Forcreeks
If you want to see something new in nature!
The next paragraph begins my original post. This line is a later edit.. I want to say, tho I point it out below, I realize many of you are UK birders and may not have as many bright days to shoot as I do. Could be this is a big advantage of Nikon CP's, but I never used one. The Oly problem is not poor light gathering or sensitivity.. it's the AF-locking in low light.. no AF-lock, no focus! Also my Kowa TSN-824 is 82mm objective which gathers lots of light. Oly can get a lock better in sports mode at ISO 320 but with more grain. ISO 160 is pretty good and can handle mild overcast, and ISO80, best grain works in bright to mid-bright overcast & sunny weather. That's the best anecdotal analysis I can do.
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Sorry, but I have to differ here on cameras. Well, I'm a new member here, but started digiscoping over 2 yrs ago with a Canon Powershot S-20 3.3 MP Camera, then Canon's highest res. compact. Pls see my results in the Gallery (Forcreeks) of which I've uploaded about 1/3 to 1/2 of my better shots I'd like to post.
Actually I started digiscoping with a Sony DCRPC1 mini-DV camcorder a year before that and got the notion to try still cams. This photography genre had no name and I couldn't find anyone else doing it, but I know the early experimenters were indeed out there. So I went looking for cams and took my scope, here in Oregon USA, to the bigger camera stores and just held the various cams to my 20-60x eyepiece on the Kowa TSN-824-fluorite glass scope. The Canon worked well so I bought it.
Then I found the Kowa 32x eyepiece with larger exit pupil worked even better, less vignetting. For the past yr, I've been looking for the right upgrade to 4-5 MP cams, and tried the CP4500 twice and decided against it - required high zooms compared to my Canon to avoid vignetting. I also read on Steve's Digicams that it tends to "blow out the highlights" which is a problem with most birds - I've struggled with - white patches with no feather detail. Finally in 2003 came the Olympus C-50 Zoom (in USA) with 5 MP. Its ultra pocket sized but easy to use controls. Takes gorgeous pics and no vignetting. I've only posted a few so far from this camera. See my Anna's hummingbird super closeup shot, more to come. BUT be aware, it has external focus (lens movement, and mount problems) and no manual focus, and focuses poorly in medium low light. I only hand-hold to scope, always have, don't want all that gear between me and my scope eyepiece. I haven't found a perfect camera yet for digiscoping, but both of mine are very good. The update on the Canon is the Powershot S-45 4 MP, with many more user-controllable features than my old S-20. Great Forum, glad to have found you all. Steve B (Forcreeks)
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Sorry, but I have to differ here on cameras. Well, I'm a new member here, but started digiscoping over 2 yrs ago with a Canon Powershot S-20 3.3 MP Camera, then Canon's highest res. compact. Pls see my results in the Gallery (Forcreeks) of which I've uploaded about 1/3 to 1/2 of my better shots I'd like to post.
Actually I started digiscoping with a Sony DCRPC1 mini-DV camcorder a year before that and got the notion to try still cams. This photography genre had no name and I couldn't find anyone else doing it, but I know the early experimenters were indeed out there. So I went looking for cams and took my scope, here in Oregon USA, to the bigger camera stores and just held the various cams to my 20-60x eyepiece on the Kowa TSN-824-fluorite glass scope. The Canon worked well so I bought it.
Then I found the Kowa 32x eyepiece with larger exit pupil worked even better, less vignetting. For the past yr, I've been looking for the right upgrade to 4-5 MP cams, and tried the CP4500 twice and decided against it - required high zooms compared to my Canon to avoid vignetting. I also read on Steve's Digicams that it tends to "blow out the highlights" which is a problem with most birds - I've struggled with - white patches with no feather detail. Finally in 2003 came the Olympus C-50 Zoom (in USA) with 5 MP. Its ultra pocket sized but easy to use controls. Takes gorgeous pics and no vignetting. I've only posted a few so far from this camera. See my Anna's hummingbird super closeup shot, more to come. BUT be aware, it has external focus (lens movement, and mount problems) and no manual focus, and focuses poorly in medium low light. I only hand-hold to scope, always have, don't want all that gear between me and my scope eyepiece. I haven't found a perfect camera yet for digiscoping, but both of mine are very good. The update on the Canon is the Powershot S-45 4 MP, with many more user-controllable features than my old S-20. Great Forum, glad to have found you all. Steve B (Forcreeks)
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