KOwa 884 and Sony HDR XR500 (1 Viewer)

I've been taking bird photographs with this brilliant Sony videocam as it is (x12 zoom) in full 1080 HD. The results are outstanding and beyond my expectations. The addition of Sony's 1.7 ed teleconvertor adds further reach (eqivalent to a 500 mm lens) with now discernable loss of IQ. Still photos are also good and much better than I expected. Image stabilisation is the best I've used, a tiltable bright LCD, remote control (zoom + shutter) and touch focus or manual focus add to the package.

This week I attached the camera without the Tcon to my Kowa 884 with a 20-60 zoom attached. I used 20x zoom on the Kowa and about 50% zoom on the camera to remove vignetting. I was able to video a bee on a flower at a distance of 50 feet. It is a fairly stable combination using Kowas DA10 adaptor and 52 mm ring with a 52-37 step down to mate with Sony. However I tried today a Visionary L balance bar/
http://www.sherwoods-photo.com/digiscoping_brackets/digi-scoping_adapters_and_brackets.htm
and camera adaptor which worked very well, added stability. I think this could be used without the expensive DA10 adaptor too.

Happy to respond to comments.
Rich

Glad you have found something that works for you Rich.

Maybe this give you more ideas: http://kowa-prominar.com/catalog/pdf/digiscoping.pdf

Rick thanks for the pdf. It is the most comprehensive guide to the Kowa that I've seen in one place. The visionary adaptor is much like the DA3 and as I can get connection with the Sony without vignetting I don't need the VA adaptor.

I think I will eventually get the DA4 as it seems the best bit of kit for small digicams. Still looking for the ideal small digicam for travelling light. Warming to the S90 though.
Cheers Rich

Spoke to soon. In the field the high magnification of the Sony Kowa combo shows up the slightest tremor in a hide as and earthquake. So impractable. However the Sony Tcon combination is very very good on it's own. Bought the Sony for my daughters wedding and really pleased it works well for birdwatching.
Rich

Experience is always the best teacher Rich. As you discovered video is even more demanding of the camera support/attachement method than still photography. In the link I provided you can see Kowa recommends using a special low maginification video lens VA2/VA3 with direct threaded attachment to the camera and a support rail to help dampen vibrations.

Good luck with the Panny FX150!
Rick