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Digiscoping with the Nikon ED50 (1 Viewer)

Yup agree with Rick about the limitations of digiscoping with ED50. It is a great little scope and have you tried it with SOny W300 Rick ?

Thanks for your helpful replies Rick and Horukuru. I agree, it's a great little scope and has really enhanced my birding experience. I guess it was inevitable that once I saw those superb details/views, I'd want some way of capturing them, :-O .

Most of my birding is done in areas of large open water (reservoirs, lakes etc) and the images that I most want to get are seen at distances of 50-100m. There are at least 3 scenes I would very much like to capture in my locality:
1. In the spring/summer, Great Crested Grebe with young on their back (distance 50-100m).
2. Flocks of Golden Plover resting on the shoreline (distance 75-100m)
3. Snipe and other waders on the shoreline (distance 75-100m)

It's annoying that the water levels are so low (meaning the birds are rather far away, lol).

Would the camera have trouble focusing on birds at that distance, even if they were clear in the scope?
Many thanks
Hobbes
 
Again, the ED50 will not have the resolution nor give you the necessary focal lengths to get anything more than ID pics at best at those distances. Small plovers will look like dots at 100m. Even in my Kowa 88mm at a focal length of 6000mm the atmosphere at that distance smears details. If you can't get closer than 40m, I would not even bother unless you are shooting very large birds.

HOWEVER, if you a seeing nice details in your eyepiece then perhaps you are alot closer than you think. A laser rangefinder can help with accuracy or if you know the location you can use the ruler in Google Earth if it has a high rez sat photo of your location.

Rick
 
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Again, the ED50 will not have the resolution nor give you the necessary focal lengths to get anything more than ID pics at best at those distances. Small plovers will look like dots at 100m. Even in my Kowa 88mm at a focal length of 6000mm the atmosphere at that distance smears details. If you can't get closer than 40m, I would not even bother unless you are shooting very large birds.

HOWEVER, if you a seeing nice details in your eyepiece then perhaps you are alot closer than you think. A laser rangefinder can help with accuracy or if you know the location you can use the ruler in Google Earth if it has a high rez sat photo of your location.

Rick

Thanks Rick, that makes sense. It's useful to get an idea of the focal lengths we're talking about. I think I'm pursuaded that it's worth giving it a go and seeing how I get on. Now I just have to decide on the compact camera/adapter.
Thanks,
Hobbes
 
I recommend the Panasonic FX150. VERY digiscoping friendly features and with 14mp you will have plenty of cropping resolution. With the 16x Wide DS eyepice, you can either get Nikon's new swing-out adapter (expensive and crappy) or a cheap but adequate universal adapter like one of these.

Rick
 
I recommend the Panasonic FX150. VERY digiscoping friendly features and with 14mp you will have plenty of cropping resolution. With the 16x Wide DS eyepice, you can either get Nikon's new swing-out adapter (expensive and crappy) or a cheap but adequate universal adapter like one of these.

Rick

Always good to have a recommendation, thanks Rick. I had been looking at the Panasonic Lumix DMC FS42 which is £100 cheaper than the FX100 but might have a spec which is still good enough to get the decent shots. Lots to think about....
Hobbes
 
I have a Fuji F31fd and I recently bought a Nikon ED50 (I also have a Panasonic FZ28 but I don't suppose it can be used for digiscoping). From here, I'm quite clueless as how should I proceed. I know I need an eyepiece and I've seen the "16x/24x/30x Wide DS 6954" being recommended. Is this the one I should get or others (like the 13-30x 7466) would do as well ?

Then I know I need an adapter to connect the camera to the eyepiece. I have seen several universal adapters but I don't know which one would be good for my scope/camera combination. Any ideas ?

I also need a tripod and I wonder whether a Gorillapod SLR-zoom would do the trick. I'm trying to keep the total weight and volume as low as possible.

Thanks for helping a digiscoping newbie!
 
I have a Fuji F31fd and I recently bought a Nikon ED50 (I also have a Panasonic FZ28 but I don't suppose it can be used for digiscoping). From here, I'm quite clueless as how should I proceed. I know I need an eyepiece and I've seen the "16x/24x/30x Wide DS 6954" being recommended. Is this the one I should get or others (like the 13-30x 7466) would do as well ?

Then I know I need an adapter to connect the camera to the eyepiece. I have seen several universal adapters but I don't know which one would be good for my scope/camera combination. Any ideas ?

I also need a tripod and I wonder whether a Gorillapod SLR-zoom would do the trick. I'm trying to keep the total weight and volume as low as possible.

Thanks for helping a digiscoping newbie!

Get either the DS16x or DS27x eyepiece for digiscoping and normal viewing (my favorite is the former) because I digiscoped mostly in the rainforest, so DS16x is enough for my need with ED50.

For universal adapter, Nikon FSB-U1 is a great kit or SRB-Griturn because I have used both so can't comment on other universal adapters.
 
I have a Fuji F31fd and I recently bought a Nikon ED50 (I also have a Panasonic FZ28 but I don't suppose it can be used for digiscoping). From here, I'm quite clueless as how should I proceed. I know I need an eyepiece and I've seen the "16x/24x/30x Wide DS 6954" being recommended. Is this the one I should get or others (like the 13-30x 7466) would do as well ?

The choice of eyepiece depends partly on the diameter of your camera lens' front element. If the camera lens is relatively wide, you may need a wide-angle eyepiece (Wide DS) to avoid vignetting, the eyepiece cutting off the corners of the image.
 
Thanks for the replies. Do you think that by getting the DS16x instead of the DS27x I will be able to use the FZ28 with the ED50, thus gaining from the camera whatever magnification I will be losing from the eyepiece ?
 
No, superzooms like the FZ28 do not work for digiscoping. Truthfully, the DS16x is the only eyepiece to use with the ED50.

Rick
 
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