Panasomic FX150 and Nikon ED50 (1 Viewer)

Hi all, Im new at digiscoping so hoping for a lil advice. I have an ED50 with 16x DS eyepiece. I took it out today and just hand held the FX to test it. It was on full auto. The results were encouraging.Vigneting disappearing at about 2mag. From what Ive read here I think I need to set the FX to manual for better results. Does anyone know what would be a good starting point for the various settings on a bright day, and how I should adjust those settings for duller weather.? I am in the process of making a full ridgid scope/camera mount and cable release to improve stability.Thanks

Hi Wille,

Guess the burden falls on me since I am about the only one who uses this camera for digiscoping in this forum.

The iA mode is actually pretty smart and can do a good job of getting the exposure correct and producing sharp pics on fine bright high-noon days. Just make sure the flash is disabled by enabling BURST mode. Only other setting I make in iA is enabling AF TRACKING. This can actually be useful to keep the focus point on the eye when a bird is moving its head in feeding.

That said, I still mainly shoot in Program mode for more control. Here are my REC MENU settings

INTELLIGENT ISO OFF
ISO SENSITIVITY AUTO
ISO LIMIT SET 800
WHITE BALANCE AWB
METERING MODE MULTI (CENTER WEIGHTED when I will be heavily cropping, SPOT for hardh backliting)
AF MODE 1-AREA HIGH SPEED or SPOT (good when shooting thru branches) or AF TRACKING
QUICK AF ON
BURST ON
I. EXPOSURE STANDARD (watch the LCD icon change color when/if it activates)
DIGITAL ZOOM OFF
PICT. ADJ. CONTRAST +1 SHARPNESS +1 SATURATION 0 NOISE REDUCTION +2
STABILIZER AUTO
MIN. SHTR SPEED 1/125
AF ASSIST LAMP OFF

In SETUP MENU enable the HISTOGRAM and HIGHLIGHT functions and set ECONOMY/POWER SAVE to 5min.

I watch shutter speed and the histogram for preshot exposure, adjusting EXPOSURE COMPENSATION as needed, and check for HIGHLIGHTS on playback. If they blink on critical detail of the bird then I will either lower EXPOSURE COMPENSATION or adjust my shooting position for better lighting or just wait to see if the bird moves for me.

If the camera needs to regularly keep ISO at 400 or more to keep the shutter speed above 1/125 then you either need to wait for the light to improve, call it a day or lower the speed threshhold at the risk of blur to keep shooting. ISO800 can still produce nice 5x7 prints but will look awful onscreen.

At these super telephoto focal lengths, the primary technical goal is FAST shutter speeds since no amount of post processing can fix a blurry pic caused by too slow shutter speed but high ISO noise can be overcome by current software or with better future software. A fast shutter is the key to overcoming many digiscoping IQ hurdles.

I seldom shoot the limited MANUAL mode unless I feel like goofing around.

Hope this helps.

good luck,
Rick

Thanks for a great reply. Id be lieing if I said I understand it all, but shall print your instructions and go practice.
Regards Will.