Blincodave
Well-known member
And if the holidays are so great, why is there such a shortage in so many subject areas?scampo said:
Just an observation from another 'birding' teacher!
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What's your setup? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Andy V
- Start date
Just an observation from another 'birding' teacher!
scampo
Steve Campsall
Hi there, DaveBlincodave said:
I think I know one reason why...
At school, many kids see at first hand the kind of poor behaviour teachers have to deal with and think, "No way. Not for me. There must be easier ways to earn a living!".
When I moved from industry into teaching English, I was told around forty people applied for my job; now seven or so years later, we're lucky to get half a dozen applicants, sometimes fewer.
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christineredgate
Winner of the Copeland Wildlife Photographer of th
Too many guidelines laid down by the Gov't in a "nanny state".
christineredgate
Winner of the Copeland Wildlife Photographer of th
Indeed,Steve,your great grandfather,could eat neat pig lard fat on thick white bread,have 3 spoons of sugar in his condensed milk tea,or even better unpasteurised milk,warm straight from the cow.He could puff his old pipe all day long,and a have a few wee drams at night and/or several tankards of real ale.He could even play conkers in the school yard and graze his knuckles and knees.These days he would be a real baddie heading for his grave at around 40ish.
I wonder how any of these old chaps have survived their 80th birthdays.
I think there may be a rapped knuckle for deviating from the thread:eek!:
I wonder how any of these old chaps have survived their 80th birthdays.
I think there may be a rapped knuckle for deviating from the thread:eek!:
I forgive you - the pig lard made me chuck-le :eat:christineredgate said:
Anyways, back to subject
I think I've decided what to get - Leica APO77, 20-60x eyepiece, LCE adaptor and then wait a short while for the Contax U4R (should fit the same adaptor as the CP4500 I think)The deal I'm looking at comes with a skua case though, on which there is very mixed opinion. Not sure if I should avoid it and save a bit more for the genuine Leica case.
scampo
Steve Campsall
And how much better, Christine, if they were rapped by a conker...christineredgate said:
I heard on the radio news this morning that a primary school somewhere in the UK (or was it Never-Never land...?) had banned conker fights owing to the possibility of nut allergies being brought on.
Talking about the nanny state... welcome to Scandinavia!
Well put, Steve. I fully agree that optically the Swaro, Zeiss, Leica, Nikon and maybe even Kowa belong to the same top-class, where the slight optical differences are easily outweighed by eg. usability features. If I may add one point to your comment on the Leica 20x eyepiece. Its eye-relief is actually 20mm, which is not exceptionally big, but sufficient for the Coolpix 4500 (or the small Contax/Kyocera) to get unvignetted images. It was for a long time the widest *digiscoping* eyepiece - now there are the Maxviews, Kowas, some Opticrons and maybe soon also the long-awaited Nikons.
Why is this so important? Well, if you start serious digiscoping and have a narrow in-camera field-of-view, you may soon start to wish for a wider option. And if the scope manufacturer does not provide you this - you may simply be out of luck. This is why a long-ER 20xW is a very good eyepiece to have - even as an option. A fixed 30x or a zoom is of course better to have at first.
Andy - I think the Leica APO + Contax is an excellent choice! You could check Petri Kuhno's work here http://www.digiscoping.fi/petrikuhno/20040526a.html to see what the scope is capable of (click the arrows back or forward to see other images). Many of these were taken in conditions where my Swaro AT80HD or Kowa TSN823 would show some (small) color fringing. The APO really seems to do its job. If you can, try to find an amateur (or professional) astronomer to perform a star-test for your scope to exclude the possibility to get a lemon. There have been some less-than-perfect individuals of Leicas (and other makes too).
I think you could first admire your shiny scope without a cover and buy the Leica-labelled case later
Best of luck,
Ilkka
scampo said:
Well put, Steve. I fully agree that optically the Swaro, Zeiss, Leica, Nikon and maybe even Kowa belong to the same top-class, where the slight optical differences are easily outweighed by eg. usability features. If I may add one point to your comment on the Leica 20x eyepiece. Its eye-relief is actually 20mm, which is not exceptionally big, but sufficient for the Coolpix 4500 (or the small Contax/Kyocera) to get unvignetted images. It was for a long time the widest *digiscoping* eyepiece - now there are the Maxviews, Kowas, some Opticrons and maybe soon also the long-awaited Nikons.
Why is this so important? Well, if you start serious digiscoping and have a narrow in-camera field-of-view, you may soon start to wish for a wider option. And if the scope manufacturer does not provide you this - you may simply be out of luck. This is why a long-ER 20xW is a very good eyepiece to have - even as an option. A fixed 30x or a zoom is of course better to have at first.
Andy - I think the Leica APO + Contax is an excellent choice! You could check Petri Kuhno's work here http://www.digiscoping.fi/petrikuhno/20040526a.html to see what the scope is capable of (click the arrows back or forward to see other images). Many of these were taken in conditions where my Swaro AT80HD or Kowa TSN823 would show some (small) color fringing. The APO really seems to do its job. If you can, try to find an amateur (or professional) astronomer to perform a star-test for your scope to exclude the possibility to get a lemon. There have been some less-than-perfect individuals of Leicas (and other makes too).
I think you could first admire your shiny scope without a cover and buy the Leica-labelled case later
Best of luck,
Ilkka
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Elizabeth Bigg
Addicted member
scampo
Steve Campsall
Argh!! Interfering, paranoid governments; interfering, paranoid parents; interfering, paranoid adults... they all know that spoonfeeding breeds reliance on the spoon; but maybe that's the idea - Orwell will be turning in his grave.simon said:
Ah well... at least they could still play conkers, Simon.
Excellent editorial piece, Elizabeth - the Guardian is certainly turning in some very fine writing of late.
Back on (conker) thread - I would call 20mm a rather excessively long eye relief, Ilkka - at least for unaided visual use; good for spec. wearers, though, I suppose!
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Well, back to subject again........
Went and bought my new scope today - went in for a Leica APO 77.....
......and came out with a Zeiss Diascope 85 :eek!:
What a truly luvverly bit of kit. I had them both set up next to each other, and just felt more comfortable with the zeiss. I had to stretch the budget a little further, but hey, I've worked some long hours to save the money so I deserve it
No camera or adaptor yet - but who cares! going out tomorrow to look through it all day probably
Went and bought my new scope today - went in for a Leica APO 77.....
......and came out with a Zeiss Diascope 85 :eek!:
What a truly luvverly bit of kit. I had them both set up next to each other, and just felt more comfortable with the zeiss. I had to stretch the budget a little further, but hey, I've worked some long hours to save the money so I deserve it
No camera or adaptor yet - but who cares! going out tomorrow to look through it
all day probably Andy V said:What a truly luvverly bit of kit. I had them both set up next to each other, and just felt more comfortable with the zeiss. I had to stretch the budget a little further, but hey, I've worked some long hours to save the money so I deserve it
No camera or adaptor yet - but who cares! going out tomorrow to look through it
A great choice and just for the right reasons!
If that is an angled scope, this http://www.spidertech.fi/ada.htm tube adapter works very well - and if you are still willing to stretch the budget, the Zeiss Quick Adaptor is maybe the ultimate solution for digiscoping and surely works well with your scope. :t:
Ilkka
scampo
Steve Campsall
Two fine scopes to choose from - the Leica has the edge on natural colour and contrast, but the Zeiss has by far the better view in my opinion. You wouldn't have gone wrong whichever, though. A tip - I automatically bought the Zeiss 30xW as I always loved the wider view from my Kowa and Nikon days. But it's not needed with the Zeiss - or at least not quite so often. The zoom is so wide in itself.Andy V said:Well, back to subject again........
Went and bought my new scope today - went in for a Leica APO 77.....
......and came out with a Zeiss Diascope 85 :eek!:
What a truly luvverly bit of kit. I had them both set up next to each other, and just felt more comfortable with the zeiss. I had to stretch the budget a little further, but hey, I've worked some long hours to save the money so I deserve it
No camera or adaptor yet - but who cares! going out tomorrow to look through it
Jay Turberville
Well-known member
My camera is a Coolpix 5000 (I keep the Coolpix 995 that I started with in reserve).
I use one of two rigs for almost all of my digiscoping.
1) Swarovski ATS80HD with 20-60x zoom and DCA adapter.
2) Rubinar 1000mm lens with a 32mm TeleVue eyepiece. Epoxied on filter ring as an adapter.
3) I will also occasionally use one of three Lomo scopes. The Lomo Astele 70, 95 and the 40mm Captain with various eyepieces and homemade adapters.
I use one of two rigs for almost all of my digiscoping.
1) Swarovski ATS80HD with 20-60x zoom and DCA adapter.
2) Rubinar 1000mm lens with a 32mm TeleVue eyepiece. Epoxied on filter ring as an adapter.
3) I will also occasionally use one of three Lomo scopes. The Lomo Astele 70, 95 and the 40mm Captain with various eyepieces and homemade adapters.
Barry Boswell
Well-known member
IanF said:
Hi Ian - I'm just curious to know why you used the LCE adapter instead of the dedicated KOWA adapter. I have the KOWA adapter and it seems to work pretty well with the 32xw eyepiece. Did you use a KOWA 20 - 60 zoom, and were you able to get decent results without vignetting on this (narrower) eyepiece? I am thinking of buying the zoom eyepiece in order to get higher magnification on the scope (thereby needing less camera zoom which certainly results in clearer pictures and better focusing). I did post a thread a couple of days ago to see if anyone had experience with the zoom eyepiece on a KOWA 823, but have had no response yet. Would be interested to hear your voiews.
Barry Boswell.
Leica APO televid 77, 32x and Nikon CoolPix & Sony DSC W-1, Lumix LZ20BB
Hi, fairly new to Digiscoping but have got quite a bit of kit now. Taken pics mainly with the Sony due to the larger LCD Panel 2.5". getting use to the Nikon.
Bought the Lumix, as a kind of DSLR, it is surprisinly good straight out of the box, and flight shots can be acheived pretty well.
Off to Portland Bill OBS this week end and will give the Nikon a go, provided the conditions are bright.
Nick
Hi, fairly new to Digiscoping but have got quite a bit of kit now. Taken pics mainly with the Sony due to the larger LCD Panel 2.5". getting use to the Nikon.
Bought the Lumix, as a kind of DSLR, it is surprisinly good straight out of the box, and flight shots can be acheived pretty well.
Off to Portland Bill OBS this week end and will give the Nikon a go, provided the conditions are bright.
Nick
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