Digiscoping camera for Nikon 82ED

[joncook]

Hi

Have recently bought a Nikon 82ED with 25-56x zoom eyepiece. My first attempts at digiscoping with a Canon A710IS are disappointing with heavy vignetting which worsens as you zoom in until full 6x when I get nearly a full screen but poor image quality/slow shutter.
Do any of you experts out there know of a camera that will work well with the 25-56 zoom or do I need to invest in a fixed eyepiece?

Thanks
Jon

[Neil]

The Nikon P5000 or the newer P5100 should do a good job. Neil

[joncook]

Neil, Thanks for the suggestion. Took the scope to our local camera shop, they didnt have the P5000/5100 but did have a Fuji F31 which I tried and worked well with vignetting eliminated by half zoom. Still experimenting with settings and adapters on local chimney tops, but looking good.
Cheers, Jon

[NoSpringChicken]

Jon, the eyepiece should work well provided you stay around the 25x on the zoom. I have been using that eyepiece as a 13-40 zoom on my ED50 scope and like you I just need to zoom about halfway on the Fuji F30 to eliminate the vignetting. The slight downside of this is that, as you zoom the camera, it automatically stops down the aperture meaning that you can't use the widest aperture settings.

I have just bought a 20x fixed eyepiece (38x on your scope) and the camera works without any vignetting at its widest setting. I haven't had the chance to try it out in the field yet but tests indoors look promising.

Which adapter are you using?

Ron

[Nikon Kid]

To get the best out of your scope get a wide angle eyepiece.
So there no need to use the zoom to get rid of the vignetting,
like NoSpringChicken said the 38x will be the right one.
I also would like to own the Nikon 82ED maybe next year.
All my pics were taken with Nikon 82 RA111 WP 2 Division
so you should get really great pics with your ED82
Take a look at my pics with the Nikon 82 RA111 WP find them
on most of my posts you should get twice the distance with
that scope best of luck and I would like to see some of your shots

[joncook]

Hi

Sorry about the long absence, have been on holiday on the west coast getting lots of practice with my new kit, then learning photoshop.

I have two adapters Ron. I bought a universal digiscoping adapter which looks good & well made but I find it difficult to set up particularly to get camera and scope aligned. Even on chimneys it is a struggle, never mind on moving birds. I then searched the garage for bits to make an alternative and found a garden hose adapter with a cover which fitted perfectly into the rubber eyepiece on the scope and with a bit of sanding fits over the camera lens. It is a tight enough fit to support the camera on the scope and allow use of the timer hands free.

Followed your advice Ron & kept the eyepiece at 25x and have generally been using aperture priority, ISO200, top 3 and when I remember the 2sec timer. Results are much better than with the Canon, but still lack the detail seen in other posts. Will try to attach some of the better efforts - any helpful suggestions much appreciated.

Thanks, Jon

[Neil]

Jon,
Very inventive. For better detail get closer and forget about the middle of the day. In summer 2 hours from sunrise/sunset, in winter 3 hours. In summer 30 metres over water is stretching it due to heat haze, in winter you can get reasonable results up 100 metres. Over half way on the camera zoom switch off the macro as it doesn't help and seems to slow down AF.
Keep taking lot's of images. Try taking 4 gigs of pigeons/ducks/doves until you've "got it".
Neil.

[joncook]

Thanks Neil,

Will head for the local duck pond next weekend.

Jon