[PaulThePhotoMan]

Hi there,

As anyone who has read any of my other posts will know I am totally new to this and don't really have much of an Idea. I'm hoping someone on here can help answer some of my questions...


General Digiscoping Questions

1) What are the advantages / disadvantages of using a camera and digiscope over a camera with a long lens (apart from their obvious size)?

2) Do the scopes have adjustable focal lengths or are they fixed?

3) Are scopes suitable for every day zoom photography (extreme zoom landscapes is one example) or just wildlife spotting?


Camera Questions

I currently own an Olympus C700 digital camera and am aware this suitable for digiscoping...

1) Would the up and comming Fujifilm Finepix S7000 be suitable?

2) I know Nikon are the best for digiscoping...what other cameras are good? I'd like one with a fair bit of zoom if possible so I can use it as my everyday camera as well as a spotting camera.

I have many other questions but can't think of any at the moment.
I'd appreciate any help. Everyone on here has been great so far
Thanks
Paul

[PaulThePhotoMan]

...Also, if anyone knows any sites that would be usefull to a total beginner trying to learn the basics of digiscoping could you post them for me?

[Geoff Brown]

PaulThephotoMan,

Have you tried entering "digiscoping" in a search engine such as Google. That should throw up a few interesting sites to browse through

[stevo]

Hi Paul

The site that helped me when I was taking my first steps into digiscoping was Andy Bright`s www.digiscoped.com

Regards Steve.

[Rob van keulen]

General Digiscoping Questions

1) What are the advantages / disadvantages of using a camera and digiscope over a camera with a long lens (apart from their obvious size)?

advantage is the much longer telphotolens you will get like 2000-3000mm.
the focussing is sometime better. results are amazing. i used before a sigma 7.2/500mm lens and got from a roll of 36 shots only about 10 good ones. (used heavy tripod and cable release) with my telescoop and digital camera Fujifilm finepix f700 i got even handheld already much better results.

2) Do the scopes have adjustable focal lengths or are they fixed?

you can use the zoom on a scope but only a little like 20,30x. but then you also need to use the zoom on the camera to get a image without vignetting (mostly 3x zoom is already enough)

3) Are scopes suitable for every day zoom photography (extreme zoom landscapes is one example) or just wildlife spotting?

I should say NO, because it take much more time to make a shot, you are limited by the amount off light of the scope and a slower focussing of the camera.


Camera Questions

I currently own an Olympus C700 digital camera and am aware this suitable for digiscoping...

1) Would the up and comming Fujifilm Finepix S7000 be suitable?

Not without any special eagle eye adapter. the front lens off 55mm is to large for a scope. i tried it with an older S602 and without special adapter it is not possible.

2) I know Nikon are the best for digiscoping...what other cameras are good? I'd like one with a fair bit of zoom if possible so I can use it as my everyday camera as well as a spotting camera.

I would recommend the fujifilm finepix F700 digital camera this camera has a special Super CCD SR which gives 4x more detail in bright areas of your image!
furhermore it is fast, has a bright lcd and can even make real fullscreen TV movies with 30 fps.

hope this info will help if not feel free to ask

rob van keulen

[IanF]

I agree with the above.

If you want to take bird photos without disturbing the birds then a decent scope and Nikon CP4500 is hard to beat.

If however you want the top notch photos then I suspect a DSLR and long lens is the way to go - but only if you're really intersted in bird photography rather than bird watching as you have to get much closer and obviously stand the chance of disturbance rather than observance!

My 'ideal' birding combo is the scope for viewing and digiscoping in addition to a separate digital camera with at least 10x optical zoom and pretty quick operation ( I have the Olympus C2100UZ+Ton14+B300) for the closer birds. A 4mp+ camera would be better though. DSLR's+lens are pretty expensive in comparison, but give the better results for 'closer' birds.

I'm not sure if the C700 would be digiscope compatable with it having a wide lens, but it certainly comes within the second type of equipment I mentioned.