john-henry
Well-known member
Over the last 3 years I've been digiscoping with a 995 and a 4500 - the 995's lens packed up just after 12 months so I bought the 4500 - both are good cameras but I never liked the small screen on the 4500 and was always struggling to get a good focus. A few weeks ago I read a review of the Canon A95 and being so impressed with its specs. bought one, it seemed the ideal replacement for the now obsolete Nikons.
After a little bit of head-scratching about adaptors I modified the swing-out bracket I'd made for the Nikons, this worked out very well indeed - vignetting is about the same if not a little better but the real difference comes when you look through the screen, bright, clear and a lot easier to focus with.
Although I've only been out with it a couple of times the quality of the lens is obvious, equally as good as the Coolpix, the modes and settings are about the same as the Nikons but I found them more user friendly and quicker to adjust. Being able to shoot at ISO 50 with 5Mpix is also a plus. The 3x zoom is less than the Nikon's 4x but as this gives a soft image at full zoom it's no great loss.
At about £200 I think it's a great buy (£205 delivered from Pixmania with a 2year warranty), anyone looking for a new or replacement camera would, in my opinion, be hard-pressed to find something better in the middle price range.
Below are some pics taken at the local Country Park plus a Bittern at a local reservoir at about 100yards, all have been cropped, had Levels and U-Mask applied then saved for web at further compression.
By the way I have no connection with Canon or Pixmania, it's my first Canon camera and the first time i've shopped at Pixania, it's just that so many people ask the question "what camera should I get for digiscoping" and i'm so impressed with this one I felt it might be useful.
john-henry.
After a little bit of head-scratching about adaptors I modified the swing-out bracket I'd made for the Nikons, this worked out very well indeed - vignetting is about the same if not a little better but the real difference comes when you look through the screen, bright, clear and a lot easier to focus with.
Although I've only been out with it a couple of times the quality of the lens is obvious, equally as good as the Coolpix, the modes and settings are about the same as the Nikons but I found them more user friendly and quicker to adjust. Being able to shoot at ISO 50 with 5Mpix is also a plus. The 3x zoom is less than the Nikon's 4x but as this gives a soft image at full zoom it's no great loss.
At about £200 I think it's a great buy (£205 delivered from Pixmania with a 2year warranty), anyone looking for a new or replacement camera would, in my opinion, be hard-pressed to find something better in the middle price range.
Below are some pics taken at the local Country Park plus a Bittern at a local reservoir at about 100yards, all have been cropped, had Levels and U-Mask applied then saved for web at further compression.
By the way I have no connection with Canon or Pixmania, it's my first Canon camera and the first time i've shopped at Pixania, it's just that so many people ask the question "what camera should I get for digiscoping" and i'm so impressed with this one I felt it might be useful.
john-henry.
. Enclosed is a(n old) pair of images taken with the Canon A80 at its widest zoom setting, the Swaro AT80HD and two different eyepieces: the "old" 20-60x zoom and the new 20xSW fixed. I was positively surprised to realize how much wider views you get with the new wide-angled eyepiece. The eye-relief of the 20x is so short that it does not work as well with the Coolpix 4500.
