[Monte Bleasdale]

Hello good people
I`m a new member, and I am about to purchase a Swarovski 65HD scope with zoom eyepiece and a Coolpix 4500, having read various recommendations from those experienced digiscopers amongst you. I am however concerned over a few points:
1 I anticipate using my car as a hide - I have a window mount an a ball head. If I buy the angled scope, once the adaptor and camera are fitted, would there be enough room between the eyepiece and the car roof (a normal height car) to get your head above the camera? Or would a straight scope be better?

2. I`ve read that the Spidertech do an adaptor for the zoom eyepiece that enables you to use the zoom with the adaptor still in place. However I gather it is only made for the ATS, not the STS.
With the 4500`s own zoom, is there any differenece in picture quality using say the scope on 30x and the camera on "zero" zoom, as compared with the scope on 20x and the camera on 1.5 times zoom? Mathematically this gives the same magnification. If the picture quality is still the same, would this allieviate the need to get at the zoom if usig an STS?

3. Re focusing, once you have focused your scope, do you let the camera autofocus on what it sees, or is it better to put the camera on manual? If so, how is manual focus actually achieved on the 4500?

I `d be extremely grateful for any responses, especially any prompt ones, as I may be "splashing out" this weekend!!

Many thanks in advance
Monte
Email: mbleasale@yahoo.com

[Andy Bright]

Hi Monte
A big welcome to BirdForum.net from all all the moderators and admin here. We hope you enjoy yourself on the forums.
Lots of good questions here

If you intend using the scope in a car, a straight is the better choice. Remember that the Nikon cp9**/4500 camera bodies rotate to allow you to view the image from a more comfortable angle..... with a coolpix on, angled or straight scope is less important.

The spidertech only works on angled scopes....camera can fall off on a straight when you aim the scope upwards.

You need to go up a bit on the camera zoom to reduce vignetting. Many 4500 users have discovered that results can be slightly less impressive if you are greedy with the camera zoom..... try not to zoom right in on the camera.

You focus your scope onto the subject via the camera's monitor, it should be pretty close already if you've been viewing the bird through the scope. Half-press the shutter button for the camera's auto-focus to lock onto the subject, then give a further press to take the shot.

Maybe better to forget about manual focus on the cp4500, but you can put the camera into infinity focus mode for some situations... the camera won't use it's AF in this mode and you know exactly what will be in-focus in the resulting image.... handy when foliage is distracting the AF from locking onto the bird.

Good luck,
Andy