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Canon S95 for digiscoping (1 Viewer)

Steve,

Great idea posting your typical settings, settings on a new camera can be difficult and your approach here should help. Also hashing it back and forth should help our understanding.

The only exception I'd make with yours is the AF-assist beam which I turned off figuring it might impart wrong info to the camera which was not designed to be plugged onto a scope.

Other preferences I have is AF frame size set to small and with the wheel in back I toggle to Macro (testing here showed a very minimal improvement).

The IS Mode can be frustrating. What I was told is the sensing was designed for human movement and when on a tripod can actually induce a correction causing blurr therfore I keep it off. Any other comments would be appreciated.

Joe
 
Steve,

Great idea posting your typical settings, settings on a new camera can be difficult and your approach here should help. Also hashing it back and forth should help our understanding.

The only exception I'd make with yours is the AF-assist beam which I turned off figuring it might impart wrong info to the camera which was not designed to be plugged onto a scope.

Other preferences I have is AF frame size set to small and with the wheel in back I toggle to Macro (testing here showed a very minimal improvement).

The IS Mode can be frustrating. What I was told is the sensing was designed for human movement and when on a tripod can actually induce a correction causing blurr therfore I keep it off. Any other comments would be appreciated.

Joe

Josef, thanks for your comments.

I agree, the AF-Assist beam should probably be off, just haven't got round to it yet.

I tried the AF frame size today for semi-macro work, and found the smaller frame helped locking onto a small object at close to minimum focus distance. I'm not sure how that will help for digiscoping? Perhaps for distant birds, or those in cluttered backgrounds it will?

I agree IS should be off for the reasons given, with the exception that in windy conditions when the scope is being vibrated a lot, it might just help.

ATB

Steve
 
Canon S95 remote shutter ?

Does anyone know if it's possible to obtain a remote shutter release for this camera ? I know they are available for Canon's range of DSLRs, but I've not seen them for compact cameras.

Thanks in advance.

Jon
 
Hi,

Having just put my Canon S95 to field test today, I thought about sharing my experience and sharing also some samples.

Setup
Pictures were taken with Nikon ED82A and DS30X eyepiece. Conditions were chilly, below freezing point (meaning gloves) and quite windy (10 m/s). Morning started with sun and then overcast.

Camera operation
The camera is neat and nice to operate. Fast startup time, display is clear and highly visible. Even with gloves on, buttons can be operated with reasonable tactile accurracy.

Battery lifetime
I took about 200+ pictures (in quite cold conditions) and the meter showed half charged at the end of the session.

Vignetting
Some vignetting occurs at focal length 6 mm (28 mm equivalent).

Decreased peripheral illumination is noticeable at all focal lengths. The software (Canon Digital Photo Professional) however has a feature that is really useful and allows to compensate for this.

Sample pictures
All pictures were taken in RAW, using default settings (except for exposure compensation), auto WB, auto ISO, evaluative light metering, Image Stabilizer on (maybe I should have turned IS off, not sure about what is right in windy conditions?)

In Digital Photo Professional I applied the following settings:
RGB Tone curve assist
Lens aberration correction: Peripheral illumination
Lastly, some cropping before saving to JPEG

All pictures were shot att about 50 meters distance. Please let me know what you think of the quality and what I could do to improve it.

Eurasian Wigeon (both male and female overcast)
FL 22.5 mm
Av 4.9
Tv 1/125
ISO 100 (I should probably have increased)
EV +2/3



Eurasian Wigeon, male, sunny
FL 15.0 mm
Av 4.0
Tv 1/1000
ISO 160

Cormorant
FL 18.2 mm
Av 4.5
Tv 1/200
ISO 80

Canada Goose
FL 12.8 mm
Av 4.0
Tv 1/400
ISO 80
 

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Does anyone know if it's possible to obtain a remote shutter release for this camera ? I know they are available for Canon's range of DSLRs, but I've not seen them for compact cameras.

Thanks in advance.

Jon

Jon
There is an adaptor which Josef posted a picture of at the top of this page. There is a website where you can buy these cable releases which someone posted hereabouts but I can't find it at the moment.

Try here http://www.srb-griturn.com/index.asp?function=DISPLAYCAT&catid=246
 
Last edited:
Hi,
Having just put my Canon S95 to field test today (...)
Pictures were taken with Nikon ED82A and DS30X eyepiece. (...)
Hi Tord,
remarkable good results for a "first field test"! Could you please tell me what kind of adapter you used? Thanks!
 
Hi Tord,
remarkable good results for a "first field test"! Could you please tell me what kind of adapter you used? Thanks!

Hi

Hi,

I use a William Optics generic adapter with my ED82A/DS30X eyepiece.

http://www.astroshop.de/digi-klemmen/william-optics-universal-digitalkamera-adapter-43-65mm/p,8931?utm_source=shopzilla&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=8931&utm_campaign=shopzilla-1102&sid=d46fb93652085179dae69cf3b343e060

Unfortunately it does not have a hinge + snap-lock mechanism that supports swinging the camera away from the eyepiece. I tried to adjust focus through the display but that worked not so well, and had to resort to mounting and unmounting the camera many times, and relying on the motif still in focal point, which was not always the case, meaning low yield...

/Tord
 
(...) I use a William Optics generic adapter with my ED82A/DS30X eyepiece. (...)
Unfortunately it does not have a hinge + snap-lock mechanism that supports swinging the camera away from the eyepiece. I tried to adjust focus through the display but that worked not so well, and had to resort to mounting and unmounting the camera many times, and relying on the motif still in focal point, which was not always the case, meaning low yield... (...)
Thanks for your answer!
Oh well. Twiddling with the adapter that way is what I want to avoid. I think I will try to make my DIY attachment on basis of some Nikon FSA and F-CP rings I have bought dirt cheap on eBay.
 
Steve
Thanks for this advice - I've been able to set most of them on my S90 but I wonder have you found a way to save the 'FUNC SET' settings? - I can't see one ....
 
Steve
Thanks for this advice - I've been able to set most of them on my S90 but I wonder have you found a way to save the 'FUNC SET' settings? - I can't see one ....

John, if by this you mean things like ISO, White Balance, Raw & JPEG, picture quality etc, then in my experience they are all saved when using the Save Settings option in the menus.

To do this, press the menu button, and under the left hand menu (camera icon) scroll to the botton then select the Save Settings option.
 
Thanks Steve - I hadn't twigged that 'Save Settings' covered ALL setting i.e. those set under the Function Set as well as via the Menu. But someone I've now got the AF-Point Zoom and AF Frame options greyed out - any ideas?
 
I had the same problem last week. After a bit of investigation, it seems that you can't have these on when one of the other settings is on too.

I'm not sure exactly what this was, but try duplicating my settings in the (camera icon) menu. The mode dial on top of the camera should be set to C (custom).
 
hmm
seems very odd! Options are now back after I turned continuous shooting option off. But when I turned it back on again they are still there, which makes me think I'm missing something...
 
Hi all,

Providing some more samples taken with S-95 / Nikon ED82A with the DS30X eyepiece.

Conditions were quite windy with wind speed around 7-8 meter/second

Pictures taken using RAW format, self-timer, default camera settings, applying some toning and sharpening in Digital Photo Professional before final resizing.

Roe Deer (Cloudy)
Distance to subject: 200 meters

ISO 80
Tv 1/100 s
Av 4.0
FL 12.8 mm (on a scale 6.0 mm - 22.5 mm)

This one shows OK technical quality, but nothing special.

Roe Deer (Sunny)
The motif is less interesting with the deer showing their posteriors just as the sun broke through for a few seconds but the technical quality of the picture is clearly better with quite good detail rendering.

ISO 80
Tv 1/200 s
Av 4.0
FL 9.6 mm (on a scale 6.0 mm - 22.5 mm)

Ship
Distance to subject: 2-3 km

ISO 80
Tv 1/500 s
Av 4.0
FL 9.6 mm (on a scale 6.0 mm - 22.5 mm)

This one is quite good in my opinion and demonstrates that the camera/scope combo has little chromatic abberation and is capable of delivering a quite stunning level of detail. You can actually discern fine details in the ship's structure. I believe the favorable light conditions helped here.

Lessons learned (?): Increase ISO to achieve shorter exposure times?
 

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Hi all,

Providing some more samples taken with S-95 / Nikon ED82A with the DS30X eyepiece.

Conditions were quite windy with wind speed around 7-8 meter/second

Pictures taken using RAW format, self-timer, default camera settings, applying some toning and sharpening in Digital Photo Professional before final resizing.

Roe Deer (Cloudy)
Distance to subject: 200 meters

ISO 80
Tv 1/100 s
Av 4.0
FL 12.8 mm (on a scale 6.0 mm - 22.5 mm)

This one shows OK technical quality, but nothing special.

Roe Deer (Sunny)
The motif is less interesting with the deer showing their posteriors just as the sun broke through for a few seconds but the technical quality of the picture is clearly better with quite good detail rendering.

ISO 80
Tv 1/200 s
Av 4.0
FL 9.6 mm (on a scale 6.0 mm - 22.5 mm)

Ship
Distance to subject: 2-3 km

ISO 80
Tv 1/500 s
Av 4.0
FL 9.6 mm (on a scale 6.0 mm - 22.5 mm)

This one is quite good in my opinion and demonstrates that the camera/scope combo has little chromatic abberation and is capable of delivering a quite stunning level of detail. You can actually discern fine details in the ship's structure. I believe the favorable light conditions helped here.

Lessons learned (?): Increase ISO to achieve shorter exposure times?

Your images are all good, but just a few observations:

I think you could go to a higher ISO setting and still not suffer too much from excessive noise (grain). Try up ISO 200 next time if conditions are bright, though from the looks of these I don't think it would make much difference to your images as they all look to be slow moving, especially as you also used the timer.

I think atmospheric conditions are your biggest enemy here, unless of course you wanted the heat shimmer to be part of the effect of your pictures.

Don't be afraid to get closer to your subject, but most importantly, keep 'em coming....
 
Hi,


......All pictures were shot att about 50 meters distance. Please let me know what you think of the quality and what I could do to improve it. "

Looking at the pictures the last one seems to be the sharpest, probably because the lens wasn't zoomed as much as the others. I've found that the more you zoom the camera lens the more trouble the camera Auto Focus has . I often will Manual Focus over half zoom. But generally the best photos come with the zoom less than 50/% , particularly over water ( haze ).
Nice efforts.
Neil
 
Hi,


......All pictures were shot att about 50 meters distance. Please let me know what you think of the quality and what I could do to improve it. "

Looking at the pictures the last one seems to be the sharpest, probably because the lens wasn't zoomed as much as the others. I've found that the more you zoom the camera lens the more trouble the camera Auto Focus has . I often will Manual Focus over half zoom. But generally the best photos come with the zoom less than 50/% , particularly over water ( haze ).
Nice efforts.
Neil
Hi Neil,

You are right. I have noticed a correlation between FL and sharpness.

The FL used for the last picture is 12.8 mm on a scale 6.0 - 22.5 mm. All others are taken at either 15.0 or 18.2 mm.

I would say the highest degree of magnification without loosing sharpness is 15.0 mm. At longest FL pictures become "soft". I don't think it's an AF limitation though - pictures are still sharp but resolution is impacted (if you see what I mean). I would guess it is an optical limitation (but I may be wrong).

For reference this picture was taken at 15 mm FL: http://www.birdforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=309969&d=1298498017
Picture is aken at long distance 2-3 km, heat shimmer noticeable in spite of temperature way below freezing point.

If the wheather allows I will do some more tests this weekend, consistently using shorter FL.

/Tord
 
I think you could go to a higher ISO setting and still not suffer too much from excessive noise (grain). Try up ISO 200 next time if conditions are bright, though from the looks of these I don't think it would make much difference to your images as they all look to be slow moving, especially as you also used the timer.

I think atmospheric conditions are your biggest enemy here, unless of course you wanted the heat shimmer to be part of the effect of your pictures.

Don't be afraid to get closer to your subject, but most importantly, keep 'em coming....
Thanks for advise. I will follow them and post back new resultsm hopefully after the weekend - pending wheather conditions allow.
/Tord
 
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