Just got an A620. Eeek! (1 Viewer)

[jourdaj]

Jonathan

Excuse me for butting in. You have to buy an adapter into which the release cable threaded end screws. See www.pennineonline.c.uk.

All,

I finally got out to try the A620 on some Mallards at the Potter Park Zoo in Lansing, MI. The whole state had clear, sunny skies 'except' here, where I fought with heavy-overcast skies and very diffuse lighting (I can't explain it). Most of the shots were taken either at 20X or 60X w/ the Zeiss 85T*Fl using the camera and the plastic LA-DC58 adaptor hand-held. ISO set at 100 and camera at f/2.8-3.5 using a Custom mode, continuous shooting, aperture priority, largest file size w/ lowest compression. I also took a few photos of the Mallards using a D70, Sigma 400mm f/5.6, and Kenko Pro 300 1.4 TC w/ and w/o fill flash (ISO 400, aperture priority at f/5.6). All images were processed similarly: Uncropped, adjusted highlights using Curves in Photoshop CS, unsharpen mask on the ducks, low gaussian blur on background, converted to 800X600 JPG w/ compression 8.

Here are some pics w/ the D70, Sigma and TC:

http://www.pbase.com/jourdaj/image/54590779
http://www.pbase.com/jourdaj/image/54590781
http://www.pbase.com/jourdaj/image/54590782

Herre are pics w/ the A620 on the Zeiss:

http://www.pbase.com/jourdaj/image/54411699
http://www.pbase.com/jourdaj/image/54590771
http://www.pbase.com/jourdaj/image/54590772
http://www.pbase.com/jourdaj/image/54590773
http://www.pbase.com/jourdaj/image/54590777
http://www.pbase.com/jourdaj/image/54590778

When comparing the two sets of images, I was pleasantly surprised how well the A620/Zeiss images did relative to the D70/Sigma. Granted, both systems were shot under different ISO ratings/apertures/camera speeds, etc. and I'm not totally crazy about the D70 pics, but the only point I'm trying to make here is that the A620 is capable of making some quite acceptable digiscoped images.

The digiscoped images do suffer from sharpness fallout near the edges, and some CA near the edges but this is mostly aggravated by the low apertures used (f/2.8). The diffuse lighting, however, allowed me to see some pretty good feather detail in the drake's head.

As I mentioned in earlier posts, the camera focuses very fast, and seems very fast in continuous mode. I found that if you hold the shutter down half-way, the camera will lock focus, and allow me to use the scope focus to follow swimming ducks and shoot almost instantly.

I'd appreciate any comments.

Jerry

Still, I'm encouraged w/ results.

 

[Paul Jarvis]

Hi Jerry

How did you find the camera for vignetting problems?
What zoom on the camera did you use?
Did you use a release cable on any?

When I'm taking pictures I am battling against camera shake hand holding, but still manage some good photos, so it just shows the adapter is worth having.

Thanks for taking the time to put yours on, it backs me up with what I have been saying all along.

Thanks again for your photos.

Paul

 

[jourdaj]

Hi Jerry

How did you find the camera for vignetting problems?
What zoom on the camera did you use?
Did you use a release cable on any?

When I'm taking pictures I am battling against camera shake hand holding, but still manage some good photos, so it just shows the adapter is worth having.

Thanks for taking the time to put yours on, it backs me up with what I have been saying all along.

Thanks again for your photos.

Paul

Paul,

I don't use a cable release. I choose to shoot in Continuous mode hand-holding the camera with the help of the lens adaptor. I've put strips of velcro (hook side) along the inside of the LA-DC58 adaptor to make it more snug w/ the zoom eyepiece of the adaptor. As for vignetting, I'll reiterate my earlier post in this thread:

Vignetting? - yes, it is a problem w/ the Zeiss. I have found 2 positions w/ minimal vignetting, though.
(1) With the zoom lens at 20X place the camera/collar over the lens and zoom up to ~3X (no more). If you zoom to 4X you get vignetting, and the camera lens tends to crash into eyepiece lens (and, if the collar is snug, the camera senses the pressure and shuts itself off).
(2) With the zoom eyepiece at 60X attach the camera and collar to the lens with the camera at its lowest zoom setting (35mm). This will give an image w/ only about 1-2% edge vignetting. If you try to zoom the vignetting gets worse.
I can't comment how the camera works w/ the 30mm wide angle eyepiece (anyone?).

Good luck,

Jerry

 

[Robert L Jarvis]

Very good Jerry. I have to say for me the A620 photos had a crispness about them that outwieghed the D70. There have been doubts expressed about the A620 as being suitable for digiscoping something which I have disagreed with. Your shots seem to have laid that spectre. Well done.

Robert

 

[Paul Jarvis]

Thanks Jerry. What ever your doing seems to work, I guess it's personal preferences for the way you take them. your's obviously works well.

Thanks again

Paul

 

[erniehatt]

Probably a bit late for a reply, but what the heck. I have recently been trying to marry an f717 to a scope, no luck. But this thread has alaid my fears, as I have just ordered an A610. I had made up a support bracket for the f717, so with some minor adjustments it will be able to support the A610. Thanks all for the images and info. Ernie

 

[bowleraz]

Anything new here? I'm really just trying to get rid of that horrible blinking yellow light newcomers have to endure untill they post.

 

[jourdaj]

Paul,

I don't use a cable release. I choose to shoot in Continuous mode hand-holding the camera with the help of the lens adaptor. I've put strips of velcro (hook side) along the inside of the LA-DC58 adaptor to make it more snug w/ the zoom eyepiece of the adaptor. As for vignetting, I'll reiterate my earlier post in this thread:

Vignetting? - yes, it is a problem w/ the Zeiss. I have found 2 positions w/ minimal vignetting, though.
(1) With the zoom lens at 20X place the camera/collar over the lens and zoom up to ~3X (no more). If you zoom to 4X you get vignetting, and the camera lens tends to crash into eyepiece lens (and, if the collar is snug, the camera senses the pressure and shuts itself off).
(2) With the zoom eyepiece at 60X attach the camera and collar to the lens with the camera at its lowest zoom setting (35mm). This will give an image w/ only about 1-2% edge vignetting. If you try to zoom the vignetting gets worse.
I can't comment how the camera works w/ the 30mm wide angle eyepiece (anyone?).

Good luck,

Jerry

I finally got a chance to try out the A620 in sunlight (sunny Lakeland, FL). Attached are pictures of a Moorhen taken from about 10m away, and a Double-crested Cormorant from about 50m in a pond near where I was staying. I'm very happy w/ the results. The feather detail in the Moorhen is quite apparent, and the green eye in the cormorant just sparkles!

 

[Erwin Driessens]

I finally got a chance to try out the A620 in sunlight (sunny Lakeland, FL). Attached are pictures of a Moorhen taken from about 10m away, and a Double-crested Cormorant from about 50m in a pond near where I was staying. I'm very happy w/ the results. The feather detail in the Moorhen is quite apparent, and the green eye in the cormorant just sparkles!

The Canon A620 seems like an ideal successor to the A95 from the looks of it. You'd probably get even sharper results using a remote shutter release.

 

[Tannin]

I bought an adaptor and an SD card for my A610 last week. I'll try it out over the weekend. Wish me luck!

 

[Paul Jarvis]

Jerry

The shots are great.

THis may be a daft question, But do you think the camera was a good purchase after the threads against the A620?

 

[jourdaj]

Jerry

The shots are great.

THis may be a daft question, But do you think the camera was a good purchase after the threads against the A620?

Paul,

I think the A620 is a great camera overall. For digiscoping, I'm a little disappointed that it doesn't have the zoom range (w/o vignetting) that the Coolpix 990 had (I'm saying 'had' because my CP990 died a horrible death this past weekend - still too painful to talk about....) but after this weekend w/ the cormorants/moorhen/herons in good lighting I'm convinced that the image quality produced by digiscoping is as good if not better than the CP990. I will avoid shooting at ISO's greater than 100 if at all possible, 'cause at 400 it produces some grainy images (too grainy for my taste). Another nice feature is the movie mode - I took several 20" to 60" videos and the camera was snug enough on my zoom eyepiece that I could pan/focus and get really nice AVI's (incidentally - a 40 second video took about 90Mb memory - ouch!).
Until the 'ultimate' digiscoping camera apears, I'll be happy w/ this one!

Cheers,

Jerry

 

[erniehatt]

Will there ever be an ultimate Digiscoping camera, I think not , we will always be looking for something better. I have just purchaced the A610, and have tried it hand held on static subjects, with reasonable results, I am in the process of making up a stable support bracket, then will try it in the field, keeping my fingers and toes crossed. Ernie

 

[Paul Jarvis]

Finally got my alignment collar from SRB and it works for what I want. So hopefully I should get some decent pics from now on weather permitting.

 

[ajmorales]

Canon A610 Success

OK Gang,
I've been shooting with the A610 for about 3 months now. My success story rides on the eyepiece choice. My experimentation concludes that in my case, the use of 2" eyepieces solve the vignetting issue. I am using a retrofitted Celestron 750mm 'Cat' lens, from my 35mm days, as a 30ish power scope mounted with a 26mm 2" eyepiece. At the camera zoomed all the way out to 7.30mm, I almost get a full frame image. I get a small amount of vignetting at the corners. My experience shows most cameras do well with eyepieces that have longer eye relief specs. I have attached an example of my results shot from my backyard window. Take a look.

AJ
Shakopee MN USA
[email protected]

 

[Paul Jarvis]

Exactly the point. My eyepiece glass is 27mm in diameter which is bigger than most, hence not as much vignetting as people make out. Still say the later canons are up there with the best of them.