Richard Fray
Registered Member
Hello all,
I've been having some really bad luck with my digiscoping equipment recently, and the latest in this long line of disasters happened this weekend. The thread on my Nikon Coolpix 4500's lens (which attaches to the adapter) has gone completely, which led to my camera falling off the attachment (oops!) and suffering a rather heavy, but thankfully uneventful landing in the middle of the road.
As it was at the start of an exciting weekend of wildlife photography for me in the Chiricauhua Mountains in Arizona (photos will be posted later on Birdforum and on my website - http://richardfray.topcities.com), I had to improvise, so it's now held on with the only thing I could find at the time - the elasticted string that comes with airport baggage tags!
I suspect that I do my digiscoping a little differently from most, in that I keep the adapter (an EagleEye UK Digimount) permanently attached to the scope's eyepiece (it's quite possible to use the scope, looking through the attachment, although it takes a bit of getting used to) and then screw the camera onto it whenever I need it. I find this a much easier way of getting the camera on quickly than messing around with those thumbscrews all the time and worrying about lining the thing up before I take a photo. I reckon I can be ready to go in about 20 seconds, 15 of which are waiting for the MC-EU1 remote release to decide whether it's going to work or not (and that's a whole new discussion...!).
However, the thread going completely seems to be the major downside. The camera is just over a year old, although it has had very heavy use. I've checked it is the camera's thread that has gone, and not the adapter, by attaching another Coolpix to the adapter, which worked just fine.
So what I want to know is:
1) Has anybody else had this problem?
2) Can I get a new thread?
3) Is there a generic one available (so I don't have to pay the standard $150 Nikon price for anything small and plastic or metal which probably costs a few cents to produce!)?
4) If I can get a replacement, can I fit it myself (thus avaoiding the standard Nikon $250 to take a look at your camera and tell you it's broken!!)?
I've noticed little metal filings appearing whenever I screwed/unscrewed the camera/adapter combo right from the start, so is it congratulations to EagleEye for producing a sturdy, long-lasting product, and thumbs down to Nikon for making their threads out of the cheapest alloy they could find (or plasticine, paper mache...), or is it that EagleEye are using too strong a metal to combine safely with the Coolpix?
Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Richard Fray
I've been having some really bad luck with my digiscoping equipment recently, and the latest in this long line of disasters happened this weekend. The thread on my Nikon Coolpix 4500's lens (which attaches to the adapter) has gone completely, which led to my camera falling off the attachment (oops!) and suffering a rather heavy, but thankfully uneventful landing in the middle of the road.
As it was at the start of an exciting weekend of wildlife photography for me in the Chiricauhua Mountains in Arizona (photos will be posted later on Birdforum and on my website - http://richardfray.topcities.com), I had to improvise, so it's now held on with the only thing I could find at the time - the elasticted string that comes with airport baggage tags!
I suspect that I do my digiscoping a little differently from most, in that I keep the adapter (an EagleEye UK Digimount) permanently attached to the scope's eyepiece (it's quite possible to use the scope, looking through the attachment, although it takes a bit of getting used to) and then screw the camera onto it whenever I need it. I find this a much easier way of getting the camera on quickly than messing around with those thumbscrews all the time and worrying about lining the thing up before I take a photo. I reckon I can be ready to go in about 20 seconds, 15 of which are waiting for the MC-EU1 remote release to decide whether it's going to work or not (and that's a whole new discussion...!).
However, the thread going completely seems to be the major downside. The camera is just over a year old, although it has had very heavy use. I've checked it is the camera's thread that has gone, and not the adapter, by attaching another Coolpix to the adapter, which worked just fine.
So what I want to know is:
1) Has anybody else had this problem?
2) Can I get a new thread?
3) Is there a generic one available (so I don't have to pay the standard $150 Nikon price for anything small and plastic or metal which probably costs a few cents to produce!)?
4) If I can get a replacement, can I fit it myself (thus avaoiding the standard Nikon $250 to take a look at your camera and tell you it's broken!!)?
I've noticed little metal filings appearing whenever I screwed/unscrewed the camera/adapter combo right from the start, so is it congratulations to EagleEye for producing a sturdy, long-lasting product, and thumbs down to Nikon for making their threads out of the cheapest alloy they could find (or plasticine, paper mache...), or is it that EagleEye are using too strong a metal to combine safely with the Coolpix?
Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Richard Fray