new to digiscoping.... so much to learn !!! (1 Viewer)

jivelady · Apr 8, 2012

Well guys here are my first attempts at digiscoping. Much advice read on the forum and applied ( I hope ). Getting to grips with camera setup is fun !!. Its a foreign language in itself. :-O

Sat in my dining room today and waited for these posers to turn up. Window open and scope focussed and ready.... and waited...and waited.. but they arrived eventually. Learning to be more patient !!!

Advice, comments ( and encouragement !!! ) welcome. Playing with different setting on camera and these were the best I came up with ( having deleted about 150 images ).

Equipment after much bargain hunting : Leica televid apo77, leica digital 2 adapter ( Much searching on internet paid off ), and leica d-lux 3.

Helen

Neil · Apr 9, 2012

jivelady said:
Well guys here are my first attempts at digiscoping. Much advice read on the forum and applied ( I hope ). Getting to grips with camera setup is fun !!. Its a foreign language in itself. :-O

Sat in my dining room today and waited for these posers to turn up. Window open and scope focussed and ready.... and waited...and waited.. but they arrived eventually. Learning to be more patient !!!

Advice, comments ( and encouragement !!! ) welcome. Playing with different setting on camera and these were the best I came up with ( having deleted about 150 images ).

Equipment after much bargain hunting : Leica televid apo77, leica digital 2 adapter ( Much searching on internet paid off ), and leica d-lux 3.

Helen

Nice effort Helen. Birds heads move fast so fast shutter speeds are often needed. At least 1/250th second. Also focusing on the ground/perch is often faster and more reliable than focusing on the moving bird.
Good luck, Neil.

bartolli · Apr 9, 2012

Hi Helen, not a bad start at all! better than most of my digiscoping efforts although I take heart from your 150 deleted images!

It'll be interesting to see how you get on with subjects further away.

Enjoy the hobby is my only (fairly useless!) advice!

jivelady · Apr 9, 2012

Leica D-Lux 3 remote shutter release solutions ?

Thanks for the encouragement guys. Am definately spending more time thinking about camera settings than thinking about the birds !!!

Took this earlier today. Its overcast and raining... so it was a case of sitting in the dining room again with the window open ...

Increased the camera to x2 for these ( previous ones at x1 and editted out vignetting ) . Certainly had more images that I cringed at and deleted.( Take heart... I deleted about 200 this time ) A tad blurry !!! Shutter at 1/250. Editting in photoshop 5 is my next challenge rather than just cropping and keeping my fingers crossed. Any tips gratefully received .

Leica d-lux 3 has no remote shutter release cable...any way of getting around this ? Any ideas or inventions anyone ? ?

Hope someione out there is enjoying some nice weather ( rather than this rain )and finding lots of lovely wildlife.

Helen

Also forgot to add to first post that I am using Leica 20x-60x zoom. Keeping it set at 20x. Does it make a huge difference using the 20xWW eyepiece ?

bartolli · Apr 9, 2012

I find that increasing camera zoom effects the result, so I try to keep it to a minimum, perhaps living with a bit of vignetting. You'll probably find the 20ww eyepiece gives less vignetting, hence less camera zoom needed. If the camera has a screwed tripod socket on the bottom then you can get a remote bracket which takes a cable release. Try srb gritturn (not sure if that's spelt right, try googling it) they sell some good ones. Enjoy!

jivelady · Apr 9, 2012

Thanks for that advice. Will try the bracket option for cable release. Hopefully it will help reduce the number of blurry images ( less to delete !!! ).

Spent so many years walking and not looking at what was around me. Really enjoying stopping and taking a look at all the birds, wildlife etc .

Was lucky enough to watch hobby's catching dragonflies last year. Went with a friend who had bino's and she gave them to me to have a look. I got interested and here I am now ! !

Will let you know how I get on. May the weather improve so we can all get out and enjoy some birding !!!

Helen

delia todd · Apr 9, 2012

Hi Helen

I found the WW eyepiece was fine for giving a wide angle when searching for birds, but couldn't get on with it for digiscoping. It does allow extra light in, as opposed to the 20-60 zoom, but with that you can home in on the bird you want to photograph. Don't zoom in too far though, unless you're desperate to get some sort of an image of a rarity

I don't have your camera though, you'll just need to experiment.

D

Somateriafischeri · Apr 10, 2012

Helen. I just started digiscoping myself two weeks ago. I use a swarovsky 80 mm with 25x-50x, the DCA adapter, and a canon SD630 with a seikos 37 mm adapter. I can certainly relate to you deleting bad images by the hundreds...but I am starting to see some progress. My biggest problem is with the focus. I am starting to see success with birds that are close by at 25x...but having the most problem when using more magnification and farther away birds. I think it has to do with the depth of field...being smaller at greater magnifications, making the focus more critical. I do not have a cable release, so I use the timer with a custom setting to shoot six consecutive pictures. That seems to work ok.
I have also learned that I have to manipulate the photographs with picture editing software to make them look better. I use Aperture 3.0. I have started to learn some quick tricks like for example...if the picture looks a bit fuzzy...like your sample of the robin...you can improve it by sharpening the image a bit...maybe play with the shadows, or adjust the exposure or color. I have rescued a few pictures that way.

jivelady · Apr 10, 2012

Hi.

Nice to be in touch with a fellow 'new' digiscoper. I have the added bonus of being long sighted so have to step back from my camera screen quite a bit to check focus !! I am enjoying it though. I haven't tried birds in the field yet but I can see that its going to be a challenge.

Im new to setting up the camera too. Im a traditional ' point and shoot and let the camera do it all'.. kind of girl. Its a language in itself but Im gradually starting to understand Aperture, ISO, Shutter speed etc.

Have you got some pics to share of birds in your location ?

Happy digiscoping... it will be fun to compare progress as we go along.

Helen

SeeToh · Apr 11, 2012

Hi Helen

I have also just started digiscoping (or photography) in October.

From my limited experience, I find the most important DS element is to get enough shutter speed to freeze the subject. No harm increasing the ISO to achieve this especially if you could get the bird to fill up most of the frame.

I got this tiny kingfisher (5 inches in size) in low light condition in a forest trail. Got to up the ISO to 800 and also -0.7EV to get a decent shutter speed of 1/80s. Fortunately it was pretty close to me and I was able to fill it into about 75% of the frame. It also remained fairly still for me to capture this image.

Regards

See Toh

Somateriafischeri · Apr 13, 2012

Yeap! I have a few pictures that I was able to salvage. I am specially proud of the Trumpeter swan shot. It is not a great picture but it is test of what can be done with photo editing software. I took that photo on a very foggy day. The entire photo was foggy, but I adjusted the colors a bit, sharpened a bit...a there it was!

jivelady · Apr 14, 2012

Still on my learning curve !!

Somateriafischeri said:
Yeap! I have a few pictures that I was able to salvage. I am specially proud of the Trumpeter swan shot. It is not a great picture but it is test of what can be done with photo editing software. I took that photo on a very foggy day. The entire photo was foggy, but I adjusted the colors a bit, sharpened a bit...a there it was!

Hi

Wow, lovely shots. Trumpeter swan certainly is a credit to your skills with photo editting. A difficult situation to take a shot and you have most definately retrieved it.

A bright and sunny day yesterday so headed off with a hopeful heart of producing something that I wouldn't be too ashamed to share !!! :-O

Took some pics of birds on water...... now that presented with a few challenges. The female mallard came close enough to get a farily good shot.

Focussing over the water was an art in itself.....and one I have yet to get to grips with .

Helen

SeattleDan · Apr 26, 2012

that mini-kingfisher is absolutely gorgeous

portnoy58 · Apr 27, 2012

You've made a great start Helen. I've been at it for about 2 years now and there are still many days when I delete every shot. (That's the joy of digital really). It's frustrating but that's how it is - there are simply days when it all goes wrong. You will likely miss many good shots.I am only now considering taking a close look at post-production. But I am loving it, now on my third camera, having recently discovered the joys of electronic viewfinders, and you'll get better too!

new to digiscoping.... so much to learn !!! (1 Viewer)

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