Half light (1 Viewer)

One for the experts? Can anyone tell me the best way to still achieve a good shot in the half light at the end of a day?

I visited a local lake (Tongwell lake Milton Keynes), that has a Bittern which climbs the reeds each night before dusk (it has done every winter for the past feew years). Today I attempted to get some photos, I managed some OK ones (attatched) but the shutter speed was between 1/2 and 1/4, f stop 4.9 (lowest setting) on Apature piority. I could only zoom the swaro up to 30x or it became impossible to get any light (it was the same shutter speed at 20x). Is it possible to get a quicker speed without compramising the light???

any help much apprciated.

Hi Ash,

Dunno about taking the pic, but you can always brighten it up a touch in photoshop

Ashley beolens said:

One for the experts? Can anyone tell me the best way to still achieve a good shot in the half light at the end of a day?
<snip>
Is it possible to get a quicker speed without compramising the light???

any help much apprciated.

Click to expand...

Shoot at 20x or even below by using something like a Maxview 40. Use as little camera zoom as possible. The less overall image magnification the more light you have to use - up to the point where the limit is the camera aperture.

So the best you can hope for is an effective aperture somewhere between f2.8 and f4. If that isn't enough, then you are out of luck and will have to start increasing the ISO. In the end, the camera and how effectively the scope and eyepiece transmit light are your limits.

Of course, lower magnification means you'll have to work harder to get closer as well.