RayCostaRica2020
New member
Hello, this is Ray, ex Canadian, now living in Costa Rica.
I need advice from the experts. I have never digiscoped, just used superzooms.
There have been so many advancements in new mirroloess Cameras, new long reach zoom lenses, tele adapters, 4k Video, large sensor superzooms, etc, that I want to make sure I am heading the right direction.
So need recommendations on best scope, and best camera
I have a unique opportunity, as I live on a mountain ridge, and spread out below me is 12,000 acres of Carara National Park here in Costa Rica, and we enjoy over 400 species of Birds.
I have a "regular camera" for going hiking, but I have a mountain ridge pool deck / viewing platform that I always spend the 1st 1-2 hours every morning, from 5-7 am, and see (at a distance of 100-500 mts) Macaws, Toucans and a zillion other birds.
so I will not be hiking all over with a digiscope, basically stationary, so no problem with a sturdy tripod/heavy high power scope. But I need to be able to do HD Video, and stay on focus, and often times it is low light, either because its dawn or dusk or there is cloud cover
So with those parameters, need recommendations on best high power digiscope, best tripod, and best large sensor camera "combination"
So should I be investing in a dedicated digiscoping setup?
also, with cameras that already have "built in" zoom ( like the FZ1000 with 4k Video) will the Camera's great autofocus still work when the camera is zoomed all the way out, and I am using a (example) 25-60 scope. If so, what would be the effective zoom range? The Panasonic maxes out at 400 mm zoom, how do I do the math to combine that with the longer range of 60x eyepiece on the digicope. is that "extreme digiscoping" ?
Thanks for any input / feedback
Ray
I need advice from the experts. I have never digiscoped, just used superzooms.
There have been so many advancements in new mirroloess Cameras, new long reach zoom lenses, tele adapters, 4k Video, large sensor superzooms, etc, that I want to make sure I am heading the right direction.
So need recommendations on best scope, and best camera
I have a unique opportunity, as I live on a mountain ridge, and spread out below me is 12,000 acres of Carara National Park here in Costa Rica, and we enjoy over 400 species of Birds.
I have a "regular camera" for going hiking, but I have a mountain ridge pool deck / viewing platform that I always spend the 1st 1-2 hours every morning, from 5-7 am, and see (at a distance of 100-500 mts) Macaws, Toucans and a zillion other birds.
so I will not be hiking all over with a digiscope, basically stationary, so no problem with a sturdy tripod/heavy high power scope. But I need to be able to do HD Video, and stay on focus, and often times it is low light, either because its dawn or dusk or there is cloud cover
So with those parameters, need recommendations on best high power digiscope, best tripod, and best large sensor camera "combination"
So should I be investing in a dedicated digiscoping setup?
also, with cameras that already have "built in" zoom ( like the FZ1000 with 4k Video) will the Camera's great autofocus still work when the camera is zoomed all the way out, and I am using a (example) 25-60 scope. If so, what would be the effective zoom range? The Panasonic maxes out at 400 mm zoom, how do I do the math to combine that with the longer range of 60x eyepiece on the digicope. is that "extreme digiscoping" ?
Thanks for any input / feedback
Ray