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Digiscoping with the Panasonic Lumix GF1 (1 Viewer)

Thanks Neil!

With the vignetting issue up until the higher magnification, I will have to have a rethink with regards a prime lens, any suggestions on what might be a better combination? The 25x50 eyepiece is that good I don't really want to go with another, as I'm sure you know.

The quality of the video you posted is rather impressive BTW!
 
rockfowl said:
Thanks Neil!

With the vignetting issue up until the higher magnification, I will have to have a rethink with regards a prime lens, any suggestions on what might be a better combination? The 25x50 eyepiece is that good I don't really want to go with another, as I'm sure you know.

The quality of the video you posted is rather impressive BTW!
Click to expand...

With the 25 - 50 zoom I would go with a 24 or 28 mm Nikon (or equivalent ) MF or D lens and adapter. You can get a second hand lens from US$70 and the adapter is about US$30 for the dumb ones ( made in China ).
The 24/2.8 D or 28/2.8 D would be the best. People are getting good results from the Pentax 40 mm Pancake too.
Neil.
 
The old manual Pentax SMC 28mm f2.8 is a good one too, super sharp at f4. Gone up in price quite a bit in the last few years because everyone wants one for their dslr.

Paul.
 
Neil said:
Back out to the park today in light rain ( just before the thunderstorms hit ) to test the zeiss 28/2.0 lens on the G1 and the Olympus 50/2.0 Macro on the GF1. Set up on my homemade balance bar for support for the heavy lenses.
I've also posted a video here taken with the GF1.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7892550@N03/4659495451/
Neil

Panasonic Lumix GF1 and Olympus 50/2.0 lens and Swarovski STM80HD scope and Sw 25-50 zoom and Homemade balance bar

Hong Kong,
China.
June 2010
Click to expand...

Hi Neil....

Does AF work when Olympus 50/2.0 lens is mounted on GF1? Please let me know.

Thanks,
Fun
 
Hi.

Does anyone uses the Olympus 45 mm - F/1.8 for digiscoping? I'm using the Leica Elmarit 45mm - F/2.8 Makro with my GF1 at the moment and the image quality is fine, but I'm still not happy with the aperture (too slow ...), that's why I'm thinking about buying the Olympus. Tips are welcome :)

Greetings

Björn
 
Last edited:
der_findus said:
Hi.

Does anyone uses the Olympus 45 mm - F/1.8 for digiscoping? I'm using the Leica Elmarit 45mm - F/2.8 Makro with my GF1 at the moment and the image quality is fine, but I'm still not happy with the aperture (too slow ...), that's why I'm thinking about buying the Olympus. Tips are welcome :)

Greetings

Björn
Click to expand...


Björn
The lens looks alright but at 90 mm might give you a bit too much magnification. That's why a short zoom is better as a range of 30 - 60 mm is a better range.
Neil
 
Neil said:
Björn
The lens looks alright but at 90 mm might give you a bit too much magnification. That's why a short zoom is better as a range of 30 - 60 mm is a better range.
Neil
Click to expand...
Hi Neil,

I've used the 20mm f1.7 Pancake before, but got a lot of vignetting. You are right, the magnification is huge, but the image quality is nevertheless outstanding with the Panaleica 45mm f2.8 Macro-Elmarit and furthermore, you can take Pictures from a greater distance.

I attach two images to this post, to illustrate the possibilities of this lens.

comp_02.jpg
Red Phalarope (Phalaropus fulicaria)

comp_04.jpg
Northern Shrike (Lanius excubitor)

It would be interesting to know, if the Olympus 45mm f1.8 is an alternative for digiscoping, because the Elmarit is still expensive and the aperture with 2.8 is some stops smaller, than the Olympus one (sharper results when digiscoping because of better shutter speed?).

If the Olympus 45mm f1.8 produces similar results when digiscoping, I would trade my lens, because I don't do Macrophotography and could use the value-balancing to invest into the new 12mm f2.0 wide-angle lens from Olympus.

Greetings from Flensburg

Björn
 
A fast dslr camera lens is generally irrelevant in digiscoping. What is important is the SYSTEM aperture which is determined by your scope's eyepiece exit pupil diameter. In most cases you can stop down the lens aperture to F8 before any affect is seen.

Click here to learn how to compute your system aperture.
 
Hi RJM
I have just seen your post, and it shows the Nicon dslr camera setup will this stil
apply to the Canon 40d thanks for any info.as I would like to print it off
if possible.
All the best & thank you.
 
Yes, the SYSTEM F ratio calculation is valid for any dslr that has a lens attached to or behind the scope eyepiece. What you may notice if you run the calculation across many camera types and sensor sizes is that as the sensor gets larger the system F ratio tends to get slower and slower.

Most suitable compact digicams deliver ~fl=1000mm-3000mm effective focal lengths @ ~F3-8 assuming an 80mm class scope and 30x eyepiece. On the same scope the Nikon V1 with its 10-30mm kit lens delivers ~fl=1000-2400mm @F5-11 while the Sony NEX5n with a 35mm F1.4 prime would be ~fl=1500mm @ F13!

So you see, any high ISO image quality advantage of the larger sensor tends to be negated by 2-4 stop slower shutter speeds they deliver over a compact at the same digiscoping focal lengths. Simple physics as you have a fixed amount of light leaving the exit pupil of the scope eyepiece. As the sensor gets larger, that light energy is spread out over an increasingly larger area. If you want to keep a system aperture of ~F8 @ ~fl=3000mm effective, the Fuji X10 is about the largest sensor camera we can theoretically use now. In practice however, a smaller compact type camera still rules for digiscoping at extreme focal lengths 1500mm-3000mm or more.
 
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The Panasonic GX PZ 14-42 F3.5-5.6 Asph. OIS has no vignetting

Neil said:
It depends on which lens comes with the camera. The G1 came with a kit zoom 14-45 mm which is good for digiscoping as it's internally focusing ( it has a 52 mm thread to match with your adapter ). The GF1 is being bundled with the 20/1.7 P lens which is not internally focusing but the camera is light enough that this doesn't seem to matter (it may in the long tern though ). The kit zoom will work well with the fixed 30x but not the zoom. The 20/1.7P has vignetting issues with the zoom eyepiece up until 40x and after that is ok and of course will be ok with the fixed 30x.
Neil.
Click to expand...

my brother owns an older swaro spotting scope with the newer 20-60x eyepiece. i was very surprised when i saw that there was vignetting only below half of the zoom range. on higher scope magnifications the vignetting disappeared even earlier!! so, this very slim 14-42 lens is well suited for digiscoping !
is there anybody who really tried the old panasonic 14-45 mm lens on 20-60x or 25-50x eyepieces andcan tell about the vignetting amount?

sorry for grabbing out this old thread, but maybe others may also be interested.

best wishes,
andreas
 
Schulz-Benick said:
my brother owns an older swaro spotting scope with the newer 20-60x eyepiece. i was very surprised when i saw that there was vignetting only below half of the zoom range. on higher scope magnifications the vignetting disappeared even earlier!! so, this very slim 14-42 lens is well suited for digiscoping !
is there anybody who really tried the old panasonic 14-45 mm lens on 20-60x or 25-50x eyepieces andcan tell about the vignetting amount?

sorry for grabbing out this old thread, but maybe others may also be interested.

best wishes,
andreas
Click to expand...

Andreas
" It depends on which lens comes with the camera. The G1 came with a kit zoom 14-45 mm which is good for digiscoping as it's internally focusing ( it has a 52 mm thread to match with your adapter ). The GF1 is being bundled with the 20/1.7 P lens which is not internally focusing but the camera is light enough that this doesn't seem to matter (it may in the long tern though ). The kit zoom will work well with the fixed 30x but not the zoom. The 20/1.7P has vignetting issues with the zoom eyepiece up until 40x and after that is ok and of course will be ok with the fixed 30x."
I can't remember how the 25-50 performed but I wouldn't expect much from the 20-60.
Neil
 
Thank`s Neil for your quick statement. I was asking about the Pana 14-45 mm lens because people said, it had better image quality than the subsequent Pana 14-42 mm lenses.
In any case the super slim Pana X PZ 14-42 mm lens is well suited for the 20-60x eyepiece vignettingwise.

Best wishes,
Andreas
 
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