[RCarter]

Greetings to all! After considerable thought I have decided to take the plunge and get into digiscoping. I already have a Nikon CP990, which I understand is a good camera for the purpose. I will need to add everything else, however, and after reading many of the threads here, as well as looking at the equipment reviews, I have tentatively decided to invest in the following:

Zeiss Diascope 85T*FL (angled)
20-60X zoom eyepiece
30XWA eyepiece
Zeiss carrying case (not the SOC)
Zeiss Quick Camera Adapter
Manfrotto 055 tripod, with 701RC2 head, and carrying bag
Nikon MC-EU1 remote cable release

Since I live in China, I will need to have everything shipped here from abroad, and do not want to make any costly mistakes! So, any and all criticisms or comments on this proposed setup would be really welcome!! Is it going to do the job? Will I be happy with it?

Thank you in advance, Dick

[robinm]

Most of this setup sounds fine but I'll leave it to the experts to comment.

I have a comment on the MC-EU1. I speak as someone who uses one and is very happy, but a lot of people have had problems with these and certainly if (when!) mine goes wrong I will replace it with a mechanical one.

In view of other people's experience and the fact that you are probably going to find support difficult I would say you would be better off with a mechanical release. I will leave a recommendation on this to someone else.

Whatever you decide I hope you enjoy your investment and I look forward to seeing your photos in the gallery. Don't get too frustrated if your initial efforts are disappointing - it takes a while to get the technique right.

[iporali]

Originally Posted by RCarter

Since I live in China, I will need to have everything shipped here from abroad, and do not want to make any costly mistakes! So, any and all criticisms or comments on this proposed setup would be really welcome!! Is it going to do the job? Will I be happy with it?

That sounds like a dream setup to me (or one of them ) - maybe excluding the remote. I am not sure, however, how much you will need that 30x fixed eyepiece. For digiscoping it does not give significant advantage over the zoom, and even for birdwatching the wide-angled Zeiss zoom may be quite sufficient.

Good luck,

Ilkka

[Andy Bright]

Hi Dick,
All sounds fine to me but the MC-EU1 is less reliable on the old cp990 than the newer Nikons... and it's reliability on newer Nikons is debatable

Unfortunately it is a bit tricky fitting a mechanical cable-release bracket when using the Zeiss Quick Camera Adapter as the the screw/bolt that attaches the camera to adapter isn't quite long enough to have the c-r bracket sandwiched between camera and adapter... This bolt may have been changed now and will be long enough, I'll check it out for you.
regards,
Andy

[RCarter]

Thanks very much for the advice, everyone. I really appreciate it!

I'm sorry to hear about the unreliability of the Nikon remote release. The company that I had planned to order everything from seems not to sell the mechanical brackets for a cable release. I know that EagleEye in Britain makes these -- but if I use my credit card (a must), they will only ship to my address in the US, which does me no good here in China. So, I'll have to give that more thought, obviously.

Ilkka, thanks for your thoughts in regard to the 30XWA eyepiece -- I was assuming that it might be better than the zoom for photography. If the zoom will do the trick, that would save a bit of cash, as eyepieces are expensive items.

Andy, thanks for checking on the Zeiss Adapter bolt, that will be really useful information! I regret to say that I have never been able to get through to your website, and I have tried perhaps 50 times. It just seems to be inaccessible from here, for some reason.............

Best wishes to all, Dick

[ed keeble]

Originally Posted by RCarter

Thanks very much for the advice, everyone. I really appreciate it!

I'm sorry to hear about the unreliability of the Nikon remote release. The company that I had planned to order everything from seems not to sell the mechanical brackets for a cable release. I know that EagleEye in Britain makes these -- but if I use my credit card (a must), they will only ship to my address in the US, which does me no good here in China. So, I'll have to give that more thought, obviously.

Best wishes to all, Dick

Two things-

1. If you look on the "equip for sale" section of the Birdforums site, you will see I advertised for a 990 mechanical release bracket and got some offers of cheap second-hand. I got mine elsewhere so for example Andy Holt's offer might still be available.

2. If you are still thinking of the MC-EU1 I have a brand new one for sale- barely used (becuase my old one was stolen, I repalced on insurance and now I have just changed strategy from a 4500 and MC-EU1 to a 990 plus mechanical release....) The MC-EU1 works better than some people allege, but for sure it can be fiddly, and possibly tempramental. I would be happy to post it to you in China and be paid e.g by PayPal.

[RCarter]

Originally Posted by white-back

Two things-

1. If you look on the "equip for sale" section of the Birdforums site, you will see I advertised for a 990 mechanical release bracket and got some offers of cheap second-hand. I got mine elsewhere so for example Andy Holt's offer might still be available.

2. If you are still thinking of the MC-EU1 I have a brand new one for sale- barely used (becuase my old one was stolen, I repalced on insurance and now I have just changed strategy from a 4500 and MC-EU1 to a 990 plus mechanical release....) The MC-EU1 works better than some people allege, but for sure it can be fiddly, and possibly tempramental. I would be happy to post it to you in China and be paid e.g by PayPal.

Thanks for the offer, but I think I had better go with a mechanical release. I certainly like the IDEA of an electronic release, but I guess I'll wait until they iron out the bugs!

Being new to BF, I've not looked at the "for sale" section, and will certainly do so. Thanks for the tip!

Regards, Dick