Sony RX100 for Digiscoping (1 Viewer)

vdaffyduck · Jun 28, 2013

Rx100mkii

Hi, the RX100mkII is out... and it has a remote-option (wifi AND cable) and a tilting screen. BUT it will be expensive (749€) and the optional el. viewfinder (2MP) will be 449€.....

scotview · Jun 28, 2013

Landscape photos with RX100

Hi all,

I had two reasons for purchasing the RX100. The first was for digiscoping and the second was for taking landscape photos.

The video and image grabbing capability with the RX100 when digiscoping is great, my next step will be to upgrade my scope to match the camera's capabilities.

We have returned from a walking holiday in Switzerland and I am delighted with the results from the RX100. I think that large scale prints and photo books from this small, easily carried (fits into a small belt case), compact camera will be superb, pixilation will be minimal. The cropping capability is also extremely good.

I've attached samples of landscape photos all taken in Auto mode. I am not yet confident to use the camera's vast array of settings and modes.

This camera has delivered for me on both fronts, digiscoping and landscape photography. Being a true Aberdonian I like value for money !!

I hope this is useful info and not too far off topic.

Tmblweed1 · Jul 6, 2013

Neil said:
Picked up the RX100 in a Sony store in LA last week. Tested it out for digiscoping this morning with the Kowa 30x and the 20-60 zoom and took it for a trip to the park this afternoon.
The lens works ok with the zoom eyepiece from around 50 mm to full zoom with no vignetting ( using the Swarovski UCA adapter ).
I'm glad it works well with the 30x eyepiece as it's one I like to use with the Nikon V1 too.
Here are a few snaps from the park this afternoon.
Neil
ps the first composite photo shows the vignetting at wide zoom on the 30x and zoom eyepiece (20x)

Sony RX100 and Kowa Lens/scope and Kowa 30x Eyepiece and Swarovski UCA
Kowloon Park,
Hong Kong,
China.
October 2012

We now have the Sony RX 100 w/ a Kowa 883 scope, the combo is great. Still learning the camera though, it a real compact powerhouse

Odradek · Aug 23, 2013

Can someone tell me what kind of adapter i need to use the Sony RX 100 with my Nikon ED 82 A?

Odradek · Aug 25, 2013

Really nothing? Not even a hint where i can try to ask further :-C

Neil · Aug 29, 2013

Odradek said:
Really nothing? Not even a hint where i can try to ask further :-C

Sorry there's no response on this. I guess no one has used this combination.
You need any universal-type adapter that will work with the Nikon. Check any similar camera eg Nikon P330/310/300 with your setup. What works with these Nikons will work with the Sony.
Neil.

Odradek · Aug 29, 2013

Thank you for your answer!!

I have found the Griturn swing out bracket. Maybe i will try this. As the company told me, i can use this device with my already existing 38x MC WW eyepiece and it will work with almost all ordinary compact cameras.

The RX 100 seems to have a significant better quality than the coolpix cameras. Or is that wrong?

Neil · Aug 30, 2013

Odradek said:
Thank you for your answer!!

I have found the Griturn swing out bracket. Maybe i will try this. As the company told me, i can use this device with my already existing 38x MC WW eyepiece and it will work with almost all ordinary compact cameras.

The RX 100 seems to have a significant better quality than the coolpix cameras. Or is that wrong?

Significantly better - 15-20% and more if you include video. The Zeiss designed lens is able to handle full zoom at good quality which the Nikons can't do. Also it is much faster at processing Raw.
It also has the Sweep Panorama Mode which I like for Landscapes.
With the RX 100 M2 there is an optional Electronic Viewfinder and Remote Control.
Neil.

scotview · Aug 30, 2013

Baader Microstage

Hi Odradek,

See post number 55 on this thread. I use the Baader microstage, it works well and there is adequate clearance with the lense fully extended which is a very important consideration. You need to make sure there is clearance between lense and eyepiece when considering any adaptor.

I have the RX100 and the P310. I mostly take video and grab jpegs from the footage. A couple of comments.

1 Sony provide free software with the RX100 which includes frame by frame viewing and image grabbing. The Nikon doesn't have such software.

2 The RX100 has many, many ways to adjust your settings, the P310 is more basic. The downside of this is that the P310 is point and shoot, thus less wasted shots, whereas the Sony needs to be on the video setting and adjusted to get best results.

3 I took some video footage the other day of an Arctic Skua at 100 metres, with the RX100 and P310. The RX100 video was significantly sharper and surprisingly coped with the slight heat haze better.

Hope this helps.

Scotview

ianreid · Sep 9, 2013

RX100 vs P300

Hi Odradek,

I can back up what others (esp Scotview aand Neil above) have said.

I used the P300 until about 6 months ago when I switched to the RX100. The image quality is much better on the RX100, especially when zoomed, as Neil has said. With the P300 I got good pics in good light using my Swarovski 20-60x at 20x and the P300 zoomed only as far as necessary to remove vingnetting (about halfway). Zooming right in on the P300 (or indeed increasing the zoom on the scope) noticably degraded the images, giving fringing and poorer focus. I also never liked the Nikon in-camera processing that gave an over processed fell on close inspection.

I am a recent convert to RAW and find the ability to tweak the Sony raw files in Lightroom and/or iPhoto great.

I designed an attachment for the camera in a free cad package and printed it using a 3D printer. Has worked pretty well so far. It clips into place, though I also added a hole for a quarter whitworth bolt for extra strenthy/stability. If you go the bought route, then SRB-Griturn is a good way to go. I found them to be a very responsive company.

Cheers, Ian

scotview · Sep 9, 2013

Nice Adaptor !!

Wow Ian, very impressed with your adaptor design AND the fact you printed it 3D !

I have the Baader Hyperion Zoom and I like the way you've left a slot for adjusting the eyepiece zoom and the RX100 adjustment ring. I think an adaptor of this type would work with the Hyperion really well.

I have wondered about how to attach a tube adaptor to the RX100 but have stumbled at the question of how to slide it onto the camera extended lense. Your solution of using a "foot" for a securing screw is brilliant.

Many thanks for sharing this...........given us all a wee glimpse of the future !!

Scotview.

Neil · Sep 9, 2013

ianreid said:
Hi Odradek,

I can back up what others (esp Scotview aand Neil above) have said.

I used the P300 until about 6 months ago when I switched to the RX100. The image quality is much better on the RX100, especially when zoomed, as Neil has said. With the P300 I got good pics in good light using my Swarovski 20-60x at 20x and the P300 zoomed only as far as necessary to remove vingnetting (about halfway). Zooming right in on the P300 (or indeed increasing the zoom on the scope) noticably degraded the images, giving fringing and poorer focus. I also never liked the Nikon in-camera processing that gave an over processed fell on close inspection.

I am a recent convert to RAW and find the ability to tweak the Sony raw files in Lightroom and/or iPhoto great.

I designed an attachment for the camera in a free cad package and printed it using a 3D printer. Has worked pretty well so far. It clips into place, though I also added a hole for a quarter whitworth bolt for extra strenthy/stability. If you go the bought route, then SRB-Griturn is a good way to go. I found them to be a very responsive company.

Cheers, Ian

Very good work Ian. Sounds like someone could have a little business designing these. Did it take a long time?
Neil.

ianreid · Sep 19, 2013

Neil said:
Very good work Ian. Sounds like someone could have a little business designing these. Did it take a long time?
Neil.

Hi Neil,

it did take a few evenings playing with different ideas, though I had not used FreeCAD before so there was a learning curve associated with that. 3D printing is not quick: it took quite a few hours on a machine at work, and ideally the barrel would have been about 10-20mm longer but the printer is limited to 120mm along the longest dimension. It would be possible to build it in parts and assemble I guess, but I am currently getting away with the shorter-than-ideal barrel.

My estimate is that to have it commercially printed would cost A$100 or so (not really competitive with a machined solution from SRB-Griturn for instance), but it is also inevitable that those costs will drop rapidly in the next few years.

Happy to post the files up here so people can play themselves (FreeCAD is what is says it is: free!)

If I get a chance I will post some recent pics taken using this, the RX100 and my old Swaro HD80AT.

Cheers, Ian

ianreid · Sep 19, 2013

Here are a few of my pics digiscoped using an RX100 with the adaptor above with a Swarovski AT80HD and the new 20-60x zoom. I almost always use the zoom at 20x because I find that (somewhat counterintuitively) the picture degrades more when I use the scope zoom than when I use the camera zoom. Go figure...

The Deskbound Birder · Oct 2, 2013

All

I am sure that this has been asked before but I simply cant find the information on this thread. I have a Kowa 883 with the W/A zoom eyepiece and the DA10 adaptor. What do I need to connect the RX100II (which I am considering buying) to the set-up or will the camera mount direct to this set-up?

Many thanks.

Simon

Paul Hackett · Oct 2, 2013

The Deskbound Birder said:
All

I am sure that this has been asked before but I simply cant find the information on this thread. I have a Kowa 883 with the W/A zoom eyepiece and the DA10 adaptor. What do I need to connect the RX100II (which I am considering buying) to the set-up or will the camera mount direct to this set-up?

Many thanks.

Simon

I have tried to make this combo work, but the lens on the camera touches the eyepiece when zooming up due to the length of the camera lens when extended, even though the camera is placed the furthest back it can be on the swing out adapter.

I may have a solution from Kowa, will report back when I have an answer !

Regards

Paul

Kowa Optics and Digiscoping Consultant UK

Neil · Oct 2, 2013

The Deskbound Birder said:
All

I am sure that this has been asked before but I simply cant find the information on this thread. I have a Kowa 883 with the W/A zoom eyepiece and the DA10 adaptor. What do I need to connect the RX100II (which I am considering buying) to the set-up or will the camera mount direct to this set-up?

Many thanks.

Simon

Simon,
"The Sony RX 100 works ok with all the zoom eyepieces I've tested but it does not have a filter thread so requires a universal adapter. You can get a Vortex PS 100 adapter from the internet with a 52 mm plate which will screw onto the Swarovski (DCA 52 mm). Problem solved.
"
This also works with the DA10.
Neil.

drahma · Jan 7, 2014

Hi All!
Have you noticed that the RX100 has trouble hitting sharpness in point (bird)? I think this is his most serious flaw! My previous camera P6000 was much better. When I take pictures through a telescope, camera RX100 long time looking and thinking before you set focus after taking the photo and enlarge it turns out that the focus is mostly on the back of such a bird. Can anyone know what are the best settings for AF in RX100. In my previous camera P6000 best way for quick hit of focus was mode Macro..

Does anyone know if something has improved on this in new RX100 II ?
I used ATX95 Swaro and DCBII and im looking very good camera for this set - best with remote control (RX100 II - has via smartphone)
I'm sorry for language mistakes

)

the back of the bird, I mean that the bird is out of focus. When you press the shutter button (the focus square was the center of the bird and the square of focus light is green!) the bird is out of focus many times..

Neil · Jan 7, 2014

drahma said:
Hi All!
Have you noticed that the RX100 has trouble hitting sharpness in point (bird)? I think this is his most serious flaw! My previous camera P6000 was much better. When I take pictures through a telescope, camera RX100 long time looking and thinking before you set focus after taking the photo and enlarge it turns out that the focus is mostly on the back of such a bird. Can anyone know what are the best settings for AF in RX100. In my previous camera P6000 best way for quick hit of focus was mode Macro..

Does anyone know if something has improved on this in new RX100 II ?
I used ATX95 Swaro and DCBII and im looking very good camera for this set - best with remote control (RX100 II - has via smartphone)
I'm sorry for language mistakes )

the back of the bird, I mean that the bird is out of focus. When you press the shutter button (the focus square was the center of the bird and the square of focus light is green!) the bird is out of focus many times..

You do need to take care with the Auto Focus of the RX100 and RX 100 M2.
Switch on Focus Peaking and set focus to DMF. Watch the Green Focus light until it stops flashing and is steady. There should be a Beep when this happens. Focus is not so reliable on a moving subject or a low contrast subject so I will focus on the branch/rock/ground instead.
Don't forget that you scope is about an f11 lens so Auto Focus happens a lot slower than with a faster lens.
I often use Manual Focus with Focus Peaking set to High if the subject is not going to be moving too much.
I've found that the bigger the sensor the more care has to be taken with focus and also the brighter the sun the more reliable the AF is.
I hope this helps.
Neil.

Neil · Jan 7, 2014

Here's an example of the out-of-focus with the RX 100 M2 (similar to the RX 100 ).
The Great Egret was walking slowly across the frame and I took a series of photos, none of which was in focus. When the egret stopped focus was achieved.
Neil.

Sony RX 100 M2 and Swarovski STX 95 mm scope and DCB 11 Adapter

Sony RX100 for Digiscoping (1 Viewer)

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