how far away was that bird? (1 Viewer)

I've noticed that some of those who kindly post images mention approx. how far away the bird was (thanks to IanF re the Contax, for example) in addition to camera used and zoom.
I find that really helpful, just to get a feel for what people are attempting to digiscope and for the quality of their kit and results. It enables me to do a bit of "benchmarking" agiansy my own intermittent efforts. It might also reduce the despair factor amongst beginners who are finding that their long shots don't seem to match what they see on the web.
Presumably the mathematicians amongst us could work out the distance- as you know the length of the bird and if you assume you are looking at an uncropped image from a known camera.
But maths isn't my strongest suit and images do get cropped and re-sized, so thanks again to those who add a distance estimate- perhaps it might catch on.

Regards

I must admit to be guilty of not including distances involved on the rare occasions I post to the gallery.

For information, my latest shot (uploaded last night) was taken at 10 foot distance - it wasn't digi-scoped though

PURPLE SANDPIPER

I agree a distance is useful, but (in my experience) people's estimate of distance can often be way off once it gets over about 20 metres.

Being in the market for a scope myself, I also am curious about the distance when I look at the photos in the gallery. Many are so sharp and brilliant they look like they were taken 3 inches away from the bird! I look next for equipment used, hoping to see a reference to approx distance so I can get a handle on just what is acheivable with digiscope setup.

I was out trying my 990 with my embarrassingly small scope (too small to even mention brand), and was quite surprised I managed to get almost clear shots from a really far distance of a blue heron. How far? I cant judge distance either, but it was really far, across the whole other side of the pond and you can barely make out he's there with the naked eye far. Will a good scope bring him into all his glory filling my lens? I am hoping so.. especially when I'm looking at having to spend between $2K and $3K (canadian).

Yes, thanks to those that do mention distance. It gives me hope.
(it also gives me the ammunition I need to convince hubby that a scope is imperative to my work!)
Bev

Balego said:

Being in the market for a scope myself, I also am curious about the distance when I look at the photos in the gallery. Many are so sharp and brilliant they look like they were taken 3 inches away from the bird!
I was out trying my 990 with my embarrassingly small scope (too small to even mention brand), and was quite surprised I managed to get almost clear shots from a really far distance of a blue heron.
Yes, thanks to those that do mention distance. It gives me hope.
(it also gives me the ammunition I need to convince hubby that a scope is imperative to my work!)
Bev

Click to expand...

I always try to give distance, but, it seems that I have the same problem as everyone else, inability to judge distance accurately.
Its seems that the Blue Heron like its cousin, our Grey Heron has a built in focus fixer!. They almost always seem to photograph well, no matter what the distance!, may be something to do with the size of the subject and the camera's ability to auto-focus.
Yes, tell hubby that a new better scope will ensure happiness in the work and improve your health and demeanor no end!.

white-back :t:

I like to add distances as it does demonstrate what sort of results with digiscoping you can get with even far off birds. I must admit that some estimates are no doubt way off, but give some idea as to just how far away the birds are.

There's no doubt about it that the closer you can get to the birds and the lower amount of camera and scope zoom the better the resolution and quality of photo. I find 20 yards is about right for small birds at around 30x eyepiece zoom and 3x camera zoom. Quite often though the distances are far greater, but with a trade off in quality.

These were taken today with the Contax set at 3x and eyepiece 40x at 40-50 yards.

white-back said:

Presumably the mathematicians amongst us could work out the distance- as you know the length of the bird and if you assume you are looking at an uncropped image from a known camera.
But maths isn't my strongest suit and images do get cropped and re-sized, so thanks again to those who add a distance estimate- perhaps it might catch on.

Click to expand...

You can make good estimates by using my online Digiscoping Calculator.

http://www.jayandwanda.com/digiscope/digiscope_calc.html

You will need the original image (or how much it has been resized) and info about the scope magnification and camera settings. You will also need to know the approximate dimension (usually bird length) of your subject.