Best camera for good hand-held record shots? (1 Viewer)

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Mike Johnston

Well-known member

• Dec 28, 2006

• #1

I'm looking for the best camera (current or discontinued) for taking quick hand-held record shots, that are as good quality as possible for ID. I'm not a photographer and not into digiscoping as an 'art-form', so just looking for something simple, quick and reliable that gives good results. Any recommendations, or am I asking too much?

 

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Nick Elliston

Well-known member

• Dec 28, 2006

• #2

Mike Johnston said:

I'm looking for the best camera (current or discontinued) for taking quick hand-held record shots, that are as good quality as possible for ID. I'm not a photographer and not into digiscoping as an 'art-form', so just looking for something simple, quick and reliable that gives good results. Any recommendations, or am I asking too much?

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Mike

Like you I am not a photographer or into digiscoping. In fact until this summer I had not owned a camera for 20 years but as I was going to Africa felt I should take the plunge.

After much consideration I bought a Panasonic FZ7 which really had minimal use before my hols. You can see some photos I took in the photo gallery.

I am sure better results could be had with a DSLR but it suits my needs and would be worth looking at depending on your budget - they are c£220.

Nick

 

IanF

Moderator

• Dec 28, 2006

• #3

For digiscoping I'd be looking at

Nikon CP990 or Nikon CP4500

Maybe even the Canon A95

They're all discontinued but still good performers. The A95 is the most compact and likely more suited to popping in a pocket and hand holding to the scope.

The CP990 is chunky but a very good performer and the CP4500 still one of the best digiscoping cameras around.

Even the Contax & Kyocera SL400 or SL300RT are worth considering - tiny cameras but easy to use and decent results, not to mention the Samsung models.

Out of the current models there's no real leader and loads of models. Some to consider are the Olympus C8080, Nikon 8400, Sony make several models giving good results DSC W7, H1, H2.... - the W7 has caught my eye a few times with the results it produces.

 

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SteveClifton

Well-known member

• Dec 30, 2006

• #4

Also worth considering is the new Samsung NV3, available for £164 from WE. My brother has just bought one and uses it without an adapter with great success.

There is no protruding zoom lens, which makes handholding very easy. Picture quality is comparable with my Canon A95, and it's about the size of a fag packet-so very easy to carry around without the multiple adapters that are necessary for most digital cameras.

Seems to me that adapters for different camera/scope combinations are a bit of a minefield for the average birder, so if you can manage without them it saves you money, and the stress of trying to connect them all up together.

There is a separate thread for this camera in the digiscoping forum, with some good examples of pictures taken with it.

 

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Paul Hackett

Well-known member

• Dec 31, 2006

• #5

Mike Johnston said:

I'm looking for the best camera (current or discontinued) for taking quick hand-held record shots, that are as good quality as possible for ID. I'm not a photographer and not into digiscoping as an 'art-form', so just looking for something simple, quick and reliable that gives good results. Any recommendations, or am I asking too much?

Click to expand...

As has been said before on this thread and the original thread i started on this camera, for your style of digiscoping the Samsung NV3 is a no brainer, small, light, fits in your pocket, simple menus, 7mp file size, i have mentioned it to Rich Bonser & Tom Mckinney two BF members and they have actually bought this camera and have taken some good pics, both use it hand held to their scopes, Rich's pic of the Hermit Thrush in Ireland this year considering its hand held is excellent, check out the pics on his website, i would advise you to buy the biggest memory card you can afford and an extra battery,

Hope this helps

Rgds

Paul

 

postcardcv

Super Moderator

Staff member

Supporter

• Jan 1, 2007

• #6

As you're looking for a camera purely for handheld digiscoping why not look at the Panasonic range - they have an effective image stabilisation system that shoudl help greatly in countering any shake from your hand.

Personally I would not even consider looking at the old Nikons if I were you. Yes the image quality is good, but they are bulky and slow. Far from ideal if you want something to slip in your pocket and grab a quick shot. The old Contax/Kyoreca cameras were decent little beasts, very pocketable, but the poor battery life made them a bit annoying.

 

Pie Face

Well-known member

• Jan 1, 2007

• #7

Just bought a Canon A95, after the death of my Coolpix 995, off Ebay for £75. I don't do much digiscoping these days (too much faffing about) so thought the Canon would be ideal for just putting up to the scope. If I like it I might be tempted to part with my Kyocera 400 in a month or so.

Mark

 

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iporali

Well-known member

• Jan 2, 2007

• #8

I can confirm that the Panasonic's image stabilization is indeed very useful in handheld snapshot digiscoping. Just remember that those super-zooms (>4x optical) don't work in digiscoping. The DMC-FX-models (01, 9, 30, 50 etc.) are fast, sharp and they have very nice high-resolution displays. Canon's Ixus 850 IS has similar features and may have even better image quality.

With these small cameras you may have to put your fingers or some kind of bottle-cap adapter between the eyepiece and the lens to prevent the camera from vignetting/blacking-out due to too much eye-relief.

Best regards,

Ilkka

 

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Mike Johnston

Well-known member

• Jan 3, 2007

• #9

Thanks for all the replies. Plenty to mull over. However, the Samsung NV3 does look like it would do the job nicely.

 

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mountain man

Guest

• Jan 5, 2007

• #10

The Samsung NV3 is brilliant. You can choose to use it as good or bad as you like! For example you can get an identifiable record shot of pretty much anything; or you can take your time, use it properly and achieve really nice pictures - the camera has the facilities to allow either approach. Obviously, handheld you're never going to match the top end quality that someone like Mr Hackett is getting, but if you are primarily a birder that also likes to take the occasional picture when they are out then I can't recommend it enough.

Here's a photo I took the other day on Islay through a battered Kowa TS-613, about 50m away and in reasonable early afternoon light, I was also messing about with the white balance and exposure thingy modes (sunny day & -1 settings). Okay, it's hardly front cover of Birds, but it's not bad for a clinically diagnosed sufferer of technological retardation.

 

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Last edited: Jan 5, 2007

Paul Jarvis

Registered Member

• Jan 5, 2007

• #11

Tom

Nice shot of the barnicle there. Surely anyone who is a birder first who be more than satisfied with that example as a record shot at that distance.

 

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Pterodroma

Well-known member

• Jan 9, 2007

• #12

My Samsung NV3 arrived today. I have never tried digiscoping but purchased this camera mainly from the reviews on this thread.

I haven't the time to experiment with the settings on the camera as I'm off birding in India in four days time. Can someone please tell me the best settings to leave the camera on? The intention is to pull it from a pocket, and take a shot hand-held.

Any replies appreciated. Many thanks.


PS Edit - should have added my scope is a Swarovski angled 80HD (the old model)

 

Last edited: Jan 9, 2007