Nikon 4500 or Fuji F30 for use with ED50

[mports]

I have a Nikon ED50 scope with MCII 13-40mm zoom, not an ideal scope for digiscoping I know. However I'd like to try digiscoping with it, mainly for record & identification purposes.

Everyone seems to rave about the Fuji F30, however Nikon have some excellent brackets for my ED50 scope, enabling me to connect it to a Nikon 4500 with ease.

With this in mind should I buy the F30 with the knowledge that I'll struggle to connect it to my scope, or should I purchase a 4500 safe in the knowledge I can connect it with ease.

I'd be grateful for any thoughts on the matter.

Regards

Mark

[Marcus Conway - ebirder]

I have a Nikon ED50 scope with MCII 13-40mm zoom, not an ideal scope for digiscoping I know. However I'd like to try digiscoping with it, mainly for record & identification purposes.

Everyone seems to rave about the Fuji F30, however Nikon have some excellent brackets for my ED50 scope, enabling me to connect it to a Nikon 4500 with ease.

With this in mind should I buy the F30 with the knowledge that I'll struggle to connect it to my scope, or should I purchase a 4500 safe in the knowledge I can connect it with ease.

I'd be grateful for any thoughts on the matter.

Regards

Mark

Hi Mark, the Nikon is tried and tested with success, I use an earlier model and it has kept me happy for over a year now. There are a number of digiscoping oopportunites and there is some excitement regarding the fuji given its performance in certain conditions.

To be frank if you have done no digiscoping both will suffice, and I doubt there would be much between them. There are universal adapters availiable that would fit your Nikon (am sure someone will follow up with where they are). Then it comes down to personal choice.

Honestly if I had to start again I would pick the fuji as its smaller and has a faster set up time (not great in the nikon), but thats the scale of difference. In the first 6 months of digiscoping I doubt it makes much difference which camera you pick.

Good luck!

[postcardcv]

I'd definitely go for the Fuji... the Nikon is a goood camera and can deliver great images... but it is so slow. Start up time is slow, it has extreme shutter lag, slow write times, small lcd. In it's day the 4500 was the best there was (and it's till a good camera), but given the advances in digital cameras I cannot imagine buying a model that is now 4 yeas old.

If you want easy connection then Nikon make adapters for their new models too. That said a universal adapter will be cheaper, almost as easy to set up, and will still work if you ever change your camera.

[mports]

The Nikon ED50 is such a small scope and I love the portability of it - I don't really wish to hang 1/2 a kilo of metalwork on it that isn't going to be easy to slip on or off.

If I was to go down the Fuji F30 route, does anyone have any suggestions for a suitable bracket.

So far I've found the SRB Griturn website and the swingout bracket looks as if it's a real pain the backside to use. Ideally I would like something small that I can just slide over the eyepiece within a few seconds.

Regards

Mark

[scampo]

I should think the SRB-G adapter is the very reverse of what you think. It's a doddle to use once initially set up and it flips the camera out of the way so easily that your birding is hardly affected at all.

The difficulties with modern digicams is their extending lens and lack of filter thread making it difficult to fit them to a scope. This is one reason why the CP4500 was so successful for digiscoping.

[border reiver]

Mark
I've just purchased the F30 to go with my Nikon ED82. Main reasons for the Fuji over the 4500 are what what Postcardcv has highlighted. The image quality of the new nikons are not as good as the Fuji. I'm considering the SRB Griturn swing arm, but for now I'm just going to try a few hand held.

John

[erniehatt]

Mark, why not try to make your own, to get the idea, have a look on Andy Brights section for Universal Adapter. Ernie

[Neil]

A big advantage of the intergrated eyepiece/adapter is the ability to move with the bird as moves/hops/feeds around and you need to continually move the scope. My homemade adapters on the CP4500 and the current 7070/8400 with the Swaro DCA enable you to hold the camera, with the shutter half depressed and adjust as the bird shifts position.
If this is the way you like to work too you have to be careful with some of the adapters for the little digicams.
A drop in tube-type on an angled scope works if the bird stays still . The SRB-Griturn type is not designed for you to work this way either, particularly on the F30/31 (the tripod thread is off to the left hand side ) as the pressure of keeping your hand on the shutter as you move the scope can move the camera on the adapter. A video head with an arm you can move with your other hand would help here. The other alternative is to move a video arm with one hand and hold the remote with the other (better than holding the camera ). Re-focusing the scope does require a third hand though. I haven't tried this yet but will soon. Neil