Need a new camera

[John P]

My A95, bought for digiscoping but also a useful tool for general use is no longer working properly.

It started massively over-exposing every shot, it has now stopped doing that but there are lines across all the pics it takes. I don't really expect there to be a sensible cure in this day and age, but if anyone knows different I'd like to know.

I've found a website which says it has 38 A95s in stock for £85, (I've yet to confirm that) Taking into account all the comments about the X4 optical zoom on the more modern Canons, is the A95 still one of the best cameras for digiscoping or should I look for something different?

[john-henry]

My A95, bought for digiscoping but also a useful tool for general use is no longer working properly.

It started massively over-exposing every shot, it has now stopped doing that but there are lines across all the pics it takes. I don't really expect there to be a sensible cure in this day and age, but if anyone knows different I'd like to know.

I've found a website which says it has 38 A95s in stock for £85, (I've yet to confirm that) Taking into account all the comments about the X4 optical zoom on the more modern Canons, is the A95 still one of the best cameras for digiscoping or should I look for something different?

John,
If you can get another new A95 for £85 go for it, in my opinion they are still one of the best digiscoping cameras you can get for a combination of quality, image adjustments, ease of use, cheap long-lasting batteries, pretty good screen quality and its tilt and turn is really useful for awkward shooting situations.
There are many more 'modern' cameras on the market but apart from some with faster operation and some with better noise control none of them have such a good combination of features, in my opinion, as the A95.

Regards

John

[John P]

Thanks John, that's more or less what I thought. :t:

[Neil]

John,
The A95 was a very good digiscoping camera. Under -rated I suspect because Canon didn't have a track record for good digiscoping cameras. Before you think about buying a new one make sure you know what you liked and didn't like about it.
I normally travel with 4 digiscoping cameras and none of them does it all. The upgrade to the A95 would logically be one of the A600 series, but unfortunately that lens (35 - 140 mm ) requires a lot more "love and attention" than the A95 to get it to work without vignetting. The quality is equal or better than almost anything else I've seen and is worth the effort. It helps to be a bit of a handman here. The screen resolution lets it down though. The new Nikon P5100 has a wonderful screen (too sharp sometimes as it fools you into thinking your image is sharper than it is ) and processes 12 meg files very fast ( but only 3 at high rez, 6 at 8 megs ) but it's frame rate is much slower than the Canons. The Nikon 8400 is one of the fastest out there at 2.3 frames/sec but it takes forever to process 5 frames. I usually switch cameras while it's processing. The G6 which I really like won't work with most eyepieces so I have a dedicated eyepiece for it. I'm still looking for a wide FOV, long ER eyepiece to use with it.
The easiest one to use and best quality of the new bunch is the P5100, so have a look and see what you think.
Neil.

[John P]

Thanks Neil, you make a reasonable case for not replacing the A95 with another one, however the DP review of the P5000 is less than complimentary about a few aspects of it, speed of focus and operation (slow) being the more important points, I assume the P5100 is not vastly different.

I'm guessing also that the IS is a waste of time for digiscoping or is that not correct, and do I really need 12MP or is that just too much for a small CCD?

Bearing in mind all my little gizmos and gadgets are designed for the A95 and I do like the way it operates (it's usually my eyesight at fault when it all goes wrong) I'll probably stick with it. I'm not in a hurry though and I'll certainly give some other cameras some thought, and have a look in the gallery for some results.

[john118]

Originally Posted by john118
Hello I recently acquired a Nova 75-100 spotting scope and having tried to digiscope with it and my Kodak Z650 the results were poor so I was wondering if you new any of these cameras are any good for digiscoping: Samsung L600 or Panasonic Lumix Dmc-L560 if they are not are there any cameras you recommend in the under £100 range

[Robert L Jarvis]

John P, interesting that you decide to stay with the A95, I have had one for several years now and can endorse John-Henry's comments. But Neil is right, the lcd is very poor and the limited ISO range really shows up in poor light. Noise really does then become a factor with your photos. It is yesterday's camera!

You may still like it but the P5100 is better as are the later Canon A600 series. The 4x zoom can be got round.

[john-henry]

John P, interesting that you decide to stay with the A95, I have had one for several years now and can endorse John-Henry's comments. But Neil is right, the lcd is very poor and the limited ISO range really shows up in poor light. Noise really does then become a factor with your photos. It is yesterday's camera!

You may still like it but the P5100 is better as are the later Canon A600 series. The 4x zoom can be got round.

Hi Robert,
Two points to contest I'm afraid:

1) I believe Neil was referring to the A600 series screen not the A95, the A95, as you know, has more ppi than the A600's.

2) The P5000 is also a noisy camera at ISO 100 in poor light, no better, no worse, than the A95 and I can't imagine the P5001 being any different, possibly worse with 12 Mpix instead of 10.

Glad to hear you're still doing a bit of digiscoping my friend.

Regards

john

[John P]

................. and the limited ISO range really shows up in poor light. Noise really does then become a factor with your photos. It is yesterday's camera!

You may still like it but the P5100 is better as are the later Canon A600 series. The 4x zoom can be got round.

I don't find the ISO range a problem actually, I rarely use more than ISO100 and on those occasions when I just have to get a shot I can live with the noise at 200, it's a whole lot better than my Panasonic FZ8.

I've read quite a bit about the Canon600 series on here and really don't want to have to get around the X4 zoom problem, no-one seems to have come up with the definitive method of coping with it. If it's as simple as not using so much zoom I'm sure someone would have said so by now, anything else just makes it more complicated, (I struggle enough as it is ;) ).

john-henry......Thanks, you're helping to keep me sane, and looking after my bank balance.:t:

john 118.......I received your above post as a PM, I suspect that was just a newbie button pressing error, but no probs. I'm not familiar with any of your equipment so don't really feel able to comment, it would be more productive for you to start a new topic. I've noticed that supplementary questions within topics quite often remain unanswered.

A general comment would be that there are so many factors that are against us mere mortals of the digiscoping world that it's quite normal to reject at least 90% of digiscoped pics.

[john-henry]

john-henry......Thanks, you're helping to keep me sane, and looking after my bank balance.

Glad of that John,
what with christmas coming you might want to buy a new camera :-O

Best wishes

John

[Robert L Jarvis]

Each to his own John but for me the A95 lcd is decidely poor. The larger screens on the 600 series are far better (my son Paul has a 620, so I know) and I have no doubt that the larger screens on the later cameras make it far easier to see the potential shots and that they are sharp.

If you are getting away with very good shots at 100 ISO then it must be on days with good light.

Is the A95 still your first choice camera that you are using.

[John P]

Hi Robert, my A95 is no longer working, hence this topic. I bought a Panasonic FZ8, not to replace the Canon but just to have a try at something different. It's nice to be able to get a quick pic of things that I would have no hope of digiscoping but so far I'm disappointed with the quality of pics taken on full (optical) zoom.

I've not fully made up my mind yet about a replacement for the A95 but I'm not seeing the same things as you when I compare the specs. for the A620.

Looking at a comparison (http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_post.asp?method=sidebyside&cameras=canon_a620%2Ccanon_a95&show=all) on DP Review the A95 has a slightly faster burst rate, identical ISO range, the LCD is slightly smaller on the A95 (by 0.2 of an inch) but it has a higher pixel count so in theory the picture although smaller should be sharper, with my eyesight I doubt it makes much difference, I have to put my glasses on to see it properly anyway.

The X4 zoom on the A620 is what is putting me off as much as anything; if it's just a case of not zooming in so far then it's not a big problem but no-one seems to be saying that that is the way around it.

If I'm missing or misconstruing something here it's entirely unintentional, I do appreciate your thoughts.

[Robert L Jarvis]

As I Said John each to his own but on the 620 the higher MP makes a hell of a difference. Don't get wrong I am not recommending it to you. You have to make your own choice and seek advice like on this forum. But burst rate is not the be all and end all neither is a rotating lcd. IMO higher mp and faster focus count for a lot and in that respect the A95 is also lacking. On any camera a higher zoom such as 3.5 or 4 needs to be considered very carefully and a lot depends on the scope it is being used with as to the adapters available to be able to achieve a good setup.

[erniehatt]

I started digiscoping with a Canon A610 5mp, it was the only camera I had available to me , so had to make the most of it. I have to admit things were made more difficult for me by reading negative reports, such as over 3X, zooms were no good for digiscoping. This myth has been broken many times over, but people still repeat it. From experiments I found the main ingredients are eyepiece, and adapter which I make my own. I have since replaced the the A610 for the A640, and can recommend it highly. I will be posting some info shortly on my new eyepiece and adapter. Ernie

[John P]

Thanks Ernie, got to admit I'm wavering a little now, I even bid on an A620 on Ebay yesterday, but someone else wanted it more than me.

[Neil]

John,
The Nikon P5100 AF is much better than the P5000 and makes it a good digiscoping camera. I haven't done a comparison yet of it side-by-side with the P5000 but I'm happy with the operation and iso up to 400. The frame rate of 0.8 frames/sec (same as the Nikon CP 4500 ) is a disadvantage. The screen is much better than my A640 which really needs a shade to use outside , although it's Manual Focus function works well and I wish more cameras had it (you can get a similar effect by zooming into the digital zoom range and focusing and zooming back out ).
The issue with the A600 series lenses is that you need to move the camera in and out as you zoom. The easiest way to do this is to get a universal type adapter and then it would be no problem with a fixed eyepiece ( not recommended to be used with zoom eyepieces ). I have got around the problem by having a shortened adapter made for the A640 (about 6 mms ) which allows me to use the range between 50 -100 mm in the camera zoom. If I want to use more I can back off the camera about 3 mms on the Swaro DCA adapter.
The rotatable screen is a big advantage to me and I really miss it with the P5100 which is why it could never be my first choice for a digiscoping camera , unless you have an angled scope.
Hope this helps, Neil.

[John P]

Just an update, I gave up looking at alternatives and finally ordered a new A95, should be here in a couple of days now.

The swivel screen and the fact that I know how it all works and all my little gadgets are made for the A95 finally decided me, and the price helped too.

If anyone is looking for a new one there are only 15 left here (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/73074) now (as opposed to 38 when I started this topic).

Total price delivered is £74.99 if you opt for 5 day delivery (free) and purchase through google checkout for a £10 discount, second hand ones are fetching more than that on ebay.

Thanks again for all your input. :t:

[David142]

Neil,Am considering the Canon A640 to replace my aging Canon A70 and having read all the threads have a few questions. Why is a tilt/swivel screen so important? Is an LCD still necessary and if so how does one fit it? Also concerned about having to move the camera on zooming to avoid lens contact. Is this really necessary? How much lens movement do you get on this camera? If I use the Canon Lens adapter LA-DC58F and my LCE eyepiece adapter the set-up is fixed. This set-up has worked well on my A70 so why not on the A640 or am I missing something?
David

[David142]

Missed out the word "screen" Is an LCD screen necessary !
Sorry about that.
David

[David142]

I'll get it right soon. Is an LCD shade necessary?
David

[Neil]

Neil,Am considering the Canon A640 to replace my aging Canon A70 and having read all the threads have a few questions. Why is a tilt/swivel screen so important? Is an LCD still necessary and if so how does one fit it? Also concerned about having to move the camera on zooming to avoid lens contact. Is this really necessary? How much lens movement do you get on this camera? If I use the Canon Lens adapter LA-DC58F and my LCE eyepiece adapter the set-up is fixed. This set-up has worked well on my A70 so why not on the A640 or am I missing something?
David

David,
I knew what you meant. The swivel screen is important if you do a lot of digiscoping sitting down as I do. If you have a subject higher or lower than straight in front it's nice to have the ability to tilt the screen. Also if you want to digiscope standing up in a hide the height of the windows means that your scope has to be low . A screen shade is valuable for when outside in sunshine. The lens in the A640 has a lot of movment, particularly on the last zoom postition. The A70 zoom is 35 - 105 mm which is a standard digiscoping range. The A640's lens is 35 - 140 mm which is a bit on the long side for easy digiscoping.
Neil.

[erniehatt]

The lens movement, after the first movement to reach the Wide position, is about 12mm. Ernie