Fuji F30 preferred settings (1 Viewer)

Richard Wall · Sep 8, 2006

Hi Everyone,
Calling all you F30 users.
As a soon to be novice digiscoper with this camera,could you please tell me your valued hints and tips as regards settings for basic variations in conditions.ie Sunny,dull and capturing fast action.
This advice could stop me from binning the whole idea after 10 minutes. :storm:
Really grateful folks................Rich.

Winterdune · Sep 8, 2006

Richard Wall said:
Hi Everyone,
Calling all you F30 users.
As a soon to be novice digiscoper with this camera,could you please tell me your valued hints and tips as regards settings for basic variations in conditions.ie Sunny,dull and capturing fast action.
This advice could stop me from binning the whole idea after 10 minutes. :storm:
Really grateful folks................Rich.

No expert but my best shots have generally used these settings

Aperture priority - F4.5
Spot metering (aim for the eye)
ISO up to 1600 in low light
Screen brightness - 2 to give a closer approximation to reality
High speed shooting on
EV adjustment for over/underexposure
"final 3 continuous" mode for capturing action
"shade" white balance (colours seem warmer to me)

Sean

Neil · Sep 10, 2006

I usually select Macro Mode as well which should give more focusing steps and this is a hangover from my Nikon CP990/4500 days.Neil.

pph · Nov 20, 2006

I'm very much a casual digiscoper with the F30, but in my experience so far the automatic Natural Light scene setting with Last 3 continuous shooting mode works well, at least in sunny weather. And using Macro focus does seem to make focusing bit better.

/pph

okiebirdnerd · Feb 23, 2007

Neil said:
I usually select Macro Mode as well which should give more focusing steps and this is a hangover from my Nikon CP990/4500 days.Neil.

Hi,
I've made a homemade adapter for my F30 and my Swarovski at80hd. I've only had three opportunities to photograph in the field and this last time it was windy (15 to 20 mph winds) so I scoped from my window mount.I'm sure it will be a month before my swing-away adapter will arrive and I'd like to have lots of practice in by the time it arrives.
My question is, when I focus my scope then attach my camera/adapter, half press the shutter, more than half the time I don't get a solid green light saying it is in focus. Do I ignore the flashing light and while holding down the shutter still refocus the scope or does the camera need a solid green in focus light on? I'm having a hard time telling when the image is in focus with the LCD. When I look through my scope and the image is sharp and the camera never looks 100% sharp..I have never had a subject in the LCD that I thought looked out of focus on the camera actually be in focus while viewing on my PC. It doesn't seem to matter if I use macro or not and I use the delay timer and the A/S setting. The Pintails were 50' away.I'm thinking I'll end up using a extend-a-view like I used on my 990. Thanks in advance for your help.

okiebirdnerd

Neil · Feb 24, 2007

okiebirdnerd said:
Hi,
I've made a homemade adapter for my F30 and my Swarovski at80hd. I've only had three opportunities to photograph in the field and this last time it was windy (15 to 20 mph winds) so I scoped from my window mount.I'm sure it will be a month before my swing-away adapter will arrive and I'd like to have lots of practice in by the time it arrives.
My question is, when I focus my scope then attach my camera/adapter, half press the shutter, more than half the time I don't get a solid green light saying it is in focus. Do I ignore the flashing light and while holding down the shutter still refocus the scope or does the camera need a solid green in focus light on? I'm having a hard time telling when the image is in focus with the LCD. When I look through my scope and the image is sharp and the camera never looks 100% sharp..I have never had a subject in the LCD that I thought looked out of focus on the camera actually be in focus while viewing on my PC. It doesn't seem to matter if I use macro or not and I use the delay timer and the A/S setting. The Pintails were 50' away.I'm thinking I'll end up using a extend-a-view like I used on my 990. Thanks in advance for your help.

I just tested my F31 around the loungeroom in Macro and non-macro and my green light was flashing on a couple of shots. I noticed that I had left the iso at 3200 and so the exposure needed to be more than 1/1000th second and this was highlighted in RED in the bottom left of the screen. So it appears the GREEN Light is for any issues, not just Focus. It may indicate camera shake too so check the manual for this. The limit of 1/1000 second in A/S Mode is a problem with cameras that claim to enable high iso up to 1600/3200 in my view. Neil.

john-henry · Feb 24, 2007

okiebirdnerd said:
Hi,
I've made a homemade adapter for my F30 and my Swarovski at80hd. I've only had three opportunities to photograph in the field and this last time it was windy (15 to 20 mph winds) so I scoped from my window mount.I'm sure it will be a month before my swing-away adapter will arrive and I'd like to have lots of practice in by the time it arrives.
My question is, when I focus my scope then attach my camera/adapter, half press the shutter, more than half the time I don't get a solid green light saying it is in focus. Do I ignore the flashing light and while holding down the shutter still refocus the scope or does the camera need a solid green in focus light on? I'm having a hard time telling when the image is in focus with the LCD. When I look through my scope and the image is sharp and the camera never looks 100% sharp..I have never had a subject in the LCD that I thought looked out of focus on the camera actually be in focus while viewing on my PC. It doesn't seem to matter if I use macro or not and I use the delay timer and the A/S setting. The Pintails were 50' away.I'm thinking I'll end up using a extend-a-view like I used on my 990. Thanks in advance for your help.

okiebirdnerd

The green light flashes if you're out of focus or if the shutter speed is too low, under 1/60th usually, if you are under 1/60th a !+ hand symbol shows on the screen, basically it tells you the camera thinks aren't going to get a sharp image. However if you think you can get away with the low shutter speed, yes, you can refocus the scope regardless of the flashing green light - it's only an indicator to show you need to alter something for a better chance of a sharp shot.
If you're using a window mount it might be causing vibration and giving you this problem. You don't say if you're using a cable release, if you aren't this could also be the problem. Next time it happens check the screen to see if you have the "shake" symbol, if you have up the ISO until you get a good shutter speed and try it again.

A sunshade/magnifier is also a great help to aid focusing on the screen.

Hope this helps.

John

GarnockFocus · May 28, 2007

Thanks to all in this thread, I read all the messages and then made the decision to go for the F30. First tests are the best Digiscoped images I have taken, I am waiting on my friend turning a new nylon locating tube and it should be even better! These initial shots are taken hand-held with just a bit of cardboard in the eyepiece to pack it out a bit, all shots through A Hawke Endurance 23-70x70 budget scope set at 23x zoom. The sun was very strong into the scope, a little cloud cover on the last two made a big difference.

Thanks again

Feathered one · May 28, 2007

digiscoper62 said:
Thanks to all in this thread, I read all the messages and then made the decision to go for the F30. First tests are the best Digiscoped images I have taken, I am waiting on my friend turning a new nylon locating tube and it should be even better! These initial shots are taken hand-held with just a bit of cardboard in the eyepiece to pack it out a bit, all shots through A Hawke Endurance 23-70x70 budget scope set at 23x zoom. The sun was very strong into the scope, a little cloud cover on the last two made a big difference.

Thanks again

A good start to your digiscoping with the F30, even with hand holding the camera, and even more so with shutter speeds as low as 1/30 sec.
Suggest you could increase the ISO setting on the camera to 200 or 400. which will give you a higher shutter speed

Well done :clap:

Malc

GarnockFocus · May 28, 2007

Feathered one said:
A good start to your digiscoping with the F30, even with hand holding the camera, and even more so with shutter speeds as low as 1/30 sec.
Suggest you could increase the ISO setting on the camera to 200 or 400. which will give you a higher shutter speed

Well done :clap:

Malc

Thanks for the the tip, I have not had variable ISO before so was not sure. I assumed the lowest ISO would be clearer, I have the collar now to steady the camera, so will have a try with the different settings.

cheers

NoSpringChicken · Jun 19, 2007

I thought I would revive this thread for any recent owners of the F30, like myself, to make our contributions.

• I have found I get my best results by mounting the camera so that the vignette has nice sharp edges (around 5mm from the lens with my eyepiece with the camera lens fully extended). A small bit of zoom then clears the vignette.
• 'Macro' (tulip) setting really helps with my setup.
• 'Aperture Priority' with the aperture at its widest possible setting, although this automatically closes a bit when you zoom the camera.
• Centre focusing
• Multi (pattern) metering
• ISO 100-200. Although my exposures are often a bit slower than I would expect. I think my cheap Acuter scope is eating up rather a lot of the available light.
• I don't normally use the exposure compensation button although this because there is so much to remember without that complication. I intend to start using this more in the future.
• I turn off the flash and focus assist.
• I normally use the 2 second timer, as it is a pain having to continually reset the continuous shooting setting.
• I have an Olivon swing away adapter so I normally find the subject with the camera lcd screen, then swing the camera away and focus the scope. I then swng the camera back, line up the focusing cross on the main subject and half press the shutter button to focus the camera. I then press the shutter button all the way and let go of the camera. Even if the scope and camera move a fraction it should still remain in focus.
• As has been mentioned, sometimes it is not possible to get a continuous green focusing light but often this is because the shutter speed is a bit low and the camera is displaying the 'hand' symbol to warn of possible camera shake.

What techniques and settings are other people using?

Ron

blue185jay · Jul 12, 2007

Hi Ron,

This is off the subject I know but, my question to you is not about using the F30, although I have one and use it with my Swarovski 80mm and 30x eyepiece, my question is about the Olivon camera adapter you are using. I have been told that the threading ring (the one that fits over the eyepiece) is not big enough to use with a 30x Swarovski eyepiece. Could you measure the inside diameter of the threading ring and email me what size it is? I was told that Olivon was in the process of modifying their adapter to fit the Swarovski eyepieces, but I have not seen any advertised for sale. Also, I have not seen the promised shutter release cable bracket they are supposed to have in process. The Olivon looks to me to be about the best design I have seen, on paper at least. What has been your experience in using it, if you don't mind sharing it with me.

Thanks,

Robert

NoSpringChicken · Jul 12, 2007

blue185jay said:
Hi Ron,

This is off the subject I know but, my question to you is not about using the F30, although I have one and use it with my Swarovski 80mm and 30x eyepiece, my question is about the Olivon camera adapter you are using. I have been told that the threading ring (the one that fits over the eyepiece) is not big enough to use with a 30x Swarovski eyepiece. Could you measure the inside diameter of the threading ring and email me what size it is? I was told that Olivon was in the process of modifying their adapter to fit the Swarovski eyepieces, but I have not seen any advertised for sale. Also, I have not seen the promised shutter release cable bracket they are supposed to have in process. The Olivon looks to me to be about the best design I have seen, on paper at least. What has been your experience in using it, if you don't mind sharing it with me.

Thanks,

Robert

Hi Robert,

I am at work at the moment so I cannot measure the ring but I think it is about 48mm inside diameter. I will measure it accurately later and let you know. I saw that Olivon were intending to increase the versatility of the adaptor and were introducing a cable release bracket but there were no further details on their site.

I have found the adaptor to be very good overall, especially so on the Acuter which I used to own as this had the thread round the eyepiece to mount the ring properly. I had to make a few very minor adjustments with a file when I first got it to allow it to shut perfectly square but for the price it does a very good job. My scope is an angled version and it is not really necessary to lock the swing away section in the shut position as gravity is on your side and helps to keep it in place while photographing. This speeds up the process of swinging the camera away and back into position.

You can see some photos of the adaptor, with the modified ring, mounted on my Nikon ED50 in post No. 11 on this thread:

http://birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=90115

Ron

blue185jay · Jul 12, 2007

Hi Ron,

Thanks for the information. Send me a private message on the measurements, if it is not too much trouble. My original question was not on the subject under discussion on this thread.

Thanks

Robert

Fuji F30 preferred settings (1 Viewer)

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