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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Best cameras for Zeiss 'scope? (1 Viewer)

Dave Appleton

Well-known member
I'm after some advice for buying a new digiscoping camera. I use a Zeiss Diascope 85T FL with 20-60x eyepiece and as I use it for birding as well as photography it's essential that the camera can be put on and taken off almost instantaneously.

I have been using a Coolpix 4500 for years and have been very happy with it. However, after what must be hundreds of thousands of photos it's getting tired. There's a little pink spot on every image (sensor damage?), the always slow focussing time seems to be getting ever slower (and increasingly it just won't focus), the zoom button feels like it's on it's way out (though this is fixable) and the screen has been slightly damaged for ages.

I've done a little research into other cameras, many of which seem to perform much better than the 4500 in various respects, although not always producing significantly better images in the end.

I have an excellent (and expensive) Zeiss adaptor that screws straight on to the camera and slides perfectly over the eyepiece. I also have both mains and car chargers for the Coolpix 4500 batteries. Presumably these would be all be useless if I end up buying anything other than another 4500.

Hence I'm wondering if I might be best off buying another Coolpix 4500. Or am I just being daft even thinking about it, with them being so "old hat"? I want to make a fairly quick decision as my batteries are all tired or dead, so need replacing if I do get another 4500.
 
OK, I took the deafening silence to mean, yes, I am being daft even thinking about buying another 4500, and bought myself a P5000 instead that was much cheaper than I'd realised and takes the same Zeiss adaptor (after adding an inexpensive URE20 converter). Not sure if I'll regret not spending a bit more on the P5100, but hopefully this will be up to the job. Thanks to those who advised me offline.
 
Dave the none comment is probably due to it being the weekend, not many people frequent the forums.
I personally would not advise on another 4500, there are many good cameras out there, have not had any experience with the one you bought, but by all accounts it should do the job for you. Good luck. Ernie
 
My experiences with Zeiss Diascope 65+85

Hi Dave,
I've used the Zeiss Diascope 65T FL for one year and for one month the 85T FL with the 20-60 okular.
2 years ago I tried a lot of cameras in photo-shops.
I took the Canon Ixus 750 :clap::
- the lens moves only a little (from 1x - 3x-zoom)
- in all zoom-ranges no vignation (only at1x camera and about 20-30 okular)
- sharpness in the center and in all corners very good
- fast and exact focussing
- very good optical stabilisation

Not so good :C:
- only 1-1,5 frames/sec.
- screen is fixed, not moveable
- card- and battery changing is on the bottom of the camera
- no fixing important settings (no flash, 4 frames) after turning off

A few days before, I've tested the new Leica D-Lux3 and I was disappointed. There is a lot of vignation, and in settings with no vignation the corners of the picture are not sharp.

Maybe you write down your experiences and your decision. I'm looking for a high quality camera in combination with the Zeiss.

Good luck, Ralf
 
"I use a Zeiss Diascope 85T FL with 20-60x eyepiece and as I use it for birding as well as photography it's essential that the camera can be put on and taken off almost instantaneously."

Dave,

The combination we use with a Zeiss 85S with zoom is the SRB-Griturn digiscoping alignment collar. with a Fuji F30 (which has a 3200 ISO accessible in the anti-shake mode). The anti-shake mode requires no adjustment other than to turn the camera on.

With the adapter in one jacket pocket, and the camera in the other, you can be viewing the bird, and change to taking photographs in under 10 seconds.

This is exactly what happened last weekend when I took the attached photograph of a Peregrine Falcon at the Burlington Bay Lift Bridge in Hamilton, Ontario, on a Bruce Birding Club field trip.

Mike
 

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Dave,

I'm currently using a Nikon Coolpix P5000 w/ my Zeiss 85T*Fl and 20-60X zoom eyepiece. I love my combination and have had great success with it. If you read Neil's post about settings for the P5100 you can apply them to the P5000. Check out my blog and gallery at http://jerryjourdan.blogspot.com

Best,
 
I looked at the Canon G9 and it looks like it would be a great digiscoper. My only question would be the lens diameter. It looks promising as it appears to be smaller than the G5 and G6. The G9 has a camera adapter available and the lens movement throughout the zoom range is very small. I love my Canon A640 but I am limited to about 2.3x zoom(out of a total of 4X)with the set-up that I use.
 
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