Canon powershot s120 digiscoping (1 Viewer)

Hi all.
This is my first experience video digiscoping with swarovski stx 95 with canon s120.
I took video from a distance of approximately 100 m for Gannet.
I will be happy with your guidance to l do better digiscoping.
I'm sorry for my bad English.
Thanks.
https://youtu.be/MRf4bvCJvjE

Hi Saminta

I have the same camera which I use with a Nikon ED82A and 38x eyepiece. What adapter are you using with your scope? What magnification was the scope at?

Cheers,

Phil

Torchepot said:

Hi Saminta

I have the same camera which I use with a Nikon ED82A and 38x eyepiece. What adapter are you using with your scope? What magnification was the scope at?

Cheers,

Phil

Click to expand...

Hi phil
I use STX 30-70x95 with DCB II digital camera base for ATX / STX.
The magnification on this video is 70x+5x camera magnification.
Thanks.

Hi Saminta

Brilliant scope and nothing wrong with the adapter. My feeling is that 70x magnification plus the camera zoomed out (which in 35mm terms to about 120mm or nearly 2.5x) is probably pushing the boundaries a bit. I'm no digiscoping expert but I'm sure you would get better results at the other end of the scope's zoom. But of course that means getting closer to the birds. Actually I have made some videos where waders are much smaller in shot and the result is much more pleasing - no need to keep tracking after the bird as it moves about.
Moving birds on water plays havoc with my videos too so if possible I try to get the light behind me, which helps a lot.

I really like the little S120 but I don't think many people digiscope with it yet so getting advice on set up is hard. If you want I can go through the menus and let you know how I set mine up, but as I mentioned I'm no expert.

All the best

Phil

Hi phil
Thanks alot for your guidence. I am agree with your recommended and l'd be glad.
Please share your video to me.
Thanks.

Hi Saminta,

I haven't used the camera for about a month - weather is poor and there are few birds around that I'm interested in videoing. I was experimenting with manual focusing using focus peaking last time I used it so some of the settings may relate to that set up. Anyway this is how the menus are set up at the moment.

Using Function Set button the only things I changed are
Selected SPOT metering
L print size
Superfine Quality
Video set to FHD 60P

Using Menu functions
SHOOTING SETTINGS
AF Frame 1-point
AF Frame size small
Digital zoom std
AF point zoom OFF
Servo AF OFF
Continuous AF OFF
Touch Shutter ON
AF - assist beam OFF
Safety MF OFF
MF Peaking settings -
Peaking ON
Level High
Colour Red
ISO Auto - Untouched
Spot AE Point - Center
Wind Filter Auto
Blink detection Off

CAMERA SETTINGS
All untouched except
Touch operation ON
Touch response HIGH

I may not have the best set up - I do tend to experiment with the settings - but hopefully if any of the more experienced photographers notice that I've done anything really daft they may point it out?

When I first got the camera I was very disappointed that there is no way to attach a remote shutter lead, but then I discovered the Touch Screen function and that works fine. I have tried using a stylus to trigger the camera but the sensitivity is so high that my finger doesn't seem to need to quite touch the screen - so I don't use the stylus much anymore.

The reason I was trying out the manual focus peaking is that I noticed that a lot of the shots I took over distance were a bit soft and I experimented to see if I could improve my shots by manual focussing. When the weather improves I will continue my tests and let you know how I get on.

One last thing, I read somewhere that it was a good idea to set the camera to macro mode when digiscoping but I'm not sure why and certainly when I was photographing the lunar eclipse my best results were by manual focus to infinity and then by tweaking focus with the scope.

It's very hard for me to post videos or even photos from here as we have VERY slow internet speeds, but I may try and upload a short video in the next day or two.

All the best,

Phil

Thanks phil for your great guidance and l will try to practice with your notices on my camera.

Hi Saminta

I uploaded my images and videos onto my desktop computer which has a big high res. screen and I'm not happy with any of them. Everything appears slightly soft. So I contacted Neil in H.K. who is very experienced and also very patient!

He gave me a couple of tips and I can see a big difference, even on a rainy grey day!

He mentioned that the S series Canons don't digiscope well at full zoom. I think this has been my big mistake - I set my adapter up so that the lens just misses the eyepiece at full optical zoom (120mm).
For some reason I then started taking stills and videos without ever trying it at a shorter focal length.

Neil suggested trying the camera at about 40mm, if you press ring function and select zoom there is stop at 50mm when you turn the ring at the front of the camera. This made an immediate difference, suddenly I'm not having the depth of field problems like before, and everything looks sharper. I leave the ring function on zoom and save all my settings to the custom position on the top dial via the menu button.

I tried positioning the camera so that the lens is closer to the eyepiece but got vignetting at once. So the camera remains in the same position as before which means there is no chance of hitting the lens if I accidentally zoom in. This does mean that there is a gap between the eyepiece and the lens. With the Nikon adapter this doesn't matter too much as it's hidden but maybe with yours it's possible that light could get in? If this the case you may have to shield the gap with some cloth or something.

Neil also suggested selecting Macro (next to function set)

Bad weather here means I can't really try it out properly yet but I think this will all help.

Best wishes

Phil

Torchepot said:

Hi Saminta

I uploaded my images and videos onto my desktop computer which has a big high res. screen and I'm not happy with any of them. Everything appears slightly soft. So I contacted Neil in H.K. who is very experienced and also very patient!

He gave me a couple of tips and I can see a big difference, even on a rainy grey day!

He mentioned that the S series Canons don't digiscope well at full zoom. I think this has been my big mistake - I set my adapter up so that the lens just misses the eyepiece at full optical zoom (120mm).
For some reason I then started taking stills and videos without ever trying it at a shorter focal length.

Neil suggested trying the camera at about 40mm, if you press ring function and select zoom there is stop at 50mm when you turn the ring at the front of the camera. This made an immediate difference, suddenly I'm not having the depth of field problems like before, and everything looks sharper. I leave the ring function on zoom and save all my settings to the custom position on the top dial via the menu button.

I tried positioning the camera so that the lens is closer to the eyepiece but got vignetting at once. So the camera remains in the same position as before which means there is no chance of hitting the lens if I accidentally zoom in. This does mean that there is a gap between the eyepiece and the lens. With the Nikon adapter this doesn't matter too much as it's hidden but maybe with yours it's possible that light could get in? If this the case you may have to shield the gap with some cloth or something.

Neil also suggested selecting Macro (next to function set)

Bad weather here means I can't really try it out properly yet but I think this will all help.

Best wishes

Phil

Click to expand...

Thanks phil
But l haven't a problem with using end zoom for camera and i believe that using camera zoom is better than using high zoom in telescope. I don't work with your nikon telescope and i don't know information about it.

I will try to test macro mod for my next training.

Hi Saminta

From what I understand it should be the opposite, zoom out with the camera and in with the scope.

I don't have a zoom on my scope so the difference in quality of shots at 50mm and 120mm can only really be the camera.

If you want to see what I mean you could try taking a shot (or video) with the camera zoomed to 5x but the scope at 30x then take a second shot (or video) with the zoom on the camera back to 50mm and zoom the scope in until the image is the same size. You should see a big difference in quality. Please let me know what you think if you do try this.

All the best,

Phil

Torchepot said:

Hi Saminta

From what I understand it should be the opposite, zoom out with the camera and in with the scope.

I don't have a zoom on my scope so the difference in quality of shots at 50mm and 120mm can only really be the camera.

If you want to see what I mean you could try taking a shot (or video) with the camera zoomed to 5x but the scope at 30x then take a second shot (or video) with the zoom on the camera back to 50mm and zoom the scope in until the image is the same size. You should see a big difference in quality. Please let me know what you think if you do try this.

All the best,

Phil

Click to expand...

Hi phil
I agree with you and l try it.
Thanks.