Tripods and eyepieces

[Birdingam]

Hi everybody.

First time on birdforum and I have a couple of basic digiscoping questions, so apologies in advance if these have been asked before.

I am new to digiscoping but have had a decent scope for a while, a Lecia APO Telvevid 77, and have decided to give it a go. I have now bought a Collpix 4500 and the relevant adaptor from Eagle Eye optics to attach it to my 32xx eyepiece on the scope. When I attach it to the eyepiece should I pull the eyepiece ring out for use as in a non specs. wearer would use it or should it be put flat down as if wearing specs ?

The second question I have is that when I get the bird in view on my scope and in focus, I obviously lock the tripod with its twist arm so it shouldn't move. However, when I attach the camera and adaptor to the scope, because of the extra weight the bird is no longer in view and it is a pain trying to find it again using the image finder on the back of the camera. Is this a problem that is regularly encountered or is it down to the quality of tripod being used, ie. the lock on the head is strong enough ?

Hope you can help.

[robinm]

Hi and welcome to the forum from a fellow Man of Kent.

I suggest you read Andy Bright's threads discussing camera settings etc - they will be a great help to you.

On your first point it is essential that the camera lens is as close as possible to the scope eyepiece - so "specs position" is right. I sometimes take the rubber ring off as well although you can get away without doing this.

On the second yes this is an issue for me. I find the target in the camera viewer and then lock the head. Takes a bit of practice. I'm sure there will more people better qualified who will give additional advice.

Good luck

[Andy Bright]

Hi Birdingam.
On behalf of all the moderators and admin, a big welcome to Bird Forum.net
Yes, lower the eyecup.... you need to get your camera lens as close to the eyepiece as possible, in the main to reduce the vignetting effect.

A very good tripod head helps enormously. With a camera attached, a number of the more popular birding heads droop down a fraction.... a slight work-around would be to use something like a Manfrotto 357 sliding plate on top of your current head to shift the scope's centre of balance further back, so there isn't as much downforce on the eyepiece end when you put the camera on.
Regards,
Andy

[Birdingam]

Many thanks guys for your suggestions, I'll give them a go.