Hi Duncan
Thanks for the information. On the subject of mp, compacts are now at the level of DSLR's. I have a Canon 300D and after much searching around have determined that it is useless as far as digiscoping is concerned, you cannot beat a good compact for ease of use and practicality.

Since my thread, I have looked at a W5, A95 and CP6900 (I think) and my thoughts on these are: -

W5 Great little handy camera, starts up and zooms quick, can rattle of the shots, lcd very clear but lacking in functions no aperture priority mode.

A95 Has all the functions, starts up quick and zoom as well but that pull out lcd is fiddley and small, if you twist and put the lcd in the slot at the back the image is upside down and left poking out could be inconvenient,bulkier than the sony.

CP6900 limited functions like the Sony, but similar dimensions seems like a nice little camera but it just didn't gel for me.

Oh by the way have sorted out an adapter for my DSC-75 and Kowa scope, details to be placed on adapter section soon.

Thanks again

Robert

[christineredgate]

Talking of small pocket compacts,I have been searching during the last week,for a pop in the pocket cam,which could perhaps take a quick bird image at close quarters,and I settled for a Oly c-700z,which arrived today,and here is an image taken with it,by the time I had taken the 300d out of its case,and pointed it at the bird,it would have flown away,but with this little cam was able to take a quick picture.
The only downside so far is that the manual was on a disc,and I had to print off 194 pages!!! which are still waiting to be read.

The lowest price I could find was Warehouse Express,at £289,but it would be much lower on e-bay .It is small and very light.But do not think it could be used for digiscoping unless a homemade adaptor could be found,although it could be worth a try.

[alan_rymer]

Hi Duncan
A95 Has all the functions, starts up quick and zoom as well but that pull out lcd is fiddley and small, if you twist and put the lcd in the slot at the back the image is upside down and left poking out could be inconvenient,bulkier than the sony.

Robert
Robert

I leave my LCD in the slot with the LCD facing out all the time, and its not upside down!.
I seem to remeber a setting which switches to allowing rotate or not when twisting the LCD.
Just looked on steves Digicam, In the Manual Menu " Reverse Disp. - On or Off "

[Jay Turberville]

I leave my LCD in the slot with the LCD facing out all the time, and its not upside down!.
I seem to remeber a setting which switches to allowing rotate or not when twisting the LCD.
Just looked on steves Digicam, In the Manual Menu " Reverse Disp. - On or Off "

I absolutely love the flip and twist LCD on my CP5000. And like Alan reports, the LCD flips the image when the screen is rotated past a certain point. It would be nice to have the option of having the LCD reverse the normal orientation though since I digiscope without an erecting prism. Though I have become so accustomed to upside-down and reversed, that normal orientation is now confusing to me.

I've been shooting with 5Mp for over two years now and part of me want to move to 7-8Mp and part of me thinks that the real improvement will be marginal since the optics are already straining to do well at 5Mp. Either way, with good optics 5Mp can deliver up very nice 8x10 prints and even pretty darned good 11x14 prints. And if the standard of some professional prints I've seen displayed are OK with you, you could go even larger.

Fixed lens digicams as we use for digiscoping typically deliver about 15% less effective linear resolution as compared to the larger sensor DSLRs. So even though the pixel count is the same, the smaller cameras give up an edge in resolution. So 8mp fixed lens digitals resolve about as much detail as a 6mp DSLR. These differences aren't great and are actually darned subtle. But its worth being aware that they are there.

The 7Mp sensor is a newer technology than the 8Mp sensor. So a camera with that sensor would be a good choice. Now if Nikon would introduce a CP4500 replacement with that 7Mp sensor (its a 1/1.8" size), then we'd have a great replacement camera (assuming the lens formula was similar).

And finally, just resign yourself to the fact that anything you buy will be outdated soon. That's just the way it is. Though I do think that compact digitals are near maxing out due to optical limits that can't be engineered around. 10mp should be about the limit and that probably only makes sense on the larger 2/3" sensors.

[Robert L Jarvis]

Hi Jay
Thanks for the detailed information. I have now considered the option of a new camera and have decided not to proceed for the moment. See my thread under Digiscoping adapters titled Adapter for Sony DSc & Kowa.

All the best, by the way AZ where is that?

Robert