• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Home made Lcd shade/magnifier (1 Viewer)

Feathered one

Well-known member
To make the Fuji F30 Lcd screen clearer in bright sun conditions, and also to help with focus on the scope while digiscoping, I made up my own.
Using the same diameter tube I used for my camera/scope adaptor,which you can look at by following this link
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=72515
I used an old lens from a long ago scrapped JVC video camera, which I had kept (like you do) in case it may one day be usefull.
The lens was a good fit in the tube, and I glued a suitable sized rubber hood to the lens. The tube has to be cut to length, so that the Lcd screen is in focus.
At the screen end of the tube, I drill 4 small holes, so I could thread some thin cord through to give a cross hair effect, when looking through the shade/magnifier, which allows me to see where the centre of the picture is.
A small bracket was attached to the tube, so that it just hooks over the camera adaptor, and can be easily removed.
Being new to digiscoping, and also never having used a scope before, I do find it difficult to aim the scope at the target, so you will notice a small piece of bent wire attached to the top of the shade/magnifier. This together with another piece of wire on the front of the scope, is my sighting arrangement. It works very well. The wire on the front of the scope is easily removeable, it is on a circle of elastic which fits over the scope hood.
Hopefully the pictures below will show all the details, including a picture of the scope fitted with all of the parts I have made.

Malc
 

Attachments

  • Lcd-parts.jpg
    Lcd-parts.jpg
    213.6 KB · Views: 452
  • Lcd-back.jpg
    Lcd-back.jpg
    230.4 KB · Views: 379
  • Lcd-rear-view-scope.jpg
    Lcd-rear-view-scope.jpg
    336.5 KB · Views: 449
  • Lcd-side-view-scope.jpg
    Lcd-side-view-scope.jpg
    315.3 KB · Views: 469
  • Lcd-scope.jpg
    Lcd-scope.jpg
    335.5 KB · Views: 590
Last edited:
Feathered one said:
To make the Fuji F30 Lcd screen clearer in bright sun conditions, and also to help with focus on the scope while digiscoping, I made up my own.
Using the same diameter tube I used for my camera/scope adaptor,which you can look at by following this link
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=72515
I used an old lens from a long ago scrapped JVC video camera, which I had kept (like you do) in case it may one day be usefull.
The lens was a good fit in the tube, and I glued a suitable sized rubber hood to the lens. The tube has to be cut to length, so that the Lcd screen is in focus.
At the screen end of the tube, I drill 4 small holes, so I could thread some thin cord through to give a cross hair effect, when looking through the shade/magnifier, which allows me to see where the centre of the picture is.
A small bracket was attached to the tube, so that it just hooks over the camera adaptor, and can be easily removed.
Being new to digiscoping, and also never having used a scope before, I do find it difficult to aim the scope at the target, so you will notice a small piece of bent wire attached to the top of the shade/magnifier. This together with another piece of wire on the front of the scope, is my sighting arrangement. It works very well. The wire on the front of the scope is easily removeable, it is on a circle of elastic which fits over the scope hood.
Hopefully the pictures below will show all the details, including a picture of the scope fitted with all of the parts I have made.

Malc

Wonderful design particularly the 2 "antenna" aimer. I use a 3 X map magniflier direct adhered by tape on the screen, it works fine to give more accurate focusing in my P4. Will you consider a red-dot finder? It works excellent and looks more professional.
 

Attachments

  • SWAT00002.jpg
    SWAT00002.jpg
    194.7 KB · Views: 460
ray2758 said:
Wonderful design particularly the 2 "antenna" aimer. I use a 3 X map magniflier direct adhered by tape on the screen, it works fine to give more accurate focusing in my P4. Will you consider a red-dot finder? It works excellent and looks more professional.

Ray
As I am new to this, I have never heard of a red dot finder, so will google for it, thanks very much for the information.
Malc
 
ray2758 said:
Check this out you may find pretty good information :

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=17459

Ray
I am at this moment making up a mount for the Red Dot Finder I bought this afternoon at the local gun shop, will let you know how I get on with it.
Many thanks for putting me on to it.

Edited......Finder now fitted with a bracket to the quick release shoe.
Tried it out looking through the window tonight..............much more accurate than the 2 wire antennae, a great improvement, and as you say, looks better. Will have to get out again this weekend, weater permitting.

Malc



Malc
 
Last edited:
Feathered one said:
Ray
I am at this moment making up a mount for the Red Dot Finder I bought this afternoon at the local gun shop, will let you know how I get on with it.
Many thanks for putting me on to it.

Edited......Finder now fitted with a bracket to the quick release shoe.
Tried it out looking through the window tonight..............much more accurate than the 2 wire antennae, a great improvement, and as you say, looks better. Will have to get out again this weekend, weater permitting.

Malc



Malc

I behave like you (or you behave like me), can't wait is my character. Once I know something good I will do a research over internet then go, even take leave, to buy. Congratulations, Malc !! I really find the red-dot finder very useful, very quick to locate even a small bird 50M away covered by the braches of a tree, then focus and shot. My doing is to rigidly fix it (don't leave any fine tune mechanism). Once you aligned with the scope it won't change. I will find at field annoying to reposition the finder if frequently being moved by wind or shaking.
 

Attachments

  • nam_chung1.jpg
    nam_chung1.jpg
    64.1 KB · Views: 382
ray2758 said:
I behave like you (or you behave like me), can't wait is my character. Once I know something good I will do a research over internet then go, even take leave, to buy. Congratulations, Malc !! I really find the red-dot finder very useful, very quick to locate even a small bird 50M away covered by the braches of a tree, then focus and shot. My doing is to rigidly fix it (don't leave any fine tune mechanism). Once you aligned with the scope it won't change. I will find at field annoying to reposition the finder if frequently being moved by wind or shaking.


i found one red dot sighter in the city today and it cost about USD80 but not really sure if that's the one that your are using.

can u show me the sighter and what brand as well the price ?
 
Ray
I was passing by a gun shop and wandered in to see what red dot sights they had. They had two different ones, ended up with the more expensive one. The dot was smaller, and the front lens had a sun hood, and easier to adjust the sight. I agree, as you , if something is going to make the job easier and quicker, price permitting, go for it.

With my old "Antennae" sight it was located just above the camera, so you didn't have to look far to see what you had sighted in the screen of the camera. The red dot sight would have been silly mounted so high, so have mounted it about level with the scope. A sturdy bracket which wont move, had a quick look through late this afternoon before it got dark, and it works great.

Got a fold up stool today as well, turns out to be same as yours in your photo. :eek!:

I have a question regarding depth of field while digiscoping, you may be able to answer for me. I will post as a new thread in Camera settings, then others may see it.

Horukuru

See the picture below, it is a "Hawke sports optic" I probably paid more than I need, as it was in a gun shop. I paid £39 british pounds, which is near enough the 80 USD you saw one for.

Malc
 

Attachments

  • Red-dot-sight.jpg
    Red-dot-sight.jpg
    282.4 KB · Views: 417
Last edited:
I have nothing to say, your fabrication work is excellent, looks quite professional. However, the base of your red dot sight needed to have something like marking or key slot to let it mating at the pre-aligned positon with the base of the scope so you don't need to adjust the red dot sight after screwing both together. Price is OK, for gun it is quite vary even in HK we have US$5 (street stalls) to US$150 (gun shop) goods. To save the toruble I usually buy a pricier one. Yours looks professional. Regarding the depth of field, I think there are many experts here. In HK, weather is always dim, I have no choice as I put the shutter speed in 1 st priority.

OK, everthing seems ready, just wait to see your photos back.

:clap: :clap: :clap:
 
Last edited:
Ray
The bracket for the red dot sight is bolted to the quick release plate, I fitted the bracket plate under the scope foot, and it is keyed to both, had to fit a longer bolt from QR plate to scope thread.

As regards pictures, have taken some, and pretty happy with the results, however paid work and the weather is stopping me from doing more at the moment.

I am looking forward to taking the equipment on holiday, at the end of March to just south of Trujillo, Extremadura, Spain. We have had several holidays down there in the last few years, we like to see all the birds, but hope to get some pictures of them this time. Only had 10x50 bins before and a Sony F717 with us. We are also off to Portugal early Autumn as well. ;)

Malc
 
Feathered one said:
Ray
The bracket for the red dot sight is bolted to the quick release plate, I fitted the bracket plate under the scope foot, and it is keyed to both, had to fit a longer bolt from QR plate to scope thread.

As regards pictures, have taken some, and pretty happy with the results, however paid work and the weather is stopping me from doing more at the moment.

I am looking forward to taking the equipment on holiday, at the end of March to just south of Trujillo, Extremadura, Spain. We have had several holidays down there in the last few years, we like to see all the birds, but hope to get some pictures of them this time. Only had 10x50 bins before and a Sony F717 with us. We are also off to Portugal early Autumn as well. ;)

Malc

Jealous .........
So do be too long...............I mean the bird photos........he he he
 
LCD magnifier

Feathered one said:
To make the Fuji F30 Lcd screen clearer in bright sun conditions, and also to help with focus on the scope while digiscoping, I made up my own.

An alternative (as suggested by Andy Bright back in 2003) is a cheap slide viewer bought from a photographic shop. UK readers can get one from Jessops for about £2. Remove the 'frosted' screen at the front and hey presto! As Andy points out, it does make the pixels on the screen a bit large, but I hope to prove that it is better than wearing glasses and draping a coat over one's head to shade the LCD. Watch this space!!!
 
Warning! This thread is more than 17 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top