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Right camera for multiple purposes - Canon EOS? (1 Viewer)

koren

New member
Hi all,

My husband and I are thinking about buying a good quality digital camera. Unfortunately, the different purposes that we want to use it for seem to be incompatible.

We want something that will give good quality for conventional photography and making prints up to A3 size, and that has a good optical zoom, ie more than 4X. My first instinct was to go for the Nikon 5700. However, most of what I read on this forum and elsewhere suggests that this camera is no good for digiscoping.

A further limitation is that we also want to use the camera for underwater photography, so we would need to get something for which a housing is available.

One option would be to spend a bit more (well, quite a bit more) and get a DSLR, such as one of the Canon EOS models. Does anyone have any comments about using something like this for digiscoping?

Or should I just get 2 cameras, one for conventional/underwater and the other for digiscoping?

Cheers, Koren
 
Hi Koren,

Welcome to Bird Forum. I hope you get chance to read any replies before BF goes off-line for a couple of days for a major upgrade from 17.00 BST tonight!

Your question should get a few different answers from the members who love this kind of subject. Hopefully there won't be too many opposing opinions!

You've already noted that it's difficult to get a camera to do everything that you require and it's true that 'Digiscoping' just happens to work well with some models and not others - they were never designed for it so it's pot luck whether they work or not.

The best cameras for digiscoping seem to be the Nikon swivel-design models in the 9xx/4500 series but I would imagine that this style doesn't lend itself well to designing an underwater housing - not without restricting its useability, anyway.

I believe Canon do some waterproof casings to fit one or two of their models (not sure which, probably the S and G series models). Whether they're as robust as a 'professional' SLR model or not needs to be checked out.

It is possible to use a SLR for digiscoping, especially with a 50mm F1.8 lens but results are probably not as good as one of the more suitable 'compact' style digi-cameras. There is also the possibility to use the photo-adapter if one is available for your particular scope - although these can be a bit fiddly to use.

Many people first started digiscoping with camcorders, making use of the 10x or more zoom lenses on these models so it's very disappointing to note that the longer range zoom lenses on digital still cameras don't seem to be so good for the job making it very difficult to find a camera that will do everything you require.

As noted in your last sentence, 2 different cameras may be the only way to get the results you need unless you are prepared to compromise on one of your areas of interest.

Adey
 
Digibirder uses a G3 for digiscoping with a home made adaptor. It also has a radio remote as standard and their is a waterproof housing available. Later model is G5 and I think the same applies.
Look at it first though!
 
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