help aperture/shutterspeed help !!! (1 Viewer)

Hi,

I've been digiscoping for 1 month, and the pictures are pretty good, but not really satisfying (see attachment). I use the camerasettings recommended by Andy. All my pictures were taken with the smallest f possible ( 5.1 is not really small, guess) and whit a shutterspeedrange from 1/7 !!! till 1/60 sec !! ( not really fast).
What do I wrong ? :C :C :C :C :C :C :C

I use a CP 4500 with shutter release cable and a Kowa TSN821 spottingscope.

Michael

A couple of things spring to mind.

With an aperture of f5.1 it sounds as if you were using 4x optical zoom ? 4x always gives very soft results. I never go beyond 3-3.5 times optical zoom. Roughly 2x gives good results too.

The Kowa 821M whilst a very good scope, doesn't have the fluorite glass of the 823/4. The higher quality glass makes a noticeable difference. You should still be able to get decent results, but will have to be careful of lighting conditions ie need very bright days but probably avoiding the bright sky in the background which will increase the chance of CA.

As regards shutter speeds then the higher the better but I still take many shots at 1/30 or even 1/8 on dull days, though the often lack contrast / colour saturation.

Although using the cable release you still have to be very careful how you hold it. I have spoilt many shots though moving the cable release and so introducing camera shake.

Best advice is to keep practicing. I experimented with fixed objects up to 50' away around the garden until I got the feel for it and then moved onto the birds.

Ideally you could do with going along on a trip with someone more practiced until you get the feel for it yourself - not always possible I know.

Hope this helps.

BTW - try editing your post and re-uploading the attachment as for some reason it won't open for me. You can attach a file up to 200 kb and 800x600, rather than a thumbnail sized one.

Thanks Ian,

I used to use the 4X zoom. I'll experiment with lower zoom. In 2 weeks there will be a workshop digiscoping/trip. I hope to learn a lot during that day. I know there wil be some people with the same spottinscope/camera combination.


Michael (Spike Edney)

Spike Edney said:

Hi,

I've been digiscoping for 1 month, and the pictures are pretty good, but not really satisfying (see attachment). I use the camerasettings recommended by Andy. All my pictures were taken with the smallest f possible ( 5.1 is not really small, guess) and whit a shutterspeedrange from 1/7 !!! till 1/60 sec !! ( not really fast).
What do I wrong ? :C :C :C :C :C :C :C

I use a CP 4500 with shutter release cable and a Kowa TSN821 spottingscope.

Michael

Click to expand...

Hi

I've not used the CP 4500, but I sometimes use my wife's CP 885 and one thing that I have noticed is that if I leave the autofocus switched on then although I have ensured crisp focus, as I press the shutter release (via the remote control cable) then the plane of focus moves and the image blurs. Using the infinity setting (a mountain icon) cures this. I use the same scope as you and I agree entirely with what Ian F says about the quality.

Richard

Practice is the key!

With the Kowa 821 you should be able to produce some good shots. (I was unable to see your attachment.)

I have the Kowa Prominar 823 and my primary digiscoping camera is the Nikon CP 990. I also have the CP 4500 that I used with an older Kowa TSN-1 that produced some surprisingly decent images. This forum is a great resource tool but there's also nothing like practice, practice, practice. With this you also need patience, patience, patience. My worse enemy is camera shake even with a sturdy tripod and have found I systematically get better results whenever I use either the timer or shutter release.

Last year I created a web site as a way to document my digiscoping in progress. It continues to be a work in progress. Trust me, I still hit the delete key more than the save button.

web site: http://www.birdsofvirginia.com

Digiscoping

Hi,

I have been digiscoping for a year now and I'm getting a bit frustrated with poor results. I use a coolpix 4500 with a kowa TS-611 scope, shutter release cable and mafrotto tripod. I use andy's recommened settings in aperture priority mode. I just dont seem to be able to get a fast enough shutter speed. I use the infinity mountain setting because in macro it seems to go in and out of focus when i press the shutter release.
Is my scope up to the job?
Do I need to see an optician?
I would welcome any helpfull (or unhelpfull) tips or comments.
I have a sort of gallery of my best images, please have a quick look and advise me.
Thanks in anticipation.
Woodcock.
http://www.ephotozine.com/user.cfm?user=27974

woodcock said:

Hi,

I have been digiscoping for a year now and I'm getting a bit frustrated with poor results. I use a coolpix 4500 with a kowa TS-611 scope, shutter release cable and mafrotto tripod. I use andy's recommened settings in aperture priority mode. I just dont seem to be able to get a fast enough shutter speed. I use the infinity mountain setting because in macro it seems to go in and out of focus when i press the shutter release.
Is my scope up to the job?
Do I need to see an optician?
I would welcome any helpfull (or unhelpfull) tips or comments.
I have a sort of gallery of my best images, please have a quick look and advise me.
Thanks in anticipation.
Woodcock.

Click to expand...

Hi Woodcock,
There's no doubt that you would benefit considerably by upgrading your scope... a 60mm standard glassed scope is not the scope I'd normally recommend for digiscoping... in fact I think you have done remarkably well with the limitations of that scope.

Your shots are showing a lot of colour fringing, which is a result of the standard glass in the scope (as opposed to HD/ED/APO/Fluorite et al). The fact that your scope is only a 60mm, means that you are getting less light than those of us with 80mm+ scopes, which results in slower shutter-speeds. You're probably o.k. when it nice and sunny, but unfortunately they are just the conditions that encourages colour fringing and a slight cloudiness effect around the subject.

An upgrade to a better scope would make a big difference to your results... and the better the image that's in your eyepiece, the easy it is to judge correct focus.

Out of interest, what magnification eyepiece do you use?

regards, and btw, that reed warbler shot is really nice... well done on a tricky bird

Andy

Scope upgrade

Many thanks Andy, I thought my scope might be a bit inadequate !
I use a 20-60 eyepiece, but never go higher that 20x for obvious reasons.
I live in Stevenage so may have passed you on our local patches sometimes.
Thanks again, my next qery will be what scope? How much?

Cheers, Ted

I used to have the the Kowa 611 as well and to be honest you have managed far better results than I ever did with mine.

You have managed plenty of sharpness in your images and by the looks of it many would improved further with simply the use of the free download of NeatImage found at www.neatimage.com whihc works well when the subject is a different range of colours from the background as on the Kingfisher and Woodpecker photos.

The CA is a problem on some whihc can be reduced removed using Photoshop and I vaguely recal QImage which used tom be and may be still is a freebie download for personal use.

Personally I never like to go above ISO100 in order to minimise graininess but you may need to maybe try ISO200 to gain a bit more speed.

Overall though I think you'd find it a lot easier to upgrade to a larger scope - but if budget is a big consoderation then using the things mentioned above should help. Even with a larger scope very bright overcast or sunny days always produce the better results.

woodcock said:

Many thanks Andy, I thought my scope might be a bit inadequate !
I use a 20-60 eyepiece, but never go higher that 20x for obvious reasons.
I live in Stevenage so may have passed you on our local patches sometimes.
Thanks again, my next qery will be what scope? How much?

Cheers, Ted

Click to expand...

Like Ian, I think you should get some basic knowledge of photoshop as well... I did take your kingfisher shot and spent approx 1 minute cleaning it up with neat image and it made a big difference.

As for scopes, it very much depends upon your budget... personally, I'm surprised this one http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=25629 didn't sell... a cracking scope even if it is a bit old now (and not 100% waterproof). Still, if you can afford one of the biggies, Zeiss, Leica, Swarovski, they are another notch up the optical quality scale, go for it... it's unlikely you will ever need to purchase another scope if you buy one of these.

I met a birder from St. Evenage in in Leys Av. Letchworth a few sundays ago when watching the waxwings and he had an interest in digiscoping...wasn't you was it?

regards,
Andy

Andy Bright said:

Like Ian, I think you should get some basic knowledge of photoshop as well... I did take your kingfisher shot and spent approx 1 minute cleaning it up with neat image and it made a big difference.

As for scopes, it very much depends upon your budget... personally, I'm surprised this one http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=25629 didn't sell... a cracking scope even if it is a bit old now (and not 100% waterproof). Still, if you can afford one of the biggies, Zeiss, Leica, Swarovski, they are another notch up the optical quality scale, go for it... it's unlikely you will ever need to purchase another scope if you buy one of these.

I met a birder from St. Evenage in in Leys Av. Letchworth a few sundays ago when watching the waxwings and he had an interest in digiscoping...wasn't you was it?

regards,
Andy

Click to expand...

Wow! you worked wonders with my kingfisher. I use photoshop, but only many to unsharp mask or enhance, the rest is a bit beyond me at present, but I'll persevere with it.
No, it wasn't me in letchworth, usually Amwell, Fowlmere, Paxton or Fen Drayton.
Thanks again for your help.
Ted

IanF said:

I used to have the the Kowa 611 as well and to be honest you have managed far better results than I ever did with mine.

You have managed plenty of sharpness in your images and by the looks of it many would improved further with simply the use of the free download of NeatImage found at www.neatimage.com whihc works well when the subject is a different range of colours from the background as on the Kingfisher and Woodpecker photos.

The CA is a problem on some whihc can be reduced removed using Photoshop and I vaguely recal QImage which used tom be and may be still is a freebie download for personal use.

Personally I never like to go above ISO100 in order to minimise graininess but you may need to maybe try ISO200 to gain a bit more speed.

Overall though I think you'd find it a lot easier to upgrade to a larger scope - but if budget is a big consoderation then using the things mentioned above should help. Even with a larger scope very bright overcast or sunny days always produce the better results.

Click to expand...

Great stuff ! Thanks Ian. ( I'm getting to like this site ! )