Sony DSC W7 For Digiscoping. (1 Viewer)

phil sharp · Nov 9, 2005

I am thinking og getting a digital camera to go with my Kowa TSN 823. London Camera Exchange claim the DSC W7 & the DSC W5 is now the number one camera for digiscoping. If anyone has used this camera I would be very grateful for your opinion & pics if you have any.

Thanks

Phil

postcardcv · Nov 9, 2005

I don't have either, but have seen the DSC W7 used for digiscoping. Seemed very effective, the big screen made it very easy to use, the fact taht Sony camera's use Zeiss lenses is a big plus for image quality.

Personally I don't think that there is a perfect digiscoping camera available, but there are loads that will do the job very well. From what I've seen these Sony's are amongst the best around.

Hanno · Nov 10, 2005

I use the DSC W7 and am very happy with it. It is fast, small, and of very good quality. I first used it on this year's trip to Hala Bala, Thailand, pictures are here:Hala Bala 2005

iporali · Nov 10, 2005

phil sharp said:
I would be very grateful for your opinion & pics if you have any.

Hi Phil,

My only complaints with the W7 are the lack of adjustable display and aperture priority exposure - otherwise it would be very close to perfect digiscoping camera. Also Sony's adapter threads are not very commonly used in tube-adapters, but with bracket-platforms it does not matter.

One of the greatest digiscopers of this forum (IMNSHO) Gabriel Rasson seems to have switched from the Coolpix 4500 to the Sony W7. See digiscoping and bird photography at their very best in his gallery.

Ilkka

Yelvertoft · Nov 14, 2005

phil sharp said:
I am thinking og getting a digital camera to go with my Kowa TSN 823. London Camera Exchange claim the DSC W7 & the DSC W5 is now the number one camera for digiscoping. If anyone has used this camera I would be very grateful for your opinion & pics if you have any.

Thanks

Phil

Hi Phil,

I use a W12 with my Kowa 663 and find it works very well. The W7 and W5 have the same lens and features so should work equally well. As Ilkka has said, the lack of aperture priority mode is an annoyance, but it's nothing more than that, an annoyance. Here in the gloomy UK, it's rare that the camera switches to anything other than the "wide open" aperture. In common with most digicams, there's only 2 aperture options - big and small. I will often switch to fully manual mode if there's a huge amount of light around that stops the aperture down - doesn't happen very often. This might seem a lot of faff, but full manual is a doddle to operate on the Sony W series, easier to use than any other compact digicam I've used, it also allows you to compensate for tricky lighting situations that the auto-metering will get confused by.

The Sony has a nice big screen that lets you get the scope focus right, the camera AF fine tunes the focus very nicely (tip, use the centre AF, not the multi-zone AF) without hunting or hesitating. Startup time is fast, very fast, screen is easily viewable in bright light, takes 2x AA batteries that last for many days of heavy use and build quality is rugged giving a "quality" feel in use. Image quality is good straight out of the camera, I rarely feel the need to faff around with post processing.

The downsides? Lack of aperture priority as discussed above. It only takes Memory Stick, which is a bit pricier than CF or SD, but not hugely. Adaptors are not going to be available "off the shelf" except for the generic fit platform supports. I made my own adaptor, you can find details in the "why not make your own adaptor?" thread in the adaptors sub-forum. At least there is a "filter" thread on the body to take a fitting.

I'm glad to see that the Sony range is being discussed as a good digiscoping solution, it's been difficult to make people realise that there are any options other than CP4500/A95. Every camera has it's strengths and weaknesses, there is no perfect solution. Go and have a play with a Sony, it can work very well.

Duncan.

mikebidwell · Nov 14, 2005

Yelvertoft said:
Hi Phil,

I use a W12 with my Kowa 663 and find it works very well. The W7 and W5 have the same lens and features so should work equally well. As Ilkka has said, the lack of aperture priority mode is an annoyance, but it's nothing more than that, an annoyance. Here in the gloomy UK, it's rare that the camera switches to anything other than the "wide open" aperture. In common with most digicams, there's only 2 aperture options - big and small. I will often switch to fully manual mode if there's a huge amount of light around that stops the aperture down - doesn't happen very often. This might seem a lot of faff, but full manual is a doddle to operate on the Sony W series, easier to use than any other compact digicam I've used, it also allows you to compensate for tricky lighting situations that the auto-metering will get confused by.

The Sony has a nice big screen that lets you get the scope focus right, the camera AF fine tunes the focus very nicely (tip, use the centre AF, not the multi-zone AF) without hunting or hesitating. Startup time is fast, very fast, screen is easily viewable in bright light, takes 2x AA batteries that last for many days of heavy use and build quality is rugged giving a "quality" feel in use. Image quality is good straight out of the camera, I rarely feel the need to faff around with post processing.

The downsides? Lack of aperture priority as discussed above. It only takes Memory Stick, which is a bit pricier than CF or SD, but not hugely. Adaptors are not going to be available "off the shelf" except for the generic fit platform supports. I made my own adaptor, you can find details in the "why not make your own adaptor?" thread in the adaptors sub-forum. At least there is a "filter" thread on the body to take a fitting.

I'm glad to see that the Sony range is being discussed as a good digiscoping solution, it's been difficult to make people realise that there are any options other than CP4500/A95. Every camera has it's strengths and weaknesses, there is no perfect solution. Go and have a play with a Sony, it can work very well.

Duncan.

Being very much new to digiscoping I found this thread very interesting. I use a Sony W12 and have an Optolyth 'Compact' G80 APO-HD Scope but I've not come across any adaptors to couple the two together. I have a 20-60 X 80 Zoom eyepiece but have been thinking of getting a 20 X WW eyepiece. I'd appreciate any information you might have please.

Regards

Mike

Yelvertoft · Nov 15, 2005

mikebidwell said:
Being very much new to digiscoping I found this thread very interesting. I use a Sony W12 and have an Optolyth 'Compact' G80 APO-HD Scope but I've not come across any adaptors to couple the two together. I have a 20-60 X 80 Zoom eyepiece but have been thinking of getting a 20 X WW eyepiece. I'd appreciate any information you might have please.

Regards

Mike

Hi Mike,

For adaptor advice, take a look in the digiscoping adaptors sub forum
http://www.birdforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=307
Also browse the forum this very thread is posted in. You'll find lots of ingenious ideas, some home-made devices, some off-the-shelf devices. Some cheap, some expensive.

Before you spend any money at all, I'd recommend that you try hand holding the camera to your eyepiece to assess the amount of vignetting you get. Have scope eyepiece set to min magnification, camera to widest angle, then, if you are getting a black ring on the periphery, zoom the camera in until it disappears. You will probably find that a fixed 20x (or similar) will give less vignetting, but if you can get away with what you've got then it's a lot cheaper. You are in the best position to answer the question of whether that particualr combination will work.

Regards,

Duncan.

mikebidwell · Nov 15, 2005

Hi Duncan

Thanks very much for your help!. I'll try what you suggest, and see how I get on before I buy a fixed eyepiece.

I did get in touch with Optolyth asking if they were proposing to manufacture an Optical Digital Camera base suitable for their Compact Scope (along the lines of the Swarovski one) I received a reply to the effect that they are hoping to release something before the end of the year. I have no other details apart from that but it will be most interesting to see what happens.

Best wishes

Mike

Robert L Jarvis · Nov 22, 2005

Hi Phil

I considered the Sony's but for the problem was the memory stick. I believe the camera will only take the "pro" sticks which are quite dear. I have an external disk drive (Flashtrax) which I take with me on trips to download photos but this will only accomodate the conventional memory cards. So apart from the lack of modes this was for me the main consideration as I already had memory cards for my 300d. So I opted for the Canon A95. However I suggest you have a good look at the Olympus C7070.

LCE are selling cameras so might there opinion be biased, is there a bigger profit on the Sony? Also Canon A95 are not made now, my choice really would be the Olympus.#

Robert

Adey Baker · Nov 22, 2005

It will take the ordinary memory sticks but you're limited in the size of memory with these - 128x2 is highest they go. Plus the best quality video mode will only work with the faster Pro cards

iporali · Nov 22, 2005

Robert L Jarvis said:
...So I opted for the Canon A95. However I suggest you have a good look at the Olympus C7070.

LCE are selling cameras so might there opinion be biased, is there a bigger profit on the Sony? Also Canon A95 are not made now, my choice really would be the Olympus.#

Robert

Robert,
Have you tried the C7070? It looks very well-made and the wide-angled zoom is attractive, but in my trials it suffered from terrible vignetting. The lens extends very much at "1x" zoom (wide), retracts in the middle, and then extends again at tele end. Either you suffer from vignetting or you risk hitting the eyepiece with the zoom. This situation is similar to the new Canon 610/620, where the lens extends at the tele-end causing vignetting at other focal lengths. The Olympus SP-350 looks IMO much more promising.

Phil,
Which eyepieces are you planning to use on your Kowa 823? The very-long-eye-relief 21x or 27x eyepieces may make it possible to use almost any camera for digiscoping, but with the zoom ep I would suggest you to stay with small "3x-zoom" cameras like the Sony.

Best regards,

Ilkka

Robert L Jarvis · Nov 22, 2005

Well Ikka, I am surprised. I had seen the C5050 in action and the results were very good. I thought the C7070 would be virtually similar.

Well I am not sure which camera I would opt for but in view of the memory stick angle I would still steer clear of Sony which could involve extra expense if one swopped later for another camera.. Sony do stereo and tv, if you want a camera stick to camera makers like Canon, Leica, etc.

Robert

iporali · Nov 22, 2005

Robert L Jarvis said:
Well Ikka, I am surprised. I had seen the C5050 in action and the results were very good. I thought the C7070 would be virtually similar.

I was also a little surprised, because I had heard many positive comments about the C7070. But they are different: the C5050 had a normal 3x zoom (35-115mm), whereas the C7070's 4x zoom is very wide-angled (27-110mm). This kind of difference may have a big effect on vignetting.

Ilkka

phil sharp · Dec 11, 2005

Thanks for all your comments. It sounds like a good camera for digiscoping. Does anyone know though would the VAD-WA adapter which converts to a 30mm thread, along with a step ring and adapter be suitable for attatching it to scope. My hands would shake to much to hand hold the camera and I don't think i would succesfully make my own adapter.

Thanks

Phil

Neil · Dec 11, 2005

I've been using the Olympus 7070wz for about 6 months and have found it the best all around digiscoping camera that I've used so far (it's my 12th digital camera ). Three of the indispensable features for me were rotatable screen ( I like to keep my tripod as low as possible so I can look down on the screen at any height), IR Remote, and RAW Mode. Third party adapters from Raynox work well with the Swarovski DCA adapter and prevent any damage to the lens. Vignetting disappears at about 3/4 zoom but I use it at full zoom 90% of the time on the Swarovski 20-60zoom. On the Kowa I would use the 27x LER which would enable more of the zoom to be used . I'm hoping I don't break mine as it will be difficult to replace.Neil.
ps the photo was taken with this combination

Hendrik · Dec 13, 2005

Neil said:
I've been using the Olympus 7070wz for about 6 months and have found it the best all around digiscoping camera that I've used so far (it's my 12th digital camera ). Three of the indispensable features for me were rotatable screen ( I like to keep my tripod as low as possible so I can look down on the screen at any height), IR Remote, and RAW Mode. Third party adapters from Raynox work well with the Swarovski DCA adapter and prevent any damage to the lens. Vignetting disappears at about 3/4 zoom but I use it at full zoom 90% of the time on the Swarovski 20-60zoom. On the Kowa I would use the 27x LER which would enable more of the zoom to be used . I'm hoping I don't break mine as it will be difficult to replace.Neil.
ps the photo was taken with this combination

Hi Neil,

I`ve seen in your great, great gallery that you sometimes use the Swarovski
DCA Adapter together with an maxview 40 s eyepiece. Do they matching together without any additional accessory?

Thanks for an short reply, Hendrik

rb_stern · Dec 26, 2005

Hi,

After a lot of research on this forum , DigiscopingBirds etc., I bought a Sony DSC-W5 to replace my CP4500 for digiscoping. I chose this model rather than the W7 as I thought with fewer Mgpxls there would be less noise, and I don't need the added expense of the extra 2 Mgpxls for what I do (I have my dSLR for that). I also bought a VAD-WA adapter, which has a 37mm. thread and fits onto my existing Lensadapter (see setup at http://www.lensadapter.com/products/sony-w1-review.htm). I tried it for the first time yesterday, and have posted a couple of early trial shots in the Gallery here on Birdforum this morning. It was a dull, gray, slightly misty day. I used the P setting, centre -weighted metering, ISO 200, Centre AF, and all other settings the basic ones for the camera. I'm looking forward to some bright days when I can go out and do some more digiscoping (unlikely soon according to the local forecast).

Richard

jei · Dec 27, 2005

rb_stern said:
Hi,

After a lot of research on this forum , DigiscopingBirds etc., I bought a Sony DSC-W5 to replace my CP4500 for digiscoping. I chose this model rather than the W7 as I thought with fewer Mgpxls there would be less noise, and I don't need the added expense of the extra 2 Mgpxls for what I do (I have my dSLR for that). I also bought a VAD-WA adapter, which has a 37mm. thread and fits onto my existing Lensadapter (see setup at http://www.lensadapter.com/products/sony-w1-review.htm). I tried it for the first time yesterday, and have posted a couple of early trial shots in the Gallery here on Birdforum this morning. It was a dull, gray, slightly misty day. I used the P setting, centre -weighted metering, ISO 200, Centre AF, and all other settings the basic ones for the camera. I'm looking forward to some bright days when I can go out and do some more digiscoping (unlikely soon according to the local forecast).

Richard

Hi Richard

I saw your photos in the gallery and they're very good.
I want to ask if apear any vignetting in the full zoom range?

Thanks
Regards
Joaquim

rb_stern · Dec 28, 2005

jei said:
Hi Richard

I saw your photos in the gallery and they're very good.
I want to ask if apear any vignetting in the full zoom range?

Thanks
Regards
Joaquim

Hi,

Thanks for the comments. There is vignetting up to about 1.7X optical zoom, and none with my setup at between 1.7 and 3X.

Richard

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