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Digiscoping with the Nikon D90 DSLR (1 Viewer)

Neil

Well-known member
I picked up the D90 last weekend as I wanted to try the video mode and have a lighter and quieter backup to the D3 to use for digiscoping. It's Liveview mode seems easier to use than that in the Olympus E420 ( more stable ) and it's faster. Here are some images taken today in dull , hazy light with the 30x and 45x eyepieces. I used the Nikon 20/2.8 D lens which is one of the sharpest lenses I have . I was able to use the Auto Focus mode which although a bit slow (slower than the P6000 and P5100 ) seemed accurate as long as the scope was focused first.
Neil

Nikon D90 and Nikon 20/2.8 lens plus Swarovski STS80HD scope and Sw 30x and 45x eyepieces on homemade adapter.

Lamma Island,
Hong Kong,
China.
October 2008
 

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good job neil !

may i know what type of homemade adapter for your combo and can it be use with angled scope?

Horukuru,
It's a long balance bar designed for a straight scope. For an angled scope it's need a bit more work.
 

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Neil,

if you don't mind me asking, what were the ISO's you took the pictures of the dove and wagtail with. I own a D70 and use it for digiscoping but think the D90 is a much more practical alternative (as opposed to switching to Canon entirely), and preforms exceptionally well at higher ISO's for a Nikon.

Great shots btw!

~K
 
Neil,

if you don't mind me asking, what were the ISO's you took the pictures of the dove and wagtail with. I own a D70 and use it for digiscoping but think the D90 is a much more practical alternative (as opposed to switching to Canon entirely), and preforms exceptionally well at higher ISO's for a Nikon.

Great shots btw!

~K

Looking at the file names they were all ISO200. From memory Neil generally puts the info in the file names so I had a quick look. :)

Paul.
 
Wow ! Great work Neil. It's far from easy to render the shades and textures of the first bird. White birds are always difficult.
 
Jules, the dull light made it easier and I was only 15 metres away under camouflage netting. I liked the quieter noise of the D90 as my D3 startles the egrets at that distance.
Neil.
 
We had some sunshine today for a change so I got out this afternoon the Hong Kong Wetland Park. Here are a couple of images taken with the D90. I took some videos too which I'll post links to later. Neil.

Nikon D90 and Nikon 20/2.8 D lens and Swarovski STS80HD scope and Sw 45x eyepiece and homemade balance bar

Hong Kong Wetland Park,
Hong Kong,
China.
October 2008
 

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Neil,

I've never used mirror luck up for digiscoping (nor have I ever heard anyone else admit they use it for that matter) but do you think that the lack of MLU in the D90 matters?

Your stuff looks great!

~K
 
Neil,

I've never used mirror luck up for digiscoping (nor have I ever heard anyone else admit they use it for that matter) but do you think that the lack of MLU in the D90 matters?

Your stuff looks great!

~K

K,
I've never used Mirror Lockup either so I won't miss it. With my balance setup I can lock the camera separate to the scope so any vibration doesn't pass through from the camera. This also enables me to use Auto Focus with the camera lens, although of course I still have to manually focus the scope first. If you mount the camera as a normal , manually focussed lens , then by pressing your face against the camera as normal and shooting Continuous frames at 1/500th second or faster you should be able to control vibration.
Neil
 
Excellent shots there - great ones of the herons. Much better than I expected was possible from digiscoping actually!
 
Excellent shots there - great ones of the herons. Much better than I expected was possible from digiscoping actually!

Like all photography, digiscoping is very dependent on the quality of light and the distance to the subject. Too many digiscoping images are taken at the wrong time of day for good light and at too far a distance. I prefer digiscoping "up close and personal" without disturbing the bird behavior with the sound of a noisy DSLR. It's hard to pick up the detail in a white bird's plumage at more than 30 metres , even in the best of light. I find if the bird doesn't know you are there it doesn't move as fast and therefore allows digiscoping to catch up.
Neil.
 
neil,

how did u attached your eyepiece with the lens ? and care to share the noise level of this camera ?

I can attach it two ways -
1. with stepdown rings on the 20/2.8 D from 62/58/52 and then on to the Swarovski DCA. I turn the scope on it's side to match up with the height of the camera lens and angle it (see photo in previous thread. I switch off the AF with this method. There is a bit of vignetting with this approach due to all the step rings.
2. I just slide the camera lens as close to the scope eyepiece as necessary to minimise vignetting (on the Manfrotto balance plate mounted onto the balance bar ).

The iso 800 noise is similar to the iso 400 on the Olympus E420 and iso 1600 on the D3, but I haven't done a definitive test yet.
Neil.
 
I'm sorry I've been a bit tardy in getting some RAW images into this thread but I was away all last week on a mercy mission.
These images were taken yesterday in my mate's garden from about 10 metres in dull light while drinking coffee ( my preferred method of digiscoping ).
There was a little noise exposed during the processing ( Adobe DNG conversion and then CS2) so I ran them through Noiseware.
Neil

Nikon P6000 plus Swarovski STS80HD scope plus Sw 30x eyepiece and homemade balance bar
 

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