Image quality help (1 Viewer)

Timedrifter said:

Hi Paul!
I'll take your questions in sequence.
The Fuji cameras were the F10 and F11.

Thanks Timedrifter, good to know people are looking elsewhere at other cameras, you talked about focusing problems on the above cameras, can you please clarify? slightly puzzled on this one Timedrifter, as i have spoken with an F10 owner (Digitalbirdy on the forum) over the last few months he raves about the F10 and doesnt mention any focusing problems. also myself and Neil on this forum have just acquired the F30 and a few others, and focusing has never been an issue so far?

Casio Z120 better than 4500.
This of necessity has to be a personal opinion I suppose but I'll give it a try. Firstly the size; a 120 slips into your jeans pocket with room to spare.

anything thats small and portable gets my vote, good point


Secondly, the ability to capture greater detail due to the larger pixel count 4.1 - 7.2.

More pixels does not in my book equate to greater detail, you create a webpicture from either of those cameras taken at the same time and distance, enhance and post up the pictures, you will not see any difference believe me, if you print out both pictures say up to A4, there will be no difference, only if you wish to print bigger than A4 can i see any advantage of more pixels, how many of us print A3?

Thirdly much quicker response times in all departments,
three very important ones being startup time, focussing and shot to shot time.

This seems to be the norm with most point and shoot cameras coming out now, good point


If you use manual focusing the large magnified central area uses the WHOLE screen while focussing, very useful.

This sounds a very good idea, but unless you get the scope focusing exact and find the sweet spot it wont get you those sharp pics, peoples eyesight differ and looking on the back of the screen and refocusing is variable for most people

If you are experienced with histograms the 120 has FOUR CHANNEL live histograms.

Glad to know you use this method, but the good old method of reviewing the pic after you have taken it is probably what most people use to just as good effect, but a good point

Exposure compensation always available in the manual modes by simply pushing the OK button and then adjusting via the left/right buttons.

The coolpix short cut to alter exposure compensation is rather quick IMHO


There are lopads of other things but these are the main ones of interest that can be explained simply. For a more detailed look the benefits of this camera see my link in a previous post.


I think you are more likely to lose shots more frequently with the slow start up and focussing of the 4500 than you would with the odd missed shot due to extremely bad light with the Casio.

The High ISO on the Fujis is a plus for me but the Casio ISO speed doesnt reach the Fujis does it? missings shots and focusing issues? over the UK year and light issues, missed odd shot would be most of the time in winter dont you think unless you really upped the ISO?

As for your final comment the two different styles I think we will just have to agree to differ on this!

agree to disagree! healthy debate Timedrifter!

For reasons I won't go into I can't name the professional.

a really odd reply but respect your decision whatever the reasons are, who was the other digiscoper? as i know, or know of, some of the Peteborough digiscopers?


I will be more than happy to continue this discussion if you wish

Timedrifter, i think that if you wrote your own review of this Casio camera and placed it in the review section, a lot of people would appreciate your input and benefit from you sharing the knowledge

ATB

Paul

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Paul Hackett said:

Timedrifter said:

Hi Paul!
I'll take your questions in sequence.
The Fuji cameras were the F10 and F11.

Thanks Timedrifter, good to know people are looking elsewhere at other cameras, you talked about focusing problems on the above cameras, can you please clarify? slightly puzzled on this one Timedrifter, as i have spoken with an F10 owner (Digitalbirdy on the forum) over the last few months he raves about the F10 and doesnt mention any focusing problems. also myself and Neil on this forum have just acquired the F30 and a few others, and focusing has never been an issue so far?

Casio Z120 better than 4500.
This of necessity has to be a personal opinion I suppose but I'll give it a try. Firstly the size; a 120 slips into your jeans pocket with room to spare.

anything thats small and portable gets my vote, good point


Secondly, the ability to capture greater detail due to the larger pixel count 4.1 - 7.2.

More pixels does not in my book equate to greater detail, you create a webpicture from either of those cameras taken at the same time and distance, enhance and post up the pictures, you will not see any difference believe me, if you print out both pictures say up to A4, there will be no difference, only if you wish to print bigger than A4 can i see any advantage of more pixels, how many of us print A3?

Thirdly much quicker response times in all departments,
three very important ones being startup time, focussing and shot to shot time.

This seems to be the norm with most point and shoot cameras coming out now, good point


If you use manual focusing the large magnified central area uses the WHOLE screen while focussing, very useful.

This sounds a very good idea, but unless you get the scope focusing exact and find the sweet spot it wont get you those sharp pics, peoples eyesight differ and looking on the back of the screen and refocusing is variable for most people

If you are experienced with histograms the 120 has FOUR CHANNEL live histograms.

Glad to know you use this method, but the good old method of reviewing the pic after you have taken it is probably what most people use to just as good effect, but a good point

Exposure compensation always available in the manual modes by simply pushing the OK button and then adjusting via the left/right buttons.

The coolpix short cut to alter exposure compensation is rather quick IMHO


There are lopads of other things but these are the main ones of interest that can be explained simply. For a more detailed look the benefits of this camera see my link in a previous post.


I think you are more likely to lose shots more frequently with the slow start up and focussing of the 4500 than you would with the odd missed shot due to extremely bad light with the Casio.

The High ISO on the Fujis is a plus for me but the Casio ISO speed doesnt reach the Fujis does it? missings shots and focusing issues? over the UK year and light issues, missed odd shot would be most of the time in winter dont you think unless you really upped the ISO?

As for your final comment the two different styles I think we will just have to agree to differ on this!

agree to disagree! healthy debate Timedrifter!

For reasons I won't go into I can't name the professional.

a really odd reply but respect your decision whatever the reasons are, who was the other digiscoper? as i know, or know of, some of the Peteborough digiscopers?


I will be more than happy to continue this discussion if you wish

Timedrifter, i think that if you wrote your own review of this Casio camera and placed it in the review section, a lot of people would appreciate your input and benefit from you sharing the knowledge

ATB

Paul

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Hi again Paul!
Midway through my reply to you yesterday (while away from the computer) I fell over on my head. I now have a beaut of a black eye which is swollen and jammed shut. As a consequence I can't really see the screen properly etc. I will post a detailed reply later, but for now if anyone else wants to jump in on this discussion feel free!
Timedrifter

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Timedrifter said:

Hi again Paul!
Midway through my reply to you yesterday (while away from the computer) I fell over on my head. I now have a beaut of a black eye which is swollen and jammed shut. As a consequence I can't really see the screen properly etc. I will post a detailed reply later, but for now if anyone else wants to jump in on this discussion feel free!
Timedrifter

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Neil said:

Having been using the Fuji F30 for the last few days I've been quite happy with many of it's features, especially it's speed (frame rate ) and it's low noise,high iso. With faster shutter speeds at iso 400/800 it's possible to freeze action without using a remote. Which is just as well as it doesn't have one.
What I do miss is a rotatable screen (I'm often in hides or shooting low to the ground ), a live Histogram and Custom Modes for storing my favorite settings. I wont be giving up my Olympus 7070wz just yet.
On handholding it would be necessary to have the bird stay still as it's very difficult to follow a moving bird and focus with one hand while holding the camera with the other. I handhold my little Leica C-Lux 1 and the Fuji F30 with my Swaro bins but the rubber eyecups hold the camera lens nicely. I just the bins on a ledge,fence or rock.
As digiscoping is a lot of hit and miss I wonder how many the handholders miss. The attached photo requires me to follow the bird as it moves around the rocks and as it takes up most of the frame even the slightest movement requires me to adjust the scope using both hands. I don't use a remote for this kind of photo, just squeeze off a series of frames as fast as I can. Neil.
ps this was taken using the Fuji F30's Chrome (Velvia look ) on a non-fluorite Kowa scope.

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Paul Hackett said:

nice pic Neil!

Will try and post a few pics up showing the ISO mode capability on this camera

ATB

Paul

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Paul Hackett said:

Hope your not in too much pain Timedrifter!

ATB

Paul

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You are going to upset a lot of people here Paul! Not least poor old Frank who started the thread, he’s has just lashed out a lot of bucks on a ten megapixel camera. But seriously, what I actually meant was that it is of benefit surely, when enlarging a portion of an image, to have more pixels to play with in post processing?

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The High ISO on the Fujis is a plus for me but the Casio ISO speed doesnt reach the Fujis does it? missings shots and focusing issues? over the UK year and light issues, missed odd shot would be most of the time in winter dont you think unless you really upped the ISO?

Agreed, no the Casio doesn’t have the high ISO capability of the Fuji which I concede is a big plus for Fuji owners. Also the Z120 which I’m using at the moment doesn’t have anything like as good a screen but, and here we’re into intangibles;

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Neil said:

I've been using the Olympus 7070wz for about 12 months and am very happy with it. I'm always looking for new ways of digiscoping. I was using the Kyocera SL400R before the Olympus and I liked the ability to take fast frames continuously to capture action shots. The Olympus is a bit limited in this area and the Fuji F30 has some interesting fast frame modes (First 3, Last 3, Continuous until card is full ). Neil.

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FrankD said:

Thank you Neil. That makes alot of sense. I had not considered that. I attempted to adjust via manual focus on the camera.as suggested by others previously and am not sure if I prefer that method. I took some shots this morning in Macro but did not read your post prior to attempting it. I will pay greater attention as to whether or not the Macro function allows me better control over the focus mechanism.

Below is a few of about 80 pics I took this morning. These were some of the better ones. Lighting angle wasn't optimal but I thought the shots were worth taking. Still not anywhere near where I want to be but it definitely is enjoyable to continue to practice.

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Neil said:

Canon have had some nice features in their digicams but they never seem to have enough in one camera for me to try. The A620 has a longish zoom (35 - 140 mm ) which which could squeeze more magnification than most on a 20 x eyepiece but may be too much for a 30x ( a combined 60x optical magnification is the most you want with an 80 mm scope ). The high speed of 1/2500 is useful for bright days and 1.9 frames/sec looks. I liked the spec of the Canon G6 but unfortunately the G series lenses were not digiscoping friendly.
The Olympus works nicely with the Swarovski DCA Adapter (52 mm thread ) and it has ED glass . Neil.

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Paul Jarvis said:

Hi guys

I also use the A620 and because of the 4x zoom it is difficult to use past 20x which = 80 x combined, but it works for what I want. It is possible to use it at 3x or lower, it just depends on the subject and the distance. (scope is Opticron es80ED).

These are my settings, see how they compare to yours

AF frame - flexi zone
flash sync - 1st curtain
slow sync - off
flash - auto
red eye - off
spot - af point
safety shift - off
mf point zoom - off
af assist beam - off
digital zoom - on
review - 3 secs
reverse disp - on
grid lines - off


iso - 100
white balance - auto
drive mode - burst
effect - off
flash - 0
focusing - evaluation
pixels - superfine
picture - large

If have found better settings please let me know.

Thanks

Paul

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