FH-1 for Quality Digiscoping (1 Viewer)

It was a pleasure to digiscope with the little 120 gram Lumix FH-1 this afternoon, a fraction of the weight of even a 4/3 camera, and no shutter vibration. Spot-on one click white balance, fast and accurate auto focus behind a scope, and a nice integral screw-on attachment directly to the top threads of a Baader Hyperion 21mm eyepiece. The eyepiece and camera zoom gave me a nice adjustable field at 40 feet. A cloudy day gave soft tones without harsh shadows.

Below are a couple of shots of a dove and English sparrow at 40 feet. 80ED Orion OTA scope. Click on view for larger size.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8304/7778422664_71b4cede51_b.jpg
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8445/7778422596_93b1df6ba9_b.jpg

Camera body threads are added with a bonded 46/48mm step up ring and the eyepiece attached using components shown in the following post:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gene266/7164278389/sizes/s/in/photostream/
Gene

Hi Gene...
can you post some higher iso pics, perhaps uncropped section?? great and cheap camera. I wonder if the new FH7 with touch screen will be a good option too.
Jose

OK, Jose, here are a couple of shots at higher ISO. The originals were at 200, the Cardinal is at 400, and the finch is shot at 800. Same image treatments.

These small cameras are much more efficient at digiscoping than the larger ones. If the originals posted photos had been shot by a typical 4/3 camera the sensor would have been 4 times as large, and therefore only 1/4 as bright. The ISO would have had to be ISO 800 to match the light and shutter speed of the Lumix at ISO 200.

The small cameras also have a sharpness advantage in that they use the lens at a sharper f/stop for which the cameras and lenses are designed. Typically and ideally, the scope determines the f/stop in digiscoping. For an 80mm objective, Focal length of 500mm, and a 30X eyepiece the exit pupil would be 2.7mm. This would produce a functioning f/stop of f/11 with typical 25mm 4/3 lens. If the lens is f/2 it would have been designed to be sharpest at f/4, quite a bit away from the functioning f/11 in digiscoping.

The FH-1 lens has a native focal length of 5.mm, or 10mm at 2X zoom. So the optical system is operating at f/3.7, or close to where the lens was designed to be the sharpest. Gene

ISO 400
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8447/7798550466_870a0f5be4_b.jpg

ISO 800
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8288/7798550528_649c4b1b9e_b.jpg

Jose,
You had mentioned the new FH-7 for digiscoping. Seems full reviews are not out yet. I do not think I would like the ”touch screen”. You have to press it, not just touch. What would you expect to gain with this camera for digiscoping? It does not have full priority nor full manual settings. Of course neither does the FH-1, but it seems to take care of itself very well. New mounting hardware would have to be determined, which I have already done for the FH-1. I consider universal mounts very difficult to use and a real pain.

Most cameras do not digiscope well. I do not consider the later FH-2 to be as good as the FH-1, nor the LX-5 as good as the LX-3. Gene

Hi Gene - we used the FH1 (or FS10 as it was known in the UK) in one of our digiscoping kits. We're currently using the FS40:

http://www.opticron.co.uk/Pages/fs40kit.html

The custom camera mount has to be re-engineered for each new version of the camera (so far we've had FS10, FS16 and FS40).

Great results there with your custom setup!

Cheers, Pete

I am new to this and looking into purchasing some digiscoping equipment. Your results look good to me - could you detail exactly what I would need to buy to duplicate this? Not that I will - I am just trying to figure out what all these pieces are! Thanks

Yes Alperte,

If you are going to use the parts I suggested to attach to a Baader Hyperion eyepiece you will have to get a scope that accepts the 1 1/4 barrel standard astro eyepiece. I suggest a Celestron scope for good quality and a very reasonable price. Get a scope with a fluorite element lens, the 100F if you can.

Here is the stack up of parts:

A threaded 46mm to 48mm step up ring is epoxy bonded to the camera body using JB Weld Epoxy. The female side to the camera, which self centers over a ring projection.

A LX-5 adapter tube screws on to the extending made threads of the above ring.

A 52mm ro 54mm step up filter ring connects the LX-5 tube to the larger threads of a Hyperion eyepiece.


The threaded rings came from Photofilter
The LX-5 tube came from B&H
A 17mm Baader Hyperion eyepiece from OPT, in California.
Check OPT for a Celestron scope also.
There is a lower cost source for the LX-5 tube on e-Bay if you care to wait. Gene


See URLs below:

http://photofilter.com/Step_up.htm

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=LX-5+adapter+tube&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma

http://www.optcorp.com/ProductList.aspx?uid=30-718-1044-1046

Gene,
It's time to upgrade the FH1. As you like small digicams I think you should test out the new Nikon http://www.dpreview.com/products/nikon/compacts/nikon_cps01 for us.
It intrigues me.
Neil.
ps nice photos as usual.

Neil,
Thanks Neil. Yes, 90 plus a few grams is indeed super small for the S01 Coolpix. Am sure I could epoxy bond a threaded ring to the body. But, not quite my cup of tea with the built in and non-remove-able memory, charger, nor battery. Do not know what to think about the touch screen, good or bad. Indications are that it would indeed digiscope, but perhaps the best application would be for hand held placement for birding I.D., and compact carry.

Well, my pet FH-1 (FS-10) is showing a little age, but it is not nearly as old as the Nikon P6000, which is still going strong for digiscoping applications, body threads and all. If only the camera companies would realize they could sell an extra dozen a year for digiscoping if they would only add those threads! Ha! Gene