Neil
Friday 24th March 2006, 04:08
I have just obtained my new toy , the Swarovski 30x eyepiece. I wanted it for the 20 mm of Eye Relief and the wider field of view than the zoom. I do have two older versions of the 30x ( one is the 15.4 mm telescope eyepiece version which I bought by mistake a few years ago thinking it was the 15x eyepiece ). Some of my recent digiscoped photos in the gallery have been taken with this version.
Someone had mentioned to me an issue of the fit of the DCA adapter with the new 30x and it does appear to have a bit more play when fitted but not screwed down (the eyepiece part ). When I first tested it out in the field on Wednesday it slipped as I panned the scope holding the camera so I took it off and went back to the zoom. When I tested it in my living room today ( at a distance of 7 meters ) I moved the screw on the DCA underneath the eyepiece and screwed it tight. It seemed to hold better in this position although I haven't given it a solid field test yet ( or dropped it ).
It had also been mentioned that the camera side of the DCA should be backed off about 1 mm to eliminate the dark shadow from the lenses being too close together. I did this too and noticed a difference with an improvement of even lighting across the frame. With the Olympus 7070wz at wide zoom ( 28mm or 5.7mm ) it is better if backed off about 2 mm but 1 mm is better throughout the rest of the zoom range.
The first attached photo shows the vignetting at almost wide zoom (6.4 mm). It disappears almost immediately after this (see follow photos ). The lighting in my living room was not even so don't read anything into this. I tried to keep the exposure the same as the lens zoomed but it was only best guess.
At full zoom on the camera lens (22.9 mm or 110 mm ) you get the full advantage of the 30x power. As you see from the first posting of this series that the vignetting at wide zoom is not that serious and will allow cropping. That means that I'll have the range of 16x (800 mm) - 66x (3300 mm) with the Olympus with the one eyepiece. All I need now is closer focusing down to 4 meters.
Neil
Olympus 7070wz plus Swarovski ATS80HD scope and Swarovski 30x eyepiece and DCA adapter (Raynox adapter on the Camera )
(iso 80 and Remote Control in all photos )
Someone had mentioned to me an issue of the fit of the DCA adapter with the new 30x and it does appear to have a bit more play when fitted but not screwed down (the eyepiece part ). When I first tested it out in the field on Wednesday it slipped as I panned the scope holding the camera so I took it off and went back to the zoom. When I tested it in my living room today ( at a distance of 7 meters ) I moved the screw on the DCA underneath the eyepiece and screwed it tight. It seemed to hold better in this position although I haven't given it a solid field test yet ( or dropped it ).
It had also been mentioned that the camera side of the DCA should be backed off about 1 mm to eliminate the dark shadow from the lenses being too close together. I did this too and noticed a difference with an improvement of even lighting across the frame. With the Olympus 7070wz at wide zoom ( 28mm or 5.7mm ) it is better if backed off about 2 mm but 1 mm is better throughout the rest of the zoom range.
The first attached photo shows the vignetting at almost wide zoom (6.4 mm). It disappears almost immediately after this (see follow photos ). The lighting in my living room was not even so don't read anything into this. I tried to keep the exposure the same as the lens zoomed but it was only best guess.
At full zoom on the camera lens (22.9 mm or 110 mm ) you get the full advantage of the 30x power. As you see from the first posting of this series that the vignetting at wide zoom is not that serious and will allow cropping. That means that I'll have the range of 16x (800 mm) - 66x (3300 mm) with the Olympus with the one eyepiece. All I need now is closer focusing down to 4 meters.
Neil
Olympus 7070wz plus Swarovski ATS80HD scope and Swarovski 30x eyepiece and DCA adapter (Raynox adapter on the Camera )
(iso 80 and Remote Control in all photos )