DIGISCOPING WITH Leica combo

[kim cooper]

I have just recieved my Leica adaptor, which I hope to be getting decent results from along with D-LUX2 camera and APO 77 scope. Has anyone out there got the same set up and can you give me some pointers thanks in anticipation ted/kim

[Cathryn]

I have just recieved my Leica adaptor, which I hope to be getting decent results from along with D-LUX2 camera and APO 77 scope. Has anyone out there got the same set up and can you give me some pointers thanks in anticipation ted/kim


Hello

We, too, just put together the same outfit as yours: Leica adaptor, D-L 2, and APO 77. (By the way. for other people reading this post who are having difficulty getting the adaptor, Adorama Camera in New York city has Leica adaptors - they ship everywhere - it's how we got ours after every local supplier promised a month's wait, at least)

Used it for the first time yesterday with the 20 - 60 eyepiece. A bit of strangeness - zooming the Leica out to "fill the frame", even with the adaptor's barrel fully extended, caused the lens to bump into the adapter, retreat and turn itself off. Even though Leica's literature says that the 20 - 60 is fully usable, seems a bit of an odd design feature - checking with the company now to see if we are doing something wrong, or what.

The pictures that were taken show great promise, by the way - it's going to take some practice, though.

Cathryn

[kim cooper]

Hello

We, too, just put together the same outfit as yours: Leica adaptor, D-L 2, and APO 77. (By the way. for other people reading this post who are having difficulty getting the adaptor, Adorama Camera in New York city has Leica adaptors - they ship everywhere - it's how we got ours after every local supplier promised a month's wait, at least)

Used it for the first time yesterday with the 20 - 60 eyepiece. A bit of strangeness - zooming the Leica out to "fill the frame", even with the adaptor's barrel fully extended, caused the lens to bump into the adapter, retreat and turn itself off. Even though Leica's literature says that the 20 - 60 is fully usable, seems a bit of an odd design feature - checking with the company now to see if we are doing something wrong, or what.

The pictures that were taken show great promise, by the way - it's going to take some practice, though.

Cathryn
Hi Cathryn, thanks for reply.I too get the problem with the camera lense touching the adaptor, however I find if I adjust the zoom on the camera then lower into position before tightening the grub screw things seem ok,. Not quite ready yet to post my early attempts, I agree with your cautious approach it will take some practice. I have privately messaged Ianf, he is a moderator and acomplished photographer who also digiscopes. His produce is what I wish for. He has been kind enough to encourage me in that he will look over any pictures that I post and help me in any way he can... good luck and keep me posted ted ps I use 30x wide angle

[Cathryn]

Hello

We, too, just put together the same outfit as yours: Leica adaptor, D-L 2, and APO 77. (By the way. for other people reading this post who are having difficulty getting the adaptor, Adorama Camera in New York city has Leica adaptors - they ship everywhere - it's how we got ours after every local supplier promised a month's wait, at least)

Used it for the first time yesterday with the 20 - 60 eyepiece. A bit of strangeness - zooming the Leica out to "fill the frame", even with the adaptor's barrel fully extended, caused the lens to bump into the adapter, retreat and turn itself off. Even though Leica's literature says that the 20 - 60 is fully usable, seems a bit of an odd design feature - checking with the company now to see if we are doing something wrong, or what.

The pictures that were taken show great promise, by the way - it's going to take some practice, though.

Cathryn
Hi everybody

Here's some really useful advice from Leica's optics expert based in the U.S. He has advised that it is ok by him to circulate this e-mail.

Cathryn

Cathryn,

You are correct that you can not zoom all the way in with the camera, even when the digital adapter is fully distended when you have the adapter secured all the way to the base of the scope. However, I have found with the same combination that I am able to run the camera zoom out to a point where I eliminate vingetting without running the camera lens into the zoom ocular. With the scope zoom eyepiece at 20x I've found vingetting disappears at about 2x on the camera zoom without hitting the two lenses. There are two solutions if you want to zoom higher, you can open the upper clamp and pull the camera body back the extra 1/4" to accomodate the additional travel of the camera lens or you can then loosen the lower set screw and slide the entire adapter back a bit. I will then zoom the camera in and slowly slide the adapter back to where the vingetting dissappears and then lock the set screw at this point.

That said, most of the best images taken are at lower power. The more you increase the zoom the less resolution you have because you are magnifying all of the impurities/moisture in the air, etc. The same is true of using your scope midday. When you increase the magnification above about 40x (regardless of manufacturer) what you gain in magnification you tend to lose in resolution. I'm sure you've likely seen this in your regular viewing. The extent of this varies from day to day and even hour to hour depending on humidity, etc.

Regarding your question of eyepiece selection, there is no right or wrong eyepiece. Probably 90% of our sales are zoom eyepieces, and I have numerous images published using the zoom eyepiece. However, the fixed power, wide angle eyepieces certainly perform better for digiscoping. As with any zoom versus fixed power eyepiece the latter will always be a bit brighter and shorter because you have fewer lens elements and don't need extra room for the zoom mechanism to travel. The best of these is likely the 32xWW followed closely by the 20xWW wide angle eyepieces. Because they are wide angle oculars with a wider lens element, these show no vingetting when you mount the camera. Additionally, since they are shorter there is plenty of range of motion in the adapter to accomodate the full range of camera zoom.

As a result, I've now changed to using a 32xWW eyepiece on my primary eyepiece and switch to the zoom when I'm leading trips. As with anything else in optics we trade one advantage over another. In this case, I opt for ease of digiscoping over the obvious advantage of zoom.

Another option is of course to take a clear vingetted image and then crop out the circle later using the elements software included with your camera. This is easily accomplished and always what I recommend people to do especially if you aren't certain if your subject will stay put. I'll take a quick vingetted shot or two first, then after I have some sort of image work on improving on it from the standpoint of composition, exposure, and framing/vingetting. Hopefully this is helpful, if you have any further questions please don't hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Jeff Bouton
Product Specialist - Birding/Naturalist Markets
Leica Sport Optics
jbouton2'at'earthlink.net

[Fredrik]

I´m using the 32*WW eyepiece with my Leica adapter but I’m using Panasonic LX1 instead of the Leica camera. With my setup the camera lens bumps into the eyepiece lens at 4 times zoom on the camera. So I am wondering how Jeff does it.

I´m a bit sceptic to the Leica adapter when there are not enough room to use the entire zoom of the camera it is made for. Did Leica force the adapter out on the market due to the pressure from the consumers?

This sounds as a very negative reply, but I’m very happy with the results of the pictures taken with this setup, especially as Jeff points out at lower power and at reasonable range.

Regards Fredrik

[JulianW]

Hi

I too have the televid 77 and dlux2 with the leica adapter.
I too have the same problem. I fit the dlux2 into the adapter and it is held nice and tightly all square on to the eye piece. If you zoom past 2x the lense hits the eye piece and retracts requesting that you power off the camera.

As stated in earlier posts at 20x on the scope 2x on the camera is enough to get full frame picture.

Moving the camera back in the adaper 1/4inch does help but the grip is not so secure and you also get problems of centering and squaring up to the eye piece.

It seems strange to me that a company with the reputaion of Leica can produce an adapter that seems to have 1/4inch too short a travel. Surely they must have spotted this in quality testing. All advertising I have seen states full frame images and not full frame images at lowest zoom setting.

Other things of note
1) the adapter works well with my other camera a sony dsc-p10
2) the televid is a superb scope
3) the dlux 2 is an excellent camera
4) the dlux 2 is easier to use when digiscoping. I think this is due to the image stabilisation. it allows the image on the lcd to settle quickly after moving the scope. The Sony LCD is almost constantly blurred due to shake when operating the scope.
5) the 2 second self timer on the dlux2 is nice alternative to a cable release. you can press the shutter as normal and the setup has 2 seconds to stop wagging about. no good for things on the move though

[tedrick]

Hi all, I posted as Kim Cooper initially (my daughters name,long story) I am begining to get somewhere with the said set up.It just seemed to me that if an adaptor was designed for a particular camera and scope and they were all leica then surely they must click (no pun intended).My best pic to date is a snipe, it was taken in a hide but why not, its a great way to get started and I find that any wind at all is very detrimental to quality. I also took these pics of the cubs today with the digi-lux2.