sagefool1975
Tuesday 23rd August 2005, 01:37
Hi, so as the title says I am looking to get into digiscoping! I have been doing some reading trying to work out a way to do that on a budget (500-700 dollars or less) and it seems like I have several options. I currently have a Cannon S400 and a Panasonic FZ-20, neither of which seem very suited to digiscoping so it looks like I will need to get a new camera.
There seem to be a couple of options immediately available that I'm fairly interested in:
The SL400R, which is nice in that it is small, fast and I could probably just sell my cannon and replace it with the SL400R for about a break even kind of deal.
The Olympus C-7070WZ is appealing because it has the large resolution, and while I don't print large (greater than 5x7) now, I think I will be more motivated with some of the lovely pictures I'm sure I will take. ;) It is also quite a bit more expensive than the SL400R and I can't replace my S400 with it since it just isn't a pocket camera. :)
Thus I'm kind of leaning toward the SL400R, what are peoples thoughts about this camera? And if please, if you like the C7070 talk me into it!
(Did anyone look at the giant set of new cannons released today? I wonder if any of those would be useful?)
As for scopes I have been looking at the Celestron C90, since I just can't work out how I can talk myself into spending 700+ on a scope. :) It seems like it would work fairly well, and for up to 12x I do have my FZ-20 which is pretty sweet. Are their other similarly priced scopes that you would recommend over the C90? Waterproof isn't a huge deal for me as I'll only use it for digiscoping and my camera isn't waterproof.
How would I go about mounting the Celestron C90 to the SL400R? Or alternatively the C7070? The variety of adaptors and bits and bobs is a bit astonishing really. If it comes down to it, my Dad has a metal shop in his basement and he could probably make something to spec, but I would need to know what to have him make! And it would probably be way easier to just buy something if it isn't super expensive.
Eyepieces, good grief, looking into scopes and learning more about optics has just left me with my brain hurting when it comes to the multitude of eyepieces available! It _seems_ like there is some general agreement that the zoom ones aren't really that hot for digiscoping use. What magnification of eyepieces are recommended? With the C90 I presumably need something that will give me a lowish (for that scope) magnification?
Do the cameras zoom typically work with no vignetting through the zoom range (1-3x or 1-4x for SL400R and C7070?) I guess that depends on the scope eh?
And I will need to get all this stuff up on a tripod if I really want to actually take some good pictures! Manfrotto 3021N with a 3130 Microfluid Video Head was recommend by Jay and looks pretty awesome, but at 200ish dollars it seems a little pricey. Though of course stabilization is important so if 200 dollars must be spent it must be spent.
I think that is everything I can think of right now. Thanks in advance for any advice!
-eric
There seem to be a couple of options immediately available that I'm fairly interested in:
The SL400R, which is nice in that it is small, fast and I could probably just sell my cannon and replace it with the SL400R for about a break even kind of deal.
The Olympus C-7070WZ is appealing because it has the large resolution, and while I don't print large (greater than 5x7) now, I think I will be more motivated with some of the lovely pictures I'm sure I will take. ;) It is also quite a bit more expensive than the SL400R and I can't replace my S400 with it since it just isn't a pocket camera. :)
Thus I'm kind of leaning toward the SL400R, what are peoples thoughts about this camera? And if please, if you like the C7070 talk me into it!
(Did anyone look at the giant set of new cannons released today? I wonder if any of those would be useful?)
As for scopes I have been looking at the Celestron C90, since I just can't work out how I can talk myself into spending 700+ on a scope. :) It seems like it would work fairly well, and for up to 12x I do have my FZ-20 which is pretty sweet. Are their other similarly priced scopes that you would recommend over the C90? Waterproof isn't a huge deal for me as I'll only use it for digiscoping and my camera isn't waterproof.
How would I go about mounting the Celestron C90 to the SL400R? Or alternatively the C7070? The variety of adaptors and bits and bobs is a bit astonishing really. If it comes down to it, my Dad has a metal shop in his basement and he could probably make something to spec, but I would need to know what to have him make! And it would probably be way easier to just buy something if it isn't super expensive.
Eyepieces, good grief, looking into scopes and learning more about optics has just left me with my brain hurting when it comes to the multitude of eyepieces available! It _seems_ like there is some general agreement that the zoom ones aren't really that hot for digiscoping use. What magnification of eyepieces are recommended? With the C90 I presumably need something that will give me a lowish (for that scope) magnification?
Do the cameras zoom typically work with no vignetting through the zoom range (1-3x or 1-4x for SL400R and C7070?) I guess that depends on the scope eh?
And I will need to get all this stuff up on a tripod if I really want to actually take some good pictures! Manfrotto 3021N with a 3130 Microfluid Video Head was recommend by Jay and looks pretty awesome, but at 200ish dollars it seems a little pricey. Though of course stabilization is important so if 200 dollars must be spent it must be spent.
I think that is everything I can think of right now. Thanks in advance for any advice!
-eric