digiscoper wanta be

[annika1970]

I'm new to photographing birds. I love the photos in the gallery and would love to be able to take some of my own.
Can someone please help in in deciding what the best equipment would be to use? I would also like to know everything I would need to purchase to make my pictures as good as everyone elses.
I have read in this forum that the Nikon coolpix 4500 is excellent for digiscoping. If anyone disagrees please let me know. I would also like to take infrared photos and I've heard that the cp 990 is better than the cp 4500 for this. Does anyone have experience in this area?
I know that I obviously need a camera, scope but what else and what are the best brands to use for any other items I would need.
Thanks in advance for the help
shannon

[Geoff Brown]

Annika 1970,
If you decide on a coolpix 4500, and they are very good, may I suggest you keep it all Nikon with one of their scopes and also their connectors which they also have in their catalogue so that everything in compatible with everything else and screws together more easily. it seems to make the whole job just that little bit more manageable. You will find that digiscopnig still need lots of practice but at least your equipment shouldn't get in the way of your ambitions too much.

[eric s]

I wish you good luck in finding a 4500 in the states. The only thing that I can find are factory referbs... or the ones being sold on ebay which are demo units. None of these have real Nikon warrenties. If this doesn't matter to you, then go for it. It does to me. (Also, you can't use that 200 rebate either.)

I'm waiting for the 4500's replacement. Or for Canon to come out with something which is good for digiscoping (I have other Canon equipment.)

Eric

[annika1970]

I also prefer Canon. There have been a couple of websites that still show the cp4500 in stock. I guess I need to check into whether they are factory refurbished. Thanks for the tip.

I'd love to hear if anyone uses Canon for digiscoping.

[digi-birder]

Originally posted by annika1970
I'd love to hear if anyone uses Canon for digiscoping.

That'll be me then. See my thread all about my Canon setup:
http://www.birdforum.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6128

[annika1970]

Thanks Diane! I just took a look at your gallery; do you have in photos taken with your canon set up?
Great write up! Very informative.
Shannon

[digi-birder]

Thanks Shannon.

If you look at the photos in the gallery, it will tell you below which ones have been taken with the G3. Some were taken with the Coolpix 995, but overall I wasn't getting very good results with that camera, which is why I changed. And I'm so glad I did.

I suppose I was lucky in that the piece of plumbing pipe fits exactly over the eyepiece of the scope.