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Nikon S&E 80mm w/Sony MVC-CD250??? (1 Viewer)

Gregory Sargean

You can have my porros when you pry them from my c
Hello,
I am an avid birder who knows nothing about digiscoping and very little about optics or photography. I currently have a Nikon Sky and Earth 80mm scope and Sony MVC-CD250 camera. Link: http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/CD250/CD25DAT.HTM
I would like to know if the combination is practical for digiscoping. Does anyone have opinions/advice on either of these? Can someone point me in the direction of an adapter???
Thanks
Greg S.
Providence, RI
 
I don't know the scope or camera, but a start would be to hold the camera lens very close to the scope lens (maybe both supported on tripods) and see if you can produce an image on the camera's LCD. The image will be circular to begin with but then zoom in using the camera's optical zoom. If you can produce a decent sized image that fills or almost fills the screen, you are on to a winner.

After that you need to get hold of an adapter that screws into the lens thread of you camera and connects this with the scope, holding the camera and scope in good solid alignment. Phone Nikon to see if they have an adapter that will fit your camera/scope combination - but there are other sources of such adapters as others will, I hope, suggest.
 
Gregory

Had a quick look around the web for the equipment you have, The scope looks O.K.
As for the camera, It has a lens thread!. Best bet is to hand hold the camera to the scope eyepice ( scope set to lowest zoom ) and look through the LCD, if you have vignetting ( like looking through a tunnel ), try zooming out with optical zoom.
You should get something!.
Good luck

Looks like Scampo's beaten me to it!.
 
Hi Greg and a warm welcome to birdforum.net from all he staff here, we hope you enjoy the site.
The scope's fine enough and the camera may be o.k. for digiscoping....try for yourself as Steve (Scampo) suggests.

Actually fitting a digiscoping adapter onto the 37mm thread maybe o.k. If it's a genuine accessory thread for use with sony add-on lenses but if it's just a thread for attaching lightweight filters and is all part of the actual moving lens mechanism I'd be very wary about putting too much weight on it.... when attached to the scope the whole weight of the camera will be put on the lens mechanism!!

An alternative is to use a support bracket type device (eagleeyeuk.co.uk 'cam-mount' , SRBfilm.co.uk or simplicitytool.com ) that holds the camera up to the eyepiece via the tripod socket of the camera rather than attaching anything to the lens area of the camera.
Best regards,
Andy
 
Thanks! The thread is "genuine" and pretty sturdy. As near as I can tell, there is little or no vignetteing at maximum zoom, I will be able to do some more testing in daylight. The adapter issue has me perplexed. The eyepeice is a 20x-60x zoom. Nikon makes an adapter that will accommodate this eyepiece. Here is the link
http://nikon.topica.ne.jp/bi_e/products/nature_c.htm#2

Mine is the spotting scope, not the field scope. Unfortunately the adapters only fit Coolpix series cameras, which have 28mm threads, while my Sony has a 37mm thread. Here is my plan: I'll purchase one of these and use a 28mm>37mm step-up thread ring adapter to make it fit? Should this work???
 
Ask Nikon - it will depend on the actual diameter of your camera's from lens element - the 28mm might cut off the edge area of the lens (and with 9mm, I'd be surprised if it doesn't. The other key issue is whether your lens pops out while it zoos, or twists around while zooming or focusing. If it does either of these things, screwing an adapter to it might not work as, as soon as you try to zoom, you'll be in trouble.

Have a look at this site www.warehouseexpress.com - they have quite a decent section on digiscoping. Also, you could email the London Camera Exchange people - they make a popular range of adapters. They don't have a website but here is a link with an email address: http://www.lcegroup.co.uk/shop.php?id=2.
 
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