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Nikon ED82 Digiscoping adaptor based on Martijn's brilliant idea posted few days ago. (1 Viewer)

Feathered one

Well-known member
Just a few ideas, that I have incorporated into an adaptor I have made, based on Martijn's.

Apart from the hardwood for the collar, everything was purchased from B&Q

First of all it's made of box section aluminium excapt for the pinch collar on the scope, which as in Martijn's design, is made from hardwood.
The pinch collar I found to be the hardest part to make. The hole in the centre, has to be quite accurate, as regards diameter, and also the sides of the hole have to be at right angle to the face of the wood. I wsa lucky to have a router, but it was still not easy.

I have incorporated a "Stop" on the long arm, so that the camera will line up with the eyepiece in the vertical plane without adjustment, every time you lower it, you just tighten the wing nut to secure it.
This works fine with both the 30XDS and the 25-75 MC11 zoom eyepieces. As in Martijn's design, there are adjusment holes in the long arm to take into account the different distances the camera has to be away from the eyepieces.
The holes are quite near together, so have to be drilled accuratley. I have in mind to adjust the camera platform back and forth, instead of the adjustment holes, for another project.

Several members of the forum have mentioned about flare in the eyepiece or camera lens, from sunlight. I never had this problem of course with the tube adaptor I made, and have been using for the last couple of months.
So I have made up a shade, which just clips on to the eyepiece. It does have to be removed to fold the camera out of the way for normal scope use. But it is easy to just pull off.

So pictures in the order below.

1 Adaptor folded on scope
2 Closer look at the adaptor, ignore the shade resting on the scope.
3 A view from the other side of the scope
4 The shade on the adaptor

2 more picture in next posting

Malc
 

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(Continuation of posting above)

5 Long shot of adaptor on scope
6 The stop for the long arm


Haven't yet tried the adaptor in the field, maybe if the weather is ok tommorrow morning will give it a try.

Malc
 

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Malc
A great piece of work, I'll look forward to your post after trying it in the field to see how it compares to the tube adapter. I liked the way that Martijn came up with this type of design. You said the pinch collar was tricky to make, out of curiosity how long did it take you to crack it?
John
 
Feathered one said:
(Continuation of posting above)

5 Long shot of adaptor on scope
6 The stop for the long arm


Haven't yet tried the adaptor in the field, maybe if the weather is ok tommorrow morning will give it a try.

Malc

Another very clever homemade adapter. Well done. :clap: I am convinced this adapter will perform well in the field. The best thing is that members of this forum help eachother along. I just love this.

Cheers Peter
 
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John

The pinch collar was my first attempt, probably took about 3 hours to think about, and to make, lucky I had some mahogany wood (as you do) in the shed, exactly 20mm thick. Of course some thought has to be given to the size of the collar, and where the pivot bolt for the long arm is positioned. The camera lens must end up parallel to the eyepiece in the vertical plane. If the long arm pivot point on the collar is too high or low, then the camera will not be parrallel to the eyepiece. Yes you can add packing under the camera, but I preferred not to.

The holes for the bolts in the collar, where drilled clearance for the bolts, and then the bolts had their heads cut off, and were araldited into the holes, cut end first. I did this to alleviate any stress in the wood.

The drilling of the holes in the long arm at the pinch plate end, is also another problem, they must me absolutely horizontal through the long arm. Easy with a bench drill, but haven't got one, ended up making two long arms, before happy with it.

Having got the collar and long arm fitted, then you have to get the camera support fitted, at the right place, for the end of the lens to eyepiece distance.
Of course if you are wanting to use more than one eyepiece you have to make another set of holes in the bottom of the long arm.

And so it goes on. Probably took about 10 or 12 hours to make in total

In my opinion, it was a lot more difficult to make than my tube adaptor. But of course, a lot easier to push out the way when using the scope, and changing the eyepiece.

I bought the scope, with the intention, that when my wife comes out birding with me, she can also enjoy looking through the scope. It will be much easier now, with the swing up adaptor. (assuming the pictures taken with it are ok)

Cost to make

Hardwood ??
Alloy tube 1 mtr length 4.58
Wing nuts pack 5 1.30
Tube ends pack 10 2.62
Bolts 2 .36
Scraps aluminium sheet/self tappers ??
...........
Cost me £8.86
......................................................................................................

Peter
Yes I do hope we get people making their own adaptors, it's suprising what one can knock up at home.
I have had several people interested, when they saw the tube adaptor, while I have been out birding.

Best wishes to you and John.

Malc
 
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Hi Malc,

That looks good!! Nice work. Not only the adaptor but the whole system: 701rc2, aiming device (riflescope ?) and the holder for the cablerelease! In the Netherlands we call that putting a point on the i.

Best regards, Martijn
 
Results of using the adaptor

Martijn

And your adaptor works well. (And the sight on my scope is a red spot device)

Managed to get to Stanpit Marsh for an hour this morning, to try out the adaptor. A bit breezy, but fairly mild.

The adaptor was fine. As can be seen from the pictures below.

The kestrel was a lucky shot, or should I say 10 shots. I was happily taking pictures of Bar tailed Godwits, then for some reason turned round to look behind me, there were lots of small birds that had flown up, then why became apparent. A kestrel, which flew down to a fence post.
I quickly turned the scope/camera round, and took pictures with the 30X DS eyepiece. Having taken several pictures, I then changed to the 25-75 zoom, which of course was easy to do with the new adaptor.

The best pictures where with the 30X DS
The two pics below where taken with the following settings

Iso 200
1/110 sec
F8
Exp comp -1.3
16 mm zoom on camera (about 1/2 zoom)
After taking the pics, I was able to pace out the distance to the post from where I was taking the picture 65 METRES so a long way. Both are cropped from original.
Anyway see what you think of them.

Malc
 

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Hi Malc

I just knew the adapter was going to work. Very ingenious and now look what nice photos you've made. I know the 30XDS is some eyepiece but I know I would be very pleased if I had taken these myself.

Cheers Peter.
 
The pics look good to me :) But i'm a dummy on photography. Till recent I always used one option: auto. I've been reading the primers on digibird.com and Andy Bright's digiscoped.com . Based on that i question i've you got to use such a high f number / small aperture. (There must have been much light). F number doesn't seems to matter so much and could be traded for a better iso or shutter time.

Kestrels are very common out here and i do like them much. Recently i've seen one chasing a Short-eared Owl. Small but fierce!

Best Regards, Martijn
 
Hi Peter and Martijn

Martijn

From my tests on depth of field using an inclined target, as suggested by Neil.
I found that, as expected, the larger the f number the more depth of field there is. We know this is correct with camera and lens, but wanted to try myself with camera through scope.
At such high magnification, the depth of field is quite small, so the more depth of field we can get, the more likely the target will be in focus.
As you rightly say, the speed will suffer, but on the kestrel, it wasn't moving much, so not so much of a problem. So the camera was on aperture priority.
Iso 200 is not a problem with the Fuji F30, it is a low noise camera.
It was luck that I saw this Kestrel go down on the post, it stayed there for about 4 minutes. A crow mobbing it, finally made it move on.

Peter

The 30X DS eyepiece is much better than the 25-75 zoom for digiscoping. Much more contrast, and also sharper. Having said that, I can sometimes get quite good pictures with the zoom, but not so frequently as with the 30X.

Thank you both for your views

Malc
 
Malc

Thanks for explaining some of the processes required to make your adapter. I hadn't quite appreciated just how complex a process it is to ensure you get the camera lens to end up parallel to the eyepiece in the vertical plane. Well done any way, probably beyond me so I'm going to have a bash at another tube adapter!!!
The kestrel shot is outstanding, I can't believe the qulity of the picture at that distance, you must be pleased with it.

Best regards
John
 
John

The tube adaptor is much easier to make, for sure.
If I had more time to spare, I wouldn't mind making up a few adaptors to help out. As it was, on Friday afternoon, I didn't go out to fit some parts that came in the post for several peoples domestic appliances. I stayed at home making the adaptor !!!
I was pleased with the kestrel, it looks good on the screen as well. And it truly was 65 metres away. I often wonder how far a bird is away from me, cant step it out to see, as there is mud/water between me and the bird !!
So the Kestrel was ok, only dry land. :-O
I won't be throwing my tube adaptor away, will be taking both to Spain next month. I am wondering if I am taking enough memory for the camera, only there for a week, taking 4GB, thats 1300 pics approx. Neil said he takes 1000 pics a day!!. Trouble is you can't really see if a pic is a keeper, looking at the lcd on the camera. No tv at the place we stay, so can't put them up on screen, Hmm

Malc
 
Malc

I see your dilema. I've got 1.5 Gb worth of cards I filled my .5 in 2 days and that was deleting the obvious non keepers. With great light and longer days it would probably be easy to use a GB a day!!! Seeing that you saved on price of adapter could you justify another GB card?? :-O

I've noticed that while a bird is in focus on the scope sometimes you need to re-adjust focus again once camera is in place. Is this somehting you've noticed?

I'll look forward to seeing the pictures from your Spain trip. In the meantime hope you get a few more like the Kestrel before you go.

Best wishes
John
 
Feathered one said:
John

I won't be throwing my tube adaptor away, will be taking both to Spain next month. I am wondering if I am taking enough memory for the camera, only there for a week, taking 4GB, thats 1300 pics approx. Neil said he takes 1000 pics a day!!. Trouble is you can't really see if a pic is a keeper, looking at the lcd on the camera. No tv at the place we stay, so can't put them up on screen, Hmm

Malc

Malc

Check out 7dayshop.com for cheap SD cards under "Flash Memory"

£4.64 for a 1gb card is the lowest price plus others, its cheaper than buying a data storage device, maybe others can comment on the brands but its a cheap solution to your dilema

Regards

Paul
 
John

I bought 2 off 1GB cards last week!
Amazon have them, got the two for £30.00 inc post. They are genuine Fuji ones in blister packs, and are the "H" type. Should have bought more I suppose.

Regards the focus
Yes I always focus looking through the magnifier on the LCD display, with the shutter button depressed half way, when happy with focus, continue pressing all the way down, to take the picture.
Don't always get it right even then.

I really was lucky with the Kestrel, only down the marsh for an hour.
But even at 65 metres distance, it just shows what can be done with the equipment, and a bit of luck.

Regards
Malc

Malc
 
Paul

Thanks for the info. But the F30 uses XD cards not SD, did take a look at 7dayshop, about £2.00 dearer than Amazon for 2 off 1GB.

Nice try anyway

Cheers
Malc
 
And now a MK 2 version

My MK 2 version makes use of a sliding platform for the camera, instead of the holes in the long arm where it attaches to the hardwood pinch plate.

The sliding platform, adjusted by one wing nut, allows the adaptor to be used with severel different eyepieces, much quicker to adjust, and you can easily try different distances of camera lens to eyepice settings, to enable the least vignetting.

So what next ? :-O

Will give the adaptors a rest now, I have three different ones. Will concentrate on seeing the birds and getting some nice pictures.

Picture below the MK 2 adaptor.

Malc
 

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Feathered one said:
So what next ? :-O

Malc


Well done Malc. :clap: One more step towards perfection.

Next?

A sliding platform in the vertical direction, adjusted by one wing nut, that allows different camera types to be useds. This would make it the ideal universal adapter for Nikon ED82A. (and maybe other types too)

It could be an idea for those that use different cameras. This obviously is not neccesary for you, unless you use different cameras, so why bother. You've spent enough time perfecting your adapter so its best to go out and try it. Good luck.



Cheers Peter
 
Hiya Peter

It would be a bit more of a problem to have a vertically adjustable camera platform, the long arm is going to be in the way. As you say, as I have only the one camera, it's fine. If I do get another camera sometime, then will probably just make a different camera platform.

I don't intend to go into mass production, haven't the time to do so.

Thank you for the interest you have taken.

Malc
 
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