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Panasonic FS16 with opticron scope (1 Viewer)

Alcedo67

Member
Hi, I've bought the panasonic fs16 kit to adapt it to an opticron HR 80 SDL eyepiece and I've already made my first pictures with it. As others said, it's really very easy to use the adaptor and the camera, but I have some problems to get sharp images. I've seen that some people have had the same problem and I've seen that they use different settings, but I'm not completely sure about what are the optimal settings. What do you think about these? Do you think that it would be good to make some changes?:

Picture Size 4:3 12M
Sensitivity: ISO 100
White Balance AWB
AF Mode: 1 Area
Digital Zoom: Off
Colour Mode: Standard
Stabilizer: Off
AF Assyst Lamp: Off
Red-Eye Removal: Off
Exposure +2/3
Flash: Off

You can see my first (and poor) photos here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/110907868928726708400/DigisPruebas?authkey=Gv1sRgCMLZvNrl2a6-EQ

Thanks in advance,

Fernando
 
Hi,

I think you may need to use one of the macro settings.

Also, I tend to focus the scope, then half press the shutter release to lock the camera focus, then re-focus the scope and then fully press the shutter release.

By the way, the 3rd photo looks OK to me.
 
Nothing wrong with pic 3 at all.

As Richard says, macro mode may help - do some tests and try it out.

It also helps to try to limit zooming to 1/3-1/2 of the max zoom range. Compact cameras AF can be be a bit unreliable at near max zoom.

Zoom with the eyepiece (if it is a zoom) rather than the camera.

Don't worry if the bird looks really small in the pic, when you crop it should still be sharp.
 
As the others have mentioned, we recommend using macro focus mode. Are you using a cable release or the self-timer when taking the shot?

Don't push the zoom on the scope much beyond 30x and try to keep the camera zoom to 1.5x-2x maximum (just enough to remove vignetting).

Shot 3 looks fine so your settings are basically OK - just looks like the technique for focusing needs some practice. That's the hard part (that and getting the !?*@!?? bird to sit still!).

Cheers, Pete
 
Thanks everyone for your advice, they are really very useful for me. I've already made some pics with macro mode and paying attention to Richard's advice for focusing, and I think things are getting better - though today it's very cloudy in Segovia. You can see a deep study on my neighbour's aerial and roof (with a sparrow as a guest star) here (the pics have been slightly changed on the PC):

https://picasaweb.google.com/110907...authkey=Gv1sRgCKO69dirlIPkwwE&feat=directlink

Pete - thanks again for your help, I used the self-timer, but I must set it every time I shot and sometimes I forget it - Is there a way to set it all the time?

Thanks again and cheers!
 
Unfortunately no - you need to set it each time. I think that is why we sell a lot of cable release systems!

Cheers, Pete
 
Using the self timer is more trouble than its worth. I use the 'burst' mode so it keeps taking shots as long as the shutter release is held down in the hope it minimizes camera shake.
 
Opticron

Here is probably my best effort at digiscoping. Opticron HR66ed using their SDL zoom eyepiece. I also have the digiscoping kit. Mine is an earlier version than yours and uses the FS10 camera.

Juvenile Redstart.

Regards

Moocher
 

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Here is probably my best effort at digiscoping. Opticron HR66ed using their SDL zoom eyepiece. I also have the digiscoping kit. Mine is an earlier version than yours and uses the FS10 camera.

Juvenile Redstart.

Regards

Moocher

You've nailed that one Moocher. Great.
 
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