a few questions (1 Viewer)

i've been trying to get into digiscoping but i have a disability. specifically, i lost most of my right hand in an accident (whch explains, i guess my one handed typing). anyhow i spent a lot of time finding a camera i could use with my left hand and not worry about dropping. eventually i ended up with a sony dsc-m1 with its swing out lcd screen. it works well for general recording but it does not appear that it is going to be suitable for digiscoping. my question is should i just go ahead and buy a spotting scope and then just find a suitable camera with a cable release or keep trying to retrofit this one? any suggestions would be appreciated.

Hi Jack and welcome to BF.

Personally I would recommend getting the right scope and then worrying about finding a camera to use with it. A good scope will easily last you 10-20 years, where as a digital camera will probably be upgrade in just a couple of years time, so in my opinion it's most important to get your scope right.

Although I am not familiar with the Sony dsc-m1 I am not sure why you cannot digiscope with it - the 3x optical zoom, good quality (Zeiss) lens and a large screen all seem ideal. The only problem I can see is how you could attach an adapter to it (it does not appear to have either a filter thread or a tripod bush), but no doubt there would be a way to do it. The best thing is to try the camera for digiscoping without an adapter, if it will work you can then worry about how to attach it.

Hi Jack,

A warm welcome to BirdForum from all the Moderators and Admin.

I agree with the previous advice - get the right scope, then the camera. I am not familiar with the Sony, but I am sure someone will be along soon who is.

jack keller said:

i've been trying to get into digiscoping but i have a disability. specifically, i lost most of my right hand in an accident (whch explains, i guess my one handed typing). anyhow i spent a lot of time finding a camera i could use with my left hand and not worry about dropping. eventually i ended up with a sony dsc-m1 with its swing out lcd screen. it works well for general recording but it does not appear that it is going to be suitable for digiscoping. my question is should i just go ahead and buy a spotting scope and then just find a suitable camera with a cable release or keep trying to retrofit this one? any suggestions would be appreciated.

Click to expand...

Hi Jack, welcome to Birdforum,

One handed digiscoping? You clearly enjoy a challenge! This is going to mean that it is essential to use an adaptor of some sort as it is often necessary to fine tune the focus on the scope, move the scope and be ready on the shutter button at the same time. You will have to mount the camera to some sort of scope adaptor, this could take a bit of engineering ingenuity with the M1. Could you use your partial right hand to operate the scope focus? A scope with a large "barrel" focus ring around the body requires a "grip" so I assume this isn't an option for you. The other type of focus mechanism usually involves a much smaller "roller" on the top edge of the scope. This does not require "gripping", only light friction so presumably this could still be done with your right hand.

In your circumstances, some field trials - scope only, not digiscoping for the moment - will be very valuable to assess which scopes you get on with and those you don't. I'd recommend trying to get along to your local reserve on a day that a local optics dealer is having a field day where you can try the products out.

The scope has to be mounted on a tripod and I would suggest that for you, a "fluid" type head, such as the Manfrotto 128RC would be highly desirable. Fluid heads can be adjusted so that they can be moved easily and then they stay where you've left them without having to tighten any locking screws.

Hope this helps.

Duncan.

P.S. Have you seen this thread?
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=13735

postcardcv said:

Although I am not familiar with the Sony dsc-m1 I am not sure why you cannot digiscope with it - the 3x optical zoom, good quality (Zeiss) lens and a large screen all seem ideal. The only problem I can see is how you could attach an adapter to it

Click to expand...

Hi Jack,

I was also wondering why it wouldn't work - and would you actually even need an adapter. Quite many of us just use the scope normally and occasionally take pictures simply by holding the camera against the eyepiece. If you can focus the scope on a co-operative bird, you have a good chance to get a reasonable picture without any accessories. The large display will show when the camera is centered and the rubbery eyecups should give enough friction to "lock" the camera with the scope for that fraction of a second.

Of course this kind of digiscoping is more limited than using a dedicated adapter, but most digiscoping is hit or miss anyway

Best regards,

Ilkka

ps. So my advice was basically: forget the adapters right now and just buy as good a scope as you can afford. Many - if not most - compact digicams can be used and adapted for digiscoping.

jack keller said:

i've been trying to get into digiscoping but i have a disability. specifically, i lost most of my right hand in an accident (whch explains, i guess my one handed typing). anyhow i spent a lot of time finding a camera i could use with my left hand and not worry about dropping. eventually i ended up with a sony dsc-m1 with its swing out lcd screen. it works well for general recording but it does not appear that it is going to be suitable for digiscoping. my question is should i just go ahead and buy a spotting scope and then just find a suitable camera with a cable release or keep trying to retrofit this one? any suggestions would be appreciated.

Click to expand...

Hi Jack
You could probably make digiscoping a lot easier if you bought a different camera, namely one with a tripod bush and an IR release, and use a swing out adaptor which allows you to keep the camera in place at all times, just swing it out of the way to focus the scope.

Good luck

john-henry

PS. I noticed this in another thread just after posting this reply, it may be of help if you go this way. This thread was posted today in this forum.


Originally Posted by mmdnjeDoes anybody have experience with this one:
Samsung Digimax V70
price ~$280, 7MP, 2" fliplable LCD, remote control, lens adapter with 37mm thread, manual control including aperture priority.
It all sounds good but I'm not sure about quality of images.
Any comments??
Jose


Hi Jose! I just found your post (I don't know when it was submitted) and am a bit annoyed with myself. The reason is that yesterday I went out and bought the Digimax V800. Having just had a good look round the net I would certainly have bought the V70 if I'd known about it. The primary reason being the 'flipable' LCD. Unfortunately I haven't had time to check my beast out comprehensively, but first inclinations are good. The digiscoping tests I did today were not really fair - most of the day was dull with snow and sleet. I think I did find that it's a little 'noisy', but I really need some good light to confirm this. Many of the features though are really surprising and I have yet to try half of them. I will add to this later, but in the meantime if you have any questions about anything that may be the same on the 70 please let me know and I'll try and help.

iporali said:

Hi Jack,

I was also wondering why it wouldn't work - and would you actually even need an adapter. Quite many of us just use the scope normally and occasionally take pictures simply by holding the camera against the eyepiece. If you can focus the scope on a co-operative bird, you have a good chance to get a reasonable picture without any accessories. The large display will show when the camera is centered and the rubbery eyecups should give enough friction to "lock" the camera with the scope for that fraction of a second.

Of course this kind of digiscoping is more limited than using a dedicated adapter, but most digiscoping is hit or miss anyway

Best regards,

Ilkka

ps. So my advice was basically: forget the adapters right now and just buy as good a scope as you can afford. Many - if not most - compact digicams can be used and adapted for digiscoping.

Click to expand...

Jack,

Any regular reader will know, I'm normally the first to advocate that people try and digiscope without an adaptor, just to see how things work, I see no reason, from a pure technical capability viewpoint, why the M1 should not work. I'm just aware that if you only have one usable hand, it's not particularly practical to put the camera down somewhere whilst you align the scope and focus on the subject. If you have a relatively static subject then I can see that hand holding (i.e. no adaptor) can work but I do have my doubts about digiscoping without an adaptor with one good hand and a mobile subject. Give it a go! I'm going to do an experiment with one hand stuck in my pocket and remove the adaptor from my camera, I'll see how practical it is. The overwhelming impression I got when I started using an adaptor was just how much less you needed to do an octopus impersonation.

As Ilkka says, get the best scope you can afford and see how things work out.

Regards,

Duncan.

Jack

You will also need I think a remote shutter release with a longish cable to make it easy to reach. But the other advice is good. A swing out adapter sounds to be just the ticket for you. When talking about equipment you have not mentioned your budget and this is of paramount importance to enable you to have the right kit from the start.

thanks to all for their advice and sorry it has aken me awhile to get back. i have decided that i will get a scope and play with it before i set up the camera. at the moment i am leaning toward a zeiss scope and i will just have to bite the bullet and come up with the cash to finance my toys. i am prepared for a challenge but i do live where there is a lot of wildlife and some of it is not terribly mobile. even the green jays will sit still if i do. at any, rate i did teach myself to fly fish again so i am hopeful. thanks again for all your interest. i will continue to check back here and see what else you have to say.
jack

Robert L Jarvis said:

Jack

You will also need I think a remote shutter release with a longish cable to make it easy to reach. But the other advice is good. A swing out adapter sounds to be just the ticket for you. When talking about equipment you have not mentioned your budget and this is of paramount importance to enable you to have the right kit from the start.

Click to expand...