Eliter7 said:
Thanks to both for replys, and especially Yossi for the detailed response and links, which are very helpful. The Swaro ATS 80 HD is definitely the scope I will buy as had a good trial with this, the Zeiss and Leica over weekend and whilst i agree the view on Zeiss is bigger and i guess maybe better for digiscoping etc, it just didnt look as good as the Swaro on quality to me. Difficult to really compare 2 such good scopes but just felt happier with Swaro.
Yossi you have confirmed a worry i had about the tls800 adapter about not being able to properly expose and control shot etc, so it leaves me the 'other option'. I see on your link you use a 'T ring' fixed adapter. Have not really had this as an option to properly look at, as I was working on using the Swaro DCB and a similar lense to your suggestion. This seems to me the best photo option as i should get much more exposure/imgae control and I can flip camera up and down as required etc. From what you said I should get little or no vignetting with simalar lense type but will i get quality from this method given ther will be some 'gap' between lense and scope eyepiece and presently no fixing element(T ring ) etc ???? And considering this option Im also thinking the Swaro 30* eyepiece may be better than 20-60* etc. Any thoghts on this method Yossi or from anyone???
Thanks again Yossi and anyone who may have time to post
Chris.
First, there's a new Nikon adapter for SLR that allows metering called FSA-L1, which is still hardly available (as most Nikon's new stuff). It has the same magnification as the old one, and I guess the same optical design. It creates an 800mm lens with the Nikon FSIII (1200mm with the crop factor). I've tried the older version which I have with a standard X1.4 TC (Kenko Pro 300), and the results were reasonable, but the image was quite dark in the viewfinder.
The simplest way to couple the Swaro eyepiece to a camera IMHO is the Scopetronics Uni-adapt which can be fitted to many eyepieces, and has a ~44mm (T) thread. Add to this a 52mm to 44mm ring and you are set (that is if you are using a 52mm threaded lens on the camera). You can buy this ring from Scopetronics too. I've started there, that's the reason why my scope adapters are devided into two categories - 28mm threaded for my CP camera and 44mm threaded for the D100.
Re the Swaro 30X eyepiece - I have it as well as the X15 eyepiece, and frankly, I'm not happy with the "wide" field. It's not much wider than the zoom eyepiece, and is less flexible. I've compared the optical quality of the fixed X30 eyepiece and the zoom eyepiece @X30, and there was only a marginal difference in optical quality, if at all.
As I've said before, using a DSLR for digiscoping is a big challenge. It's far simpler and easier to use a good P&S camera. The advantage of the DSLR is easy tracking and fast response, but you are limited with the practical magnification.
Here are some samples:
Digiscoping with the D100 vs. CP4500 - same target different scopes, almost a year apart:
D100 using the Swaro 80:
http://www.kramery.com/digitalphoto/gallery/Digiscoping/DSC_9072b.jpg
CP4500, Leica Apo 62:
http://www.kramery.com/digitalphoto/gallery/Digiscoping/DSCN9083b.jpg
It is easy to tell the difference in sharpness.
Some other D100 samples (with various lenses):
http://www.kramery.com/digitalphoto/gallery/Digiscoping/DSC_5964B.jpg
http://www.kramery.com/digitalphoto/gallery/Digiscoping/DSC_5911b.jpg
And at 100meters away from the sparrows:
http://www.kramery.com/digitalphoto/gallery/Digiscoping/DSC_4137b.jpg
Some other CP4500 samples, using Leica and Swaro scopes:
http://www.kramery.com/digitalphoto/gallery/Digiscoping/DSCN8554f.jpg
http://www.kramery.com/digitalphoto/gallery/Digiscoping/DSCN9093f.jpg
And the last one, taken with the CP4500, Swaro 80 and a 7mm Pentax eyepiece that was shaved (bottom part of the eyepiece was filed off to fit the Swaro):
http://www.kramery.com/digitalphoto/gallery/Digiscoping/DSCN9872b.jpg