Birdfair Digiscoping Adapters and things! (1 Viewer)

Was at the Birdfair for the full three days on the Zeiss stand helping people with general digiscoping queries, which i really enjoy helping with. I also gave a lecture each day on General Digiscoping with the help of Nigel Blake on DSLR Digiscoping and Stephen Ingraham on the Zeiss Digiscoping adapter in the Events marquee. Adapters were on many people's minds in these lectures during the Q & A sessions

Went for a walkabout looking for new products for digiscoping, this included, the new Zeiss DC4 eyepiece camera (obviously didnt walk for that! finished model to be launched in the next few months, pictures on the stand printed out looked good), looked at the two new Kowa scopes, 88mm was very bright (would like to see some pics taken with this lens and a low powered eyepiece!)and a Kowa swing out digiscoping adapter (now officially the most expensive single unit digiscoping adapter on the market at £275?)

Went to the SRB stand, and they had a cable release adapter on show which will prove very useful for people who have a camera with an external telescopic zoom and want to use a cable release, but have not been able to do so, because the thread underneath the camera has been used to attach the camera to the telescope leaving no room to attach a cable release.

A very simple idea, the universal cable release which is like the Eagleeye or the Jessops version, but the screw/nut which fastens into the camera also has a thread drilled into the head of the screw/nut, which basically enables you to attach the camera to an adapter and also use the cable release, the bar which holds the cable release was of a more robust metal and had two different threads to allow different cable release threads to be attached and the locking mechanism for the bar is very sturdy, i was so impressed i bought one.

See the link/picture here

http://www.srbfilm.co.uk/otherprods/CABLE_RELEASE_FLYER.pdf

A bargain at £19.95 for the adapter (inc with a 10” cable £25) plus £2.50 p+p

I have no commercial connection with this company, just a great idea, British made, well engineered and for a reasonable price.

They were also showing a prototype for an all in one digiscoping adapter, which caught my eye and it looked good, it featured the following -

1.An eyepiece sleeve seemed to be the base from which this digiscoping adapter is based on. The sleeve accepts a range of screw in adaptors that enable compact digital cameras, which have lens or body mounting threads, to be fitted, the sleeve will be made to fit the most popular scopes

2. The ability for the sleeve to be fitted with a side bracket, which is designed for those digital compact cameras which do not have lens or body mounting threads.

4. The camera is fitted to the base mounting plate using the tripod bush. The unit is fully adjustable, allowing the camera lens to be centred to the eyepiece.

5. The bracket is designed to allow the camera to be swung away from the eyepiece so that the telescope can be used for direct viewing at any time.

6. Incorporated into the bracket is a cable release mounting

7. There was also an option of an additional adaptor which accepts standard T2 mounts enabling digital SLR camera bodies to be used.

Ok this has been done before but usually for specific scopes, this will hopefully cover a lot more scopes The prototype looked good, it was small in size and very functional, pictures, price and availability to be announced on their website in the future

Rgds

Paul

Hi Paul

Just to let you know the link didn't work. But here is the adapter. Good to see you the fair again.

From what SRB said, all you need to do is send them the details and measurements of you eyepiece and the will make the sleeve to fit. I had an alignment collar from them in the past and the service was very professional at an affordable cost.

The swing away adapter was priced at 80 pounds.

Paul Jarvis said:

From what SRB said, all you need to do is send them the details and measurements of you eyepiece and the will make the sleeve to fit. I had an alignment collar from them in the past and the service was very professional at an affordable cost.

The swing away adapter was priced at 80 pounds.

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Hi Paul

Thanks for the extra info, much appreciated !

ATB

Paul

You can not in my opinion beat the Swarovski stay on adaptor,

If I recall the Swaro swing up adapter does not have a bracket for a remote shutter release cable, but in this the SRB does and is a lot cheaper. The Kowa swing away also has a bracket for a remote release but is more expensive. Swaro are indeed very well made adapters and beautifully finished but there are other points to consider. As for a stay on adapter, do you mean the collar which then prohibits using the scope for actually looking at the birds.

I think Dean means the DCA adapter. It's a two peice adapter. One half fits as a 'collar' over the eyepeice and the other half connects straight onto the camera filter thread - everything is perfectly aligned as soon as you put the camera in place. I leave both halves permanently fitted. The scope isn't hindered in it's use at all.

The DCA is by far the best adapter I've come across anywhere, but it is only for use with Swarovski scopes with cameras capable of taking a filter via a thread.

SRB products I've used for many years, they've always produced quality products at a reasonable price.

Dean Eades said:

You can not in my opinion beat the Swarovski stay on adaptor,

Click to expand...

Hi Dean

I presume you mean the DCA or DCB? If so, yes a good adapter, but it can only be used on a Swaro and doesnt have a cable release attached does it? but just as good IMHO for the same application is the Spidertech or Mr Cheangs adapter, your comment for me suggests birder first, photographer second, no problem with that

The prototype SRB digiscoping adapter is for a wider audience with different brands of scope who have an emphasis on taking pictures, i was talking at Birdfair with Chris Galvin who gave the lectures for Swaroski, he agreed with me, both products are of good construction and he was demonstrating the universal cable release on the Swaro stand just as i was showing it on the Zeiss stand

Paul

Ian, with the DCA how quick can you remove the camera to use the scope and also put the camera back to take a photo, that I think is the point. Of course the other is that it can only be used with Swaro scopes, the most expensive on the market which many birders cannot afford. So to say the best adapter is SWaro's DCA is to me a bit moot.

Robert L Jarvis said:

Ian, with the DCA how quick can you remove the camera to use the scope and also put the camera back to take a photo, that I think is the point. Of course the other is that it can only be used with Swaro scopes, the most expensive on the market which many birders cannot afford. So to say the best adapter is SWaro's DCA is to me a bit moot.

Click to expand...

As Paul Hackett has said I was demonstrating various cameras and the different digiscoping adapters that Swarovski produce at the fair.

The DCA is extremely quick to deploy if the internal sleeve is permanently attached to the eyepiece. As there is only one large grub screw to tighten on the outer sleeve. When I use the DCA I remove the camera from my pocket whilst turning it on then slide the adapter over the inner sleeve and tighten the grub screw. This means that you can deploy your camera in about 5 seconds with a little practice. What this adapter all does for the birder is that you retain the use of the zoom if you are using a 20-60 zoom eyepiece. This is done by loosening the grub screw on the outer sleeve and rotate the eyepiece using the grub screw on the inner sleeve. This sounds rather convoluted but is much easier to demonstrate and operate than write instructions for!!

The DCB, although an expensive piece of kit is extremely well engineered and gives the user an element of future-proofing his/her digiscoping aspirations because it will convert over 95% of digital compact cameras for digiscoping purposes, as long as the camera has a less tha 6 x optical zoom. Anything over 6 x optical zoom normally retains some vignetting throughout the camera zoom and/or eyepiece zoom. This system also gives the user the maximum flexibility and control over viewing rather photographing. As long as the camera is switched on then then it can be swung from the upright position and be in a position ready to capture your images in about 3 seconds.

I tested the SRB remote cable release bracket on the Swarovski stand with bithe the DCA & DCB and appears to provide a superb solution for those camers that have no dedicated remote release. When using a DCB the Large screw and sliding base plate on the SRB bracket are attached to the camera via the tripod bush. The sliding base plate that comes with the DCB screws into the head of the SRB grub screw. I too have no relationship with SRB but I think that it is great that a British third party manufacturer has come up with a system to provide a solution that has been a bit of a bugbear with me. Why the camera manufacturers can't come up with a single button infra-red electronic remote release is a mystery to me.

Chris Galvin
Chris Galvin Photo

universal digiscoping adaptor

Did you happen to see the universal digiscope adaptor from Alpen at the Birdfair. It works with all scopes and almost all camera's. The price for this product is under $100.00 U.S.? If you are interested in more information contact me at [email protected]

Went for a walkabout looking for new products for digiscoping, this included, the new Zeiss DC4 eyepiece camera (obviously didnt walk for that! finished model to be launched in the next few months, pictures on the stand printed out looked good), looked at the two new Kowa scopes, 88mm was very bright (would like to see some pics taken with this lens and a low powered eyepiece!)and a Kowa swing out digiscoping adapter (now officially the most expensive single unit digiscoping adapter on the market at £275?)

Went to the SRB stand, and they had a cable release adapter on show which will prove very useful for people who have a camera with an external telescopic zoom and want to use a cable release, but have not been able to do so, because the thread underneath the camera has been used to attach the camera to the telescope leaving no room to attach a cable release.

A very simple idea, the universal cable release which is like the Eagleeye or the Jessops version, but the screw/nut which fastens into the camera also has a thread drilled into the head of the screw/nut, which basically enables you to attach the camera to an adapter and also use the cable release, the bar which holds the cable release was of a more robust metal and had two different threads to allow different cable release threads to be attached and the locking mechanism for the bar is very sturdy, i was so impressed i bought one.

See the link/picture here

http://www.srbfilm.co.uk/otherprods/CABLE_RELEASE_FLYER.pdf

A bargain at £19.95 for the adapter (inc with a 10” cable £25) plus £2.50 p+p

I have no commercial connection with this company, just a great idea, British made, well engineered and for a reasonable price.

They were also showing a prototype for an all in one digiscoping adapter, which caught my eye and it looked good, it featured the following -

1.An eyepiece sleeve seemed to be the base from which this digiscoping adapter is based on. The sleeve accepts a range of screw in adaptors that enable compact digital cameras, which have lens or body mounting threads, to be fitted, the sleeve will be made to fit the most popular scopes

2. The ability for the sleeve to be fitted with a side bracket, which is designed for those digital compact cameras which do not have lens or body mounting threads.

4. The camera is fitted to the base mounting plate using the tripod bush. The unit is fully adjustable, allowing the camera lens to be centred to the eyepiece.

5. The bracket is designed to allow the camera to be swung away from the eyepiece so that the telescope can be used for direct viewing at any time.

6. Incorporated into the bracket is a cable release mounting

7. There was also an option of an additional adaptor which accepts standard T2 mounts enabling digital SLR camera bodies to be used.

Ok this has been done before but usually for specific scopes, this will hopefully cover a lot more scopes The prototype looked good, it was small in size and very functional, pictures, price and availability to be announced on their website in the future

Rgds

Paul[/QUOTE]