Fuji F30 - more thoughts (2 Viewers)

[Mike Penfold]

Mike,
I would ditch the 128C and move up to the 501. I bought the 128C and found it was not rigid enough. It also had to be used with a balance bar to move the Center of Gravity of the Scope/camera combo further forward (this is very important for digiscoping ). The 501 has the extension plate built in and is a more rigid design. I'm going to get one soon. Neil.

Neil,

You're right, the Zeiss 85 is front-weighted; however, this hasn't been an obvious concern, as the tension adjustment on the 128RC handles this well, without being locked tight. I use an older model 128RC, on which the locking cam solidly fits a Manfrotto 200CZ1 ant-twist plate, attached with a 3/8" screw from a 200PL38 plate. The 128RC is widely used in Ontario, and seems massive at 35 oz, while the 501 weighs just under 53 oz.

That being said, I'd like to know more about vibration induced by having a scope mounted with its weight not balanced on the tripod head. I looked for reviews or other comments on the 501, but no luck so far.

Mike

 

[Neil]

Mike ,
I've been using a balance bar since my early days of digiscoping ( over 8 years now ). In those days it was a homemade job. The major advantage I found that with the ballheads I use if the scope/camera is balanced then when you locate the bird you can let the scope go and it will stay roughly framed. I like to shoot as full framed as possible with more distance in front than behind the bird and I don't want to spend too much time locking down the head. These days with the EVF of the 8400 I'm shooting while holding the camera and following the bird through the viewfinder so I don't often lock down the head for Remote or Self-timer shooting, but I do when I can for insurance of the sharpest shot possible. For many of the woodland birds I only get the chance for 1 or two frames before they hop/jump/fly on so speed is important. For my recent Blackbird and Coucal images I only got 2 frames. For the Kinglets in Cape May I was lucky to get 1 frame. The head is where sharpness is won or lost in my view and the tripod is less important. Neil.

 

[Timedrifter]

ps I hear Dylan is playing in Portland and Joan Baez will be there in November. It must be a nice city to live in.

Apart from digiscoping, I've just found something else we have in common. This puts a totally different light on my impression of you Neil !!
I'd have loved to have got a digi-shot of that Motorcycle, Black Madonna, Two wheeled Gypsy Queen, but I guess, as is adequate with all his other words, I'll have to make do with the mental image.
Timedrifter

 

[Jacek Zarzycki]

I tried out the 800 iso setting on the Fuji F30 today on birds coming in and out of water in very dull/hazy light on one of the hottest days of the year so far. A little bit of noise if you look closely but I wouldn't have been able to get any decent photos otherwise.Neil.

Fujifilm Finepix F30 plus Swarovski STS80HD scope and Sw22x eyopiece and Scopetronix EZ-Pix adapter
Lamma Island,
Hong Kong,
China.
July 2006

Do you use pilot to take picture ? Or , if not - how are you able to avoid slight movement of the scope while pressing the button of the camera ?
Are there any adapters for pentax pf 80 ed available ?

 

[patrick ernst]

Hi Neil,

You mentioned the LCD display on the Fujifilm F30 was sometimes difficult to see. Is mounting a hood over the LCD an option? I have never digiscoped and have no idea about how well a hood works.

Thanks again,
Pat

 

[Neil]

The problem with the screen is when it is not in front of my face. Most of the time I digiscope sitting so I'm not as mobile when I raise or lower the scope to follow a bird. If I used a hood I wouldn't be able to see the screen at all. If you are happy to have the camera at eye-level at all times the screen is not problem outside. It is also much easier to see in the vertical position when it's not at eye-level than in horizontal. Neil.

 

[Forcreeks]

In case anyone wants to see a bird digiscope with the F30 at ISO-1600 I just put one up in my Gallery, at: http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showphoto.php/photo/118099/sort/1/cat/500/page/1
The light was truly low and poor and this setting really was needed. It certainly has it's faults, but could produce that special photo record in some instances as well. If they ever perfect the High-ISO image capture, won't it be wonderful.
I should add that I used Noise Ninja to process some of the pixel noise out; but then I saved at very low resolution; Photoshop 4 of 12, as I figured why waste a lot of bytes on a mediocre shot.

 

[Neil]

Do you use pilot to take picture ? Or , if not - how are you able to avoid slight movement of the scope while pressing the button of the camera ?
Are there any adapters for pentax pf 80 ed available ?

Jacek,
I don't think I answered this question properly. Because I use a relatively heavy ballhead it is very firm when I touch the shutter. I also use the Continuous sequence all the time in case the first frame is blurred. Neil.
ps I also have a rubber door stopper under the rear of the scope ( I have a Manfrotto Micro balance bar ) .

 

[Ericmd]

Offer

I have my f30 sitting wrapped under the tree and can;t wait to get to grips with it!
Thanks for this persuasive thread.I've used the A610 for 3 years now and have worn it out;a real shame.
The offer I found for british buyers I suppose is in the Computeractive magazines current issue is a voucher for a free memory card(xd).
spend<£100 camera gets you 128kb
<£200 gets you 256kb
>£200 gets you 512kb

Thanks to who-ever started the thread and who-ever found that Griturn adapter site.