Newbie with a question re digiscoping

[bucky72]

I have a Panasonic FZ20 camera. I have tried to take photos of birds with very mild success. I used to be able to do a little with my SLR Nikon 35 mm with the telephoto lens, but now because of the weight etc. I prefer the digital (I also llike the instant gratification of knowing whether a photo is good or not).

My question is this. I might be interested in what I have been reading about re attaching a scope to my camera to get the close up photos that I have been seeing of birds. Can you point me in the correct direction to find out more information, e.g., what kind I would need for my camera, how does it attach, does one use a tripod or can it be handheld, I guess the basics of this type of photography to start with, I could get into the where's and etc. later.

Thanks to anyone that can help.

BR Judy :h?:

[alan_rymer]

I have a Panasonic FZ20 camera. I have tried to take photos of birds with very mild success. I used to be able to do a little with my SLR Nikon 35 mm with the telephoto lens, but now because of the weight etc. I prefer the digital (I also llike the instant gratification of knowing whether a photo is good or not).

My question is this. I might be interested in what I have been reading about re attaching a scope to my camera to get the close up photos that I have been seeing of birds. Can you point me in the correct direction to find out more information, e.g., what kind I would need for my camera, how does it attach, does one use a tripod or can it be handheld, I guess the basics of this type of photography to start with, I could get into the where's and etc. later.

Thanks to anyone that can help.

BR Judy :h?:Judy

Its likely, from looking at the spec's for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20, that it may not work out as a good camera for digiscoping as the objective lens is so large!. A plus point is that the max zoom is quite low at 4x.
For info on digiscoping, go to:
http://www.digiscoped.com/Digiscopingindex.html

HTH

Alan

[scampo]

I have a Panasonic FZ20 camera. I have tried to take photos of birds with very mild success. I used to be able to do a little with my SLR Nikon 35 mm with the telephoto lens, but now because of the weight etc. I prefer the digital (I also llike the instant gratification of knowing whether a photo is good or not).

My question is this. I might be interested in what I have been reading about re attaching a scope to my camera to get the close up photos that I have been seeing of birds. Can you point me in the correct direction to find out more information, e.g., what kind I would need for my camera, how does it attach, does one use a tripod or can it be handheld, I guess the basics of this type of photography to start with, I could get into the where's and etc. later.

Thanks to anyone that can help.

BR Judy :h?:
I tried my Fuji S602 a while back - useless owing to the large front elements of the lens and the long travel of the zoom. I think you'll find the Lumix is the same, as Alan suggests.

[IanF]

I have the FZ20 and I digiscope and the two don't work together. The FZ20 has too wide a lens and too powerful a zoom for digiscoping. The result is that at low zoom power vignetting is too much but on increasing the zoom to reduce vignetting the image become too soft and grainy.

Even using a DSLR for digiscoping is nothing like as good as using a simple small compact digital camera. The link from Alan tells you everything about the mechanics of digiscoping on how to put everything together and the technique to use. Camera designs come and go so it's hard to say which is best at present. The digiscoping forum usually shows what people are using at present.

[bucky72]

Thanks folks for your kind input. I actually also have a Nikon Cool Pix 4300 so maybe that will work. I am off to read on that site that alan gave me and see if I can educate myself. Thanks.