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

New Zeiss Scope with INTEGRATED Camera (1 Viewer)

F

frank.e.oy

Member
There´s a new scope from Zeiss to be presented at the Photokina on monday. It´s a device with an integrated 7MP digicam. The magnification is 15-45x, the focal length of the camera is from 600 up to 1800 mm.

The FOV is 68 degrees. Like in the DC4 there is no flip mirror, it uses a beam splitter instead (so there is no shaking when taking a picture).

The only informations in the web so far are in german language, see:

http://www.orniwelt.de/products/Spektive/Zeiss/Spektive-und-Okulare/Zeiss-PhotoScope-85-T-FL.html

Sounds very interesting!

Frank
 

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I hope that the "9.999,99 EUR" that appears on this page is the default setting when the price is not known rather than the suggested retail price!

John
 
I understand that it is their R&D department's duty to develop these kinds of prototypes, but why their management lets them manufacture and sell them to public is beyond my comprehension.

Ilkka
 
I personally can't see that selling very many at all-how would it be better/cheaper than a Diascope 85 with some sort of digiscoping assembly?
 
I think the success or failure of this instrument depends very much on the price point and the quality of the results. I'd have thought the advantages over a digiscoping clamp-and-scope set up is obvious - being integral you'll always have it ready for that instant shot, John
 
John Cantelo said:
I think the success or failure of this instrument depends very much on the price point and the quality of the results. I'd have thought the advantages over a digiscoping clamp-and-scope set up is obvious - being integral you'll always have it ready for that instant shot, John
Click to expand...

The problem as I see it, is that cameras are much more subject to obsolescence and breakdown than scopes are. To me an integral camera would only make sense if the camera was replaceable without too much effort, preferably by the user.
 
John Cantelo said:
I think the success or failure of this instrument depends very much on the price point and the quality of the results. I'd have thought the advantages over a digiscoping clamp-and-scope set up is obvious - being integral you'll always have it ready for that instant shot, John
Click to expand...

I meant that for the expected astronomical price, you could buy the optically identical scope, a probably far superior and interchangeable camera, plus all adapters, and have enough money left over for some nice birding trips. Yes, you'd lose the instant shot function, but I have never seen digiscopers with Zeiss's earlier semi-integrated option so I wouldn't have thought it was hugely important.
 
Yes, the beam splitter would give the view through the eyepiece about the same brightness as a 60mm scope. If the specs are real the eyepiece does look interesting; 3x zoom with a constant 68 degree field.
 
Concerning the price speculation, the German description says the following:

Die Markteinführung für das PhotoScope 85 T* FL ist für Frühjahr/Sommer 2009 geplant.

Der voraussichtliche Preis ist derzeit noch nicht bekannt!

This means that the planned market release is spring-summer 2009 and that the retail price is not yet known. While there is no reason to believe the scope will be cheap, the 9999,99 euro price shown must, as John speculated, just be a clumsy and misleading alternative to "XXXX,XX."

As far as image brightness, since the scope is an 85mm but only reaches 45x magnification, the subjective image is likely to be plenty bright enough even with the beam-splitter. Also, resolution should be that of a "normal" 85mm scope, so the image could visually very well be quite excellent. I'm sure Zeiss engineers and product developers are very aware of the obsolescence risks of a 7mp camera integrated to a scope, but they must have decided that this is good enough when well implemented, and in any case it ought to be relatively straightforward for them to come up with various "MK1,2,3..." versions with better sensors and refined image processing capabilities - possibly even with the option of having them retrofitted to already purchased models. Of course, here I'm purely speculating.

I could easily imagine that a system like this would be highly attractive for example to those who do birding and ornithological surveys in habitats such as rainforests, where you often don't have the luxury of setting up gear after you have spotted something of interest high in the foliage.

Kimmo
 
kabsetz said:
they must have decided that this is good enough when well implemented, and in any case it ought to be relatively straightforward for them to come up with various "MK1,2,3..." versions with better sensors and refined image processing capabilities
Click to expand...

I agree that this concept would be quite nice "when well implemented" and I am sure this is the direction in the future. However, I very much doubt such highly integrated (difficult/impossible-to-upgrade) designs where rapidly aging imaging electronics is combined with optics that would be excellent forever. And - worst of all - in a way that compromises the performance of both viewing and imaging.

Best regards,

Ilkka
 
Fernando np said:
Please Ikka, why so much enthusiasm about zooming with the objetive?
Click to expand...

Fernando,

You may have noticed that I am a big fan of wide apparent FOVs and I already have been enthusiastic about the new wide (but "short") zoom eyepieces from Leica & Swaro. Now, I don't know if the objective-zoom means some other optical compromises, but a 68° AFOV over 3x zoom range with good eye-relief (of a fixed eyepiece) sounds like "the best of both worlds".

Best regards,

Ilkka
 
I could easily imagine that a system like this would be highly attractive for example to those who do birding and ornithological surveys in habitats such as rainforests, where you often don't have the luxury of setting up gear after you have spotted something of interest high in the foliage.


I cannot see this sort of thing selling in decent numbers. IMHuO the combination of high quality binoculars and high quality/specification (8+MP ?) camera would be much more suitable in many woodland habitats.

I took the attached through Swarovski SLC binoculars by hand holding a Nikon 5200 to the eyepiece. Imagine how much better it could be without the "faffing" about that took.
 

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Like most things the proof of it's worth will be revealed in forthcoming reviews and image samples. As for price there will be IMO many customers after all they did sell all the other scope dedicated cameras at £1200 each! I can see many advantages in the concept but as for using it in environments like a rainforest not sure on that as it will require a tripod so not as verastile as a pair of bins and dslr with big lens. However imagine you are looking through the scope and all you have to do is hit the button on the remote to take shots while still looking through the scope.

One little item I could not see any where too clearly was, is there a burst mode??

I wonder if this will mean a surge of second hand Diascopes and Digital compacts.
 
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