OK, so I want to do some digiscoping.
I've just bought a Celestron Ultima 80 ED, largely on the basis of things I've read here saying that except at high zoom it pretty much matches scopes costing well into 4 figures. It replaces an old second hand Kowa 25*60, that looking through a friends Opticron 20-60*80 has persuaded me is inadequate.
For general walks I have also just bought Bushnell Elite 10*42 bins, and actually they provide just about as much detail as the Kowa, and seem to me far superior to my old East German Zeiss 8*32s. Also have a Canon SX30IS, bought early this year, which, while it doesn't have the ultimate quality of a dslr, has the flexibility to shoot targets of opportunity at distance and very close up, and provides, to my eye, good results. But it would be hard, if not impossible, to get it to work with the scope.
But when I want to spend a day looking for wildlife to look at and photograph I'd want to take the new scope, and digiscope with it too.
As I understand it my options would be: -
1) Buy a universal adaptor and a compact camera to dedicate to the scope.
Advantages
Cheaper.
Can use camera zoom to provide more magnification, and in fact might have to to avoid vignetting.
Disadvantages
Poorer optical system getting between objective lens and CCD
Having to use LED screen to line up shots, difficult in poor light
Smaller chip, and probably inability to use raw data.
Always feeling that if I'd spent more, I could have done better.
2) Buy a DSLR body to dedicate to the scope with an appropriate T-ring.
Advantages
Quality, Quality, Quality
Easier to set up, I guess.
Disadvantages
More to lug around
Price - and having to wait until I can save up a bit. I am not a rich man, and the bins and scope are just about on the limits of what I could afford.
Is that about it? Am I wrong about anything, if so what?
ETA anything left out?
Which would you guys do?
All advice gratefully received.
Another edit. It has just struck me that another constraint on the system as a whole would be the resolution of the laptop or HD TV that I view the pics on. I wouldn't be thinking of printing a lot of my future ouput, if any.
Which makes me wonder if the difference in quality between a DSLR and a compact would actually show up, given that constraint.
David
I've just bought a Celestron Ultima 80 ED, largely on the basis of things I've read here saying that except at high zoom it pretty much matches scopes costing well into 4 figures. It replaces an old second hand Kowa 25*60, that looking through a friends Opticron 20-60*80 has persuaded me is inadequate.
For general walks I have also just bought Bushnell Elite 10*42 bins, and actually they provide just about as much detail as the Kowa, and seem to me far superior to my old East German Zeiss 8*32s. Also have a Canon SX30IS, bought early this year, which, while it doesn't have the ultimate quality of a dslr, has the flexibility to shoot targets of opportunity at distance and very close up, and provides, to my eye, good results. But it would be hard, if not impossible, to get it to work with the scope.
But when I want to spend a day looking for wildlife to look at and photograph I'd want to take the new scope, and digiscope with it too.
As I understand it my options would be: -
1) Buy a universal adaptor and a compact camera to dedicate to the scope.
Advantages
Cheaper.
Can use camera zoom to provide more magnification, and in fact might have to to avoid vignetting.
Disadvantages
Poorer optical system getting between objective lens and CCD
Having to use LED screen to line up shots, difficult in poor light
Smaller chip, and probably inability to use raw data.
Always feeling that if I'd spent more, I could have done better.
2) Buy a DSLR body to dedicate to the scope with an appropriate T-ring.
Advantages
Quality, Quality, Quality
Easier to set up, I guess.
Disadvantages
More to lug around
Price - and having to wait until I can save up a bit. I am not a rich man, and the bins and scope are just about on the limits of what I could afford.
Is that about it? Am I wrong about anything, if so what?
ETA anything left out?
Which would you guys do?
All advice gratefully received.
Another edit. It has just struck me that another constraint on the system as a whole would be the resolution of the laptop or HD TV that I view the pics on. I wouldn't be thinking of printing a lot of my future ouput, if any.
Which makes me wonder if the difference in quality between a DSLR and a compact would actually show up, given that constraint.
David
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