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Canon's EOS Digital Rebel (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter cthomas
- Start date
PWG
Well-known member
cthomas said:
I have the UK version and use it for digiscoping with an old Swarovski ST80HD fitted with the new eyepiece same as on the ATS range. I'm not familiar with what's offered in the states but in the UK the standard lens is the 18-55 zoom and anything above 50 kills the vignetting completely. I have a filter fitted on the lens and it matches nearly perfectly to the eyepiece in size.
I've been using it for about three months and now I'm getting use to digiscoping I'm begining to get some good results. The time delay is due to the operator not the kit.
PWG said:
It looks like the US version is the same.
If a person could only buy one camera for general photography and digiscoping if the Rebel would be the way to go. Or one of the Coolpixs or the Contax 4UR. I probably take over a 1,000 pictures a year.
With the Rebel it looks like it would be easyer to get pictures of flying birds or moving animals.
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PWG
Well-known member
cthomas said:
I'm close to about 4,000 for the year with a combination of Digiscoping and 'normal' DSLR use. I have a couple of older digital point and shoot cameras but would only use the Rebel now. I haven't played with either the coolpix or contax but to get the flexibility with the Rebel you would need to look for at least one more lens, which puts the price up.
Following birds in flight is a bit of an artform in digiscoping and takes a lot of time, practise, and extensive use of the delete key. Using a DSLR with zoom or fixed lens will win everytime for speed and quality as you only have the camera to worry about and the brighter image allows faster shutter speeds. With Digiscoping you have to work the scope and camera at the same time.
PWG
Well-known member
cthomas said:
I have a couple of zoom lenses I bought before I took up birding. I tend to carry the smaller one with me all the time which is a Sigma 28-300 and my Sigma 175-500 if I'm doing anything specific, though now generally not for birding when I would have the scope with me anyway. The 500 zoom is approximately the same as a pair of 10 x bins. So I would gain little except perhaps for action shots. For a higher quality lens you would have to start adding 0's on the end of the price and there are very few budget lenses above 500 on the market anyway.
I use the Rebel for digiscoping all the time though that is purely because I already had it. If I was starting from scratch now and was only doing digiscoping I would probably look at a smaller fixed lens camera to save weight and the fact it is a fixed lens i.e. doesn't move when you power up, it is easier to find adaptors for scopes. It would also mean I could use a smaller rig to attach to the scope saving even more weight.
PWG said:
Right now I have a Coolpix 4300 (which I don't like) for digiscoping and an Olympus C2100UZ with a B-300 1.7 converter (I like this set up) for wild life and general picture takeing.
So I was thinking with the Rebel I would only have to take one camera in stead of two. Also I'm going to replace the 4300 with something. When I'm out with my cameras I take pictures of any and every thing.
billhelen said:
When digiscoping the LCD is very, very hard to see. Also I almost need a magnifying glass to see the menu. When using the remote control you have to unplug it from the camera to keep from running the battery down even if you turn the camera off. The lag time between pictures is way too long. These are makor things.
Richard Ford
BF Member
Are you handholding the 300d (rebel) for Digiscoping, or do you have an adapter?
All the best
Richard
All the best
Richard
Robert L Jarvis
Robert L Jarvis
Along with Richard, I would like to know, exactly how Paul you are digiscoping with the Canon300d/rebel.
PWG
Well-known member
Robert L Jarvis said:
If I can get the manage attachments to work I'll add a photo but the story goes like this.
I have a Swaro ST80HD (old style) with a new 20-60 eyepiece. The standard zoom lens on the 300D could almost have been made for the eyepiece as it fits almost exactly.
To fit the two together I have a Zeiss quick adaptor which was in no way made to fit the straight Swaro due to the length of the scope. The longer prism housing and the length of the eyepiece make it a few inches too long for the setup. Undeterred the guy in the shop was definitely not going to be beaten so I have the scope mounted on a Manfrotto sliding plate. The vertical support of the Zeiss is reversed to add a bit of length as well. I've added a QR to the camera mount for ease of use and a second sliding plate to the top of the tripod that way I can fit the scope straight on the tripod if I don't take the camera with me.
The setup is certainly well made but is a bit heavy for a lot of people. Perhaps a different scope may make it easier to attach it all together without the extra iron work, but I was trying to use what I had. Even with the added weight I would certainly recommend the Zeiss for ease of use.
Attachments
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You said "If I was starting from scratch now and was only doing digiscoping". So you are saying the added weight is the biggest problem? I have the Swarovski DCA adapter. I wonder if it would work with the Rebel?
I was also thinking of the Contax 4UR. I kinda like the idea of having one camera instead of two.Do you find the Rebel works good for both digiscoping and general picture taking.
I was also thinking of the Contax 4UR. I kinda like the idea of having one camera instead of two.Do you find the Rebel works good for both digiscoping and general picture taking.
PWG
Well-known member
cthomas said:
If you only want one camera with the option to use it for normal photography and digiscoping then the 300D in my opinion is a reasonable choice. Other manufacturers are starting to bring out cheaper DSLRs so it isn't out on its own anymore price wise. In the end it is down to personal preference and how it fits in with what you are doing and can pay out. If you were only using it for digiscoping then I would go for something smaller and lighter. After all when you go out you have to carry it...
I would doubt the Rebel would work well with the DCA for a number of reasons. The first is the thread size the standard lens is 58mm and the largest adapter plate I've seen is 52mm. This alone would probably be the biggest show stopper. The adapter is for, I think, 34mm or there abouts so that would probably introduce a major problem with vignetting. The other minor problems would be the weight of the camera hanging on the threads, the stress on the eyepiece, and although the zoom goes in and out along the lens axis the camera focus rotates the end of the lens.
If you are looking to use the Rebel for digiscoping then you should look at something like the avian digimaster or the zeiss quick camera adapter. As well as the advantage of being able to swing the camera out of the way they offer the greater flexibility in positioning the camera. Most digiscoping adapters are designed with the smaller cameras in mind as while it was popular the DSLRs were well out of most peoples budgets. Only recently are the companies picking up on the fact that more people want to use the DSLRs for digiscoping. If you have a dealer any where close then go and get more details about the cameras and adapters. When you look on the web very few if any people put the dimensions in their "full technical specs". Minor things like what is the distance between the tripod thread and the end of the eyepiece, what is the distance between the tripod thread and the point an angled bracket turns up, how far can each point be adjusted? Most reviewers will say how well their scope fitted or didn't, but if you don't have the same camera or scope it doesn't help much. I think I might start a campaign for more information in adverts. It would certainly help now more stuff is being sold purely over the web where you can't get your hands on it. Anyway I'll get off my soap box, hope some of this helps. Oh and if anyone wants to know the relevant sizes of the scope, camera, and adapter then i'll happily get my ruler out.
I've been interested in following this thread as I've decided to go the d-slr route with their optical viewfinders so tried a Digital Rebel with my ATS 65 scope at our down-home, friendly photo store. We removed the lens from the Rebel and attached a 'T-mount' instead and this was held up to the DCA adapter on my scope eye-piece and - it worked great with no vignetting whatsoever. If I was going this route for sure then I'd have to glue the T-mount to the 43 mm adapter of the DCA (one of the three sizes that it came with). Also, with this method, focussing is done manually with the scope. I'd just heard about the 8 mp Olympus 300 dslr though so I'm holding off until I can see if that has better potential.
PWG
Well-known member
wildabel said:
Interesting idea. I hadn't though of taking the lens away completely, if it works it would certainly cut down on the amount of glass and make the image a lot brighter. The only downside I can see to this is the only adaptors I've seen are open and potentialy you could fill your camera with dust?
I've just changed my lens from the standard 18-55mm to a canon 50mm f1.8 II. Although the zoom works OK since winter is now here and the light is worse I've been struggling with the zoom at f5.6 at 50-55mm. I went out yesterday and am very pleased with the difference that going to the new lens at only f1.8 made. I was getting the same quality of results at 60x that I had been getting at 20x.
Let us know how you get on.
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PWG said:
Paul could you post a picture?
My scope is angeled. I wounder if the Rebel and adapters would work? I live way out in the country so I don't have a local camera shop. So I have to rely on the help from the forum.
wildabel said he used a 'T-mount' . What is a 'T-mount'
PWG said:
Yes, dust is that eternal problem - don't know how well the Olympus ultrasonic CCD-cleaner system works but at least they're trying. My intent is to keep the dslr on the scope most of the time as I can use my Oly 2100UZ with 1.4 multiplier for other general observations. Your method of using the fixed lens of f1.8 sounds a very positive way to go too as getting that light in can be a trial, especially in our northern winters. That's also a concern with my scope being only 65 mm objective.
The 'T-adapter' (which I didn't know about either) is basically a ring with bayonet on one side and a removeable, threaded inset ring on the other - it totals only about 3/8" thick. At the camera store, the inset was removed so as to have the 43 mm eyepiece adapter of the scope flush against the T-adapter (this is what would need to be glued if in a permanent setup as the scope threads don't match those on the T-adapter). My scope is the angled version too and I'll keep all posted if/when I have more info.
PWG
Well-known member
cthomas said:
Wasn't sure what you wanted a photo of?
Here are a few of the shots I took Saturday. The light was not brilliant as the sun was low and there was a mist too but I wanted to see what it could do and considering the bad conditions they came out quite well. The shots I tried in similar conditions previously ended up as victims of the delete key. The shutter speed was so slow I ended with a sparrowhawk with five eyes...
There is a halo on the ones at 60x, I was side on to the sun and I think that as the lens isn't as good a fit to the eyepiece it was reflection of the eyepiece/lens. It only really shows on the 60x because they are so much darker. I'm actively looking for a shade of some sort round the local camera shops.
