Xmas brought a spotting scope so I decided to buy the camera adapter to go with it (T-mount) and see how it compares to my 300mm f/4 AFS with TC-14E. I have not been able to find any such comparisons anywhere on the web, so I figured I'd take the risk and return the adapter if I didn't like it. The folks at Eagle optics have good prices and a nice return policy, so it all seemed worth a try!
So the comparison is:
D100 + Nikon 300mm f/4 AFS-II + TC-14E vs.
D100 + Zeiss Diascope T* FL 65AN + T-mount adapter
The price of the two combos is actually very comparable. Without the camera both come in at around $1400 (including a zoom eyepiece for the scope). The scope ends up being a 700mm f/12 manual focus lens. The 300mm+TC a 420mm f/5.6 autofocus lens.
I wrote up a full review with sample images at http://h.voneicken.com:88/photo/Scope/ but if you don't have to time or inclination to read here is one comparison series. I cropped identical areas out of photos taken a few minutes apart and upsampled the lens+teleconverter and lens-only versions to match the resolution of the scope. All then went through minor unsharp-mask (80% 0.8 in photoshop).
Diascope 700mm f/12:
http://h.voneicken.com:88/photo/Scope/Sharpness/20040103-113940-sml.jpg
300mm + TC f/11:
http://h.voneicken.com:88/photo/Scope/Sharpness/20040103-115022b-sml.jpg
300mm f/8:
http://h.voneicken.com:88/photo/Scope/Sharpness/20040103-115219b-sml.jpg
Surprised? It's pretty clear that the scope comes ahead in resolution. The fine detail in the rock face just isn't there in the other photos and no image processing is going to bring that out. But the chromatic aberration is also clear! Other tests show that the contrast and color of the two combos are very close to one another.
The bottom line for me is actually that the handling of the scope is just too poor. Specially it's really difficult to get it stable on a tripod because of flex and just plain imbalance. So I'm returning the lens adapter and will buy a TC-20E for the same price. 600mm f/8 should be pretty comparable...
Hope you enjoy this little comparison and please don't flame too hard about the comparison shots. I did my best at making an apples to apples comparison with limited time and I'm well aware of the fact that this is not a scientific experiment.
--
- Thorsten
So the comparison is:
D100 + Nikon 300mm f/4 AFS-II + TC-14E vs.
D100 + Zeiss Diascope T* FL 65AN + T-mount adapter
The price of the two combos is actually very comparable. Without the camera both come in at around $1400 (including a zoom eyepiece for the scope). The scope ends up being a 700mm f/12 manual focus lens. The 300mm+TC a 420mm f/5.6 autofocus lens.
I wrote up a full review with sample images at http://h.voneicken.com:88/photo/Scope/ but if you don't have to time or inclination to read here is one comparison series. I cropped identical areas out of photos taken a few minutes apart and upsampled the lens+teleconverter and lens-only versions to match the resolution of the scope. All then went through minor unsharp-mask (80% 0.8 in photoshop).
Diascope 700mm f/12:
http://h.voneicken.com:88/photo/Scope/Sharpness/20040103-113940-sml.jpg
300mm + TC f/11:
http://h.voneicken.com:88/photo/Scope/Sharpness/20040103-115022b-sml.jpg
300mm f/8:
http://h.voneicken.com:88/photo/Scope/Sharpness/20040103-115219b-sml.jpg
Surprised? It's pretty clear that the scope comes ahead in resolution. The fine detail in the rock face just isn't there in the other photos and no image processing is going to bring that out. But the chromatic aberration is also clear! Other tests show that the contrast and color of the two combos are very close to one another.
The bottom line for me is actually that the handling of the scope is just too poor. Specially it's really difficult to get it stable on a tripod because of flex and just plain imbalance. So I'm returning the lens adapter and will buy a TC-20E for the same price. 600mm f/8 should be pretty comparable...
Hope you enjoy this little comparison and please don't flame too hard about the comparison shots. I did my best at making an apples to apples comparison with limited time and I'm well aware of the fact that this is not a scientific experiment.
--
- Thorsten