Digiscoping with C-5050 newbie help (1 Viewer)

Hi all,

I've been using a C-5050 for some years now for underwater photography and I want to start taking wildlife shots on land. I think digiscoping seems to be the way to go, I don't have the funds for DSLR and all the lenses at the moment.

Being new to the subject I have no idea what scope to go for or how to attach it to the camera. I have seen lots of sites with adapters but not so much info on what to connect to what, if you get what I mean.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. There is some excellent wildlife a stones throw from my house and I would love to be taking some good pics on the surface when I'm not underwater.

If anyone is interested you can see some of my underwater pics (all of which were taken with my C-5050) here
http://spaces.msn.com/members/scubapauly

Thanks in advance.

Hi Scubapauly and welcome to BF.

There is lots of advice in the digiscoping section but I agree there is almost too much if you are just starting.

Firstly I think the camera should be suitable because I think it is an earlier version of the C-7070 which I use succesfully with a pentax scope. The first thing you need is a scope. For digiscoping a general rule is the bigger the objective lens the better as it will let in more light. This tends to mean 80/85mm rather than 60/65. Secondly better glass gives better results so on which ever brand go for those with ED/APO/FL etc glass will be most suitable. (Different manufactures use different names). As to which scope you will get endless claim and counter claim from the afficinados of each. Any of the big 3 - Swarovski, Lecia. Zeiss will give first class results but they are expensive £900 - £1300. At about 2/3rds the price come Nikon, Kowa and Pentax (although the later is not common in Europe due to a disgraceful lack of distributers at a sensible price - I bought mine in the USA). Finally on scopes don't discount second hand, there are a fair number of good scopes out there meeting the critera above.

Once you have a scope a tripod is essential. The better the tripod the firmer the base and the better the pictures. Anything from £100 - 450.

OK - adapters. It is possible to handhold the camera to the eyepiece - but very difficult to get consistant results. Adapters tend to be either multi adapters which attach to the tripod head and then mount the camera using the tripod screw in the base of the camera or alternatively tube adapters which screw onto the front of the camera and then slide over the eyepiece.

Assuming the C-5050 has the same lens mounting as the C-7070 it has a 40.5m screw thread on the housing which can take an adapter. Given that the eyepiece extends when you zoom you have to be very careful that the lens oes not strike the eyepiece. I had an adapter specifically machined so that the upper barrel is exactly the max zoom length +0.2mm to avoid this problem. I don't know what comercial adapters are available and much will depend on the eyepiece you end up with. See pics below.

Best advice is have a thorough read of Andy Bright's www.digiscoping.com which isa brilliant starting point and then get down to a dealer or maybe try and get to show or field day such as In Focus run where you can look through different scopes and get a feel for what is right for you.

Best of luck.

Thanks for the reply Nigel. There's so much to learn, got to start all over again. There looks to be a branch of In Focus near to me so I'll probably start there.

Thanks again.