out of focus (1 Viewer)

hi this picture of a spotted flycatcher was taken with a zeiss diascope 85 t fl
with a nikon coolpix 800 attached the scope was focused precisley and the camera swung into position the settings on the camera were manual with spot focus,using the macro symbol and 50x on the scopes eyepiece so why has it focused on the berries in front of the bird,waht did i do wrong.

regards.

scott robertson.

(cressi)

Hi Scott

I'm brand new to digi-scoping but from my first day out this has been a potential problem. I quickly learned that even a few inches can affect focuss as such magnification. What i have already learned is where time allows to try all different focussing methods. With this specific shop i would probably have had most success by switching the focus to manual, then using the 2x extend-a-view sun shade focus with the scope, checking accuracy through the LCD - 2x helps greatly here.

I'd focus on the birds eye.

My first trip saw a very obliging Heron. I was able to film from approx 50 or so yards using the birds eye-ring as a focus-aid. Since the Heron can stay motion-less for a while, I was able to try focussing on AF, also Infinity (with adjustment from scope) and Macro - again pressing the cable-release half way and fine-tuning the scope for the birds eye.

I use the ever popular Coolpix 4500 and a Nikon 78ED on the 25x setting of the 25-75x zoom. - On a separate note I also have 2x nikon converter and 5x Eagle Eye Optic Zoom for times when the scope is "too powerful" giving up to 40x optical zoom when combined with the Nikon's 4x.

I appreciate you will not have had the time for this, but that is what i would recommend.

One thing for sure, of all the hobbies I have tried, digiscoping will be the one which holds interest for the longest time, as it is not as easy as it looks!

Regards

Steve

thanks for the reply steve it does get a bit frustrating whiles.

cressi.

cressi said:

hi this picture of a spotted flycatcher was taken with a zeiss diascope 85 t fl
with a nikon coolpix 800 attached the scope was focused precisley and the camera swung into position the settings on the camera were manual with spot focus,using the macro symbol and 50x on the scopes eyepiece so why has it focused on the berries in front of the bird,waht did i do wrong.

Click to expand...

All that you did wrong was not to verify the focus in the field. The camera has no way of knowing what it is that you want to focus on, so it tend to latch onto whatever object offers up the most contrast.

I'm not sure if your camera has an "auto focus Area Mode" like the CP99x/4500 cameras. If so, then you can use that to designate a focus area other than the center of the image. If not, then you can try shifting the camera aim slightly pushing gently on the tripod handle. Once you have shifted the aim so that it is less likely that the berries are in the area that the camera is likely to try to focus on, you can do a half press to lock the focus. Now release the pressure on the tripod handle and you should get your original composition back.

If this doesn't work, then you are probably stuck with trying to focus manually. This is difficult to do successfully with the relatively low resolution that is offered up by the camera's LCD.