[Boy Wonder]

I got this as an unexpected present from my Mum a week ago, had a play with it on my Kowa 883 yesterday and was very impressed with the results. I used it with the 20-60 and when fine tuned gave some grea images at pretty reasonable distances. Had a group of fox cubs in focus and of good size in the frame 150 metres away. Very handy gadget. Slightly smaller than a Sony ericsson k800 mobile phone and the same sort of weight, no wires or chargers as it has a 'flip' USB stick on top. Basic editing package and software all stored in the camera which has 2 hours of video storage on an internal hard drive. It doesn't take stills but they can be lifted in the edit suite. Just worth looking at as an option if you're looking to do some basic 'YouTube' type video scoping.

[SUGS]

. Has anyone else tried one of these on a scope?

[Boy Wonder]

Have at last got round to uploading some video. Quality is really good (well I like it :) This is taken at about 40x and no digital zooming needed. I have had to fiddle around a bit though with the set up using elastic bands and blue tac. Will look into making something a bit more rigid and 'easy on easy off'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocg-XUKDJsA

[Boy Wonder]

And some more of a Bittern. This was on 60x I think and without any digital zoom on the Flip

[Boy Wonder]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmjbfJa9m_U

[Sandpiper]

Very impressive footage. Your setup looks to have great potential. Thanks for sharing.

Mike

[Boy Wonder]

Waxwing taken hand held on a 30x wide rather than the zoom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaDuKoN5nP4

[Jimthetall]

All good stuff! Been following on facebook (plug plug).

I found this thread as I'm considering getting a Kodak Playsport which is similar to the flip, being a phone sized HD recorder but has the advantage of being waterproof to 3m and also having a 60fps setting for the 720p so slow mo shots are possible. It also has a 1080p setting at 30fps. At around £85 it's got to be worth a punt. If no one has tried it, I'll report back when I get set up.

Jim

[Boy Wonder]

Thanks for the nod Jim. These cameras are often in store in soome of the larger electrical retail outlets so you can take your scope in and have a play to see if it fits (I've no reason to think it wouldn't but best to check) That 60fps could be very handy when looking for id features on certain birds. The tricky bit is finding some way to attach it to the scope. In some case I can get away with hand held (Waxwing) but if zoomed in there's no way I'd be able to keep it still enough so as not to make viewers nauseous. I use a combo of elastic bands and blue tac. The blue tac gives a little bit of stick and helps it get the right distance from the eyepiece and the elastic band/s hold it in place. Not a quick set up at all :( Good luck with your Kodak and hopefully see you on the reserve soon.

[Jimthetall]

I say gaffer tape all the way! My inventive mind will think of something. Another plus point for the Kodak is that it records onto an sd card, so you're not limited to the internal memory. Also the battery is changeable, which means you can have spares incase it runs out just as the mega appears, and once it starts losing charge, you don't have to fork out for a new camera.

Jim

[Jimthetall]

Got my Kodak Playsport today, so will have to have a play about with it. Watch this space....

Jim

[Boy Wonder]

For anyone wanting to see some other videos using the Flip please have a look at either of the two links.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Saltholme

http://www.youtube.com/user/BoyWonderBirding

Hopefully Jim will be having success with his Kodak and getting videos nearly as good as mine so if you have any questions about the set ups please ask

[scotview]

Hi Boy Wonder,

You've taken some great video with the Flip !

Do you have any vignetting problems with the Flip, particularly since the camera shoots in 16:9 aspect ratio.

Do you have to place the Flip lense quite close to the scope eye piece?

I have used a Lumix TZ7 with my Celestron Ultima 80 and need to use the macro lense functionality to prevent vignetting. In macro mode, the HD video from the TZ7 is very grainy. The Flip or the Kodak might be the way to go.

I am using a Baader Microstage II camera support. This is OK for compact cameras but I dont think that it will take the Flip since the vertical distance between the tripod screw on the Flip and the camera lense is too great. I would probably need to adapt the Baader support.

Best Regards

Scotview

[Boy Wonder]

Originally Posted by scotview

Hi Boy Wonder,

You've taken some great video with the Flip !

Do you have any vignetting problems with the Flip, particularly since the camera shoots in 16:9 aspect ratio.

Do you have to place the Flip lense quite close to the scope eye piece?

I have used a Lumix TZ7 with my Celestron Ultima 80 and need to use the macro lense functionality to prevent vignetting. In macro mode, the HD video from the TZ7 is very grainy. The Flip or the Kodak might be the way to go.

I am using a Baader Microstage II camera support. This is OK for compact cameras but I dont think that it will take the Flip since the vertical distance between the tripod screw on the Flip and the camera lense is too great. I would probably need to adapt the Baader support.

Best Regards

Scotview

Thanks Scotview,

It's good kit and subjects rather than my skills I think. More practise needed :)

I have both the 20-60 zoom and 30 wide for the 883 and have no vignetting problems on the 30 wide and only a little on low magnification on the zoom.
I set the camera up with the eyepiece on 60 so I know if I have to zoom in then I can without readjusting. When I zoom back out to 20 then there is a little vignetting. I may be able to eliminate this entirely though if I set the camera up for 20x. Will have a play and let you know.

Because the lens doesn't extend and is part of the camera the whole thing has to go quite close to the eyepiece. I tried an adapter but couldn't get it close enough so I use bluetack as a spacer and rubber bands to secure it. Not the most practical and I am trying to think of something a litlte quicker and easier to fit.

I will try and upload some pictures of my current botch set up so you can get an idea.

If you want to get videos through a scope then I think these solid state recorders are ideal being so portable and light. You may even be able to take your Celestron into a high street electronics outlet and have a play with the recorders on your scope.

Good luck

[Boy Wonder]

Originally Posted by scotview

Hi Boy Wonder,


Do you have any vignetting problems with the Flip, particularly since the camera shoots in 16:9 aspect ratio.


Scotview

Hello again Scotview,

I had a play and can't escape vignetting with the zoom at 20 x which isn't noticeable around the 30-40x region.

I did try it with my old school Zeiss 10x40 and have uploaded the results (Blue Tit and Greenfinch on nut feeders) onto YouTube.

You can see in the Greenfinch video that there is no video to start with but it does start to vignette in the top right corner after a while. I was holding both the bins and camera so poor technique on my part but managed to do a better job in the Blue Tit video. All these are taken without the aid of the digital zoom which I will try to have a play with soon.

BW