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

Options available for digiscoping including phone cameras?? (1 Viewer)

It seems that I am not the first one to be lost in this maze of bird photography juggling choices in between superzoom, DSLR and compact.

Digiscoping seemed like the correct way for someone on a tight budget so started exploring the costs involved. For best IQ thought DSLR with its bigger sensor should be the obvious choice but its bulk, weight and mirror slapping features seemed a bit of a daunting task. So I started exploring options which are as follows in order of priority:

Option 1 DSLR route:
Canon 600d with a 18-55 kit about £400 or $600
most basic scope a Celestron Ultima Refractor 80 around £150
T rings, adopters etc would be £50
Total around £600 or $ 900
remarks: in long run might save for an expensive lens but I would like to use my camera for landscape as well and I think I can over come the itch to get a fixed 400mm f5.6 or something similar and can settle for 50-300 etc.

Option 2 DSLR route :
Canon 600d with a 18-55 kit about £400 or $600
Celestron Ultima ED Refractor 80ED about £420 or $ 630
T rings, adopters etc would be £50 or $75
Total around £870 or $1,305

Option 3 Mirrorless camera :
Nikon 1 V1 with double lens kit about £400 or $600
Celestron Ultima ED Refractor 80ED about £420 or $ 630
T rings, adopters etc would be £50 or $75 ?????
Total around £870 or $1,305??

Option 4 Pro digicam:
Sony RX 100 about £430 or $650
Celestron Ultima ED Refractor 80ED about £420 or $ 630
would need a Kowa DA4 adapter for around £260 or $390
Total around £1,110 or $1,670
remarks: with no further room for any flexibility except changing the scope later on

Option 5 Compact camera:
Nikon digiscoping kit
Nikon P 310
Prostaff 5 fieldscope 82-A
SEP 25 eyepiece
FSB-8 digital camera bracket
Total £600 or $900
remarks: lower cost at the sacrifice of IQ ??

Option 6 Mobile Phone Camera:
Nokia 808 Pureview it has 1/1.2'' sensor with effective 38M cost around £200 or $300
RSPB AG80 Scope £245
T rings, adopters etc would be £50 or $75
Total £495 or $750
remarks: the money spent should be able to provide greater utility by performing multi tasking being a smart phone.

Option 7 Mobile Phone Camera:
Iphone 4S around £400 or $600
RSPB AG80 Scope £245
T rings, adopters etc would be £50 or $75
Total £695 or $1,050
remarks: the money spent should be able to provide greater utility by performing multi tasking being a smart phone.

Option 8 Super zoom Camera:
well not exactly digiscoping but it is in my consideration, Canon SX50 is on my wish list retailing for around £330 or $500 in local market, Fuji is not very common here and its HS50 is non existent and I doubt if I will be able to resale it if I dont like it. BTW has anybody tried coupling a superzoom with a spotting scope?

I do have a sturdy tripod but the urban jungle that I live in can not attract many visitors into my garden, usual visitors include sparrows, myna, crow, eagle so tripods use would be very limited and I believe I would be mostly shooting handheld more likely in a boat exploring mangrove forests and a lot of shots would be in flight.

I would really like to get feedback from experienced members if I am exploring the correct path and what should I settle for?

These days most of us do lug around an oversized smart phone with very good quality camera so why not use them for digiscoping, with advantage of geotagging as well at no additional costs, any experiences??

Income levels in my country are not as well as in others and I do have a family but somehow got infected with this expensive itch.
 
If you are generally only going to be shooting hand held then you only have the option of the phone camera or superzoom camera. A mobile camera will be inferior to a superzoom compact due to having a fixed lens and no optical zoom so that leaves a super zoom camera to give you the best reach. The problem is unless you can get very close to your subject it will still be very limiting and the image quality handheld on full zoom is not likely to be great. The best option without a tripod can only be a DSLR with a long lens I would have thought although weight would be a factor as well as price
 
If you don't need a scope for observing then go for the Canon SX50. With a zoom out to 1200 mm and a 1.5x and 2.x built-in teleconverter you'll have as much reach as most digiscoping with AF . As the Image Stabilising is very good you can hand hold so no need for a tripod and the HD video mode is excellent too.
Neil.
 
Just what you need: how about another option? The large sensors of micro 4/3rds cameras give you the best image quality and low light capability short of a DSLR without the weight, bulk, and the cost. You get 1200mm mag with the teleconverter setting (though doesn't work with raw AFAIK), which is equivalent to the low end of digiscoping (c. 24x power on a scope). Works as a digiscoping camera too if you want to go that route. Check out Panasonic G3/G6 or Olympus. Not as cheap as a superzoom but the better IQ and low light capabilities are worth it IMO.

Jim
 
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Thank you all for your responses, high prices of 4/3 cameras seems a bit odd to me when compared to DSLR, indeed later would be bulky and heavy but produce better images and one needs to make compromise some where.

IMHO pricing should be according to IQ rather portability, maybe someday these 4/3 would come down below DSLR but at current pricing it just doesnt seem right. Until then I might focus my attention on superzooms.
 
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