Extreme Digiscoping (1 Viewer)

[Simon Brumby]

Previously i owned a Nikon ED82a and attached my Nikon1 v1 with the FT1 adapter and a 55-300mm on it to digiscope once for fun... +/- 24,300mm Pictures where erhm.. but still was loads of fun. Will see if i can dig the images out.

 

[Neil]

For those who want to make their own "extreme" device here is an idea. Of course the image is upside down and reversed.
The camera is a Niko P340 but it could be a video cam with 10x zoom with the right eyepiece.
Neil.

 

[bluedubius]

Nice, Neil. Reminds me of the old days (before all the fancy new connectors and digiscoping-specific equipment) when we all had to play around cobbling together whatever we could find to rig something up. I used to use an old Nikkor 400mm f3.5 this way and actually got some decent results. Now you're making me want to start dragging my boxes of odds and ends out and play around a bit...haha.

 

[Neil]

Previously i owned a Nikon ED82a and attached my Nikon1 v1 with the FT1 adapter and a 55-300mm on it to digiscope once for fun... +/- 24,300mm Pictures where erhm.. but still was loads of fun. Will see if i can dig the images out.

Let's not go crazy Simon. You'll need some clean air for that magnification.
I have a sharp Leica 50 mm which becomes 100 mm on the GH4 and 7,000 mm on the STX95. That's about as far as I'm game to push it and even then my Gitzo Series Two tripod is not really up to it. I'd need my surveyor's tripod.
Neil.

 

[janvangastel]

Yesterday I digiscoped this flock of barnacle geese with starlings in the background. Distance is a litte over 500 meters.

 

[JGobeil]

Well done !

 

[Neil]

Yesterday I digiscoped this flock of barnacle geese with starlings in the background. Distance is a litte over 500 meters.

Impressive image. Well done.

 

[jring]

Hi,

here's some test shot of a grey heron around 150m off my balcony with my el-cheapo setup... 25 year old Kowa TSN-3, Opticron SDLv2 EP (ok, that's current) and a 10 year old Fuji Finepix F10 compact on some universal adapter contraption.

This was at the combinations maximal magnification of 52.5x and max zoom of 24mm with a crop factor of 4.6 for the F10 so we get roughly 5800mm 35mm equivalent.

Unfortunately the F10 has no manual focus (not that it would be easy to use on a 115k dot screen without focus loupe or peaking) so the focus is a bit hit and miss... Unfortunately all my later digicams are not really suitable - maybe should get sth else...

Joachim

 

[Neil]

Hi,

here's some test shot of a grey heron around 150m off my balcony with my el-cheapo setup... 25 year old Kowa TSN-3, Opticron SDLv2 EP (ok, that's current) and a 10 year old Fuji Finepix F10 compact on some universal adapter contraption.

This was at the combinations maximal magnification of 52.5x and max zoom of 24mm with a crop factor of 4.6 for the F10 so we get roughly 5800mm 35mm equivalent.

Unfortunately the F10 has no manual focus (not that it would be easy to use on a 115k dot screen without focus loupe or peaking) so the focus is a bit hit and miss... Unfortunately all my later digicams are not really suitable - maybe should get sth else...

Joachim

Joachim,
Not too bad. If you want to upgrade your camera and don't want to spend too much have a look at the Nikon P300/310/330/340. You should be able to pick up something cheap on Ebay.
Neil.

 

[jring]

Hi,

yes that or the Canon S110... with CHDK for some more features...
On the other hand I got an old Kowa PA2 800mm adapter off ebay for 30€ so I'll probably borrow a DSLR from a friend, get a T2 ring and try that too... a DSLR would be too heavy for my taste but there's nice things in the 4/3 and sony mirrorless camps... although then it's goodbye to extreme range... except with some t-mount teleconverters...

Joachim

 

[Bref]

Last night.
Orion Nebula 1350 Light Years.

Sony RX 100II/ Swarovski ATX 95

 

[jring]

Nice shot. And you certainly win the distance price ;-)

Joachim

 

[Neil]

Last night.
Orion Nebula 1350 Light Years.

Sony RX 100II/ Swarovski ATX 95

That will be hard to beat. Nicely done.
Neil.

 

[saminta]

Last night.
Orion Nebula 1350 Light Years.

Sony RX 100II/ Swarovski ATX 95

Wonderfull

 

[kdallm]

I use digiscoping mostly for ring reading. For almost 9 years I use a Canon A590 attached to Zeiss Diascope 85. For long distance shootings, what is very often the case, I apply the 60x magnification of the Zeiss eye-piece and both the full optical and digital zoom of the A590. Picture quality then is not outstanding, but with some patience (100-1000 shots) I could safely crack some ring codes which without digiscoping would have been left unrevealed.

To improve image quality I'm looking for a better digicam, meaning a bigger sensor, equivalent focal length of ca. 140mm and a faster lens, some little vignetting doesn't matter.

I hesitate to go for the Canon S120 due to its maximum aperture of 5.7 at 120mm. Concerning the Canon G16 comes in play the often discussed problem of the retracting lens when zooming. Someone here has an idea how severe vignetting with the G16 (or G15 or G12) really is when using the 5x optical zoom on the Zeiss 85 (20-60x) ? Is there a better choice for long disctance digiscoping ?

Thank you for any advice.

 

[dalat]

Hi,
I think the Sony RX100 mentionned above is a good option, with it's 1" sensor. It has a excellent reputation as digiscoping camera.

Both your Canon options have smaller sensors.

Another even bigger sensor option would be a m4/3 camera with a pancake lens, e.g. Panasonic.

As for the aperture, I believe it is rather the scope that is limiting here, not the camera. But wait for some experts to confirm this...

Regards, Florian

 

[wildoat]

I had an afternoon of thunderstorms on Friday but there were breaks out on the mudflats to record all the action that was going on.
These spoonbills were about 500 meters out from the hide and I had the STX 95 eyepiece at 40x using the Nikon P330.
Neil.

Hi,
If those spoonbill were 500m away I'd say the results you have achieved here are astounding! I've spent a small fortune on Nikon gear over the years including all of their longest(most expensive) prime lenses, I have never managed to get images anywhere near as good as this at the extreme distance you are managing.
Cheers,tony

 

[digitalbirdy]

Not overly extreme here but just a question to toss out to all to see how everyone else is handing the issue of 'sun'...on the LCD.

I recently moved to a Nikon P310 for my digiscoping, up from a Canon S95 series...I have to say that the 'rapid fire' of that camera and taking 5 shots in a second is something sorely missed in Canons!

But the age old problem of attempting to fine tune focus using the LCD is still present. The sun, light etc...is just too much on the LCD to properly view to fine tune focus.

Do you remember years ago the Minox digiscoping camera (didn't work in practice) ...that was specifically created for digiscoping had a 'sheltered or covered' LCD viewer. While the camera was crap, the idea of providing some sort of shade over the LCD was there.

So we move on to jury-rigging now...Other than standing over and casting a shadow of sorts over your LCD, what does anyone else do? jim

About 6 years ago there were lots of devices available that turned the rear LCD into a large high resolution EVF. I cant remember their collective name now, but quite a few manufacturers made them. I still use a non branded one on my RX100 Mk1. They are a bit like a Loupe which were made for examining stamps, etc.

 

[paperweight]

I use the Sony FDA-EV1MK on my RX100 II. Without it, I would be lost. It helps me a lot to focus and to control the composition of the shot. When I got the camera s/h, it came with it. I guess I would have hesitated paying that lot of money for a new one. But it's definitely worth it in a lot of situations.

 

[digitalbirdy]

I use the Sony FDA-EV1MK on my RX100 II. Without it, I would be lost. It helps me a lot to focus and to control the composition of the shot. When I got the camera s/h, it came with it. I guess I would have hesitated paying that lot of money for a new one. But it's definitely worth it in a lot of situations.

That looks a superb device, but it does need a hotshoe (my Mk1 sony hasnt got one), and possibly only works with sony.
What I use is a loupe similar to this one on my compact camera which will fit all 3" LCD screens.
Loupe for 3" Screens
See image below.