SteveClifton
Well-known member
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Canon S95 for digiscoping (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter SteveClifton
- Start date
Thank you Steve & for responding so quickly !
I have the 25-50x eyepiece so looks like I may have found my camera. Just wish it was cheaper
I have looked at other brands - but have only used canon for ages - so think I would be lost using anything else.
Thanks again
Right on schedule canon has announced the s-100 http://www.dpreview.com/news/1109/11091530canons100announced.asp
I like the increased to 12MP cmos with slightly faster continuous recording and less noise. Zoom range has increased slightly in both directions which might mean it would still be adequate for digiscoping. Some people say the s95 produced soft images at high telephoto but most of my DS images this last year were in the 3-3.8x range and still pretty sharp.
The thing I really like about it is it appears almost identical size wise to the s95 which means my custom adapter could be used - now that would be a first.
I like the increased to 12MP cmos with slightly faster continuous recording and less noise. Zoom range has increased slightly in both directions which might mean it would still be adequate for digiscoping. Some people say the s95 produced soft images at high telephoto but most of my DS images this last year were in the 3-3.8x range and still pretty sharp.
The thing I really like about it is it appears almost identical size wise to the s95 which means my custom adapter could be used - now that would be a first.
Firstly I would just like to thank everyone who has posted their thoughts, findings & comments on this camera.:clap:
My old Canon A95 eventually died on me, i never really got on with it for digiscoping & using it with a Baader adapter was quite awkward, but i missed the option of getting some shots through my scope so thought I should eventually get round to upgrading & bought the S95 the other day.
All i can say is wow, i find it easy to use with lots of control options. The screen is great & makes it easy to find & follow birds when attached to the scope.
I use a Leica 62 angled scope with a 26x wide angle lens & made a simple adapter which is about 3cm of a 4.3cm diameter plastic pipe. This fits into the eyepiece & when the camera lens is extended it holds quite nicely to the lens, it probably isnt ideal but it is a quick & cheap way of holding the camera fairly steady to the scope.
I used it in anger for the 1st time yesterday at Titchwell. These pics are large jpegs as I only have photoshop elements 3 which i don't think can handle RAW images. I used the settings suggested earlier in post 40 by Steve Clifton, Custom mode, 400 iso, 3 shot bursts on a 1 sec timer, etc, etc & had some nice results in the sunny conditions with some birds being fairly close. I probably need plenty more practice but it is a joy to use & will have lots of fun trying to improve my digiscoping skills. Here are some of my results.
Nothing major done in photoshop, a bit of sharpening, cropping & brightness adjustment, thats all.
Pic - camera on its own 3.8x
Pic1 At wide angle you can see there is some vignetting but as you zoom in this disappears. Or can easily be cropped out Pic2
Pic3 I was amazed how quickly & easily the camera focussed on the subject & not on the surrounding vegetation.
The shutter speed was also fast enough to catch some action shots like this feeding Black-tailed Godwit.
Cheers
Mark
My old Canon A95 eventually died on me, i never really got on with it for digiscoping & using it with a Baader adapter was quite awkward, but i missed the option of getting some shots through my scope so thought I should eventually get round to upgrading & bought the S95 the other day.
All i can say is wow, i find it easy to use with lots of control options. The screen is great & makes it easy to find & follow birds when attached to the scope.
I use a Leica 62 angled scope with a 26x wide angle lens & made a simple adapter which is about 3cm of a 4.3cm diameter plastic pipe. This fits into the eyepiece & when the camera lens is extended it holds quite nicely to the lens, it probably isnt ideal but it is a quick & cheap way of holding the camera fairly steady to the scope.
I used it in anger for the 1st time yesterday at Titchwell. These pics are large jpegs as I only have photoshop elements 3 which i don't think can handle RAW images. I used the settings suggested earlier in post 40 by Steve Clifton, Custom mode, 400 iso, 3 shot bursts on a 1 sec timer, etc, etc & had some nice results in the sunny conditions with some birds being fairly close. I probably need plenty more practice but it is a joy to use & will have lots of fun trying to improve my digiscoping skills. Here are some of my results.
Nothing major done in photoshop, a bit of sharpening, cropping & brightness adjustment, thats all.
Pic - camera on its own 3.8x
Pic1 At wide angle you can see there is some vignetting but as you zoom in this disappears. Or can easily be cropped out Pic2
Pic3 I was amazed how quickly & easily the camera focussed on the subject & not on the surrounding vegetation.
The shutter speed was also fast enough to catch some action shots like this feeding Black-tailed Godwit.
Cheers
Mark
Attachments
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Yes.......easily you can use the s95. I use the S90. You mite look into the DCB adapter.... You will find it much easier to use for it is a swing away adaptor and much easier to use than a UCA.
SteveClifton
Well-known member
Glad you're enjoying the camera, and found some of the info here useful. You are getting some promising looking shots already-the two Wigeon pictures in particular are good.
Cheers
Steve
AlvanBuckley
New member
I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has been providing information on this thread!
I read through it in its entirety a couple months ago when I was considering the move to digiscoping and finally got the s95 a couple weeks ago.
I've been out with it a couple times so far but today I spent more time really trying to figure out the setup.
I don't have the DCA yet (using Swarovski ATM 80HD, 20-60x) but have the adapter (Jackar) attached to the camera.
It's already VERY easy to line the camera up with the scope, IMO, even though there's no DCA.
I found that the best way was to follow Steve's setup (post #28) and at the same time extend the rubber on the eye piece (the one people use when they don't have glasses). That held the camera in 'the sweet spot'.
Thanks again to everyone and I look forward to progressing and improving my digiscoping.
I'll be posting more photos and what I've learned on my blog:
www.alvanbuckley.blogspot.com
Attached are two photos from this morning
A long staying White-throated Dipper and a male Chaffinch in Denmark.
I read through it in its entirety a couple months ago when I was considering the move to digiscoping and finally got the s95 a couple weeks ago.
I've been out with it a couple times so far but today I spent more time really trying to figure out the setup.
I don't have the DCA yet (using Swarovski ATM 80HD, 20-60x) but have the adapter (Jackar) attached to the camera.
It's already VERY easy to line the camera up with the scope, IMO, even though there's no DCA.
I found that the best way was to follow Steve's setup (post #28) and at the same time extend the rubber on the eye piece (the one people use when they don't have glasses). That held the camera in 'the sweet spot'.
Thanks again to everyone and I look forward to progressing and improving my digiscoping.
I'll be posting more photos and what I've learned on my blog:
www.alvanbuckley.blogspot.com
Attached are two photos from this morning
A long staying White-throated Dipper and a male Chaffinch in Denmark.
Attachments
I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has been providing information on this thread!
I read through it in its entirety a couple months ago when I was considering the move to digiscoping and finally got the s95 a couple weeks ago.
I've been out with it a couple times so far but today I spent more time really trying to figure out the setup.
I don't have the DCA yet (using Swarovski ATM 80HD, 20-60x) but have the adapter (Jackar) attached to the camera.
It's already VERY easy to line the camera up with the scope, IMO, even though there's no DCA.
I found that the best way was to follow Steve's setup (post #28) and at the same time extend the rubber on the eye piece (the one people use when they don't have glasses). That held the camera in 'the sweet spot'.
Thanks again to everyone and I look forward to progressing and improving my digiscoping.
I'll be posting more photos and what I've learned on my blog:
www.alvanbuckley.blogspot.com
Attached are two photos from this morning
A long staying White-throated Dipper and a male Chaffinch in Denmark.
Alvan,
I think you've missed Beginner and went straight to Advanced status. Excellent digiscoping.
Neil
AlvanBuckley
New member
Thanks Neil!
I do have one question about the Canon s95:
Is it possible to adjust the focal point? Right now it seems that the camera autofocuses on the area around the center of the screen but what if I want to position the bird to be off center? Can you tell the camera to AF somewhere else without using manual focus?
It seems possible if there are faces detected by the camera (pg 92 in the camera guide). But obviously my main interest isn't photographing faces
It's odd that you can move the focal point around when choosing faces and not in other situations!
Any input is appreciated
I do have one question about the Canon s95:
Is it possible to adjust the focal point? Right now it seems that the camera autofocuses on the area around the center of the screen but what if I want to position the bird to be off center? Can you tell the camera to AF somewhere else without using manual focus?
It seems possible if there are faces detected by the camera (pg 92 in the camera guide). But obviously my main interest isn't photographing faces
It's odd that you can move the focal point around when choosing faces and not in other situations!
Any input is appreciated
SteveClifton
Well-known member
Thanks Neil!
I do have one question about the Canon s95:
Is it possible to adjust the focal point? Right now it seems that the camera autofocuses on the area around the center of the screen but what if I want to position the bird to be off center? Can you tell the camera to AF somewhere else without using manual focus?
It seems possible if there are faces detected by the camera (pg 92 in the camera guide). But obviously my main interest isn't photographing faces
It's odd that you can move the focal point around when choosing faces and not in other situations!
Any input is appreciated
Alvan, great start with digiscoping with the S95. In answer to your question, I don't think it's possible to move the focus point on this model. I agree, it's a very useful feature. I use it a lot for macro, and can see that it would also be a boon for digiscoping.
A bit of searching produced lots of discussions like this:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/canonpowershot_s95/discuss/72157625910726878/
dwminnich
Well-known member
Alvan,
I don't have an S95, but it is possible on an S100, so you might be able to try the same thing. On the S100, you would press the 'Func Set' button, then hit the down arrow until you get to the focus-mode settings (Face AiAF, Tracking AF, and FlexiZone). Choose FlexiZone, then press the 'Menu' button to get the advanced settings for that mode. In this mode you can use the control ring to change the size of the box/zone of focus, and you can use the arrows on the joystick button to move the zone around to match your subject.
Hope this works for the S95, too!
EDIT: I took a look at the user manuals for the S95 and S100, and I believe you're out of luck. I see no mention of FlexiZone in the S95 manual, although I suppose that a more recent firmware version might have added the feature, so it's still worth checking for yourself :^(
--dave
I don't have an S95, but it is possible on an S100, so you might be able to try the same thing. On the S100, you would press the 'Func Set' button, then hit the down arrow until you get to the focus-mode settings (Face AiAF, Tracking AF, and FlexiZone). Choose FlexiZone, then press the 'Menu' button to get the advanced settings for that mode. In this mode you can use the control ring to change the size of the box/zone of focus, and you can use the arrows on the joystick button to move the zone around to match your subject.
Hope this works for the S95, too!
EDIT: I took a look at the user manuals for the S95 and S100, and I believe you're out of luck. I see no mention of FlexiZone in the S95 manual, although I suppose that a more recent firmware version might have added the feature, so it's still worth checking for yourself :^(
--dave
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timmyjones
Well-known member
Right been doing a lot of researching into the Canon S95 think I've got the general idea just one last question to clear some things up!
By using the Universal Adapter Tube this basically gives me a 37mm filter thread that I could then attach an adapter ring to and then an adapter to?
By using the Universal Adapter Tube this basically gives me a 37mm filter thread that I could then attach an adapter ring to and then an adapter to?
AlvanBuckley
New member
Hi,
Thanks for the comments Steve. The link you provided was helpful. I guess I'll have to stick to the method of focusing in AF. Switch to MF and then compose the framing...
A bit tedious I guess.
Dave: Thanks for taking the time to look into that!
Tim: Sorry, I can't help you.
Alvan
Thanks for the comments Steve. The link you provided was helpful. I guess I'll have to stick to the method of focusing in AF. Switch to MF and then compose the framing...
A bit tedious I guess.
Dave: Thanks for taking the time to look into that!
Tim: Sorry, I can't help you.
Alvan
SteveClifton
Well-known member
Yes Tim, thats the same universal adaptor I use. The second two links are basically the same components as the Swarovski DCA, except that 4 rings are included with the Swaro tube. I cannot guarantee it will all work as well with a Kowa scope, as eye relief of different eyepieces will vary, but you have some room to adjust for this in setting up the adaptor. See posts #28 & #32
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johnnybike
Well-known member
Interesting thread. Pity that the S90 thread has disappeared. I have the S90 and an Opticron scope (old and quite cheap). Don't think I can afford a Swarovski scope so is there any combination of mid-quality scope and adapter that would work with a S90
Cheers
John
Cheers
John
johnnybike
Well-known member
Thanks Neil but all my camera kit is Canon so Nikon is a dirty word to me. Happy with the S90 - great little compact. Reading this long thread about the S95 it seems to me that surely people have a digiscoping set-up around the S90 so I just wonder what it is. I can only find reference to Swarovski scopes and adapters which is out of my budget.
timmyjones
Well-known member
Cheers Steve,
Got my S95 yesterday and went out for a play today details here http://timsbirding.blogspot.com/2011/12/canon-s95.html comments appreciated.
One topic that hasn't been mentioned on here is the memory card that people use in their S95. I have got this SDHC card and think its brilliant!
When I record HD videos it only pauses for less than a second whilst storing them, whilst shooting in JPEG on continuous shooting mode it takes photos amazingly rapidly I'd say about 2 a second if not more and then when I take my finger off the shutter release there is no pause to store the photos and I can start taking again! When shooting RAW it makes a slight pause after each photo but doesn't take any time storing them.
What are everyone else's experiences with SD cards and time taken to store?
Martin Garner
Well-known member
Thanks...
...especially to Steve Clifton- I met Tariq and J, y'day Steve and it seems I missed meeting you but prompted me to say I made full use of this thread when exploring digiscoping options and found it top notch. Had been meaning to say thanks to you and others who contributed here. Most helpful
Some efforts if interested from yesterday with S95 of White-fronted Geese on my blog. I especially like the video function!
Martin
www.birdingfrontiers.com
...especially to Steve Clifton- I met Tariq and J, y'day Steve and it seems I missed meeting you but prompted me to say I made full use of this thread when exploring digiscoping options and found it top notch. Had been meaning to say thanks to you and others who contributed here. Most helpful
Some efforts if interested from yesterday with S95 of White-fronted Geese on my blog. I especially like the video function!
Martin
www.birdingfrontiers.com
