MM3 50mm (1 Viewer)

[Peter Ericsson]

I recently did two back to back tours to Sulawesi/Halmahera in Indonesia.
This was my 1st time with this small scope and light weight tripod.

To sum it up, I was more then pleased. Very easy to get the bird in view and focus, clear image, easy to carry around. Greatly suited for forest and roadside birding.

When birds are very far away the scope isn't as powerful as the 'big guys' but then what can be expected and if I need something for wader watching at home I can always bring my old bazooka at home.

 

[FrankD]

Peter,

Thank you for sharing your experiences. I had similar experiences this past weekend while birding at one of the "local' birding festivals. Before the festival events each morning we birded a variety of the local patches. The little MM3 50 mm was a breeze to use under a variety of conditions. As you referenced, it was only under extreme distance circumstances where I felt a bigger scope would have been more well suited. Thankfully most of the birding situations I ran into didn't warrant that need.

It was also very fun to use the scope for digiscoping under those circumstances. I was very happy "all around" with its performance in the field.

 

[OPTIC_NUT]

Since the atmosphere is part of the path, getting bigger has diminishing returns,
not just a lot more bulk.

 

[aostling]

It was also very fun to use the scope for digiscoping under those circumstances. ...

Unfortunately, the highlights are blown in your photo of the mute swan. Perhaps there is nothing you can do about this using an iPhone, but I wonder if there is an app which provides exposure compensation.

 

[FrankD]

Allan,

Yes, exposure is difficult to control with the phone though the newest operating system does off exposure control prior to taking the shot. White birds seem to tax the limit of what the phone's camera is capable of compensating for. I probably just misjudged it though.

I did attempt to drop the exposure level with the photoshop express app. You can see more shadows though the overall color doesn't look as natural as I remember it.

 

[aostling]

... I did attempt to drop the exposure level with the photoshop express app. You can see more shadows though the overall color doesn't look as natural as I remember it.

Frank,

You cannot effectively restore blown jpeg highlights with post-processing. What is needed is an app which lets you record in RAW, and with exposure compensation.

Here is one for the iPhone: http://petapixel.com/2013/03/22/digital-negative-app-lets-you-shoot-raw-photos-with-your-iphone/ , but note the updated caveat at the end. There may be others.

For Windows and Android phones there is this new app: http://connect.dpreview.com/post/1354170437/camera-fv-5-brings-dng-raw-capture-to-android. Once you have the DNG files they can be imported into Lightroom or Photoshop and processed effectively.

 

[njlarsen]

Here is another iphone app that promise to allow you both to take better images and process them afterwards: http://mobile.acdsee.com/

Niels

 

[aostling]

Here is another iphone app that promise to allow you both to take better images and process them afterwards: http://mobile.acdsee.com/

That is an impressive app. I see that it has both exposure compensation and exposure bracketing, either or both of which should solve the problem of blown highlights.

 

[FrankD]

That is an impressive app. I see that it has both exposure compensation and exposure bracketing, either or both of which should solve the problem of blown highlights.

Thank you. I just bought the app and will tinker with it as soon as I have some free time.