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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Panasonic Lumix G1 at last - what a gem for digiscoping (3 Viewers)

Neil said:
Tested my new Olympus 50/2.0 Macro lens on the G1
Click to expand...

Hi Neil

I am also using STS-80 HD & 30x eyepiece, please could you suggest which
M4/3 prime len could have the auto-focus function when using with GH1? or which len is the best choice.

I do not think the kit len (14-45mm) is good enough for digiscoping, thanks

Mandy
 
Back out to the wetlands yesterday with the G1. Had to go to vertical mode with the Olympus 50/2 on the Swarovski 20x. Any more magnification and I wouldn't be able to control it. I used the DCA screwed into the front of the lens for the first time so balance was more difficult. Lucky I have the Telescope Rail to help balance it.
Neil

Panasonic G1 plus Olympus 50/2 Macro and Swarovski STS80HD scope and Sw20x eyepiece , DCA and Telescope Rail

Hong Kong,
China.
Oct 2009

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7892550@N03/?saved=1
 

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trco said:
Neil, what do you think about Olympus 35mm macro lens? Will f/3.5 be to high for digiscoping?
Click to expand...


It could be a problem. I'm having light issues with the 50/2 . If it's not as sharp as the 50/2 ( I haven't seen any reviews ) then you might be better off with the Olympus 25/2.8P or the Panasonic 20/1.7.
Neil
 
trco said:
Neil, what do you think about Olympus 35mm macro lens? Will f/3.5 be to high for digiscoping?
Click to expand...

Hi. I tried the 35mm macro with my E520 and Kowa 823 and found it impossible as a digiscoping lens. The front element is too far receded into the body so using autofocus you just end up with a pic of the eyepiece (and that's if you're lucky). I also tried manual but it was extremely fiddly and even at best produced overwhelming vignetting.

David
 
Neil and davpen, thank you for the answers. I was thinking about Panasonic 20/1.7 and Olympus pancake too, but I do get very low focal lenghts with my Kowa 25x LER:
1260 with zuiko pancake
1010 with panasonic pancake

Something in the range of 35-40 mm will be ideal - maybe pentax 40mm pancake or new Pana/Leica 45mm macro (expensive at the moment)
 
Last edited:
New Panasonic pancake lens

I have just taken delivery of the 20mm Panasonic Pancake lens for the G1 and have attached it to my Zeiss Diascope 85 using the Zeiss adapter. It works! It seems to work with both the 20x60 zoom and the 30x fixed eyepieces. On the zoom, there is some vignetting at the 20x end, but it disappears at about 35x. One small point, you will need to leave off any filter or the vignetting increases.

One real advantage of the wide 1.7 aperture, is that the image on the camera screen is really bright. This looks like a great set up, but I will continue to use the Sony W300 with a slip on adapter when weight is a real issue.

Now for some pictures.
 
Roger,

I'm curious. If you hand-hold the 20mm Panasonic pancake lens and G1 to the 20-60X eyepiece are you able to reduce the vignetting any further? I'm eyeing the new GF1 and 20mm for my Zeiss 85... Thanks!
 
Jerry,

The answer is no. But, the vignetting at 20x is low anyway and just cuts of the corners. I would say that the loss to vignetting at 20x is about 20% of the picture, maybe less.

Also, with the G1 and, I assume, with the GF1, you can change the aspect ratio of the picture from 4 to 3 (normal TV), 3 to 2 (35mm film) and 16 to 9 (widescreen TV) and this does make a difference. I think that 3 to 2 works best at 20x and I would estimate the vignetting loss at about 10%.

A small bit of cropping would eliminate it anyway. I will probably use the zoom most of the time, simply because of the extra versatility.

Hand held on the fixed 30x shows no vignetting.

I would recommend that you try the camera with your own scope and check out the different picture aspect ratios. You will love the bright view on the screen using this lens which makes it much easier to use than a small aperture zoom lens on the camera.

Roger
 
Jerry,

To get an idea of the amount of vignetting at 20x look at the picture of the P6000 at 1x from your review on your blog. The vignetting with the 20mm Pancake is probably half the amount of the P6000. Hope that helps a bit.

Roger
 
jourdaj said:
I'm eyeing the new GF1 and 20mm for my Zeiss 85... Thanks!
Click to expand...
Jerry, just for interest: why the GF1 and not the G1/GH1 ?
I think the main disadvantage of the GF1 are:
- no eyefinder, which is helpful in bright sunlight
- fixed display (not rotateable)
I think both are digiscoping freindly fetaures.
The GF1 285gr, the GH1 385gr and the G1 380gr (bodies only). And yes, the GF1 is a bit smaller and has video (but not as good as the GH1).
 
bughunter said:
Jerry, just for interest: why the GF1 and not the G1/GH1 ?
I think the main disadvantage of the GF1 are:
- no eyefinder, which is helpful in bright sunlight
- fixed display (not rotateable)
I think both are digiscoping freindly fetaures.
The GF1 285gr, the GH1 385gr and the G1 380gr (bodies only). And yes, the GF1 is a bit smaller and has video (but not as good as the GH1).
Click to expand...

I was thinking exactly like this when I was deciding between GF1 and G1 (GH1 is too expensive beacuse of the lens - and it is very hard to get body only). In the end I decided for G1 - articulated screen rules for digiscoping out of the car with angled scope :t:
 
I agree about the screen. Having it articulated is a major plus, and especially so when digiscoping with an angled scope as I do. I did not buy my G1 specifically for digiscoping, but it looks as though it will be good, particularly with the Pancake lens.
 
Yesterday I took my new ( old design ) Balance Bar back out to the wetlands (see first photo ). It enables me to not only support the scope and camera but also to try out different eyepieces.
I started out using the Panasonic kit zoom (14 - 45 mm ) and it was nice to have the AF. Then I switched to the Olympus 50/2.0 macro as I wanted to go out over 30 metres.
Neil.

Panasonic G1 plus Panasonic 14-45 mm zoom and Swarovski STS80HD scope and 45x eyepiece, DCA adapter and special Balance Bar.
also Olympus 50/2.0 and Sw 20x eyepiece and DCA adapter

Hong Kong,
China.
October 2009
 

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Finally may T2 to m4/3 adapter arrived. I bought it on ebay for 25 EUR :)
Adapter goes between Kowa TSN-PZ DSLR zoom adapter and my Panasonic G1.
No autofocus unfortunately, but a gain magnification between 1200 and 2000 mm with 2x crop senzor in G1.

In past I tried combinations with Kowa TSN-PZ and some of the DSLRs (Canon 40d, Nikon d90 and Nikon d300), but they can't compete with little G1 - No mirror slaping and waiting for mirror lockup in this one :t:

I think this combination have big potential.

Just one sample from today - overcast weather so ISO 400 was necessary.
 

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trco said:
Finally may T2 to m4/3 adapter arrived. I bought it on ebay for 25 EUR :)
Adapter goes between Kowa TSN-PZ DSLR zoom adapter and my Panasonic G1.
No autofocus unfortunately, but a gain magnification between 1200 and 2000 mm with 2x crop senzor in G1.

In past I tried combinations with Kowa TSN-PZ and some of the DSLRs (Canon 40d, Nikon d90 and Nikon d300), but they can't compete with little G1 - No mirror slaping and waiting for mirror lockup in this one :t:

I think this combination have big potential.

Just one sample from today - overcast weather so ISO 400 was necessary.
Click to expand...

You should be happy with this one. Very nice.
 
Roger, Bughunter, TRCO,
Thanks for the replies - much appreciated. As for GF1 vs. G1 and GH1 you've kinda answered the questions. G1 doesn't have video and GH1 is a bit too expensive for digiscoping (I'm cheap and will stick w/ the Coolpix P6000). As for the non-rotatable screen on the GF1, its not a problem since I use a jeweler's loop as an eyepiece that velcros onto the back of the camera when sunlight/glare is an issue. The smaller size of the GF1 will also put less strain on the angled scope. I'm also thinking of it as a camera for the wife (hoping that I'll be able to make use of it for digiscoping). Assumes that I can create an adaptor to connect it and the 20mm/1.7 lens to the 20-60X zoom eyepiece of the Zeiss.

Roger - I appreciate your checking the vignetting issue. A little vignetting is good in my book - makes sure the camera/eyepiece distance is proper and centered.

Best!
 
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