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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

First day with Fuji F31fd (1 Viewer)

P

Paul Corfield

Well-known member
My new Fuji F31fd arrived in the post today so I quickly got it set up and tried some hand held shots with the scope. My scope is a 20 year old 60mm Optima and I've mounted a William Optics DCL28 eyepiece to it. I've been digiscoping for a number of years with my old Olympus C5050 and this new Fuji is a big improvement. Really happy with it so far. These test shots were all at a range of around 30m and taken on auto with macro mode turned on. Just waiting for the adaptor to arrive so I can mount the camera onto the scope eyepiece.

Paul.
 

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Cracking pics Paul !

I've just got an F31 too.... very happy with it so far and I've never digiscoped before. Are your pics straight from the camera or have they been photoshoped ? I'm finding all of my pics look better with a little gentle sharpening in photoshop... which I am still learning to use. Yours look great tho...
 
newton birder said:
Cracking pics Paul !

I've just got an F31 too.... very happy with it so far and I've never digiscoped before. Are your pics straight from the camera or have they been photoshoped ? I'm finding all of my pics look better with a little gentle sharpening in photoshop... which I am still learning to use. Yours look great tho...
Click to expand...

I cropped off some vignetting and did a little sharpening in Photoshop. Compared to my old Olympus C5050 the Fuji is picking up way more detail and the 3x zoom gets in closer than the 3x zoom on the Olympus. Like others I find it sometimes hunts a little on focusing, especially at full zoom. I found today though that moving the camera back a little from the eyepiece solved that problem but not 100% of the time. Plus I'm hand holding until my adapter arrives which doesn't help with the focusing. Here's one from today.

Paul.
 

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They're looking very good Paul, especially for hand held. They are much better than my first attempts. What sort of adaptor are you getting? It's a pity the F30/31 doesn't come with a lens thread as I am sure your Olympus C5050 was much easier to mount.

Ron
 
Paul,
Good work. If you back off the zoom and use macro you should find it easier to focus. Watch the little green light under the zoom rocker , if it's steady you are locked on.Neil.
 
Ron - I've gone for the adapter from foxfoto. My DCL28 eyepiece has a 28mm thread which will screw into the adapter via a 28mm-37mm special step ring from warehouse express. It's just a simple ring with a male and female thread, similar to a standard step ring but without the step. I'll just loctight it in place once I get it all set up.

Niel - yeah I found that too. Just knocking back the zoom a notch on the screen helps a lot with the focus.

Really loving this little camera so far. Got 2 days of digiscoping planned for this weekend. :t:

Paul.
 
Spent the afternoon by the river and had a good few hours to play with the camera. Really pleased with it so far. The photos below of the Little Egret were at a distance of around 30-40 meters and just taken on auto mode. Cropped and sharpened in Photoshop. No other editing.

Paul.
 

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Here's another one which was taken through the scope on ISO 1600 in low light in the evening. Settings were 1/240 sec, f4.9, ISO 1600. Taken on auto mode at 6million normal. Very pleased with the low noise levels at high ISO.

Paul.
 

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Very nice Paul. I also tried with my Oly 5050 but found I couldn't use the zoom at all which is why I decided to get the F31. By the sound of it you were able to use the zoom on your oly though. Would be interested to know how. Not that it really matters now that I have my new Fuji. I think my oly will be relegated to underwater use (once I finally pluck up the courage to test out the housing)!
 
kittykat23uk said:
Very nice Paul. I also tried with my Oly 5050 but found I couldn't use the zoom at all which is why I decided to get the F31. By the sound of it you were able to use the zoom on your oly though. Would be interested to know how. Not that it really matters now that I have my new Fuji. I think my oly will be relegated to underwater use (once I finally pluck up the courage to test out the housing)!
Click to expand...

I never had a problem with the zoom on the C5050. I attached a photo of how I had it set up. I took the original eyepiece off the scope and modified the scope to take 1.25 telescope eyepieces. The one in the photo was a 25mm Meade series 5000 plossl eyepiece. I've since replaced that with a William Optics DCL28 which I also used with the Olympus for a little while. I found the Olympus poor in low light which is why I eventually switched to the Fuji.

Paul.
 

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I tried my Olympus 3020Z (earlier and less sophisticated version of the 5050) on my scope but apart from the vignetting which I couldn't clear, the weight of the camera was a problem. The F30/F31 are such tiny, light cameras they are ideal for hanging off the back of a scope.

Ron
 
Hi all,

Does anyone use the Fuji 30/31 series with a Leica APO 77?

I've been saving my pennies and had settled for a Pansonic FX30 but I keep hearing great things about the Fuji range!

Bill
 
> Does anyone use the Fuji 30/31 series with a Leica APO 77? <

Hi,
the Fuji F31fd works great with the Leica APO 77 20-60x eypiece. I have a 37mm Fox-Universal lensadapter screwed on a special made clamp adapter that I can use for different cameras. Between cameratripod hole and adapter and the same between the adapter joint parts I put tennis racket tape to prevent losening.

photo details: the owl: ISO 800, 1/6 sec.
 

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Andreas,

Thank you for your response and what a great owl photograph!

I'm glad that the Fuji F31 works well with the Leica, I had a surf of the net earlier after putting my post on Birdforum and found that there are some great deals around on this camera.

Looks like my choice is now between the Fuji and the Panasonic !!

Bill.
 
Bill, take into consideration too the Nikon P5000 and the Ricoh G?100 ! Both dispose threads on the camerabody, what makes it much more easy to align eyepiece and camera ! OK, both of them do not have the ISO 400 and 800 capabilities according to statements of others.

Gredetings,
Andreas
 
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