Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ7 (1 Viewer)

Tern nut · Sep 1, 2006

Does anyone have experience of the Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ7 for digiscoping? I'm looking at the Leica APO 77 as the scope, unless the rumoured 80mm becomes available soon?

I know this is a 12x zoom & that anything over 3x will cause vignetting, but was hoping it would work if it was only zoomed to x3. Sorry if this is dumb questions but I'm new to the world of digiscoping.

The reasons for wanting this camera, is that it won't always be used with a scope so having a 12x zoom would be useful.

Also has anyone had experience with the Eagle eye Opticzoom 5x lens, I was wondering if that would be compatibly with the Lumix. Not sure what the image quality would be like?

Thanks in advance for any help.

ermine · Sep 1, 2006

Tern nut said:
Does anyone have experience of the Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ7 for digiscoping?

Don't have experience with this model, but it looks about the same size of lens as my Panny FZ20. Which has no chance at digiscoping - the lens is far too big. Look for a camera with a smaller lens diameter. The problem you get with large lens diameters is shocking levels of vignetting, where the picture makes a small circle in the middle of the field of view, throwing away most of the megapixels you paid for.

Chris Galvin · Sep 1, 2006

Tern nut said:
I know this is a 12x zoom & that anything over 3x will cause vignetting, but was hoping it would work if it was only zoomed to x3. Sorry if this is dumb questions but I'm new to the world of digiscoping.

Great Camera but not suitable for digiscoping you will have vignetting all the way through the zoom range of the camera. As a general rule of thumb anything with an optical zoom of more tha 5x will suffer from vignetting

Tern nut · Sep 1, 2006

Thanks for the reply Ermine,
Now looking at a DSLR & digiscoping options. Probably the (Canon EOS 350D), as I already have a Canon zoom lens from my analogue SLR & get a compact digi to use with a Leica scope. Any recommendations for a compact? I can get a good deal on he Leica C-Lux1.

Thanks TN

ermine · Sep 2, 2006

Tern nut said:
Thanks for the reply Ermine,
Now looking at a DSLR & digiscoping options. Probably the (Canon EOS 350D), as I already have a Canon zoom lens from my analogue SLR & get a compact digi to use with a Leica scope. Any recommendations for a compact? I can get a good deal on he Leica C-Lux1.

Thanks TN

Take a look at this thread

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=65039

The separate compact cam digiscoping and a DSLR with telephoto are a good way to go, though obviously dearer and heavier

For a bird wich is any larger than about 1/5 the width of the SLR image, I find the DSLR image quality knocks the socks off a digiscoped shot, but sometimes you need the extra reach.

Tern nut · Sep 3, 2006

Thanks for the info Ermine it will be useful when I try different options in stores. For the moment it looks like the DSLR will come before the digiscope & I'll see how I get on with that.

Cheers,
TN

ikw101 · Sep 3, 2006

Tern nut said:
Does anyone have experience of the Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ7 for digiscoping? I'm looking at the Leica APO 77 as the scope, unless the rumoured 80mm becomes available soon?

I know this is a 12x zoom & that anything over 3x will cause vignetting, but was hoping it would work if it was only zoomed to x3. Sorry if this is dumb questions but I'm new to the world of digiscoping.

The reasons for wanting this camera, is that it won't always be used with a scope so having a 12x zoom would be useful.

Also has anyone had experience with the Eagle eye Opticzoom 5x lens, I was wondering if that would be compatibly with the Lumix. Not sure what the image quality would be like?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Tern Nut

I gave it a try earlier today hand holding the FZ7 over a 26WW lens on a Leica APO 62mm. I wasn't expecting much and if anything the result was better than I thought. The vignetting is a big problem however the Panasonic mega optical image stabilisation and autofocus worked through the scope surprisingly well. I believe Panasonic have a 3x mega OIS model with a Leica lens. I don't know if anyone has tried it yet but it could be very interesting.

Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ7 (1 Viewer)

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