Digiscoping 'SD card' Camera

[John Cantelo]

Hi all,

I toying with getting a small (not too expensive) camera for digiscoping with my Lieca 62 scope (it has a x30 eyepiece). I've followed up some of the suggestions here, but the most highly touted ones seem not to use SD cards. As I have plenty of these for my Panasonic FZ30 it seems silly to branch out into some other storage medium. So what SD compatible cameras come to mind?

John

[Mickymouse]

How about the Samsung NV3, that is the one I would go for If I didn't already have a camera, still might. £164 at Warehouse Express.

Mick

[rmel66]

Hi all,

I toying with getting a small (not too expensive) camera for digiscoping with my Lieca 62 scope (it has a x30 eyepiece). I've followed up some of the suggestions here, but the most highly touted ones seem not to use SD cards. As I have plenty of these for my Panasonic FZ30 it seems silly to branch out into some other storage medium. So what SD compatible cameras come to mind?

John


Panasonic DMC LS2S, Panasonic FX01.

Rmel66.

[john-henry]

Hi all,

I toying with getting a small (not too expensive) camera for digiscoping with my Lieca 62 scope (it has a x30 eyepiece). I've followed up some of the suggestions here, but the most highly touted ones seem not to use SD cards. As I have plenty of these for my Panasonic FZ30 it seems silly to branch out into some other storage medium. So what SD compatible cameras come to mind?

John

John,
Have a look at http://www.dpreview.com/ with regard to Nikon and the newer - not yet on the market Fujifilm cameras.
The Fujis' could be a good bet for a small front optic scope, allowing you to use higher ISOs to get a good shutter speed without noise, the newer models are using SD cards, the only drawback is they aren't on the market yet, but if you're in no hurry!!

The other thing to consider is if you want to take record shots as you go along or something to make good prints from, either way best advice is to take your time about choosing and, if you can, try before you buy.

Regards

John

[Sleeper]

Hi John

Another vote for the Samsung NV3

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Optical-Zoom-Digital-Camera/dp/B000H09QVM/ref=pd_ka_1/203-4385610-9608705?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

An absolute bargain and I am very happy with the results that I am getting.

[Andrew]

Hi John

Another vote for the Samsung NV3

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Optical-Zoom-Digital-Camera/dp/B000H09QVM/ref=pd_ka_1/203-4385610-9608705?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

An absolute bargain and I am very happy with the results that I am getting.
Hi Sleeper,

Are you using the Swarovski scope set up by any chance?

Cheers,
Andrew.

[Brian Stone]

Have a look at the Nikon P series. Plenty about experiences with them here:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=52632

Far from perfect but I find the P4 works very well with my Leica.

[Feathered one]

John-H

Thanks for bringing to our attention the new cameras coming out soon

Do you think that the Nikon Coolpix P5000 may be suitable for digiscoping ?.
Optical viewfinder, high pixel count lcd (much the same as the F30), manual settings. The 3.5 zoom may be ok? I wonder how big the front element of the lens is.
Looks a great camera, probably a bit pricey.
Wouldn't it be great to get a few more cameras, that are suitable.

Malc

[Sleeper]

Hi Sleeper,

Are you using the Swarovski scope set up by any chance?

Cheers,
Andrew.
Hi Andrew

No I have just got the Zeiss 85 which i am more than happy with. Why do you ask? Is this the system you use?

[Andrew]

Yes, I use a Swaro and could not get on with the Samsung on my scope in the shop. I think I need to try again.

[Sleeper]

Hi Andrew

Thats a real shame what were the problems you were having. Would be interested as I just seem to naturally get on OK with it. That is of course after the initial new camera scenario!

[john-henry]

John-H

Thanks for bringing to our attention the new cameras coming out soon

Do you think that the Nikon Coolpix P5000 may be suitable for digiscoping ?.
Optical viewfinder, high pixel count lcd (much the same as the F30), manual settings. The 3.5 zoom may be ok? I wonder how big the front element of the lens is.
Looks a great camera, probably a bit pricey.
Wouldn't it be great to get a few more cameras, that are suitable.

Malc

Hi Malc,
The P5000 sounds like it could be brilliant for digiscoping, certainly seems to have most of the requirements, as far as I can see from the write-up. I'll be looking forward to a review of this one with great anticipation, just hope the lens isn't so soft as some of their recent models and NR isn't overdone in camera.

Release date is end of March and RRP £330 - phew!!, but considering lots of people, me included, paid £400 or so for the 4500 a few years ago it could well be worth it for the new technology etc.

Best wishes

John

[Brian Stone]

It sounds to me like it's exactly the same lens as in the P1-4 series, so soft is very likely.

[davids]

Hi Andrew

No I have just got the Zeiss 85 which i am more than happy with. Why do you ask? Is this the system you use?
Sleeper

What adaptor are you using and do you have any success with using it handheld. Also what lens have you got on Zeiss?

Thanks

david

[Sleeper]

Sleeper

What adaptor are you using and do you have any success with using it handheld. Also what lens have you got on Zeiss?

Thanks

david
Hi Davids

I have no real experience using this camera hand held as previous attempts with other scopes and cameras left me feeling that the adaptor is essential to get the best results that I can.

The adaptor I use is a Baader although I have altered it so that I can swing it away when I want to use it as a scope. This has been superb alteration that does not detract from birding or digiscoping.

I have only tried the Zeiss zoom so far but I have got a 40X to test although I am happy with the zoom so am not feeling rushed into testing the 40x yet. I will try it out though.

Some pics of the setup may help visualise it. My alteration is the silver coloured metal which locks firmly into position when digiscoping.

[Neil]

"The adaptor I use is a Baader although I have altered it so that I can swing it away when I want to use it as a scope. This has been superb alteration that does not detract from birding or digiscoping."

Excellent mod on the Baeder. I wish my Scopetronix could do that. Neil.

[Neil]

The Nikon P5000 has potential for digiscoping and if it's an improvement over the previous P models you would be able to get good results from it. The only downsides I see from the specs are no RAW and frame rate of only 0.8 frames/second. This is very slow. The Canon A640 is also 10 megs and it's frame rate is 1.5 frames/second. I think the problem is the 10 megs and I would prefer to go for 6/7/8 megs and faster frame rate ( 2 frames/second plus for swimming ducks and feeding waders ). Neil.

[Feathered one]

Thanks John and Neil

The 10meg is a bit over the top for digiscoping I agree, and yes the frame rate a bit slow, but lots of other good features, I see there is bracketing included.
Would the VR stabilisation work in a digiscoping setup?
And would lowering the image size, help to improve frame rate?

Malc

[john-henry]

It sounds to me like it's exactly the same lens as in the P1-4 series, so soft is very likely.

Brian, how are you finding the P4 now you've had it a while?
Does it sharpen well in Photoshop without producing too much noise and is there still a focusing problem - apparently this was a problem picked up in the DP review of it but limited to the AI default setting.
I've been tempted several times but!!

Thanks for any thoughts

Regards

John

[John Cantelo]

Hi all,

Many thanks to everyone who responded to my question.
I was originally tempted by the Samsung i6 which seemed to be compatible with my scope when I tried it, but when I enquired about this camera at a retailer versed in the black arts of digiscoping I was told that they thought the image so quality poor that they didn't stock it! Even so I was quite optimistic about trying the newer Samsung NV3, but when I tried it I found it didn't appear to be nearly as compatible with my scope. Then I saw reviews that suggested that the image quality wasn't great and that it was a worse buy than the i6. The price bracket, though, is about right (£200 is the maximum). The Samsung i6/NV3 are sort of small camera (i.e. small, flat with non-extending x3 lens) that I had in mind, though. Some of the cameras mentioned have extending zoom lenses - are these easy to use without a clamping device and how easy is it to damage the camera zoom if mishandled?

John

[Brian Stone]

John C, read how I'm using the P4 with the Leica in the thread I mentioned. The extending lens causes no problem with that setup.

John H, hardly any focussing problems recently. It performed very well in Finland - I didn't even have to change the battery in the very cold conditions (others were getting through 3 changes in the same time). Check out my blog for recent results. Noise seems to be a problem if underexposing but otherwise isn't bad.

Note the frame rate is 1.8f/s.

[john-henry]

Hi all,

Many thanks to everyone who responded to my question.
I was originally tempted by the Samsung i6 which seemed to be compatible with my scope when I tried it, but when I enquired about this camera at a retailer versed in the black arts of digiscoping I was told that they thought the image so quality poor that they didn't stock it! Even so I was quite optimistic about trying the newer Samsung NV3, but when I tried it I found it didn't appear to be nearly as compatible with my scope. Then I saw reviews that suggested that the image quality wasn't great and that it was a worse buy than the i6. The price bracket, though, is about right (£200 is the maximum). The Samsung i6/NV3 are sort of small camera (i.e. small, flat with non-extending x3 lens) that I had in mind, though. Some of the cameras mentioned have extending zoom lenses - are these easy to use without a clamping device and how easy is it to damage the camera zoom if mishandled?

John

John, if you've got £200 to spend try the Fuji F30, Amazon have them for £146.60 delivered, you can pick up 1GB high speed XD cards at 7dayshop for £13 each and an exterior battery pack (see Crake Dudes thread in the forum for details of this) for about £20 from The Battery Shop on E-bay.

The F30 is ideal for hand-held shots, little vignetting, good sharp lens, and quite important for hand-holding it can be used at ISO's up to 800 with very little noise and thus giving a good shutter speed. If you're hand-holding the camera there's very little chance of damaging the lens, this usually happens if the camera is coupled to an adapter and comes into contact with the solid scope eyepiece and has nowhere to move, even then it just stalls and gives a 'zoom error' message, switching on and off cancels this with no damage done.

Regards

John

[john-henry]

John C, read how I'm using the P4 with the Leica in the thread I mentioned. The extending lens causes no problem with that setup.

John H, hardly any focussing problems recently. It performed very well in Finland - I didn't even have to change the battery in the very cold conditions (others were getting through 3 changes in the same time). Check out my blog for recent results. Noise seems to be a problem if underexposing but otherwise isn't bad.

Note the frame rate is 1.8f/s.

Many thanks Brian, are you getting sharper results now without the focusing problem?
Can't get your site, keep getting cannot find server.

Regards

John

[Brian Stone]

My blog is here
http://thenaturalstone.blogspot.com/

Some pics are not working but the first page is mostly OK.

I would say IS is pretty irrelevant for digiscoping. It's scope movement that is more of a problem.

Results are now more consistent and acceptably sharp for me.

[Neil]

I haven't heard of VR working in a digiscoping setup , but who knows with improving technolgy. I think the main problem is the high magnification and the camera doesn't know what lens it's attached too. If it just bumps up the iso then this would help stability but introduce more noise.
I wouldn't expect the frame rate to go up with reduced megs. You could get a longer Continuous series though. Neil.

[john-henry]

My blog is here
http://thenaturalstone.blogspot.com/

Some pics are not working but the first page is mostly OK.

I would say IS is pretty irrelevant for digiscoping. It's scope movement that is more of a problem.

Results are now more consistent and acceptably sharp for me.

Thanks Brian,
You certainly had a great trip to Finland and some terrific shots of Grosbeak and Hawk Owl.

Best wishes

John

[Mike Rudkin]

John,
Have a look at http://www.dpreview.com/ with regard to Nikon and the newer - not yet on the market Fujifilm cameras.
The Fujis' could be a good bet for a small front optic scope, allowing you to use higher ISOs to get a good shutter speed without noise, the newer models are using SD cards, the only drawback is they aren't on the market yet, but if you're in no hurry!!

The other thing to consider is if you want to take record shots as you go along or something to make good prints from, either way best advice is to take your time about choosing and, if you can, try before you buy.

Regards

John


Having just spent an hour reading your glowing remarks about the F30,and having,more or less,made up my mind,I've just found this posting |:d|
How do you think they will compare ? I note that the zoom is 4-1 I intend using it with Nikon ED50 with 40xWA eyepiece.

[Neil]

Mike,
You're right on the lens . They look like a longish zoom which may give a bit too much magnification with your 40x eyepiece at the medium to long end of the zoom. Fuji's lenses though are usually quite "eyepiece friendly" in that they zoom out closer to the eyepiece towards the tele end but this may be a new design. If the lens does work well then it could be a good camera for a 20 or 30x eyepiece. I hope they haven't slowed the camera down too much as well to handle the extra megs. Neil.